La catalyse solide acide a été pendant longtemps l'objet d'activité de recherche intense, en particulier pour l'industrie pétrochimique. Aujourd'hui, les catalyseurs solides acides sont de plus en plus étudiés dans d'autres domaines et en particulier dans celles liées à la «chimie verte» et à la valorisation des bioressources, telles que la synthèse de biodiesel et la transformation des polysaccharides. L’objectif de la thèse est d’étudier le potentiel des matériaux poreux sulfonés ayant une porosité contrôlée dans des réactions catalysées par un acide en condition eau surchauffé telle que l'hydrolyse de la cellobiose. Dans une première partie, nous décrivons la préparation et la caractérisation des organosilicates mésoporeux périodiques sulfonés de type SBA-15, SBA-1 et KIT-6 par co-condensation de 1,4-bis (triéthoxysilyl) benzène (BTEB). Les matériaux ont été acidifiés suivant des voies différentes à l'aide de 3-mercaptopropyltriméthoxysilane (MPTMS)/H2O2 ou d'acide chlorosulfonique (ClSO3H). Leur propriété acide a été étudiée par adsorption d’NH3 suivie par calorimétrie et par la réaction de déshydratation d'isopropanol (IPA) comme réaction modèle en phase gazeuse. Contrairement à notre attente, l'adsorption d’NH3 suivie par calorimétrie a mis en évidence l'hétérogénéité de la force des sites suggérant la présence de sites distincts de la sulfonation. Les solides sulfonés avec l'acide chlorosulfonique ont une activité équivalente à celle de la résine sulfonée, Amberlyst 15, mais ils sont moins stables en raison de la libération des espèces de soufre. Les catalyseurs préparés en utilisant un groupement mercapto-propyle suivie d’une oxydation sont moins acides et ils ont donné des niveaux d'activité plus basse dans la réaction de déshydratation d'IPA. Pour l'hydrolyse de la cellobiose, de bonnes performances ont été obtenues à 150°C, mais, ces matériaux se sont montrés instables dans des conditions hydrothermales avec une lixiviation totale de soufre réalisant alors la réaction en phase homogène. Un lavage dans l'eau surchauffée des matériaux contenant des groupements propyles-SO3H conduit à une diminution de leur efficacité dans l'hydrolyse de la cellobiose, mais un gain de stabilité a été obtenu, permettant le recyclage de ces matériaux. Dans une deuxième partie, des répliques carbonées sulfonées par l’acide chlorosulfonique ou l’acide sulfurique ont été synthétisé. La sulfonation par l’acide sulfurique suivi par un lavage dans l’eau bouillante puis un prétraitement thermique à 300°C sous azote, de ces matériaux aboutissent au meilleur catalyseur en termes d’activité/stabilité. / Catalysis with solid acids has been for a long time the subject of intense research activities, especially for the petrochemical industry. Nowadays, solid acid catalysts are more and more studied in other areas and particularly in those related to “green chemistry” and bioresources valorization such as biodiesel synthesis and now polysaccharides transformations. The present work aimed to investigate the potential of acidic ordered mesoporous materials with a controlled local environment of the acid sites for applications in acid catalyzed reactions in hot water such as cellobiose hydrolysis. First we described the synthesis of periodic mesoporous organosilicas SBA-15, SBA-1 and KIT-6 types, from the condensation of 1,4-Bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene. The material was sulfonated using 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane further oxidized with H2O2 or chlorosulfonic acid to give Brønsted solid acids which were fully characterised. Their acidic properties were studied by calorimetry of NH3 adsorption and in the model reaction of gas phase isopropanol dehydration. The calorimetry of NH3 adsorption has evidenced the heterogeneity of the acid strength distribution suggesting the presence of distinct sites of sulfonation contrary to our expectation. For gas phase isopropanol (IPA) dehydration, the solids sulfonated with the chlorosulfonic acid exhibited an activity equivalent to that of the sulfonated resin, Amberlyst 15, but were less stable due to sulphur species release, assumed to be sulfonated silanols. The acidic organosilicas obtained via H2O2 oxidation of the mercapto-propyl group are less acidic catalysts, showing a low activity for gas phase IPA dehydration. In the hydrolysis reaction, the solids were active at 150 °C however sulfur leaching analysis showed that the reaction preceded mainly homogeneously, especially for the material acidified with chlorosulfonic acid. A hot washing pre-treatment applied to the catalysts containing the sulfonated propyl groups, led to a decrease of their hydrolysis activity but along with a gain of stability allowing recycling. Second we described the synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon and their sulfonation with chlorosulfonic acid or sulfuric acid. Sulfonation of carbon replicas with sulfuric acid followed by washing in hot water and thermal pretreatment at 300°C under nitrogen, lead to the best catalyst in terms of activity / stability.

