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Energy: Solar-driven evaporation may enable off-grid applications
By Mitch Jacoby
In an advance that may lead to affordable solar-powered sanitation and water purification for use in remote areas, researchers have demonstrated that shining light on aqueous suspensions of nanoparticles quickly generates copious amounts of steam without boiling the water, bypassing energy-intensive bulk water heating (ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn304948h). The finding may also lead to increased energy efficiency in electricity generation.
Researchers have known for some years that irradiating solutions of light-absorbing nanoparticles with laser light, for example, causes dramatic heating of the particle surfaces. Much of the work in that area has been devoted to improving the thermal conductivity of the liquids with the aim of developing applications that exploit light-to-heat energy conversion.
In the new study, which was conducted at Rice University, researchers follow a different course. The group, which includes graduate student Oara Neumann and electrical engineering and physics professors Naomi J. Halas and Peter Nordlander, is aiming to capitalize on the energy advantage of light-driven evaporation.
The team prepared aqueous solutions of nanosized particles with silica cores and gold shells and separate solutions of carbon nanoparticles. Both types of particles absorb a broad spectrum of solar light. The solutions were held in transparent tubes and partially immersed in an ice bath in a test apparatus fitted with pressure and temperature sensors.
The researchers report that within five seconds of exposing the core-shell particles to sunlight, the vapor pressure above the solution rose as a result of steam generation. For the carbon nanoparticles, the time delay was roughly 20 seconds. Once the process is under way, steam generation occurs at similar rates for both solutions, they say. In a related demonstration, the team showed that water-ethanol mixtures can be quickly separated via sunlight-driven distillation, resulting in 99% pure ethanol.
Evaporation is stimulated by light absorption, which excites surface electrons and causes a rapid temperature rise in the nanoscale vicinity of the particles, the team explains. The sudden heating envelops the particles in nanosized steam shells that can coalesce to form bubbles, which then move to the liquid-air interface and escape from the liquid.
The group finds that 82% of the absorbed sunlight goes directly to generating steam. They also report an overall sunlight-to-steam energy efficiency of 24% for their unoptimized process.
“This study is unique in that it demonstrates real-life applications utilizing ‘free’ solar energy for something potentially very useful,” says physics professor Alexander Govorov of Ohio University. The advantages of using solar-heated nanoparticles for applications such as distillation should certainly be studied further, he adds.
Biofuels: EPA denies request to suspend biofuels mandate despite rising corn prices
By Jeff Johnson
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Nov. 16 that it would not waive a requirement that 13.2 billion gal of corn-based ethanol be added to gasoline this year and part of next year. Seeking the waiver to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) were some nine governors, 26 senators, and 150 members of the House of Representatives as well as many livestock, poultry, and other farmers who depend on corn for animal food.
Those seeking the waiver complain about the rising price of corn and see ethanol production, which uses about 45% of the U.S. corn crop as a raw material, as the problem. Because of a drought in the U.S. this summer, corn yields have plummeted to a 17-year low, according to USDA. The corn harvest is 13% below last year’s, and over the past three years, the price of corn has nearly doubled (C&EN, Oct. 29, page 18).
EPA received more than 2,400 comments from a variety of stakeholders when making its decision.
EPA maintains that to gain a waiver under the law, petitioners must show “severe economic harm”. In this case, EPA says that threshold was not met.
“We recognize that this year’s drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers,” says Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air & Radiation. “But our extensive analysis makes clear that congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met” and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, economic impact.
Several economic analyses of the agricultural sector show that, on average, waiving the mandate would reduce corn prices only by approximately 1%, EPA says. Other analyses show that waiving the mandate would not impact household energy costs, the gency adds.
This year marks the second time the agency has considered an RFS waiver. In 2008, the State of Texas sought a waiver, but in that case as well, EPA concluded that meeting the standard did not impose severe harm.
