Low Temperature Production of Formaldehyde from Carbon Dioxide and Ethane by Plasma-Assisted Catalysis in a Ferroelectrically Moderated Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor

Plasma-assisted catalysis of the reaction between CO2 and C2H6 in a single-pass, ferroelectrically moderated dielectric barrier discharge reactor has been studied at near ambient temperature as a function of physicochemical and electrical reaction variables. The presence of small amounts of a vanadia/alumina catalyst dispersed on the BaTiO3 ferroelectric markedly enhanced the production of formaldehyde, the…

Anchoring effect on (tetra)carboxyphenyl porphyrin/TiO2 composite films for VOC optical detection

The optical gas sensing properties of Zn-(II)-5,10,15,20-tetra(3-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (m-ZnTCPP) and Zn-(II)-5,10,15,20-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (p-ZnTCPP) bound to microcolumnar TiO2 thin films have been compared and explained in terms of their different molecular structure and anchoring to the titania surface. This different binding has been confirmed by specular reflectance FTIR revealing that m-ZnTCPP is bound by its four carboxylic groups…

On the kinetic and thermodynamic electron temperatures in non-thermal plasmas

The framework to describe the out-of-equilibrium free electrons in cold plasmas is developed assuming the electron entropy is defined through the Boltzmann H-theorem. Our theory explains why the Saha-Boltzmann relation among higher-lying excited states by means of the electron kinetic temperature is fulfilled, even when free electrons are far from equilibrium. The thermodynamic electron temperature,…

Vertically Aligned Hybrid Core/Shell Semiconductor Nanowires for Photonics Applications

A family of 1D organic/inorganic core/shell materials formed by an inner organic nanowire (ONW) conformally covered with an inorganic wide band gap semiconductor (ZnO or TiO2) layer is presented. The developed procedure is a two-steps vacuum methodology involving the formation of supported single crystal small-molecule nanowires by physical vapor deposition and plasma enhance chemical vapor…

Vertically Aligned Hybrid Core/Shell Semiconductor Nanowires for Photonics Applications

A family of 1D organic/inorganic core/shell materials formed by an inner organic nanowire (ONW) conformally covered with an inorganic wide band gap semiconductor (ZnO or TiO2) layer is presented. The developed procedure is a two-steps vacuum methodology involving the formation of supported single crystal small-molecule nanowires by physical vapor deposition and plasma enhance chemical vapor…