Membrane based separation techniques have been widely used and developed over decades. Generally polymeric membranes are used in membrane based gas separation / however their gas separation performances are not sufficient enough for industrial feasibility. On the other hand inorganic membranes have good separation performance but they have processing difficulties. As a consequence mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) which comprise of inorganic particles dispersed in organic matrices are developed. Moreover, to enhance the interaction between polymer and zeolite particles ternary mixed matrix membranes are introduced by using low molecular weight additives as third component and promising results were obtained at 35 &deg / C. Better understanding on gas transport mechanism of these membranes could be achieved by studying the effect of preparation and operating parameters. This study investigates the effect of operation temperature and annealing time and temperature on gas separation performance of MMMs. The membranes used in this study consist of glassy polyethersulfone (PES) polymer, SAPO-34 particles and 2- v hidroxy 5-methyl aniline (HMA) as compatibilizer. The membranes fabricated in previous study were used and some membranes were used as synthesized while post annealing (at 120&deg / C, 0.2atm, N2 atm, 7-30 days) applied to some membranes before they are tested. The temperature dependent gas transport properties of the membranes were characterized by single gas permeation measurements of H2, CO2, and CH4 gases between 35 &deg / C-120 &deg / C. The membranes also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Annealing time and temperature affected the reproducibility and stability of the mixed matrix membranes and by applying post annealing step to mixed matrix membranes at higher temperatures and longer times, more stable membranes were obtained. For pure PES membranes thermally stable performances were obtained without any need of extra treatment. The permeabilities of all studied gases increased with increasing operation temperature. Also the selectivities of H2/CO2 were increased while CO2/CH4, H2/CH4 selectivities were decreased with temperature. The best separation performance belongs to PES/SAPO-34/HMA mixed matrix membrane at each temperature. When the temperature increased from 35 &deg / C to 120 &deg / C H2/CO2 selectivity for PES/SAPO- 34/HMA membrane was increased from 3.2 to 4.6 and H2 permeability increased from 8 Barrer to 26.50 Barrer. This results show that for H2/CO2 separation working at higher temperatures will be more advantageous. The activation energies were found in the order of / CH4 &gt / H2&gt / CO2 for all types of membranes. Activation energies were in the same order of magnitude for all membranes but the PES/SAPO-34 membrane activation energies were slightly lower than PES membrane. Furthermore, PES/SAPO-34/HMA membrane has activation energies higher than PES/SAPO-34 membrane and is very close to pure membrane which shows that HMA acts as a compatibilizer between two phases.

The study of catalytic oxidation on the removal of NO was investigated over the Cu-catalysts . The Cu-catalysts , including Cu/TiO2 , Cu/Al2O3 and Cu/SiO2 , were prepared by impregnation method . Alougth NO2 , the product of this reaction , has higher toxicity than NO , but it might be removed completely by absorption with H2O or alkalinal solution for its high solubility . The experiments can be divided into three parts , i.e. , the screen of test catalysts , the effect of operating factors on the conversion of NO and the kinetic model . In the first part , the activity of test catalysts , which were prepared by mixing three various sources of Cu-ions¡]i.e., Cu(NO3)2 , Cu(CH3COO)2 , and CuSO4¡^with three different types of support¡]i.e., TiO2 , Al2O3 , and SiO2¡^, and were compared in form of conversion on NO to find the best catalyst . The results show that the mixture Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 has the good performance on the conversion of NO , and also has more wider operating in range of temperature . In order to find the optimal loading of Cu on Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 , additional test of various dosage over the catalysts was conduct in series . It is found that 8wt.% of Cu loading on Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 is the most economic dosage . Therefore , we select this type of Cu oxide as the best catalyst in the following work . In the second part , the effect of NO inlet concentration , space velocity and humidity on the conversion of NO were performed . The results show that the conversion of NO decreases with the increasing of [NO]in when [NO]in is larger than 1000ppm¡Fthe conversion of NO is not changed with [NO]in when [NO]in is lower than 1000ppm . The better space velocity is 15000hr-1 , i.e.,the empty bed residence time is 0.24 second . The reaction on NO conversion would be restrained by higher humidity contenting in inlet gas stream , but the effect of inhibition on NO conversion is not significant . Finally , the kinetics of the oxidation of NO over 8wt.% Cu(NO3)2 / TiO2 was obtained by integral method .It is found that the oxidations of NO can be described by first order reversible reaction and the observed activation energy are 15.8 kcal/mole¡]forward reaction¡^and 25.9 kcal/mole¡]backward reaction¡^, respectively . By comparing the conversion of predicted NO with the experimentals , we can find the suitable operation conditions in application of the kinetic model : the inlet concentration of NO in a range of 300-1000ppm , the empty-bed residence time ranging from 0.12-0.48 second , and the absolute humidity ranging from 4854 to 42475ppm .

