Oxygen-plasma-assisted formaldehyde adsorption mechanism of SnO2electrospun fibers.

Chemisorbed oxygen acts a crucial role in the redox reaction of semiconductor gas sensors, and which is of great significance for improving gas sensing performance. In this study, an oxygen-plasma-assisted technology is presented to enhance the chemisorbed oxygen for improving the formaldehyde sensing performance of SnO2electropun fiber. An inductively coupled plasma device was used for oxygen plasma treatment of SnO2electrospun fibers. The surface of SnO2electrospun fibers was bombarded with high-energy oxygen plasma for facilitating the chemisorption of electronegative oxygen molecules on the SnO2(110) surface to obtain an oxygen-rich structure. Oxygen-plasma-assisted SnO2electrospun fibers exhibited excellent formaldehyde sensing performance. The formaldehyde adsorption mechanism of oxygen-rich SnO2was investigated using density functional theory. After oxygen plasma modification, the adsorption energy and the charge transfer number of formaldehyde to SnO2were increased significantly. And an unoccupied electronic state appeared in the SnO2band structure, which could enhance the formaldehyde adsorption ability of SnO2. The gas sensing test revealed that plasma-treated SnO2electrospun fibers exhibited excellent gas sensing properties to formaldehyde, low operating temperature, high response sensitivity, and considerable cross-selectivity. Thus, plasma modification is a simple and effective method to improve the gas sensing performance of sensors.

Tip Interface Exchange-Coupling Based on "Bi-Anisotropic" Nanocomposites with Low Rare-Earth Content.

Specially designed SmCo5/Co magnetic nanocomposites have been fabricated by a "bottom up" process. SmCo5 nanochips were first prepared by solution-phase chemical synthesis combined with reductive annealing and then coated by chemical deposition of Co nanorods. Both the SmCo5 nanochips and Co nanorods are anisotropic and could be simultaneously aligned under the external magnetic field. Magnetic measurements applied on these "bi-anisotropic" SmCo5/Co composites show high magnetic performance with the Co phase content in a wide range from 10 to 80 wt %. For the first time ever, the applicable exchange-coupled nanocomposites with a rare-earth content lower than 7 wt % was realized, which exhibits the coercivity close to 10 kOe and remanence 31% larger than that of single phase SmCo5. 3-D micromagnetic simulations were performed to reveal that the reversal mechanism in the Co phase was transferred from the incoherent mode to the coherent mode under a tip interface exchange-coupling with a SmCo5 surface.

A unique synthesis of rare-earth-Co-based single crystal particles by "self-aligned" Co nano-arrays.

In this study, anisotropic SmCo5 magnets were prepared by a distinctive method, which is the high-temperature reductive annealing of Co@Sm2O3 with a specially designed nanostructure. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and elemental mapping show that the precursor self-assembly is composed of hcp-structured Co nano-rods with a coherent crystallographic orientation. During high temperature reduction, the Sm2O3 shell preserves the original morphology and alignment of these anisotropic Co nano-arrays, providing a template for hcp-structured SmCo5 single crystal particle synthesis. The as-prepared SmCo5 magnets exhibit well-controlled size and morphology, and a high coercivity of 30.9 kOe at room temperature. No stabilizer coating is necessary to prevent the formation of polycrystals in this synthesis.

A Flame-Reaction Method for the Large-Scale Synthesis of High-Performance Smx Coy Nanomagnets.

We report a flame-reaction method to synthesize high-performance Smx Coy (x=1, y=5; x=2, y=17) particles on a multigram scale. This flame reaction allows the controlled decomposition of Sm(NO3 )3 and Co(NO3 )2 to 320 nm SmCo-O (SmCoO3 + Co3 O4 ) particles. A 5.8 g sample of SmCo3.8 -O particles was coated with CaO and then reduced at 900 °C by Ca to give 4.2 g of 260 nm SmCo5 particles. The SmCo5 particles are strongly ferromagnetic and the aligned particles in epoxy resin exhibit a large room-temperature coercivity (Hc ) of 41.8 kOe and giant (BH)max (maximum magnetic energy product) of 19.6 MGOe, the highest value ever reported for SmCo5 made by chemical methods. This synthesis can be extended to synthesize Sm2 Co17 particles, providing a general approach to scaling up the synthesis of high-performance Smx Coy nanomagnets for permanent magnet applications.

