Zirconium-Based Metal Organic Frameworks for the Capture of Carbon Dioxide and Ethanol Vapour. A Comparative Study

This paper reports on the comparison of three zirconium-based metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for the capture of carbon dioxide and ethanol vapour at ambient conditions. In terms of efficiency, two parameters were evaluated by experimental and modeling means, namely the nature of the ligands and the size of the cavities. We demonstrated that amongst three Zr-based MOFs, MIP-202 has the highest affinity for CO2 (−50 kJ·mol−1 at low coverage against around −20 kJ·mol−1 for MOF-801 and Muc Zr MOF), which could be related to the presence of amino functions borne by its aspartic acid ligands as well as the presence of extra-framework anions. On the other side, regardless of the ligand size, these three materials were able to adsorb similar amounts of carbon dioxide at 1 atm (between 2 and 2.5 µmol·m−2 at 298 K). These experimental findings were consistent with modeling studies, despite chemisorption effects, which could not be taken into consideration by classical Monte Carlo simulations. Ethanol adsorption confirmed these results, higher enthalpies being found at low coverage for the three materials because of stronger van der Waals interactions. Two distinct sorption processes were proposed in the case of MIP-202 to explain the shape of the enthalpic profiles.

Effects of relative humidity on ethanol vapour releases from hydrophilic filmbased sachet in active food packaging

Active food package incorporating an ethanol vapour-controlled release sachet has been known for its efficacies to delay microbial proliferation in fresh fruit and vegetable. High humidity inside the package could be utilized as a stimulus for conditional releases as a means to stabilize the sachet prior to being used. The present research was undertaken to investigate the effects of relative humidity on ethanol vapour release from the hydrophilic film-based sachet. The prototype 4-side sealed sachets were made of either ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or laminated film comprising EVA and Nylon/PE (designated as ENP). A gas chromatogram equipped with a flame-ionized detector (FID-GC) was employed to analyze ethanol vapour concentration levels released from both sachet types and accumulated in headspaces of sealed glass beakers having different relative humidity (RH) levels. For a given RH level, the concentrations in the headspaces containing the ENPbased sachets were lower than those containing the EVA-based sachets. Delays of ethanol vapour release up to 24 h were observed in the ENP-based sachet system, whilst these did not occur among EVA-based sachets. Both sachets could release ethanol vapour with faster rates and subsequently higher concentrations accumulated at the very high relative humidity level (90-99% RH), compared to lower RH levels (60-89% RH). However, the release rates and concentration levels accumulated in 60-75% RH were not different from those in 80-89% RH. Extents of water vapour uptake by films were relatively small when the films were kept at the lower RH levels, but these became exponentially increased when the RH levels were ≥90%RH. Experimental data on water vapour uptakes were well predicted by an exponential model (R2 0.92-0.99; and root mean square of errors (RMSE) 0.004-0.054). Overall, experiment findings indicate that the ENP film caused delayed ethanol vapour releases from the sachet. The relative humidity levels had significant effects on the releases from hydrophilic film-based sachets

Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using Ixora Coccinea Leaf Extract for Ethanol Vapour Sensing

This article reports the effects of natural plant proteins on the morphology of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) prepared via a precipitation method. Green synthesised ZnONPs have a wide range of uses such as biomedical applications, water purification, optical devices and gas sensors. The non-toxic and economical technique described in this article is favourable for large-scale production too. ZnONPs were produced from a zinc acetate precursor with dye extract of Ixora Coccinea (IC) leaves as a capping agent. The as-prepared ZnONPs were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-visible (UV-vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. The XRD analysis showed an average crystallite size of 23 nm. The SEM analysis revealed a reduction in aggregation of ZnO crystallites due to addition of dye extracts of IC. EDX and UV-vis results confirmed the formation of pure ZnONPs. Finally, the gas sensing properties of ZnO films, prepared by doctor blade method, were used to detect ethanol vapour. The results showed gas response ratios of 28.7 and 5.4 at 800 ppm and 40 ppm exposure, respectively. Furthermore, the response time and recovery time were found to be 24 sec and 47 sec, respectively at 200 ppm exposure of ethanol vapour.

From Gas Sensors to Detection of Etanol Vapour to Sensor of Bacteria Detection

Introduction. Metal oxide semiconductor sensors have many advantages. But their working temperature is still high and their sensitivities are frequently low. In the current work, I present the results from investigation of sensing ability of new kind of potentiometric solid state gas sensor.Aim. The main goal of this work is investigation of the temperature dependence in the flow of air and in ethanol vapour mixture of the investigated junction structures. Also, we investigated at fixed temperature the dependence of the thermoelectric force from the ethanol vapour concentration at possible low operation temperature. For the structure, which shows the lowest operation temperature to ethanol vapour, we investigate the ability to detect Pseudomonas putida suspension.Materials and methods. In this work, the sensitivity to ethanol vapour and Pseudomonas putida suspension were investigated by measuring the thermoelectric force (the voltage) appearing of the structures by standart voltmeters.Results. Two experimental installations for sensors have been developed. The first one is for detection of ethanol vapour by ZnO/ZnO:Cu, ZnO/ZnO:CuO, ZnO/ZnO:Fe junction structures. The second installation was for Pseudomonas putida suspension detection in gas phase by ZnO/ZnO:Fe junction structure. We discovered that ZnO/ZnO:Fe structure, has the lowest operation temperature of 200 °C to ethanol vapour. For this structure, the potential difference has a negative value and decreases with increasing the amount of the pulverized bacteria.Conclusion. We discovered that ZnO/ZnO:Fe structure, has the lowest operation temperature of 200 °C. This operation temperature is a bit higher than operation temperature of at which some very novel sensing structures shows the maximum sensitivity.

Sensitivity to Ethanol Vapour of Thin Films SnO2 Doped with Fluorine

Tin dioxide thin films were obtained by centrifuging. Annealing of samples was carried out in a muffle furnace at a temperature of 400 °C for 15 min, 3, 6 and 12 h. The surface resistance of the films was measured by four-force method. The sensitivity to ethanol vapour was determined by experimental setup that allows measurements in the range from room temperature to 300 °C. There is a change in the acidity of the solution with the addition of ammonium fluoride. To take into consideration this change in acidity, three batches of solutions were prepared: one example without additives, another one ‒ with the addition of ammonium fluoride and the last one ‒ with the addition of ammonium hydroxide. Films synthesized from a film-forming solution containing NH4F have less resistance than films obtained from solutions that do not contain ammonium fluoride. This confirms the presence of fluorine ions in the films as additional sources of free charge carriers. It is found that the pH-indicator of the film-forming solution does not affect the surface resistance of the synthesized SnO2 films. Annealing of fluoride doped films leads to an increase in surface resistance by two orders of magnitude, which is associated with the removal of fluorine from the films and the formation of a large number of defects. Further annealing leads to a decrease in surface resistance, which seems to be associated with a decrease in defects. It is shown that the change in the hydrogen index of the film-forming solution leads to the formation of films with a thermally stable sensitivity to ethanol vapour.