In the selection of candidates for CO2 absorption, solvent thermal degradation has become a general concern due to the significant impact on operational cost and the intention to use thermal compression from high temperature stripping to minimize the overall process energy. In this research, the impact of flue gas contaminants on Monoethanolamine (MEA) thermal degradation was investigated at elevated temperatures consistent with those in the CO2 stripper. Nitrite, fly ash, sulfate and thiosulfate were each added to 5.0 M MEA and the contaminant-containing MEA solutions were degraded at 125 °C, 135 °C and 145 °C. MEA degrades significantly more in the presence of nitrite (5000 ppm) than MEA alone at the same amine molar concentration for all three temperatures. MEA degradation activation energy of MEA-nitrite solution is approximately one-seventh of that of MEA solution without nitrite. Fly ash was observed to inhibit nitrite-induced MEA degradation and greatly increase the MEA degradation activation energy of MEA-nitrite solution. Fly ash, sodium sulfate and sodium thiosulfate by themselves were not shown to impact MEA thermal degradation rate. Sodium salts of glycine, sarcosine, alanine and ß-alanine were thermally degraded at 125 °C, 135 °C and 145 °C, respectively, to discover the structural reasons for their thermal stability. These four amino acids have enhanced thermal degradation rates compared to MEA. The stability order for amino acid salts tested to date is: sarcosinate > alaninate > ß-alaninate. Calculated activation energies for the degradation processes are lower than that of MEA. ß-Alaninate (ß-Ala) thermal degradation generates ß-Ala dimer (major degradation product), ß-Ala dimer carbamate and tetrahydro-1,3-oxazin-6-one. Functional groups, amine orders and steric effect were investigated for their impact on amine thermal degradation. Primary amines with chain structures showed a thermal stability trend as diamine > alkanolamine > amino acid salt. For alknolamine and diamine structural isomers, the primary amines are more stable than the secondary amines. Steric hindrance around the amine group plays a global positive role in protecting amines against thermal degradation.

Steady state reflectance and emission characteristics of anthracene adsorbed on silica gel and titania-silica mixed oxides have been investigated as a function of sample loading. Titania-silica mixed oxides with 1, 3, 5 and 10 wt. % TiO2 were prepared by two different methods: a dropwise method and a sol-gel route. Ground state diffuse reflectance and fluorescence emission spectra of anthracene adsorbed on titania-silica surfaces show a dependence on titania content. The absorption peaks of anthracene are difficult to resolve at higher titania content due to the increasing red-shift of the titania absorption edge. The absorption edge of titania is shifted to longer wavelengths and the band gap energy decreases with increasing the titania loading. Diffuse reflectance laser flash photolysis at 355 nm produces both the triplet and radical cation of anthracene and gives relevant information regarding the photochemical transients and the kinetics details of the surface photochemical processes. Energy dependence studies confirm the monophotonic nature of the triplet production, whereas the anthracene radical cation is formed by monophoton or multiphoton ionisation in the mixed titania-silica systems. Energy and electron transfer reactions of anthracene co-adsorbed with azulene as electron donor on silica sol-gel and titania-silica mixed oxides prepared by the sol-gel method with different titania content have been studied using the time-resolved diffuse reflectance laser flash photolysis technique. The fluorescence of excited anthracene adsorbed on silica sol-gel is quenched by the addition of azulene, while co-adsorption of azulene on titania-silica mixed oxides resulted