Mixed oxide supported hydrodesulfurization catalysts—a review

Support effects form important aspect of hydrodesulfurization (HDS) studies and mixed oxide supports received maximum attention in the last two decades. This review will focus attention on studies on mixed oxide supported Mo and W catalysts. For convenience of discussion, these are divided into Al₂O₃ containing mixed oxide supports, TiO₂ containing mixed oxide supports, ZrO₂ containing mixed oxide supports and other mixed oxide supports containing all the rest. TiO₂ containing mixed oxides received maximum attention, especially TiO₂–Al₂O₃ supported catalysts. A brief discussion about their prospects for application to ultradeep desulfurization is also included. An overview of the available literature with emphasis on research carried out in our laboratory form the contents of this publication.     

A backbone-reversed all-{beta} polypeptide (retro-CspA) folds and assembles into amyloid nanofibres

The backbone-reversed or ‘retro’, form of a modelall-ß-sheet protein, Escherichia coli CspA, was producedfrom a synthetic gene in E.coli in fusion with an N-terminalaffinity tag. Following purification under denaturing conditionsand dialysis-based removal of urea, the protein was found tofold into a soluble, poorly structured multimer. Upon concentration,this state readily transformed into amyloid nanofibres. CongoRed-binding amorphous forms were also observed. Since a ß-sheet-formingsequence is expected to retain high ß-sheet-formingpropensity even after backbone reversal and given the fact thatfolding of retro-CspA occurs only to a poorly structured form,we conclude that the increase effected in protein concentrationmay be responsible for the formation of intermolecular ß-sheets,facilitating the bleeding away of the protein’s conformationalequilibrium into aggregates that generate well-formed fibres.Since every molecule in these fibres contains a peptide tagfor binding Ni²⁺, the fibres may provide a template for depositionof nickel to generate novel materials. Received April 1, 2003; revised October 27, 2003; accepted October 30, 2003     

Synthesis and characterization of acidic properties of Al-SBA-15 materials with varying Si/Al ratios

Al-SBA-15 of varying Si/Al ratios in the range 11.4–78.4 was synthesized using tri-block copolymer P123. The calcined materials were examined by XRD, pore size distribution, surface area, ²⁷Al NMR spectroscopy. The acidity and acid strength distribution were studied using microcalorimetric adsorption of NH₃. The acidic properties were also examined by cumene cracking reaction as a function of Si/Al ratios. Systematic variation of acidity and activity was observed as a function of Si/Al ratio. The initial heats of NH₃ adsorption correlated well with activity indicate that acid sites with ΔH > 100 kJ/mole is responsible for cumene cracking activity. Linear correlations were obtained with total acidity and cumene cracking activities. The tetrahedral aluminum was found to be responsible for the observed acidities and catalytic activities.     

Cure characteristics,morphology, and mechanical properties of ethylene–propylene–diene–monomer rubber/acrylonitrile butadiene rubber blends

Blends based on ethylene–propylene–diene monomer rubber (EPDM) and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) was prepared. Sulfur was used as the vulcanizing agent. The effects of blend ratio on the cure characteristics and mechanical properties, such as stress–strain behavior, tensile strength, elongation at break, hardness, rebound resilience, and abrasion resistance have been investigated. Tensile and tear strength showed synergism for the blend containing 30% of NBR, which has been explained in terms of morphology of the blends attested by scanning electron micrographs. A relatively cocontinuous morphology was observed for 70 : 30, EPDM/NBR blend system. The experimental results have been compared with the relevant theoretical models. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Aspects of the Softness and Hardness Concepts of Density-Functional Theory

