Ateeq Ur Rehman

Influence of CeO2 on Pt-Pd/CeO2-OMC Catalysts for Formic Acid Oxidation

This article deals with the promotional effects of CeO2 on PtPd/CeO2-OMC electrocatalysts. The synthesized catalysts are characterized using different physicochemical techniques and evaluated in a formic acid oxidation fuel cell. N2 adsorption/desorption analysis shows that CeO2 modification increases the surface area of OMC from 1005 to 1119xa0m2/g. SEM, XRD, and TEM analysis reveal that the presence of CeO2 enhances the active metal(s) dispersion on the CeO2-OMC surface. The average particle size of the dispersed metal decreases with the increase of Pt/Pd ratio on CeO2-OMC support. Cyclic voltametry measurement of Pd/CeO2-OMC gives 12xa0% higher anodic current activity with 83-mV negative shift of the peak E as compared to unmodified Pd/OMC. In bimetallic catalysts, the addition of Pt improves the activity and stability of the catalysts significantly. Among the bimetallic samples, Pd3Pt1/CeO2-OMC displays superior current density (74.6xa0mA/cm2), which is 28.3 times higher than that of Pt/CeO2-OMC. It also shows higher stability (on 32.8xa0mA/cm2) for an extended period of time (30xa0min) with least indication of CO poisoning effects.

Development and Quality Evaluation of Tamarind Plum Blended Squash DuringStorage

The achievement was done to study the combination of tamarind plum blended squash for 90 days’ interval at room temperature. Tamarind and plum was added at a combination of 750: 0, 650: 100, 550: 200, 450: 300, 350:400, 250:500, 150:600 and 50:700 represent each treatment. The prepared tamarind plum blended squash was analyzed physio-chemically for TSS, Ascorbic acid, acidity, sugar acid ration, pH, reducing and non-reducing sugar, organoleptically for taste, color, texture and overall acceptability for a total period of 90 days. The result of the statistical analysis showed that treatment and storage interval shows a significant (P<0.05) effect both physio-chemical and organoleptic evaluation. Results also revealed that the decrease occurred in ascorbic acid content from (39.49 mg/100 gm to 27.40 mg/100 gm), titratable acidity (1.09% to 0.98%),non-reducing sugar (44.36% to 21.97%), and sensory evaluation included taste (6.85 to 5.83), color (6.33 to 5.36), flavor (7.54 to 5.75) and overall acceptability (8.03 to 6.14) while increased was found in total soluble solid (48.98°brix to 49.61°brix), sugar-acid ratio (44.94 to 50.79), pH (2.77 to 2.84), reducing sugar (17.21% to 31.23%) during storage. The maximum mean values were observed for TSS is TPS7 (51.64°brix), ascorbic acid TPS7 (37.87 mg/ 100 gm), titratable acidityTPS1 (2.31%), sugar acid ratio TPS0 (50.55), pH TPS7 (2.93), reducing sugar TPS0 (25.32%), non-reducing sugar TPS4 (37.64%), color TPS5 (6.70), flavourTPS5 (7.54), taste TPS5 (7.00) and overall acceptability TPS5 (7.76). Among all the treatment TPS5 was found to be the best. The result revealed that significant (P<0.05) decreased was found in physio-chemical and organoleptic parameter of treatment TPS5.