in a decrease in the fluorescence intensity of the adsorbed anthracene due to the formation, at the same time, of anthracene radical cation and Ti3+ species on the titania-silica surface. Triplet-triplet energy transfer from the excited anthracene to ground state azulene and electron transfer from azulene to the anthracene radical cation have been investigated using a time-resolved diffuse reflectance laser flash photolysis technique following laser excitation at 355 nm. Bimolecular rate constants for energy and electron transfer between anthracene and azulene have been obtained. Kinetic analysis of the decay of the anthracene triplet state and radical cation show that the kinetic parameters depend on the titania content of the sample and the azulene concentration. This indicates that the rate of energy and electron transfer reactions increases as a function of azulene concentration and decreases with increasing titania content in titania-silica mixed oxides, whereas the observed rate of reaction on silica sol-gel is predominantly governed by the rate of diffusion of azulene. Electron transfer reactions in a ternary system using azulene for hole transfer between 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid radical cation as electron acceptor and perylene as electron donor were also studied in order to demonstrate the mobility of radical cations on the silica sol-gel and titania-silica surfaces. The co-adsorption of azulene as a molecule shuttle with 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid and perylene on both silica sol-gel and titania-silica systems has been shown to enhance the rate of electron transfer in this ternary system. Activation energies for energy and electron transfer on photoinduced bimolecular and termolecular processes on silica sol-gel and titania-silica mixed oxides have been measured. In bimolecular anthracene / azulene systems, at higher azulene loadings, the activation energies and the pre-exponential factors on titania-silica surfaces are the same for both energy and electron transfer and are comparable with the parameters extracted for azulene diffusion on silica Davisil suggesting that azulene diffuses across the silica Davisil and titania-silica mixed oxides surfaces, while at lower azulene loadings, ion-electron recombination dominates and the activation energy extracted is for this process. In a ternary 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid / azulene / perylene system, the activation energy for perylene diffusion is higher than that observed for the anthracene / azulene system, reflecting the lower mobility of the perylene molecule. In this study, a series of titania-silica samples with different loadings of titania (1 10 wt. %) prepared by the sol-gel method and also the pure TiO2 P25 Degussa have been used to study the photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol in aqueous solution under UV light irradiation. The absorption peak of 4-chlorophenol at 280 nm decreases with increasing titania content and finally disappeared suggesting that titania has a positive influence on the degradation of 4-chlorophenol. The investigated titania-silica mixed oxides prepared by the sol-gel method are less efficient photocatalysts for the degradation of 4-chlorophenol than TiO2 P25.

Ziel der Arbeit war die Synthese von Derivaten des Azobenzols mit Silananker zur Darstellung photoschaltbarer Oberflächen. Dies ist ein Ansatz zum Aufbau photoschaltbarer Oberflächen, bei der nur ein Reaktionsschritt an der Oberfläche benötigt wird und keine weitere Oberflächenreaktion zur Funktionalisierung der Oberfläche gebraucht wird, wie sie in der Literatur beschrieben werden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine Vorschrift zur Synthese photoschaltbarer Organosilane mit unterschiedlichen Endgruppen beschrieben. Dieses Verfahren basiert auf der Darstellung photoschaltbarer