In the density-functional theory of the ground state of an electronic system there arise the concepts of softness, hardness, local softness, and local hardness. Definitions of these quantities are reviewed, and then local softness and local hardness are discussed in some detail. The local softness of a species, the derivative , is a measure of the chemical reactivity of a site in the molecule. From it can be obtained the total global absolute softness in the sense of Pearson and a normalized chemical reactivity index of frontier type. Several formulas for s( r ) are obtained, including new fluctuation formulas, and its determinative role in chemisorption, catalysis, and frontier-controlled charge-transfer processes is briefly discussed. Local hardness is a corresponding appropriately defined functional derivative η(r) = [δμ/δp(r)]_v(r). Difficulties associated with ambiguities in this definition are discussed and resolved. It is concluded that for most purposes the best working formula for local hardness is , where η(r, r′) is the hardness kernel; , where F[p] is the usual Hohenberg-Kohn functional and f(r) is the Fukui function. With this definition, η(r) = η, a constant which is the global hardness. Just as the chemical potential equalizes in the ground state, so does the hardness. It is demonstrated that hardness can be taken to be an average of orbital contributions.     

Bipartite coherent-state quantum key distribution with strong reference pulse

We propose an optical scheme for quantum key distribution in which bits are encoded in relative phases of four bipartite weak coherent states ${|\alpha, \alpha\rangle, |-\alpha, -\alpha\rangle, |-\alpha, \alpha\rangle}$ and ${|\alpha, -\alpha \rangle}$ , with respect to a strong reference pulse. We discuss security of the scheme against eavesdropping strategies like, photon number splitting, photon beam splitting and intercept-resend attacks. It is found that present scheme is more sensitive against these eavesdropping strategies than the two-dimensional non-orthogonal state based protocol and BB84 protocol. Our scheme is very simple, requires only passive optical elements like beam splitters, phase shifters and photon detectors, hence is at the reach of presently available technology.     

Modeling finite buffer effects on TCP traffic over an IEEE 802.11 infrastructure WLAN

The network scenario is that of an infrastructure IEEE 802.11 WLAN with a single AP with which several stations (STAs) are associated. The AP has a finite size buffer for storing packets. In this scenario, we consider TCP-controlled upload and download file transfers between the STAs and a server on the wireline LAN (e.g., 100 Mbps Ethernet) to which the AP is connected. In such a situation, it is well known that because of packet losses due to finite buffers at the AP, upload file transfers obtain larger throughputs than download transfers. We provide an analytical model for estimating the upload and download throughputs as a function of the buffer size at the AP. We provide models for the undelayed and delayed ACK cases for a TCP that performs loss recovery only by timeout, and also for TCP Reno. The models are validated in comparison with NS2 simulations.     

Coherent Phonon-Induced Modulation of Charge Transfer in 2D Hybrid Perovskites

Electron–phonon interactions play an essential role in charge transport and transfer processes in semiconductors. For most structures, tailoring electron–phonon interactions for specific functionality remains elusive. Here, it is shown that, in hybrid perovskites, coherent phonon modes can be used to manipulate charge transfer. In the 2D double perovskite, (AE2T)₂AgBiI₈ (AE2T: 5,5“-diylbis(amino-ethyl)-(2,2”-(2)thiophene)), the valence band maximum derived from the [Ag_0.5Bi_0.5I₄]^2– framework lies in close proximity to the AE2T-derived HOMO level, thereby forming a type-II heterostructure. During transient absorption spectroscopy, pulsed excitation creates sustained coherent phonon modes, which periodically modulate the associated electronic levels. Thus, the energy offset at the organic–inorganic interface also oscillates periodically, providing a unique opportunity for modulation of interfacial charge transfer. Density-functional theory corroborates the mechanism and identifies specific phonon modes as likely drivers of the coherent charge transfer. These observations are a striking example of how electron–phonon interactions can be used to manipulate fundamentally important charge and energy transfer processes in hybrid perovskites.     

Design,simulation and analysis of RF MEMS capacitive shunt switches with high isolation and low pull-in-voltage

Microsystem Technologies - This paper presents the design a capacitive shunt type RF-MEMS switch with high isolation, high switching speed and low actuation voltage for Ka-band applications. The...