Coarse-grained approach to amorphous and anisotropic materials in kinetic Monte Carlo thin-film growth simulations: A case study of TiO2 and ZnO by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The growth of TiO2 and ZnO thin films is studied by means of coarse-grained kinetic Monte Carlo simulations under conditions typically encountered in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition experiments. The basis of our approach is known to work well to simulate the growth of amorphous materials using cubic grids and is extended here to reproduce not…

Effect of Steam Injection during Carbonation on the Multicyclic Performance of Limestone (CaCO3) under Different Calcium Looping Conditions: A Comparative Study

This study explores the effect of steam addition during carbonation on the multicyclic performance of limestone under calcium looping conditions compatible with (i) CO2 capture from postcombustion gases (CCS) and with (ii) thermochemical energy storage (TCES). Steam injection has been proposed to improve the CO2 uptake capacity of CaO-based sorbents when the calcination and carbonation…

The Response of Tomato Fruit Cuticle Membranes Against Heat and Light

Two important biophysical properties, the thermal and UV-Vis screening capacity, of isolated tomato fruit cuticle membranes (CM) have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and UV-Vis spectrometry, respectively. A first order melting, corresponding to waxes, and a second order glass transition (T-g) thermal events have been observed. The glass transition was less defined and displaced toward higher temperatures along the fruit ripening. In immature and mature green fruits, the CM…

Study of a Waste Kaolin as Raw Material for Mullite Ceramics and Mullite Refractories by Reaction Sintering

A deposit of raw kaolin, located in West Andalusia (Spain), was studied in this work using a representative sample. The methods of characterization were X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), particle size analysis by sieving and sedimentation, and thermal analysis. The ceramic properties were determined. A sample of commercial kaolin from Burela (Lugo, Spain), with…

Plasma engineering of microstructured piezo-Triboelectric hybrid nanogenerators for wide bandwidth vibration energy harvesting

We introduce herein the advanced application of low-pressure plasma procedures for the development of piezo and triboelectric mode I hybrid nanogenerators. Thus, plasma assisted deposition and functionalization methods are presented as key enabling technologies for the nanoscale design of ZnO polycrystalline shells, the formation of conducting metallic cores in core@shell nanowires, and for the solventless…

Visible light photodegradation of blue basic 41 using cobalt doped ZnO: Box–Behnken optimization and DFT calculation

CoxZn1−xO system (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) was synthesized using the solution combustion method with urea as a fuel source. Photocatalytic tests were performed under visible light to assess the Basic Blue 41 (BB41) conversion. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, FT-IR analysis, SEM, EDS, XRF, BET-surface area, and DRS were used to investigate the composition, structure, and morphology of…

Enhanced catalytic activity and stability of nanoshaped Ni/CeO2 for CO2 methanation in micro-monoliths

Coupling inherently fluctuating renewable feedstocks to highly exothermic catalytic processes, such as CO2 methanation, is a major challenge as large thermal swings occurring during ON- and OFF- cycles can irreversible deactivate the catalyst via metal sintering and pore collapsing. Here, we report a highly stable and active Ni catalyst supported on CeO2 nanorods that can…

Unravelling the role of Fe in trimetallic Fe-Cu-Pt/Al2O3 catalysts for CO-PROX reaction

This work proposes a trimetallic Fe-Cu/Pt/Al2O3 catalyst as an appealing system for preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PROX) reaction. The excellent conversion rates achieved by the Fe-Cu/Pt/Al2O3 catalysts under realistic reforming-surrogated feed streams along with the catalyst stability, reproducibility, and scalability showcase a very competitive system for CO-PROX reaction units. Furthermore, the systematic analysis conducted for…