Organothiole auf Goldoberflächen. Die Charakterisierung der synthetisierten Verbindungen erfolgt mittels 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, IR, DC und GC-MS. Die analytische Kontrolle der Edukte und der weiteren synthetisierten Zwischenstufen mit endständigen funktionellen Gruppen und aller photoschaltbaren Organosilane zeigt, dass alle photoschaltbaren Organosilane erfolgreich synthetisiert werden, jedoch mit unterschiedlicher Reinheit. Auf Grund der Silanankergruppe wird jede dieser Verbindungen kovalent auf eine SiO2-Oberfläche gebunden. Die Schichtdicke wird mittels Ellipsometrie bestimmt und eine weitere Charakterisierung erfolgte durch die Bestimmung des Kontaktwinkels verschiedener Flüssigkeiten. Die Synthese der Derivate des Azobenzols mit Silananker erfolgt in mehreren Stufen. Im ersten Schritt erfolgt die Darstellung eines Farbstoffs durch ein in para-Stellung substituiertes Anilin über die Azokupplung. Im zweiten Schritt wird eine Alkylkette durch eine nukleophile Substitution mit 11-Brom-1-undecen bzw. 6-Brom-1-hexen erreicht und im dritten Syntheseschritt wird eine Silanankergruppe mittels Hydrosilylierung angebunden. Die Beschichtung von SiO2-Oberflächen wird durch den Prozess der Self-Assembled Monolayer erreicht. Dabei werden monosubstituierte Organochlorsilane verwendet, da diese im Gegensatz zu Trichlorsilanen bessere Monolayer ausbilden. Es werden verschiedene endständige funktionelle Gruppen eingeführt, so dass mit steigender Kettenlänge immer dickere bzw. dichtere Schichten gebildet werden. Die unterschiedliche Ausbildung eines Oberflächenfilms eines photoschaltbaren Azofarbstoffes nach der ersten bzw. zweiten Synthesestufe mit endständiger C10-Kette als funktionelle Gruppe an einer Wasser-Luft-Grenzfläche wird mit der Brewster-Winkel-Mikroskopie in Kombination mit einem Langmuir-Pockels-Trog gezeigt. Der höhere Platzbedarf für die cis-Konfiguration im Gegensatz zur trans-Konfiguration wird nach Bestrahlung der Oberfläche aus den aufgenommenen Schubflächen-Isothermen bestimmt. Die für die Photoisomerisierung benötigten scheinbaren Aktivierungsenergien werden mittels Arrhenius-Gleichung an Hand der UV-/VIS-Spektren bestimmt und diskutiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese nicht nur abhängig von dem Substituenten R, sondern auch von den verwendeten Lösungsmitteln sind, wobei diese Abhängigkeit auf der Grundlage der verschiedenen Reaktionsmechanismen der Photoisomerisierung erörtert wird. Bei allen Farbstoffen wird eine trans-/cis-Konfigurations-änderung der chemischen Verbindung bei Bestrahlung mit Licht entsprechender Wellenlängen in verschiedenen Lösungsmitteln beobachtet. Die nachfolgende Rückreaktion (cis-/trans-Konfigurationsänderung) wird nur bei denjenigen Farbstoffen beobachtet, die einen hohen Extinktionskoeffizienten in Lösung besitzen. Die Beeinflussung der Benetzbarkeit wird während der Konfigurationsänderung auf diesen photoschaltbaren Oberflächen durch Kontaktwinkelmessungen untersucht. Diese wird durch die Bildung einer homogenen Oberfläche beeinflusst. Die Homogenität der Oberfläche zeigt die Hysterese, die abhängt von den funktionellen Gruppen der synthetisierten photoschaltbaren Organosilane. Die trans-/cis-Konfigurationsänderung auf einer Oberfläche erfolgte durch Bestrahlung der Oberfläche mit UV- bzw. blauem Licht. Die Einführung einer Alkylkette (C5 bzw. C10) als funktionelle Endgruppe führt zum Teil zu einer Verbesserung der Homogenität der Oberfläche. Durch Mischbeschichtungen von photoschaltbaren und nicht-photoschaltbaren verbessert sich die Änderung des Kontaktwinkels bei der Bestrahlung der photoschalbaren Oberflächen nicht, so dass auch andere Lösungsansätze z.B. die Verwendung anderer Oberflächen, die Erhöhung der Konzentration der photoschaltbaren Verbindungen an der Oberfläche oder der Einsatz hydrophiler Endgruppen in der Diskussion berücksichtigt werden.

