Hollow Mesoporous Silica by Ion Exchange-Induced Etching Strategy for High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane

Hollow mesoporous silica (HMS) has attracted significant attention for fuel cell applications. The mesopores in the shell can accelerate proton transport and the void in the center of the particle is advantageous for proton storage. However, the conventional methods for HMS fabrication are complicated, which is not conducive to scaling up the fabrication of HMS. In this work, a new, simple strategy to synthesize HMS has been developed via OH− ion exchange-induced etching of mesoporous silica (mSiO2). The mSiO2 immersed in an alkaline Na2CO3 solution led to an exchange of the Br− ions in the surfactant with the OH− ions in the solution, resulting in a high concentration of OH− ions in the mesoporous channels of mSiO2 close to the core, and a low concentration of OH− ions close to the surface. This demonstrated that the etching of the core of mSiO2 was induced, which extended from the core to the surface of the nanoparticles. Furthermore, the success of the ion exchange-induced etching process was demonstrated by the gradient distribution of the Na+ ion in mesoporous silica microspheres through microscopy. In addition, the proton conductivity of the phosphoric acid-impregnated HMS membrane at 180°C under anhydrous conditions was found to be 0.025 S.cm−1. These results demonstrate the simplicity of the ion exchange-induced etching strategy for the fabrication of HMS microspheres and its promising application in high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Practical allylation with unactivated allylic alcohols under mild conditions

A practical palladium/calcium catalytic system was developed for dehydrative allylation concerning unactivated allylic alcohols. EtOH solvent with H2O additive was identified as powerful media to accelerate proton transfer. That catalytic...

Water-assisted proton delivery and removal in bio-inspired hydrogen production catalysts

Water is found to accelerate proton delivery and removal in electrocatalysts for H2 production, resulting in a marked increase in the catalytic rates. The significant reduction in protonation/deprotonation barriers observed in the presence of water has important implications for design catalysts with improved performance.

THE ALICE EXPERIMENT AT CERN LHC: STATUS AND FIRST RESULTS

The ALICE experiment is aimed at studying the properties of the hot and dense matter produced in heavy-ion collisions at LHC energies. In the first years of LHC operation the ALICE physics program will be focused on Pb - Pb and p - p collisions. The latter, on top of their intrinsic interest, will provide the necessary baseline for heavy-ion data. After its installation and a long commissioning with cosmic rays, in late fall 2009 ALICE participated (very successfully) in the first LHC run, by collecting data in p - p collisions at c.m. energy 900 GeV. After a short stop during winter, LHC operations have been resumed; the machine is now able to accelerate proton beams up to 3.5 TeV and ALICE has undertaken the data taking campaign at 7 TeV c.m. energy. After an overview of the ALICE physics goals and a short description of the detector layout, the ALICE performance in p - p collisions will be presented. The main physics results achieved so far will be highlighted as well as the main aspects of the ongoing data analysis.