Ka-Fu Yung

Facile design of Au@Pt core-shell nanostructures: Formation of Pt submonolayers with tunable coverage and their applications in electrocatalysis

AbstractA facile design of Pt nanostructures from submonolayer to monolayer has been realized by ion adsorption-in situ electrochemical reduction on Au nanoparticles supported on multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The as prepared Au@Pt/CNTs catalysts display coverage-specific electrocatalysis. Au@Pt/CNTs with low Pt coverage is inactive towards methanol oxidation whereas it oxidizes formic acid effectively through a direct pathway with mass specific activity 90 times that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Due to its inertness to methanol, it shows high performance in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with high methanol tolerance. In contrast, simply increasing the Pt coverage to above 40% switches the formic acid oxidation process to both direct and indirect catalytic pathways, and also results in high methanol oxidation activity.

Over-expression of AtPAP2 in Camelina sativa leads to faster plant growth and higher seed yield

BackgroundLipids extracted from seeds of Camelina sativa have been successfully used as a reliable source of aviation biofuels. This biofuel is environmentally friendly because the drought resistance, frost tolerance and low fertilizer requirement of Camelina sativa allow it to grow on marginal lands. Improving the species growth and seed yield by genetic engineering is therefore a target for the biofuels industry. In Arabidopsis, overexpression of purple acid phosphatase 2 encoded by Arabidopsis (AtPAP2) promotes plant growth by modulating carbon metabolism. Overexpression lines bolt earlier and produce 50% more seeds per plant than wild type. In this study, we explored the effects of overexpressing AtPAP2 in Camelina sativa.ResultsUnder controlled environmental conditions, overexpression of AtPAP2 in Camelina sativa resulted in longer hypocotyls, earlier flowering, faster growth rate, higher photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance, increased seed yield and seed size in comparison with the wild-type line and null-lines. Similar to transgenic Arabidopsis, activity of sucrose phosphate synthase in leaves of transgenic Camelina was also significantly up-regulated. Sucrose produced in photosynthetic tissues supplies the building blocks for cellulose, starch and lipids for growth and fuel for anabolic metabolism. Changes in carbon flow and sink/source activities in transgenic lines may affect floral, architectural, and reproductive traits of plants.ConclusionsLipids extracted from the seeds of Camelina sativa have been used as a major constituent of aviation biofuels. The improved growth rate and seed yield of transgenic Camelina under controlled environmental conditions have the potential to boost oil yield on an area basis in field conditions and thus make Camelina-based biofuels more environmentally friendly and economically attractive.

One-step production of biodiesel from rice bran oil catalyzed by chlorosulfonic acid modified zirconia via simultaneous esterification and transesterification.

Due to the high content (25-50%) of free fatty acid (FFA), crude rice bran oil usually requires a two steps conversion or one step conversion with very harsh condition for simultaneous esterification and transesterification. In this study, chlorosulfonic acid modified zirconia (HClSO3-ZrO2) with strong acidity and durability is prepared and it shows excellent catalytic activity toward simultaneous esterification and transesterification. Under a relative low reaction temperature of 120 °C, HClSO3-ZrO2 catalyzes a complete conversion of simulated crude rice bran oil (refined oil with 40 wt% FFA) into biodiesel and the conversion yield keep at above 92% for at least three cycles. Further investigation on the tolerance towards FFA and water reveals that it maintains high activity even with the presence of 40 wt% FFA and 3 wt% water. It shows that HClSO3-ZrO2 is a robust and durable catalyst which shows high potential to be commercial catalyst for biodiesel production from low grade feedstock.

Synthesis of hollow PtAg alloy nanospheres with excellent electrocatalytic performances towards methanol and formic acid oxidations

Hollow PtAg alloy nanospheres were synthesized via galvanic replacement reaction between silver nanoparticles and K2PtCl4 at 60 °C. Their morphology, composition and structure were characterized by UV-vis, XRD, TEM, HRTEM, SAED, EDX and XPS. It was found that the shell thickness and roughness could be controlled by varying the amount of Pt precursor solutions. Compared with commercially available Pt black, the PtAg showed higher catalytic activity and higher CO tolerance towards the electro-oxidations of methanol and formic acid, which make them a prominent catalyst for DMFCs and DFAFCs.

