Photocatalytic mineralisation of organic compounds: a comparison of flame-made TiO2 catalysts

A comparative photocatalytic analysis was carried out on TiO₂ made in a Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP) process and flame-made Degussa P25. Both have similar crystallinity, phase composition, phase segregation and a non-porous surface. Hence comparison was made based on their difference in specific surface area, organic adsorption and the amount of OH• generated upon illumination. The photocatalytic activity tests were carried out using the following series of organic compounds: sucrose, glucose, fructose, maleic acid, glyoxylic acid, oxalic acid, isobutyric acid, phenol and methanol. FSP-made TiO₂ outperformed P25 for saccharides mineralisation, while for phenol and methanol mineralisation P25 was better than FSP-made TiO₂. Similar mineralisation rates were observed for both FSP-made and P25 TiO₂ for the mineralisation of carboxylic acids. This shows that the relative performance of the photocatalysts depends on the type of organic compounds to be degraded. The high surface area and possibly a more efficient interfacial charge transfer of FSP-made TiO₂ provided an efficient pathway for saccharides mineralisation. As for phenol and methanol, the mineralisation rates were higher when using P25 due to the greater amount of OH• radicals generated by this photocatalyst. The fast mineralisation rates of carboxylic acids made degradation of these organic compounds to be less affected by the TiO₂ photocatalyst properties and conditions tested in this work.     

Ag-ZnO catalysts for UV-photodegradation of methylene blue

High surface area Ag-ZnO catalysts have been made by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption, UV–vis spectroscopy and electron microscopy (SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)) combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) for elemental mapping. Silver metal clusters deposited directly on ZnO nanocrystals were obtained from this process. The Ag loading (1–5 at.%) controlled the Ag cluster size from 5 to 25 nm but did not influence the ZnO crystal size. Photodegradation of 10 ppm methylene blue (MB) solution was used to evaluate the performance of these FSP-made Ag-ZnO and was compared to wet-made Ag-ZnO and reference titania photocatalysts. The rate of photodegradation was optimal for Ag loading around 3 at.%. The best photocatalytic performance was exhibited by flame-made Ag-ZnO produced at the longest high-temperature residence times having high crystallinity as determined by XRD and UV–vis.     

Accelerated collection of sensor data by mobility-enabled topology ranks

We study the problem of fast and energy-efficient data collection of sensory data using a mobile sink, in wireless sensor networks in which both the sensors and the sink move. Motivated by relevant applications, we focus on dynamic sensory mobility and heterogeneous sensor placement. Our approach basically suggests to exploit the sensor motion to adaptively propagate information based on local conditions (such as high placement concentrations), so that the sink gradually “learns” the network and accordingly optimizes its motion. Compared to relevant solutions in the state of the art (such as the blind random walk, biased walks, and even optimized deterministic sink mobility), our method significantly reduces latency (the improvement ranges from 40% for uniform placements, to 800% for heterogeneous ones), while also improving the success rate and keeping the energy dissipation at very satisfactory levels.     

Direction-based adaptive data propagation for heterogeneous sensor mobility

We consider sensor networks where the sensor nodes are attached on entities that move in a highly dynamic, heterogeneous manner. To capture this mobility diversity we introduce a new network parameter, the direction-aware mobility level, which measures how fast and close each mobile node is expected to get to the data destination (the sink). We then provide local, distributed data dissemination protocols that adaptively exploit the node mobility to improve performance. In particular, “high” mobility is used as a low cost replacement for data dissemination (due to the ferrying of data), while in the case of “low” mobility either (a) data propagation redundancy is increased (when highly mobile neighbors exist) or (b) long-distance data transmissions are used (when the entire neighborhood is of low mobility) to accelerate data dissemination toward the sink. An extensive performance comparison to relevant methods from the state of the art demonstrates significant improvements, i.e. latency is reduced by even four times while keeping energy dissipation and delivery success at very satisfactory levels.     

A CNC interpolation algorithm for boundary machining

This paper presents an efficient and accurate algorithm for machining boundaries formed at the intersection of two surfaces, an important manufacturing problem in CNC machining. The algorithm is developed using a locus tracing technique implemented on the basis of Danielson's step selection rules. A vertical ball-end milling cutter moves along the considered boundary, in contact with the two surfaces. The algorithm guides the center of the spherical end of the cutter, to maintain exact contact (within 1 step) along the entire path. A seamless formulation is used, allowing the contact points to move freely from the ball-end to the cutter periphery and vice-versa. The surfaces forming the boundary may be implicitly or parametrically defined. The reliability of the algorithm is demonstrated for both cases, by treating a complex boundary machining example. The boundary considered is formed by the intersecting quadratic surfaces of a sphere and an elliptic hyperboloid.     

Towards carbon-free flame spray synthesis of homogeneous oxide nanoparticles from aqueous solutions

Flame-assisted spray pyrolysis (FASP) is a versatile process for synthesis of nanoparticles from a broad choice of precursors and solvents. Water is an attractive solvent particularly for inexpensive inorganic precursors (e.g. metal nitrates) as it can effectively reduce the process cost. Furthermore when water usage is combined with a carbon-free fuel (e.g. H₂), nanoparticles can be made without forming CO₂. Here such a FASP process is explored for synthesis of Bi₂O₃ and other oxide nanoparticles from aqueous precursor solutions. The flame temperature was measured by FTIR emission–transmission spectroscopy while powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction and N₂ adsorption. At low FASP fuel gas (H₂ or C₂H₂) flow rates or process temperatures, product powders had a bimodal crystal size distribution. Its large and small modes were made by droplet- and gas-to-particle conversion, respectively. Homogeneous Bi₂O₃ and CeO₂ powders were obtained for sufficiently high flow rates of either C₂H₂ or H₂. Prolonged high temperature residence times promoted precursor evaporation from the spray droplets and yielded homogeneous nanostructured powders by gas-to-particle conversion. In contrast, FASP of aqueous solutions of aluminum nitrate yielded rather large particles by droplet-to-particle conversion at all fuel flows investigated.