scholarly journals Experimental and Theoretical Insights on Methylene Blue Removal from Wastewater Using an Adsorbent Obtained from the Residues of the Orange Industry

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 4555
Author(s):  
Stephanie Giraldo ◽  
Irma Robles ◽  
Luis A. Godínez ◽  
Nancy Acelas ◽  
Elizabeth Flórez

Chemical and thermochemical transformations were performed on orange peel to obtain materials that were characterized and further tested to explore their potential as adsorbents for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions. The results show the high potential of some of these materials for MB adsorption not only due to the surface area of the resulting substrate but also to the chemistry of the corresponding surface functional groups. Fitting of the kinetic as well as the equilibrium experimental data to different models suggests that a variety of interactions are involved in MB adsorption. The overall capacities for these substrates (larger than 192.31 mg g−1) were found to compare well with those reported for activated carbon and other adsorbents of agro-industrial origin. According to these results and complementary with theoretical study using Density Functional Theory (DFT) approximations, it was found that the most important adsorption mechanisms of MB correspond to: (i) electrostatic interactions, (ii) H-bonding, and (iii) π (MB)–π (biochar) interactions. In view of these findings, it can be concluded that adsorbent materials obtained from orange peel, constitute a good alternative for the removal of MB dye from aqueous solutions.

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco C. Franco

Chemical modifications through substitution are observed to be effective in controlling the optoelectronic properties of various polymers for different applications. In this study, density functional theory–based calculations are employed to investigate the optoelectronic properties of several oligothiophenes based on poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) by varying the number of fluoro and cyano substituents attached. The resulting structures of the polymer derivatives are affected by the electrostatic interactions between the cyano or fluoro groups and the adjacent thiophene unit. Of the two, cyano substitution results in much lower frontier orbital energies for the same number of substituents. It was observed that a decrease in the highest occupied molecule orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies correlates very strongly with the number of cyano and fluoro substituents. The effect of the cyano and fluoro groups on the frontier orbitals is also demonstrated and observed to correlate strongly with a lowering of the highest occupied molecule orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies as the number of substituents is varied. The predicted solar cell characteristics reveal that most cyano and fluoro derivatives will have improved characteristics compared to unsubstituted poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl). This theoretical study shows that by varying the number of electron-withdrawing substituents, the optoelectronic properties may be tuned for solar cell applications.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaming Fan ◽  
Qiyu Weng ◽  
Yuqun Zhuo ◽  
Songtao Dong ◽  
Pengbo Hu ◽  
...  

Emission of hazardous trace elements, especially arsenic from fossil fuel combustion, have become a major concern. Under an oxidizing atmosphere, most of the arsenic converts to gaseous As2O3. CaO has been proven effective in capturing As2O3. In this study, the mechanisms of As2O3 adsorption on CaO surface under O2 atmosphere were investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Stable physisorption and chemisorption structures and related reaction paths are determined; arsenite (AsO33−) is proven to be the form of adsorption products. Under the O2 atmosphere, the adsorption product is arsenate (AsO43−), while tricalcium orthoarsenate (Ca3As2O8) and dicalcium pyroarsenate (Ca2As2O7) are formed according to different adsorption structures.


Pteridines ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Soniat ◽  
Christopher B. Martin

Abstract Pterins exist as several tautomeric forms and behave as weak acids in aqueous solutions. Therefore, several acidbase equilibria may be present. For several pterin derivatives, the range of the experimental pKa lies in the range 6-8. The anionic form of the lactam structure is the only structure considered in the literature to represent the chemistry of pterins in alkaline solution. In the present study, density functional theory calculations were used to determine the relative energies of various anionic tautomers of pterin present in aqueous solution which may play a role in chemical and biological systems.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew P. Harding ◽  
Laura J. Kingsley ◽  
Glen Spraggon ◽  
Steven Wheeler