Effect of Waste Cooking Oil Biodiesel on the Properties of Particulate from a DI Diesel Engine

The present work focuses on the effect of waste cooking oil biodiesel on the particulate mass, number concentration, nanostructure, and oxidative reactivity under different engine speeds and engine loads. Particulate samples were collected from the diluted exhaust of a medium-duty direct injection diesel engine and were used to analyze the physico-chemical properties via the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the thermogravimetric analyzer/differential scanning calorimeter (TGA/DSC). The TEM images reveal that smaller primary particles are formed at higher engine speed, lower engine load, or using biodiesel. Quantitative analysis of the nanostructures indicates more soot with more disordered configuration, in which shorter and more curved graphene layer is prevailing at lower engine load or when using biodiesel. Furthermore, the TGA results infer that the soot oxidative reactivity is closely related to the nanostructure properties and the effect of engine load is more pronounced than the effect of engine speed. Also biodiesel soot has faster oxidative reactivity than diesel soot. Moreover, results obtained for B30 (30% biodiesel and 70% diesel fuel) lie in between those for biodiesel and diesel fuel. Copyright 2015 American Association for Aerosol Research

Melamine‐tainted milk product‐associated urinary stones in children

Background:  An outbreak of urinary stones related to consumption of melamine‐tainted milk products (MTMP) occurred in China in 2008. The aim of the present study was to evaluate such children to identify their clinical features and risk factors.

Effective heterogeneous transition metal glycerolates catalysts for one-step biodiesel production from low grade non-refined Jatropha oil and crude aqueous bioethanol.

The utilization of bioethanol as the alcohol source for biodiesel production is more environmentally advantageous over methanol owing to its lower toxicity, lower flammability and its sustainable supply from renewable agricultural resources. However, as the presence of water in crude bioethanol is the critical factor limiting the biodiesel production process, the energy-intensive and costly purification of bioethanol is necessary for biodiesel application. Manganese glycerolate (MnGly) is reported the first time here as a robust heterogeneous catalyst that exhibited over 90% conversion by using aqueous ethanol containing 80 wt.% of water in the production of fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE). The employment of 95 wt.% ethanol with respect to water could achieve 99.7% feedstock conversion in 6 hours under the optimal reaction conditions: reaction temperature (150 °C), feedstock-to-ethanol molar ratio (1:20) and catalyst loading (6 wt.%). Commercially available low grade crude bioethanol with the presence of impurities like sugars were applied which demonstrated remarkable catalytic activity in 24 hours. The high water tolerance of MnGly towards biodiesel production could eventually simplify the purification of bioethanol that consumes less energy and production cost.

Highly water-absorbing silk yarn with interpenetrating network via in situ polymerization

Silk was modified via in situ polymerization of two monomers acrylamide and sodium acrylate by swelling in an effective LiBr dissolution system. Swelling of natural silks in LiBr solutions of low concentration was clearly observed under optical microscope, and their conformational changes were revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Dissolution tests and FTIR spectra of these modified silks suggested the presence of interpenetrating network of polyacrylamide and poly(sodium acrylate) in the silk yarns. These modified silks exhibited superior water absorption to that of raw silk and greatly improved mechanical properties in both dry and wet states. These novel modified silks also showed low cytotoxicity towards skin keratinocytes, having potential applications in biomedical textiles. This modification method by in situ polymerization after swelling in LiBr provides a new route to highly enhance the properties and performance of silk for various applications.

Heterogeneous alkaline earth metal–transition metal bimetallic catalysts for synthesis of biodiesel from low grade unrefined feedstock

A bimetallic alkaline earth metal–transition metal oxide, synthesized through a method of direct low-temperature decomposition of the bimetallic complex, is reported for the synthesis of biodiesel. Due to the high phase purity of the Ca/Fe catalytic system and its catalytic stability and robustness, the Ca/Fe catalyst was selected for further investigation. A transesterification conversion of 99.5% could be achieved in 1 h under the optimal conditions: feedstock to methanol, 1 : 20; catalyst loading, 6 wt%; temperature, 120 °C. ANOVA tests suggested that the reaction temperature was discerned as the most prominent factor which contributed 82.84% to the overall catalytic feedstock conversion. In addition, the Ca/Fe catalytic system demonstrated a high FFA tolerance of 2 wt% and a water tolerance of 1 wt% with remarkable catalytic activity in one-step biodiesel synthesis.

Surfactant-Free microwave-assisted synthesis of Fe-doped ZnO nanostars as photocatalyst for degradation of tropaeolin o in water under visible light

Iron-doped zinc oxide nanostar was synthesized by the microwave-assisted surfactant-free hydrolysis method. The as-synthesized Fe-doped ZnO nanostars catalyst was fully characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy (UV-DRA). The photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst was investigated for the photocatalytic degradation of Tropaeolin O under visible light irradiation. It is observed that the doping of Fe ions enhances the absorption of the visible light and thus the photocatalytic degradation rate of Tropaeolin O would increase. Despite the Taguchi orthogonal experimental design method, the photocatalytic conversion could be achieved at 99.8% in the Fe-doped ZnO catalyzed photodegradation reaction under the optimal reaction conditions of catalyst loading (30mg), temperature (60°C), light distance (0 cm), initial pH (pH = 9), and irradiation time (3 h). The Fe-doped ZnO photocatalyst can also be easily recovered and directly reused for eight cycles with over 70% conversion.