Chemical & Engineering News
ChemCatChem
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Chao Wen, Yuanyuan Cui, Anyuan Yin, Kangnian Fan, Wei-Lin Dai
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ChemSusChem
Oxidative Methane Upgrading
Ceri Hammond, Sabrina Conrad, Ive Hermans
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Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis
Recent Developments in Enantioselective Metal-Catalyzed Domino Reactions
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Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Mild and Homogeneous Cobalt-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of C=C, C=O, and C=N Bonds
Guoqi Zhang, Brian L. Scott, Susan K. Hanson
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Applied Organometallic Chemistry
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Chemical Engineering and Technology
Kinetics of o-Xylene Combustion over a Pt/Alumina Catalyst
C. M. Manta, G. Bozga, G. Bercaru, C. S. Bîldea
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Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering
The surface structure and chemical characters of activated carbon fibers modified by plasma
Jia-Yong Zhou, Zu-Wu Wang, Rong Zuo, Ye Zhou, Xiao-Man Cao, Kang Cheng
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/apj.570/full
Chemistry – A European Journal
Catalytic Enantioselective Desymmetrisation as a Tool for the Synthesis of Hodgkinsine and Hodgkinsine B
Robert H. Snell, Matthew J. Durbin, Robert L. Woodward, Michael C. Willis
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.201203150/full
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
Organosolv lignin depolymerization with different base catalysts
Ana Toledano, Luis Serrano, Jalel Labidi
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jctb.3799/full
Helvetica Chimica Acta
Chiral Proline-Based P,O and P,N Ligands for Iridium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation
Denise Rageot, Andreas Pfaltz
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hlca.201200437/pdf
HAdvanced Materials
Nano-photocatalytic Materials: Possibilities and Challenges
Hua Tong, Shuxin Ouyang, Yingpu Bi, Naoto Umezawa, Mitsutake Oshikiri, Jinhua Ye
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201102752/full
Advanced Functional Materials
Efficient Synthesis of Heteroatom (N or S)-Doped Graphene Based on Ultrathin Graphene Oxide-Porous Silica Sheets for Oxygen Reduction Reactions
Shubin Yang, Linjie Zhi, Kun Tang, Xinliang Feng, Joachim Maier, Klaus Müllen
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201200186/full
Israel Journal of Chemistry
Asymmetric Autocatalysis Triggered by Chiral Crystals Formed from Achiral Compounds and Chiral Isotopomers
Tsuneomi Kawasaki, Kenso Soai
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijch.201100155/full
Chinese Journal of Chemistry
Mg-Al Mixed Oxides Supported Bimetallic Au-Pd Nanoparticles with Superior Catalytic Properties in Aerobic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol and Glycerol
Liang Wang, Wei Zhang, Shangjing Zeng, Dangsheng Su, Xiangju Meng, Fengshou Xiao
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cjoc.201200271/pdf
Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society
Synthesis of Dendrimer-Encapsulated Silver Nanoparticles and Its Catalytic Activity on the Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol
I. V. Asharani, D. Thirumalai
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jccs.201100734/pdf
WIRES: Computational Molecular Science
Understanding palladium complexes structures and reactivities: beyond classical point of view
Etienne Derat, Giovanni Maestri
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcms.1137/full
Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie
(NH4)AgMoS4: Synthesis, Structure and Catalytic Activity
Maryam Shafaei-Fallah, Christos D. Malliakas, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/zaac.201200309/full
The Chemical Record
On Being Green: Can Flow Chemistry Help?
Steven V. Ley
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tcr.201100041/full
Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry
Cu(II)-catalyzed oxidation of thiols by superoxide ligated to CoIII2
Ritu Mishra, Rupendranath Banerjee, Subrata Mukhopadhyay
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/poc.2991/full
European Journal of Organic Chemistry
Tandem Aldol Condensation/Platinacycle-Catalyzed Addition Reactions of Aldehydes, Methyl Ketones, and Arylboronic Acids
Yuan-Xi Liao, Qiao-Sheng Hu
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejoc.201200867/full
European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
Transition-Metal Complexes Containing the Dinucleating Tetra-N-Dentate 3,5-Bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazole (Hbpp) Ligand – A Robust Scaffold for Multiple Applications Including the Catalytic Oxidation of Water to Molecular Oxygen
Jordi García-Antón, Roger Bofill, Lluís Escriche, Antoni Llobet, Xavier Sala
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Electroanalysis
Porous Nanostructured Metals for Electrocatalysis
Dao-Jun Guo, Yi Ding
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/elan.201200450/full
ChemPhysChem
Role of Iron Carbonyls in the Inhibition of Oxygen Activation for the Oxidation of CO Catalyzed by Iron Oxide-Supported Gold
S. A. Jimenez-Lam, Z. Martinez-Ramirez, I. A. Santos-López, B. E. Handy, María G. Cárdenas-Galindo, J. C. Fierro-Gonzalez
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cphc.201200665/full
AIChE Journal
Development of silica-gel-supported polyethylenimine sorbents for CO2 capture from flue gas
Zhonghua Zhang, Xiaoliang Ma, Dongxiang Wang, Chunshan Song, Yonggang Wang
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.12771/full
The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering
Screening CO2/N2 selectivity in metal-organic frameworks using Monte Carlo simulations and ideal adsorbed solution theory
Allison N. Dickey, A. Özgür Yazaydın, Richard R. Willis, Randall Q. Snurr
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cjce.20700/full
Journal of Peptide Science
Peptides as asymmetric catalysts and templates for the controlled formation of Ag nanoparticles
Helma Wennemers
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/psc.2422/full
Chemistry and Biodiversity
Bacterial beta-Aminopeptidases: Structural Insights and Applications for Bio-catalysis
Tobias Heck, Birgit Geueke, Hans-Peter E. Kohler
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cbdv.201200305/pdf