Cooperative Catalysis of Vibrationally Excited CO2 and Alloy Catalyst Breaks the Thermodynamic Equilibrium Limitation.

Using nonthermal plasma (NTP) to promote CO2 hydrogenation is one of the most promising approaches that overcome the limitations of conventional thermal catalysis. However, the catalytic surface reaction dynamics of NTP-activated species are still under debate. The NTP-activated CO2 hydrogenation was investigated in Pd2Ga/SiO2 alloy catalysts and compared to thermal conditions. Although both thermal and NTP conditions showed close to 100% CO selectivity, it is worth emphasizing that when activated by NTP, CO2 conversion not only improves more than 2-fold under thermal conditions but also breaks the thermodynamic equilibrium limitation. Mechanistic insights into NTP-activated species and alloy catalyst surface were investigated by using in situ transmission infrared spectroscopy, where catalyst surface species were identified during NTP irradiation. Moreover, in in situ X-ray absorption fine-structure analysis under reaction conditions, the catalyst under NTP conditions not only did not undergo restructuring affecting CO2 hydrogenation but also could clearly rule out catalyst activation by heating. In situ characterizations of the catalysts during CO2 hydrogenation depict that vibrationally excited CO2 significantly enhances the catalytic reaction. The agreement of approaches combining experimental studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations substantiates that vibrationally excited CO2 reacts directly with hydrogen adsorbed on Pd sites while accelerating formate formation due to neighboring Ga sites. Moreover, DFT analysis deduces the key reaction pathway that the decomposition of monodentate formate is promoted by plasma-activated hydrogen species. This work enables the high designability of CO2 hydrogenation catalysts toward value-added chemicals based on the electrification of chemical processes via NTP.

Plasma-chemical promotion of catalysis for CH4 dry reforming: unveiling plasma-enabled reaction mechanisms.

A kinetic study revealed that a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst exhibited a drastic increase in CH4 and CO2 conversion under nonthermal plasma when lanthanum was added to the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst as a promoter. For a better fundamental understanding of the plasma and catalyst interfacial phenomena, we employed in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) under plasma-on conditions to elucidate the nonthermal plasma-enabled reaction enhancement mechanisms. Compared with thermal catalysis, plasma-activated CO2 shows a 1.7-fold enhancement for bidentate (1560 and 1290 cm-1) and monodentate carbonate (1425 and 1345 cm-1) formation on La. Moreover, new peaks of bicarbonate (1655 cm-1) and bridge carbonate (1720 cm-1) were formed due to nonthermal plasma interactions. CO2-TPD study after thermal- and plasma-activated CO2 treatment further confirmed that plasma-activated CO2 enhances bidentate and monodentate carbonate generation with a 1.5-fold promotion at high temperature (500 °C). XRD and EDS analyses suggest that atomic-scale interaction between CO2-La and CHx-Ni is possible over the complex La-Ni-Al oxide; vibrationally excited CO2-induced carbonates provide the key to enhancing the overall performance of CH4 dry reforming at low temperature.

Highly efficient decomposition of toluene using a high-temperature plasma-catalysis reactor.

Plasma-catalysis technologies (PCTs) have the potential to control the emissions of volatile organic compounds, although their low-energy efficiency is a bottleneck for their practical applications. A plasma-catalyst reactor filled with a CeO2/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was developed to decompose toluene with a high-energy efficiency enhanced by the elevating reaction temperature. When the reaction temperature was raised from 50 °C to 250 °C, toluene conversion dramatically increased from 45.3% to 95.5% and the energy efficiency increased from 53.5 g/kWh to 113.0 g/kWh. Conversely, the toluene conversion using a thermal catalysis technology (TCT) exhibited a maximum of 16.7%. The activation energy of toluene decomposition using PCTs is 14.0 kJ/mol, which is far lower than those of toluene decomposition using TCTs, which implies that toluene decomposition using PCT differs from that using TCT. The experimental results revealed that the Ce3+/Ce4+ ratio decreased and Oads/Olatt ratio increased after the 40-h evaluation experiment, suggesting that CeO2 promoted the formation of the reactive oxygen species that is beneficial for toluene decomposition.

