Moving Mountains: Reshaping the Activity Volcano of Electrocatalysis with Fluxional Subnano Clusters

The activity volcano derived from Sabatier analysis provides intuitive guide for catalyst design, but it also imposes fundamental limitations on the maximal activity and the pool of high-performance elements. Here we show that the activity volcano for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) can be shifted and reshaped in the subnano regime. The fluxional behavior of subnano clusters, in both isolated and graphite-supported forms, not only breaks the linear scaling relationships but also causes an overall strengthening in adsorbate binding. The metals with optimal adsorbate binding in the bulk form (Pt/Pd) thus suffer over-binding issues, while the metals that under-bind in the bulk form (Ag/Au) gain optimal reaction energetics. In addition, the potential-dependence of isomer energies differ, causing non-linear reaction free energy-potential relations and enabling population-tuning of specific isomers, thereby surpassing the apex of the activity volcano. The shift of the volcano that puts under-binding elements closer to the top is likely general in fluxional cluster catalysis, and can be used for cluster catalyst design.

Catalytic Methods for the Production of Sugar Esters

Nowadays, Sugar esters (SEs) have become the focus of researchers due to their biocompatibility and extensive industrial applications as surfactants. This trend provides new methods and opportunities for the development of green synthetic chemistry. Taking the above into consideration, a critical review presented in this work emphasized the efficiency of catalyzing the synthesis of SEs with minimal hazardous by-products. These catalytic media have been employed with various impacts involving chemical, biological, and other catalytic materials. Chemical methods have been reported to show limitations in terms of preparation and bio-compatibility. To solve these shortcomings, therefore, other technologies have been adopted; ionic liquids (eutectic solvents), chemo-enzymatic systems and chemo-enzymatic systems on a catalytic surface. The use of chemo-enzymatic systems on catalytic surfaces has proved to be suitable in solving biocompatibility and stability problems and correspondingly increasing the yield of esters formed. Therefore, finding an improved catalytic surface, and the sustainable optimal reaction conditions for enzymes will be vital to improving sugar ester conversion. This study highlights the different catalytic advances employed in the esterification of SEs.

Catalytic Oxidation of Methylene Blue by Attapulgite/TiO2

Methylene blue (MB) is a common pollutant in wastewater of printing and dyeing industry. At present, ozone oxidation is commonly used in the treatment of printing and dyeing wastewater. Ozone is used for oxidation reaction directly and indirectly. However, the reaction rate is not fast enough. In this study, the attapulgite (ATP) was modified by tetrabutyl titanate-ethanol solution. The TiO2/ATP nanocomposite with high catalytic activity was prepared. The synthesized samples were subjected to characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The morphology and particle size of the particles were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The TiO2/ATP nanocomposite was calcined at 300°C for 2 h, and the degradation rate of 80 mg/L methylene blue was 99.8%. The experimental results show that the ozone, temperature and mass transfer factors are excluded, and the effects of temperature, MB concentration and pH on the degradation of methylene blue are investigated. The optimal reaction conditions are as follows: The ozone concentration is 0.067 g/min; the ozone flow rate is 0.15 NL/min; the stirrer rotation speed is 550 r/min; the catalyst is 0.1 g; the temperature is 50°C; Based on the results, the reaction mechanism was derived and the kinetic study of the experiment was carried out.

Sustainable Biocatalytic Procedure for Obtaining New Branched Acid Esters

Biocatalytic synthesis of 2-ethylhexyl 2-methylhexanoate is described in this work for the first time. This branched-chain ester is suitable for use at low temperatures in numerous applications. The immobilized lipase Novozym® 435 has demonstrated its ability to catalyze the ester synthesis from 2-ethylhexanol and 2-methylhexanoic acid in a solvent-free medium. The high reaction times that are required result in a loss of alcohol by evaporation, which must be compensated for with an excess of this substrate if high conversions are to be achieved. Therefore, two strategies are established: 70 °C with a 10% excess of alcohol, which requires a longer operating time and provides conversions of 97%, and 80 °C with a 20% excess of alcohol, which allows for the achievement of a 99% conversion in a shorter time. The optimal reaction conditions have been chosen based on reusability of the enzyme, process productivity, green metrics and preliminary economic study. When the synthesis is carried out under the best conditions (70 °C, 10% molar excess of alcohol and six uses of the immobilized enzyme) a productivity of 203.84 kg product × kg biocatalyst−1 is attained. The biocatalytic procedure matches many of the objectives of “green chemistry” and is suitable to be scaled up and used in industrial manufacturing.

Effect of Reaction Temperature on Adsorption Efficiency using Computer Mathematical Statistics Visible Spectorphotometer

In this paper, waste shrimp shells extracted from the head of the chitosan material; static adsorption experiments manner by wastewater containing Fe(III) added chitosan, vis spectrophotometer absorbance before and after the measurement experiment was obtained by reacting the size of the metal ion concentration, adsorption conditions whereby chitosan Fe(III) and the ability to explore. Experiments show that. In the case where the reaction temperature is less than 55°C, chitosan has adsorption rate Fe(III) smaller rise, the optimum temperature was 55°C, but the effects on the reaction temperature adsorption rate is not large; Adsorption when control time 30 min to 50 min, the absorption effect is increased with increase in the time, to reach the optimal reaction time 50 min.