Today there is a great deal of interest in the development of gas sensors for various applications like monitoring of toxic gases, detection in oil reservoirs, mines, homes etc. Solid-state gas sensors have many advantages over the conventional analytical methods and hence are widely used. Amongst them, semiconducting metal-oxides based sensors are popular due to many advantages like low cost, small size, high sensitivity and long life. The present thesis reports a detailed work of TiO2 (Titania) thin film fabrication based on sol-gel method, study of their crystallization behavior and surface morphology, and characterizing them for alcohol sensing properties Sol-gel method is a wet chemical technique with many advantages over the conventional methods and offers a high degree of versatility to modify the film properties. Titania thin films were made with titanium isopropoxide as the precursor and ethanol and isopropanol as the solvents. Also effect of surfactants(PEG and CTAB) on the sol properties and film properties have experimentally examined. A in-house gas sensor testing setup has been designed and fabricated to characterize the sensors. Sensors with three different electrode configurations and also two different electrode material have been tested. The electrode geometry and material play a significant role on the sensing behavior and results for the same have been discussed.

The disposal of waste from agricultural activities has been recognised as a source of environmental contamination by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The New Zealand dairy industry produces a large volume of dairy farm effluent, which contains EDCs in the form of estrogens. Most of this dairy farm effluent is applied onto the land for disposal. Groundwater and soil contamination by estrogens following waste application on the land have been reported overseas, but our understanding of the processes and factors governing the fate of estrogens in the soil is poor. Therefore the main goal of the present study was to better understand the fate and transport of estrogens, in particular 17β-estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) in soil. In order to quantify E1 and E2 in drainage water and soil samples, chemical analysis by gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) was carried out. This included sample extraction, sample clean-up through silica gel and gel permeation chromatography, and sample extract derivatisation prior to analysis. In order to develop a reliable method to extract estrogens from soil, research was conducted to optimise E1 and E2 extraction conditions by adjusting the number of sonication and shaking events, as well as the volume and type of solvent. Among five solvents and solvent mixtures tested, the best recovery on spiked and aged soil was obtained using an isopropanol/water (1:1) mix. A microcosm experiment was carried out to determine the dissipation rates of E2 and E1, at 8°C and at field capacity, in the Templeton soil sampled at two different depths (5-10 cm and 30-35 cm). The dissipation rates decreased with time and half-life values of 0.6-0.8 d for E1 and 0.3-0.4 d for E2 were found for the two depths studied. A field transport experiment was also carried out in winter, over three months, by applying dairy farm effluent spiked with estrogens onto undisturbed Templeton soil lysimeters (50 cm in diameter and 70 cm deep). The hormones were applied in dairy farm effluent at 120 mg m⁻² for E2 and 137 mg m⁻² for E1. The results of the transport experiment showed that in the presence of preferential/macropore flow pathways 0.3-0.7% of E2 and 8-13% of E1 was recovered in the leachate at the bottom of the lysimeters after 3 months, and 1-7% of the recovered E2 and 3-54% of the recovered E1 was leached within 2 days of application. These results suggest that leaching of estrogens via preferential/macropore flow pathways is the greatest concern for groundwater contamination. In the absence of preferential/macropore flow pathways, a significant amount (> 99.94%) of both hormones dissipated in the top 70 cm of soil, due to sorption and rapid biodegradation. Surprisingly, in all cases, estrogen breakthrough occurred before that of an inert tracer (bromide). This could not be explained by the advection-dispersion transport of estrogens, nor by their presence as antecedent concentrations in the soil. It was therefore suggested that colloidal enhanced transport of estrogens was responsible for the earlier breakthrough of estrogens and caused the leaching of a fraction of the applied estrogens to a soil depth of 70 cm. A two-phase model, adapted from a state-space mixing cell model, was built to describe the observed estrogen transport processes under transient flow. The model takes into account 3 transport processes namely, advection-dispersion, preferential/macropore flow and colloidal enhanced transport. This model was able to successfully describe the estrogen transport observed from the lysimeters.