Physical properties and biological/odontogenic effects of an experimentally developed fast-setting α-tricalcium phosphate-based pulp capping material.

BACKGROUND: Recently, fast-setting α-tricalcium-phosphate (TCP) cement was developed for use in the pulp capping process. The aim of this study was to investigate the physical properties and biological effects of α-TCP cement in comparison with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). METHODS: We measured the setting time, pH values, compressive strength, and solubility of the two materials. We evaluated biocompatibility on the basis of cell morphology and a viability test using human dental pulp cells (hDPCs). Chemical composition of each material was analyzed by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopic (EDS) analysis. The expression of odontogenic-related genes was evaluated by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. The calcified nodule formation was measured by Alizarin red staining. We performed the pulp capping procedure on rat teeth for histological investigation. The data were analyzed by an independent t-test for physical properties, one-way ANOVA for biological effects, and the Mann-Whitney U test for tertiary dentin formation. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all tests. RESULTS: The setting time, pH values, and compressive strength of α-TCP was lower than that of MTA (P < 0.05); however, the solubility of α-TCP was higher than that of MTA (P < 0.05). The resultant cell viability observed with the two materials was similar (P > 0.05). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that cells attached to both materials were flat and had cytoplasmic extensions. The expression of odontogenic-related markers and mineralized nodule formation were higher in the two experimental groups compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Continuous tertiary dentin was formed underneath the capping materials in all samples of the tested groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that the α-TCP exhibited biocompatibility and odontogenicity comparable to MTA, whereas it had a quicker setting time.

Gas-to-particle conversion in surface discharge nonthermal plasmas and its implications for atmospheric chemistry.

This paper presents some experimental data on gas-to-particle conversion of benzene using nonthermal plasma (NTP) technology and discusses the possibility of its technical application in atmospheric chemistry. Aerosol measurement using a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) revealed that the parts of benzene molecules were converted into a nanometer-sized aerosol. Aerosol formation was found to be highly related with the missing part in carbon balance. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the aerosols formed in synthetic humid air are the collection of nanoparticles. The carbonyl band (C=O) was found to be an important chemical constituent in the aerosol. The potential of the NTP as an accelerated test tool in studying secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from VOCs will be also addressed.

Identification of chemicals to inhibit the kinase activity of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), a Parkinson's disease-associated protein.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a late-onset neurodegenerative disease which occurs at more than 1% in populations aging 65-years and over. Recently, leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) has been identified as a causative gene for autosomal dominantly inherited familial PD cases. LRRK2 G2019S which is a prevalent mutant found in familial PD patients with LRRK2 mutations, exhibited kinase activity stronger than that of the wild type, suggesting the LRRK2 kinase inhibitor as a potential PD therapeutics. To develop such therapeutics, we initially screened a small chemical library and selected compound 1, whose IC(50) is about 13.2 µM. To develop better inhibitors, we tested five of the compound 1 derivatives and found a slightly better inhibitor, compound 4, whose IC(50) is 4.1 µM. The cell-based assay showed that these two chemicals inhibited oxidative stress-induced neurotoxicity caused by over-expression of a PD-specific LRRK2 mutant, G2019S. In addition, the structural analysis of compound 4 suggested hydrogen bond interactions between compound 4 and Ala 1950 residue in the backbone of the ATP binding pocket of LRRK2 kinas domain. Therefore, compound 4 may be a promising lead compound to further develop a PD therapeutics based on LRRK2 kinase inhibition.

The destruction of atmospheric pressure propane and propene using a surface discharge plasma reactor.

Surface discharge plasma reactors (SDRs) have been shown to be effective in removing a wide range of pollutants. In this study, the effectiveness of a SDR for the removal of propane and propene from an atmospheric pressure air stream was investigated. For an input energy of 100 J L-1, the conversions were found to be 16% and 68% for propane and propene, respectively. The total carbon recovery was found to increase with increasing specific input energy (SIE) for both hydrocarbons. FTIR analysis showed that CO and CO2 are the major end-products, and GC-MS identified formic acid as a significant byproduct. The effect of initial propane concentration was also investigated. The reaction chemistry involved in the oxidative plasma conversion of propane and propene is discussed.