Preparation and characterization of branched micro/nano Se

Branched micro/nano Se was prepared by the redaction of L-Cys•HCl and H2SeO3 in hydrothermal method, as β-CD was used as soft template. The structures of products were characterized by SEM, TEM and XRD. Some important factors influencing the morphology of products were studied and discussed, including the amounts of soft template, the reaction temperature and the reaction time. The results showed that external causes had a potent effect on the morphology of micro/nano Se. The uniform branched micro/nano Se prepared under the optimal reaction condition was rhombohedral trigonal selenium t-Se0, but its crystallinity degree was low.

Auxiliary Fiber Art Creation Design Based on Conductive Fiber Textile Wireless Structure Sensor

The integration of fiber materials into modern pottery creation is an attempt to explore its boundaries as a specific material and art form. Fiber materials, such as fabric and paper, are not resistant to high temperatures, and the clay attached to them can retain the surface texture, texture, and original three-dimensional form of the fiber materials intact during the kiln firing process, making up for the defects of single material molding and maintaining the visual effect of ultrathin and highly translucent works. The light source inside the work is more conducive to creating a specific artistic atmosphere. The purpose of this paper is to explore how fiber materials become the basis of ceramic works and the source of decorative expression, so that this expression and process can be systematically analyzed and interpreted in the application of ceramic art creation. Along with the rapid development of nanotechnology, electronics, and optical technology, people’s clothing fabrics have been increasing in demand in terms of function and appearance. This paper focuses on the research and development of fiber textiles from the field of science and technology and discusses the current status of fiber textiles and the possibility of combining fiber art with science and technology. In this paper, wood cellulose-multiwalled carbon nanotube/wood cellulose composite films were prepared, as well as wood cellulose films and wood cellulose/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite films. The optimal reaction time for the preparation of the films was 2 h, and the optimal reaction temperature was 70°C. Experimental results show that the dispersibility of multilayer carbon nanotubes in wood cellulose multilayer carbon nanotubes/wood cellulose composite films in wood cellulose multilayer carbon nanotubes composite films is superior. If the amount of multilayered carbon nanotubes was 3 wt%, the fracture point extension and accessibility of the wood cellulose multilayer carbon nanotubes/wood cellulose composite film are 12.2% and 106.7 MPa, respectively. It is 93.7%, respectively. 10.7% is higher than wood cellulose/multilayered carbon nanotube composite films.

Identification and structural analysis of a thermophilic β-1,3-glucanase from compost

Abstractβ-1,3-glucanase can specifically hydrolyze glucans to oligosaccharides and has potential applications in biotechnology. We used the metatranscriptomic technology to discover a thermophilic β-1,3-glucanase from compost. The phylogenetic study shows that it belongs to the family 16 glycoside hydrolase (GH16) and is most homologous with an enzyme from Streptomyces sioyaensis, an actinobacterium. It has the activity of 146.9 U/mg in the optimal reaction condition (75 °C and pH 5.5). Its catalytic domain was crystallized and diffracted to 1.14 Å resolution. The crystal structure shows a sandwich-like β-jelly-roll fold with two disulfide bonds. After analyzing the occurring frequencies of these cysteine residues, we designed two mutants (C160G and C180I) to study the role of these disulfide bonds. Both mutants have decreased their optimal temperature from 75 to 70 °C, which indicate that the disulfide bonds are important to maintain thermostability. Interestingly, the activity of C160G has increased ~ 17% to reach 171.4 U/mg. We speculate that the increased activity of C160G mutant is due to increased dynamics near the active site. Our studies give a good example of balancing the rigidity and flexibility for enzyme activity, which is helpful for protein engineering.

Mathematical Model, Simulation and Scale up of Batch Reactor Used in Oxidative Desulfurization of Kerosene

In this paper, a mathematical model for the oxidative desulfurization of kerosene had been developed. The mathematical model and simulation process is a very important process due to it provides a better understanding of a real process. The mathematical model in this study was based on experimental results which were taken from literature to calculate the optimal kinetic parameters where simulation and optimization were conducted using gPROMS software. The optimal kinetic parameters were Activation energy 18.63958 kJ/mol, Pre-exponential factor 2201.34 (wt)-0.76636. min-1 and the reaction order 1.76636. These optimal kinetic parameters were used to find the optimal reaction conditions which used to obtain a high conversion (≥ 99%). These optimal reaction conditions were reaction temperature 379.4 oK and reaction time 160 min. A scale up to batch reactor was conducted using these optimal kinetic parameters and optimal reaction conditions and the results showed the best reactor size that can be used at a diameter of 1.2 m.