Despite its biological importance, the mechanism of construction of cutin, the polymer matrix of plant cuticles, has not yet been elucidated. Recently, progress on lipid barrier formation of polymers such as cutin and suberin has been recently reviewed by Pollard et al. In their review the authors state that the ubiquitous cutin is the least…
This paper proposes a new methodology for the modification of clays with the mixed Al–Fe and Al–Ce–Fe systems, which involves the synthesis of solid polymeric precursors and their use as pillaring agents in the modification of clays. The process of intercalation of clay with Al13, Al13 + Fe and Al13 + Ce + Fe nitrate…
This work investigates the possibility of using plasmas to treat high boiling point and viscous liquids (HBPVL) and cokes resulting as secondary streams from the refining of oil. For their revalorisation, the use of microwave (MW) induced plasmas of water is proposed, as an alternative to more conventional processes (i.e., catalysis, pyrolysis, combustion, etc.). As…
Fretting corrosion damages are commonly observed when two metallic bodies, which are in contact with each other, are subjected to oscillatory motions of low amplitude. Such kind of degradation mode is often responsible for limited durability of aeronautical joints. In the present paper, a multifunctional duplex coating based on Si–C–N and diamond-like carbon (DLC) materials,…
Calcination and evacuation of a Au/FeOx/CeO2 catalyst at 573 K leads to reduction of the deposited gold to metal. This metal state is stable under oxygen and only at 573 K some metal atoms are oxidized to Auδ+ sites (Au+ cations situated on metal gold particles). However, even at room temperature, gold is readily oxidized…
Recent advances in the comprehension of the growth dynamics of colloidal crystal films opens the door to rational design of experiments aiming at fabricating lattices in which the density of intrinsic defects is minimized. Since such imperfections have a dramatic effect on scattered light of wavelength smaller than the lattice constant, the evaluation of the…
Herein we present a detailed analysis of the effect of the spin-coating protocol over the optical properties of nanoparticle-based one-dimensional photonic crystals. Based on these results, we provide a reliable synthetic route to attain high-quality porous multilayers in which the effect of imperfections is minimized and whose Bragg diffraction can be precisely tuned over the…
Compounds containing rare earths are of increasing technological interest especially because of their unique mechanical, magnetic, electrical, and optical properties. Among them, rare earth oxyorthosilicates are attractive scintillators for γ- and X-ray spectroscopy and detection. However, there are many structural aspects of those compounds that are not clear. In this research, the structure parameters for…
The liquid-phase adsorption of thiophene from thiophene/iso-octane solutions has been investigated in batch conditions at room temperature and atmospheric pressure on MCM-22 zeolites with Si/Al in the 9–46 range. Thiophene adsorption was found to occur in two steps whatever the Si/Al ratio of the adsorbent. The presence of ferrierite besides the MCM-22 phase caused a…
A device for solar-energy conversion was introduced in which a porous and highly reflecting 1D photonic crystal (1D PC) was coupled to a dye-sensitized nanocrystals anatase (NC-TiO2) electrode. The results show that the transparency of the PC-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum is very similar to that of…