Syntheses, Characterization, and X-ray Crystal Structure of Binuclear Lanthanide Complexes Assembled with Schiff Base and Acetate

Herein we reported the binuclear complexes of the 1-(pyridin-2-yl)-2-(pyridin-2-ylmethylene)hydrazine ligand (HL) [Ln2(HL)2(CH3COO)6].n(H2O) (Ln = Y, Pr, Gd and Er). The binuclear complexes are characterized by IR and physical measurement. Spectroscopic evidence indicated that the Schiff base HL behave an N3 coordination tridentate ligand. The complexes are formulated as [{Ln(1-(pyridin-2-ylmethylidene-kN)-2-(pyridin-2-yl-kN)hydrazine-kN1)(h2-OOCH3)2}{h1:h2:m2-OOCH3}2{Ln(1-(pyridin-2-ylmethylidene-kN)-2-(pyridin-2-yl-kN)hydrazine-kN1))(h2-OOCH3)2}].n(H2O). The structure of the praseodymium complex was elucidated by X-ray diffraction analysis. Suitable crystals were grown by slow evaporation of methanol solution. The asymmetric unit of the compound contains two neutral ligand molecules, two Pr3+ ions, four acetate anions acting in h2-OOCH3 mode, two acetate anions acting in h1:h2:m2-OOCH3 mode, and three uncoordinated water molecules. The praseodymium atom is ten coordinated and the coordination sphere is best described as a distorted bicapped square antiprism. The PrIII···PrIII distance is 4.2777(6) Å and the bridging angle Pr—O—Pr and O—Pr—O are respectively 115.8(3)° and 64.2(3)°. The structure is consolidated by intra and intermolecular hydrogen bond.

Performance Optimization of μDMFC with Foamed Stainless Steel Cathode Current Collector

The micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) has attracted more and more attention in the field of new energy due to its simple structure, easy operation, and eco-friendly byproducts. In a μDMFC’s structure, the current collector plays an essential role in collecting the conduction current, and the rational distribution of gas and water. The choice of its material and flow fields would significantly impact the μDMFC’s performance. To this end, four different types of cathode current collector were prepared in this study. The materials selected were stainless steel (SS) and foam stainless steel (FSS), with the flow fields of hole-type and grid-type. The performance of the μDMFC with different types of cathode current collector was investigated by using polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and discharging. The experimental results show that the maximum power density of μDMFC of the hole-type FSS cathode current collector is 49.53 mW/cm2 at 70 °C in the methanol solution of 1 mol/L, which is 115.72% higher than that of the SS collector. The maximum power density of the μDMFC with the grid-type FSS collector is 22.60 mW/cm2, which is 27.39% higher than that of the SS collector. The total impedance of the μDMFC of the FSS collector is significantly lower than that of the μDMFC of the SS collector, and the total impedance of the μDMFC with the hole-type flow field collector is lower than that of the grid-type flow field. The discharging of μDMFC with the hole-type FSS collector reaches its optimal value at 70 °C in the methanol solution of 1 mol/L.

Efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production over Ce/ZnO from aqueous methanol solution

Ce/ZnO crystallites along with bare ZnO were prepared by solution free mechanochemical method and characterized with powder XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS, UV–Visible and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The visible light photocatalytic performance of these materials was investigated for H2 evolution with the aqueous 10vol% methanol solution under one sun conditions using solar simulator. X-ray diffraction data suggests the hexagonal wurtzite structure for Ce/ZnO crystallites and the incorporation of Ce4+ ion in ZnO is supported by the shifting of XRD peaks to lower Bragg angles that indicate lattice expansion. With the increase of Ce content in ZnO, the crystallite size of Ce/ZnO decreases and the specific surface area increases. UV–Visible spectra propose the decrease in optical band gap of Ce incorporated ZnO with the increase of Ce content up to 3 mol. %. The XPS analysis supports the incorporation of Ce4+ in Ce/ZnO. The PL spectra propose that, with the insertion of Ce ions into ZnO, intensity of UV emission band decreases that reflects the low recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers, which is responsible for higher photocatalytic H2 production. The extent of hydrogen production is affected by calcination temperature of Ce/ZnO. 2 mol. % Ce incorporated ZnO calcined at 600 °C produces43 μmolh−1 g−1 of hydrogen.

Evaporation of Methanol Solution for a Methanol Steam Reforming System

In a methanol-reforming system, because the mixture of methanol and water must be evaporated before reaching the reforming reaction zone, having an appropriate evaporator design is a fundamental requirement for completing the reforming reaction. This study investigates the effect of the evaporator design for the stable reforming of methanol–water mixtures. Four types of evaporator are compared at the same heat duty of the methanol-reforming system. The four evaporators are planar heat exchangers containing a microchannel structure, cylindrical shell-and-tube evaporators, zirconia balls for internal evaporation, and combinations of cylindrical shell-tubes and zirconia balls. The results show that the evaporator configuration is critical in performing stable reform reactions, especially for the flow-field mode of the evaporator. Additionally, the combination of both internal and external evaporation methods generates the highest performance for the methanol-reforming system, with the methanol conversion reaching almost 98%.

Dielectric, impedance, modulus spectroscopy and AC conductivity studies on novel organic ferroelectric diisopropylammonium chloride (dipaCl)

Organic molecular ferroelectric diisopropylammonium chloride (dipaCl) was successfully synthesized using diisopropylamine, hydrochloric acid (57%) and methanol solution. Dielectric permittivity, impedance, modulus spectroscopy and conductivity were systematically studied by Capacitance–Conductance ([Formula: see text] – [Formula: see text] measurements in the temperature range of 373–445 K. Dielectric property tests clearly show that the organic molecular ferroelectric dipaCl obeys Curies–Weiss law 1/[Formula: see text] = ([Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text]. The real (Z′) and imaginary (Z′′) parts of the electrical modulus were calculated from the various values of 𝜀′ and 𝜀′′. It is shown that AC conductivity satisfies the relation [Formula: see text], where the power exponent [Formula: see text] depends on temperature and frequency. From Arrhenius equation, the activation energies [Formula: see text]and [Formula: see text] are also calculated which describes the complete conduction mechanism of dipaCl.