Chemically synthesized anisotropic SmCo5 nanomagnets with a large energy product.

In this communication, we report a facile strategy to chemically synthesize anisotropic SmCo5 nanomagnets with a large magnetic energy product (BH). First, we designed a Co3O4@Sm2O3-CaO precursor by a one-pot method, which could be further reduced into uniform single-crystal SmCo5 particles under the stabilization of CaO coating. Following that, CaO was removed under an oxygen-free environment to impede oxidation. Finally, 130 ± 10 nm SmCo5 particles were aligned to be nanomagnet, exhibiting a large (BH)max value of 18.1 MGOe, which is the highest value reported by chemical methods.

[Implement of completely autotrophic nitrogen removal in EGSB reactor and its operation optimization].

An expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor inoculated simultaneously with aerobic ammonium oxidation sludge and anaerobic ammonium oxidation sludge were start-up to enrich completely autotrophic nitrogen removal granular sludge. Total nitrogen (TN) removal rate reached 0.101 kg x (m3 x d)(-1). Based on hypothesis of boundary layer, the transfer process between granular sludge and bulk liquid was modified, which was coupled with substance transfer process in granular sludge and aerobic ammonium oxidation, anaerobic ammonium oxidation, nitrite oxidation process, and completely autotrophic nitrogen removal model was found. The model was validated with the experimental results. According to simulation results, the operation of the reactor was optimized, TN removal efficiency and TN removal rate were increased from 52% to 61% and 0.103 kg x (m3 x d)(-1) to 0.114 kg x (m3 x d)(-1) respectively.

Novel angular furoquinolinones bearing flexible chain as antitumor agent: design, synthesis, cytotoxic evaluation, and DNA-binding studies.

A series of novel N-substituted angular furoquinolinone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their antitumor activities against QGY, K562, HeLa, P388, and A549 cell lines in vitro. The derivatives bearing basic amino side chain showed an improved antitumor activity. Compound 5h N-(2-dimethylamino-ethyl)-2-(4,8,9-trimethyl-2-oxo-2H-furo[2,3-h]quinolin-1-yl)-acetamide exhibited the highest activities against P388 and A549 cell lines, which are evidenced by the IC(50) values that are four to five fold lower than that for unsubstituted parent compound. DNA-binding experiments suggested that these derivatives bind to DNA through intercalation.

[Ammonia oxidation kinetics of ammonia oxidizer mixed culture under the conditions of O2 and trace NO2 mixed gasses].

The kinetics of the NO2-dependent ammonia oxidation was developed for ammonia oxidizer mixed culture when there was no molecular oxygen in the batch tests. The kinetics parameters were determined, where the half saturate coefficient of NO2 was 0.821 micromol x L(-1), inhibition coefficient of NO2 concentration was 1.721 micromol x L(-1), and the maximum ammonia oxidation rate were 0.144 mg x (mg x h)(-1). After adding the volume fraction of O2 was 2% to trace NO2, the ammonia oxidation rates increased obviously. The maximum ammonia oxidation rate, 0.198 mg x (mg x h)(-1) occurred under the condition of the mixed gasses containing the volume fraction of O2 was 2% and 50 x 10(-6) NO2. Under the condition of mixed gasses containing the volume fraction of O2 was 21% to trace NO2, the ammonia oxidation rates further increased greatly. The maximum ammonia oxidation rate, 0.477 mg x (mg x h)(-1) occurred when the volume fraction of O2 was 21% and 100 x 10(-6) NO2 in the mixed gas, which is 3 times higher than the general aerobic ammonia oxidation rate. The function for NO2 apparently to enhance ammonia oxidation was suggested. The kinetics model of ammonia oxidation under the conditions of O2 and trace NO2 mixed gasses was developed. The model was validated by the results of ammonia oxidation experiments under the conditions of the mixed gasses containing 2% O2 and trace NO2. The mechanism for NO2 to enhance ammonia oxidation under the conditions of O2 and trace NO2 mixed gasses was discussed.