Yahia A. Alhamed

Hydrolytic and Thermal Stability of Organic Monolayers on Various Inorganic Substrates

A comparative study is presented of the hydrolytic and thermal stability of 24 different kinds of monolayers on Si(111), Si(100), SiC, SiN, SiO2, CrN, ITO, PAO, Au, and stainless steel surfaces. These surfaces were modified utilizing appropriate organic compounds having a constant alkyl chain length (C18), but with different surface-reactive groups, such as 1-octadecene, 1-octadecyne, 1-octadecyltrichlorosilane, 1-octadecanethiol, 1-octadecylamine and 1-octadecylphosphonic acid. The hydrolytic stability of obtained monolayers was systematically investigated in triplicate in constantly flowing aqueous media at room temperature in acidic (pH 3), basic (pH 11), phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and deionized water (neutral conditions), for a period of 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days, yielding 1152 data points for the hydrolytic stability. The hydrolytic stability was monitored by static contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The covalently bound alkyne monolayers on Si(111), Si(100), and SiC were shown to be among the most stable monolayers under acidic and neutral conditions. Additionally, the thermal stability of 14 different monolayers was studied in vacuum using XPS at elevated temperatures (25-600 °C). Similar to the hydrolytic stability, the covalently bound both alkyne and alkene monolayers on Si(111), Si(100) and SiC started to degrade from temperatures above 260 °C, whereas on oxide surfaces (e.g., PAO) phosphonate monolayers even displayed thermal stability up to ∼500 °C.

New spectral techniques for systems of fractional differential equations using fractional-order generalized Laguerre orthogonal functions

Fractional-order generalized Laguerre functions (FGLFs) are proposed depends on the definition of generalized Laguerre polynomials. In addition, we derive a new formula expressing explicitly any Caputo fractional-order derivatives of FGLFs in terms of FGLFs themselves. We also propose a fractional-order generalized Laguerre tau technique in conjunction with the derived fractional-order derivative formula of FGLFs for solving Caputo type fractional differential equations (FDEs) of order ν (0 < ν < 1). The fractional-order generalized Laguerre pseudo-spectral approximation is investigated for solving nonlinear initial value problem of fractional order ν. The extension of the fractional-order generalized Laguerre pseudo-spectral method is given to solve systems of FDEs. We present the advantages of using the spectral schemes based on FGLFs and compare them with other methods. Several numerical example are implemented for FDEs and systems of FDEs including linear and nonlinear terms. We demonstrate the high accuracy and the efficiency of the proposed techniques.

Hydrogen production by ammonia decomposition using high surface area Mo2N and Co3Mo3N catalysts

High surface area bulk molybdenum nitride catalysts were synthesized via temperature-programmed ammonolysis of an ammonium heptamolybdate and citric acid (CA) composite. The synthesized materials were tested for COx-free H2 production via ammonia decomposition for fuel cell application. Cobalt was added at different loadings (1, 3, and 5 wt%) as a promoter for the bulk molybdenum nitrides. The chemical composition and surface morphology of the nitride catalysts were studied by means of XRD, XPS, SEM-EDAX and TEM techniques. Addition of cobalt increased the formation of the γ-Mo2N phase and cobalt existed as the Co3Mo3N phase, which was uniformly distributed over Mo2N as evidenced by TEM and SEM analyses. A drastic increase in Mo2N crystal size was observed when the Co loading exceeded 3 wt%, which in turn decreased the catalyst activity for ammonia decomposition reaction. All catalysts exhibit higher activity than the reported nitride catalysts at low temperatures. All catalysts showed stable activity for 30 hours. The activation energy calculated for ammonia decomposition was decreased drastically from 131.2 to 99 kJ mol−1 by the addition of cobalt (1 wt%) in Mo2N preparation.

Fractional sub-equation method for the fractional generalized reaction Duffing model and nonlinear fractional Sharma-Tasso-Olver equation

In this paper the fractional sub-equation method is used to construct exact solutions of the fractional generalized reaction Duffing model and nonlinear fractional Sharma-Tasso-Olver equation.The fractional derivative is described in the Jumarie’s modified Riemann-Liouville sense. Two illustrative examples are given, showing the accuracy and convenience of the method.