The intrinsic (gas-phase) stacking energies of natural and artificial nucleobases were explored using density functional theory (DFT) and correlated ab initio methods. Ranking the stacking strength of natural nucleobase dimers revealed a preference in binding partner similar to that seen from experiments, namely G > C > A > T > U. Decomposition of these interaction energies using symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) showed that these dispersion dominated interactions are modulated by electrostatics. Artificial nucleobases showed a similar stacking preference for natural nucleobases and were also modulated by electrostatic interactions. A robust predictive multivariate model was developed that quantitively predicts the maximum stacking interaction between natural and a wide range of artificial nucleobases using molecular descriptors based on computed electrostatic potentials (ESPs) and the number of heavy atoms. This model should find utility in designing artificial nucleobase analogs that exhibit stacking interactions comparable to those of natural nucleobases. Further analysis of the descriptors in this model unveil the origin of superior stacking abilities of certain nucleobases, including cytosine and guanine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 3227-3241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnamoorthy Arumugam ◽  
Neil A. Burton

Of particular interest within the +6 uranium complexes is the linear uranyl(vi) cation and it forms numerous coordination complexes in solution and exhibits incongruent redox behavior depending on coordinating ligands. This DFT study predicts VI/V reduction potentials of a range of uranyl(vi) complexes in non-aqueous solutions within ∼0.10−0.20 eV of experiment.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (24) ◽  
pp. 4466
Author(s):  
Duichun Li ◽  
Bin Xing ◽  
Baojun Wang ◽  
Ruifeng Li

Systematic periodic density functional theory computations including dispersion correction (DFT-D) were carried out to determine the preferred location site of Zr atoms in sodalite (SOD) and CHA-type topology frameworks, including alumino-phosphate-34 (AlPO-34) and silico-alumino-phosphate-34 (SAPO-34), and to determine the relative stability and Brönsted acidity of Zr-substituted forms of SOD, AlPO-34, and SAPO-34. Mono and multiple Zr atom substitutions were considered. The Zr substitution causes obvious structural distortion because of the larger atomic radius of Zr than that of Si, however, Zr-substituted forms of zeolites are found to be more stable than pristine zeolites. Our results demonstrate that in the most stable configurations, the preferred favorable substitutions of Zr in substituted SOD have Zr located at the neighboring sites of the Al-substituted site. However, in the AlPO-34 and SAPO-34 frameworks, the Zr atoms are more easily distributed in a dispersed form, rather than being centralized. Brönsted acidity of substituted zeolites strongly depends on Zr content. For SOD, substitution of Zr atoms reduces Brönsted acidity. However, for Zr-substituted forms of AlPO-34 and SAPO-34, Brönsted acidity of the Zr-O(H)-Al acid sites are, at first, reduced and, then, the presence of Zr atoms substantially increased Brönsted acidity of the Zr-O(H)-Al acid site. The results in the SAPO-34-Zr indicate that more Zr atoms substantially increase Brönsted acidity of the Si-O(H)-Al acid site. It is suggested that substituted heteroatoms play an important role in regulating and controlling structural stability and Brönsted acidity of zeolites.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (29) ◽  
pp. 11498-11506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taehun Lee ◽  
Yonghyuk Lee ◽  
Woosun Jang ◽  
Aloysius Soon

Using first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we investigate the advantage of using h-WO3 (and its surfaces) over the larger band gap γ-WO3 phase for the anode in water splitting. We demonstrate that h-WO3 is a good alternative anode material for optimal water splitting efficiencies.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (28) ◽  
pp. 21823-21830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueli Zhang ◽  
Junqing Yang ◽  
Ming Lu ◽  
Xuedong Gong

The potential energetic materials, alkaline earth metal complexes of the pentazole anion (M(N5)2, M = Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+and Ba2+), were studied using the density functional theory.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 805-812
Author(s):  
Ahissandonatien Ehouman ◽  
Adjoumanirodrigue Kouakou ◽  
Fatogoma Diarrassouba ◽  
Hakim Abdel Aziz Ouattara ◽  
Paulin Marius Niamien

Our theoretical study of stability and reactivity was carried out on six (06) molecules of a series of pyrimidine tetrazole hybrids (PTH) substituted with H, F, Cl, Br, OCH3 and CH3 atoms and groups of atoms using the density function theory (DFT). Analysis of the thermodynamic formation quantities confirmed the formation and existence of the series of molecules studied. Quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP / 6-311G (d, p) level of theory determined molecular descriptors. Global reactivity descriptors were also determined and analyzed. Thus, the results showed that the compound PTH_1 is the most stable, and PTH_5 is the most reactive and nucleophilic. Similarly, the compound PTH_4 is the most electrophilic. The analysis of the local descriptors and the boundary molecular orbitals allowed us to identify the preferred atoms for electrophilic and nucleophilic attacks.


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