Šiame darbe buvo tirtas srovės pernešimo mechanizmas plonose oksido plėvelėse,t.y. SiO-Al, Al-SiO2-Al, Al-Al2O3-Al ir p/Si-Ta2O5-Al. Tuo tiklu buvo eksperimentiškai išmatuotos srovės stiprio temperatūrinės priklausomybės, esant įvairių įtampų vertėms, taip pat voltamperinės charakteristikos plačiame temperatūrų intervale ir nustatytas barjero aukščio (aktyvacijos energijos) kitimas nuo įtampos ir temperatūros. Eksperimentiniai rezultatai lyginami su teorinėmis elektronų tunelinių šuolių tikimybės priklausomybėmis nuo elektrinio lauko stiprio ir temperatūros. / The conduction mechanisms in SiO-Al, Al-SiO2-Al, Al-Al2O3-Al and p/Si-Ta2O5-Al structures has been investigated. In this way there were observed the current dependences of voltages by various temperature values, also the current dependence of temperatures by various valtage values and an activation energy dependence from voltage and temperature. The experimental data have been compared with the teorical tunneling probabilities depending on the strength of the electric field and temperature. The obtained experimental lnI(T) at various aplied voltage is in a good agreement with the theoretical ln W(T) dependences. After the analysis of the measurment data it was shown that the tunneling mechanism is prevailing in the region of strong fields and low temperature. Also it has been observed that the energy activation decreased when of the values of applied voltage is increased and increased when of the values of applied temperature is increased. The observed dependence of barrier height on the voltage established for the I(T, U) characteristics are also explained by the phonon stimulated tunneling mechanism.

In the past decades, a great variety of model fitting and model free (isoconversional) methods have been developed for extracting kinetic parameters for solid state reactions from thermally stimulated experimental data (TGA, DSC, DTA etc.). However, these methods have met with significant controversies about their methodologies. Firstly, model-fitting methods have been strongly criticized because almost any reaction mechanism can be used to fit the experimental data satisfactorily with drastic variations of the kinetic parameters, and no good criterion exists to tell which mechanism is the best choice. Secondly, previous model free methods originated from the isoconversional principle, which is often called the basic assumption; previous studies comparing the accuracy of model free methods have not paid attention to the influence of the principle on model free methods and, therefore, their conclusions are problematic. This work gives, firstly, a critical study of previous methods for evaluating kinetic parameters of solid state reactions and a critical analysis of the isoconversional principle of model free methods. Then an analysis is given of the invariant kinetic parameters method and recommends an incremental version of it. Based on the incremental method and model free method, a comprehensive method is proposed that predicts the degree of the dependences of activation energy on heating programs, and obtains reliable kinetic parameters. In addition, this work also compares the accuracy of previous methods and gives recommendations to apply them to kinetic studies.

No description available.

Water is of interest for understanding the formation history and habitability of past and present solar system environments. It also has potential as a resource - when split to its constituent oxygen and hydrogen - both in space and on the Earth. Determining the sources, evolution, and eventual fate of water on bodies easily reachable from Earth, especially Earth's moon, is thus of high scientific and exploration value to the private sector and government space agencies. Understanding how to efficiently split water with solar energy has potential to launch a hydrogen economy here on Earth and to power spacecraft more sustainably to far away destinations. To address the fundamental interactions of water with important surfaces relevant to space exploration and technology development, temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and water photolysis experiments under well controlled adsorbate coverages have been carried out and are described in detail in this thesis. TPD experiments under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions were conducted on lunar surrogate materials and genuine lunar samples brought to Earth by the Apollo program. The TPD's were conducted to determine the desorption activation energies of water chemisorbed directly to the powder surfaces, knowledge of which can improve existing models of water evolution on Earth's moon and aid in interpreting data collected by spacecraft-based investigations at the Moon. The TPD experiments of molecular water interacting with two lunar surrogates (micronized JSC-1A and albite) in ultra-high vacuum revealed water desorption during initial heating to 750 K under ultra-high vacuum. Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) indicated possible water formation during the initial heating via recombinative desorption of native hydroxyls above 425 ± 25K. Dissociative chemisorption of water (i.e., formation of surface hydroxyl sites) was not observed on laboratory time scales after controlled dosing of samples (initially heated above 750 K) with 0.2 - 500 L exposures of water. However, pre-heated samples of both types of surrogates were found to have a distribution of molecular water chemisorption sites, with albite having at least twice as many as the JSC-1A samples by mass. A fit to the TPD data yields a distribution function of desorption activation energies ranging from ~0.45 eV to 1.2 eV. Using the fitted distribution function as an initial condition, the TPD process was simulated on the timescale of a lunation. A preview of these results and their context was published in Icarus (2011) 213, 64, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2011.02.015 by lead author Charles Hibbitts and the full treatment of the results from the TPD on lunar surrogates (presented here in Chapter 2) has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets (2013) 118, 105, doi: 10.1002/jgre.20025 by lead author Michael J Poston. The desorption activation energies for water molecules chemisorbed to Apollo lunar samples 72501 and 12001 were determined by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments in ultra-high vacuum. A significant difference in both the energies and abundance of chemisorption sites was observed, with 72501 retaining up to 40 times more water (by mass) and with much stronger interactions, possibly approaching 1.5 eV. The dramatic difference between the samples may be due to differences in mineralogy, surface exposure age, and contamination of sample 12001 with oxygen and water vapor before it arrived at the lunar sample storage facility. The distribution function of water desorption activation energies for sample 72501 was used as an initial condition to mathematically simulate a TPD experiment with the temperature program matching the lunar day. The full treatment of the TPD results from these two lunar samples (presented here in Chapter 3) has been submitted with the title "Water chemisorption interactions with Apollo lunar samples 72501 and 12001 by ultra-high vacuum temperature programmed desorption experiments" to Icarus for publication in the special issue on lunar volatiles by lead author Michael J Poston. A new ultra-high vacuum system (described in Chapter 4) was designed and constructed for planned experiments examining the possible formation of hydrated species, including water, from interaction of solar wind hydrogen with oxygen in the lunar regolith and to examine the effects of the active radiation environment on water adsorption and desorption behavior on lunar materials. This system has been designed in close collaboration with Dr. Chris J Bennett. An examination of a unique system for water photolysis - zirconia nanoparticles for hydrogen production from water with ultra-violet photons - was performed to better understand the mechanism and efficiency of water splitting on this catalyst. Specifically, formation of H₂ from photolysis of water adsorbed on zirconia (ZrO₂) nanoparticles using 254 nm (4.9 eV) and 185 nm (6.7 eV) photon irradiation was examined. The H₂ yield was approximately an order of magnitude higher using monoclinic versus cubic phase nanoparticles. For monoclinic particles containing 2 monolayers (ML) of water, the maximum H₂ production rate was ~0.4 µmole hr⁻¹ m⁻² using 185 + 254 nm excitation and a factor of 10 lower using only 254 nm. UV reflectance reveals that monoclinic nanoparticles contain fewer defects than cubic nanoparticles. A H₂O coverage dependence study of the H₂ yield is best fit by a sum of interactions involving at least two types of adsorbate-surface complexes. The first dominates up to ~0.06 ML and is attributed to H₂O chemisorbed at surface defect sites. The second dominates at coverages up to a bilayer. H₂ formation is maximum within this bilayer and likely results from efficient energy transfer from the particle to the interface. Energy transfer is more efficient for the monoclinic ZrO₂ nanoparticles and likely involves mobile excitons. These results (presented in Chapter 5) have been submitted with the title "UV Photon-Induced Water Decomposition on Zirconia Nanoparticles" for publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C by lead author Michael J Poston. This paper has been reviewed and will be accepted after minor modification.

Poly(2-Hydroxyethyl acrylate), PHEA, is used as hydrophilic polymeric gels which have been studied because of its great importance for agricultural or biomedical applications. Biomedical applications of hydrogels include soft contact lenses, artificial corneas, soft tissue substitutes and burn dressings. In this study, it was aimed to synthesis the polymers with well-defined molecular weights, polydispersities and cahin topologies. Bulk, solution and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) techniques at different temperatures were examined. The polymerization in bulk form was carried in vacuum and in open atmosphere. The polymerization curves showed autoacceleration mechanism. The polymers obtained were insoluable in most common solvents because of having high molecular weights and are crosslinked. So in order to overcome this problem, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate was polymerized by solution and ATRP methods. The activation energy for bulk polymerization was found from Arrhenius plot. The polymer was characterized by FT-IR, DSC, TGA, 1H and 13C NMR techniques, Tensile tests were also examined for PHEA.