Oil removal from spent bleaching clay by solvent extraction

Abstract Solvents screening experiments using a Soxhelt extractor were conducted to determine the best solvents for oil removal from spent bleaching clay. The solvents extracted oil in the following decreasing amount: methylethylketone > benzene‐ethanol mixture (1:1 by volume) > acetone > trichloroethylene = dichloromethane > chloroform > petroleum ether > benzene > n‐hexane > methanol. Four of the safest solvents, methylethylketone, acetone, petroleum ether and n‐Hexane were selected for further studies. Large scale treatment of spent clay with the selected solvents were conducted in a batch stirred reactor. The effect of solvent type, solvent to clay ratio (SCR), time of extraction and extent of mixing on the percentage of oil extracted (POE) were investigated. The corresponding optimum conditions for the four solvents were: extraction time time = 5 minutes, solvent to clay ratio = 4 to 5, extraction temperature = 25 °C (room temperature) and mixing rate = 150 to 200 RPM. The bleaching efficiency (compaerd to to fresh clay) of the clay deoiled by methylethylketone, acetone, petroleum ether and n‐hexane were 77%, 65%, 51% and 27%, respectively.

Preparation of activated carbon from fly ash and its application for CO2 capture

Power and desalination plants are one of the main anthropogenic sources for CO2 generation, which is one of the key elements to cause greenhouse gas effect and thus contribute to the global warming. Fly ash (FA) generated in desalination and power plants was converted into activated carbon (AC) treated with KOH at higher temperature and tested for CO2 capturing efficiency. Morphological characteristics of FA such as BET specific surface area (SSA), pore volume, pore diameter, and pore size distribution (PSD) were performed using N2 adsorption isotherm. CO2 adsorption capacity and adsorption isotherms of CO2 over AC were measured by performing thermogravimetric analysis at different temperatures. BET SSA of 161 m2g−1 and adsorption capacity of 26mg CO2/g AC can be obtained by activation at KOH/FA ratio of 5 at 700 °C and activation time of 2 h. Therefore, great potential exists for producing AC from FA, which will have the positive effect of reducing the landfill problem and global warming.

The Transition States for CO2 Capture by Substituted Ethanolamines

Quantum chemical studies are used to understand the electronic and steric effects on the mechanisms of the reaction of substituted ethanolamines with CO2. SCS-MP2/6-311+G(2d,2p) calculations are used to obtain the activation energy barriers and reaction energies for both the carbamate and bicarbonate formation. Implicit solvent effects are included with the universal solvation model SMD. Carbamate formation is more favorable than bicarbonate formation for monoethanolamine (MEA) both kinetically and thermodynamically. Increase of the steric hindrance on the C atoms around the N atom in substituted ethanolamines favors bicarbonate formation over carbamate formation with lower activation barriers and thereby higher reaction rates. In contrast, substitution by an N-methyl or N-ethyl group on MEA leads to a lower activation barrier for both carbamate formation and bicarbonate formation. As a result, higher reaction rates are expected as compared to MEA, and therefore these compounds have significant potential as industrial CO2 capturing solvents.

Partial oxidation of methanol over Au/CeO2–ZrO2 and Au/CeO2–ZrO2–TiO2 catalysts

Experimental data on hydrogen production via a partial oxidation of methanol (POM) reaction on Au/ZrO2, Au/CeO2–ZrO2 and Au/CeO2–ZrO2–TiO2 catalysts is presented in this article. The gold catalysts were prepared by a deposition–precipitation (DP) method and characterized by XRF, XRD, H2-TPR, XPS methods N2 adsorption. The activity results show that the catalyst containing 1 wt% gold supported on a CeO2–ZrO2 carrier demonstrates very good hydrogen selectivity and the highest catalytic activity among all tested catalysts. The optimal working temperature established was 375 °C. At this temperature 75.5% hydrogen selectivity was registered. The presence of oxidized gold in the catalysts composition as well as the support redox properties are the major factors controlling the observed catalytic activity.

A Modified Generalized Laguerre-Gauss Collocation Method for Fractional Neutral Functional-Differential Equations on the Half-Line

The modified generalized Laguerre-Gauss collocation (MGLC) method is applied to obtain an approximate solution of fractional neutral functional-differential equations with proportional delays on the half-line. The proposed technique is based on modified generalized Laguerre polynomials and Gauss quadrature integration of such polynomials. The main advantage of the present method is to reduce the solution of fractional neutral functional-differential equations into a system of algebraic equations. Reasonable numerical results are achieved by choosing few modified generalized Laguerre-Gauss collocation points. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and versatility of the proposed method on the half-line.

COBALT SUPPORTED ON CARBON NANOTUBES. AN EFFICIENT CATALYST FOR AMMONIA DECOMPOSITION

Cobalt supported on carbon nanotubes catalyst is much more active in reaction of ammonia decomposition than nickel and iron catalysts. The observed low temperature activity of Co/carbon nanotubes catalysts is promising option for creating of ammonia decomposition catalysts with low working temperatures.