Stepped-up development of accelerator mass spectrometry method for the detection of ^(60)Fe with the HI-13 tandem accelerator

The Moon provides a unique environment for investigating nearby astrophysical events such as supernovae.Lunar samples retain valuable information from these events,via detectable long-lived“fingerprint”radionuclides such as^(60)Fe.In this work,we stepped up the development of an accelerator mass spectrometry(AMS)method for detecting^(60)Fe using the HI-13tandem accelerator at the China Institute of Atomic Energy(CIAE).Since interferences could not be sufficiently removed solely with the existing magnetic systems of the tandem accelerator and the following Q3D magnetic spectrograph,a Wien filter with a maximum voltage of±60 kV and a maximum magnetic field of 0.3 T was installed after the accelerator magnetic systems to lower the detection background for the low abundance nuclide^(60)Fe.A 1μm thick Si_(3)N_(4) foil was installed in front of the Q3D as an energy degrader.For particle detection,a multi-anode gas ionization chamber was mounted at the center of the focal plane of the spectrograph.Finally,an^(60)Fe sample with an abundance of 1.125×10^(-10)was used to test the new AMS system.These results indicate that^(60)Fe can be clearly distinguished from the isobar^(60)Ni.The sensitivity was assessed to be better than 4.3×10^(-14)based on blank sample measurements lasting 5.8 h,and the sensitivity could,in principle,be expected to be approximately 2.5×10^(-15)when the data were accumulated for 100 h,which is feasible for future lunar sample measurements because the main contaminants were sufficiently separated.

One Pot Synthesis of Bio-Ethylene Glycol from Cellulose

In this study, various composite Ni-W2C/active carbon catalysts were synthesized. W2C was prepared by carbothermal hydrogen reduction. The metal loading of W2C in catalyst was 30 wt.%. Carbon was impregnated with metatungstate. It was dried at 120?C for 12 h. Carbon was then carburized in H2 flow, the temperature was increased from 25?C to 450?C, and then to 800?C and stayed for 4 h. The W2C/active carbon was treated with H2SO4 to create more function groups on the surface. Ni-W2C/active carbon was prepared by incipient-wetness impregnation method. After calcination and reduction processes in H2 flow, Ni-W2C/active carbon catalyst was obtained. The reaction of cellulose to ethylene glycol in one step was carried out in a batch reactor under the following condition: 1 g cellulose, 0.3 g catalyst, 100 ml H2O, 4 - 6 MPa H2, 220?C - 280?C, and 400 rpm. The reaction between cellulose and catalyst is a solid-solid reaction; therefore, the contact between these two solid materials is important. Long ball milling time would increase the contact between these two solids. The ball milling time and the functional groups on active carbon play important roles in this reaction. The results demonstrated that one pot synthesis of EG from cellulose is economically and technically feasible.

Facile Synthesis of Ag/TiO2 by Photoreduction Method and Its Degradation Activity of Methylene Blue under UV and Visible Light Irradiation

A series of Ag/TiO2 with various Ag contents were prepared by photoreduction method. Commercial TiO2 from Evonik-Degussa was used as the catalyst. Ag was used as the cocatalyst. This facial synthesis method is cheap and easy. TiO2 was suspended in water with various concentrations of silver nitrate. The solution was illuminated by UV light for 36 h. Ag would deposit on the surface of TiO2. This method can deposit all Ag cation in the starting material on TiO2 after 36 h irradiation by UV light. X-ray diffraction, high resolution-TEM, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the surface, morphology and chemical composition of the catalysts. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in water on these catalysts was carried out under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. The methylene blue concentration in water was measured by a UV-vis spectrophotometer. The results showed that the bulk structure of TiO2 did not change and some of Ag was incorporated into the surface of TiO2 lattice. The change in the electronic state of Ti on surface is attributed to the replacement of titanium atoms by silver atoms on the TiO2 surface structure which induced visible light response and enhanced the photocatalytic activity. 1 wt% Ag is the optimum loading to have high activity.

Effects of Co3O4 Cocatalyst on InTaO4 for Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to CH3OH under Visible Light Irradiation

InTaO4 was synthesized by a solid-state reaction method using metal oxide as the starting materials. Co was added by incipient-wetness impregnation. The sample was pretreated by H2 (200 Torr) reduction at 500?C for 2 h and subsequent O2 (100 Torr) oxidation at 200?C for 1 h. The core-shell structure of metallic Co and Co3O4 was formed by this reduction-oxidation procedure. The catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscope. The photocatalytic reduction was carried out in a Pyrex reactor with KHCO3 or NaOH aqueous solution bubbled with ultra pure CO2 gas under visible light illumination. SEM micrographs show many small Co3O4 particles on the surface of InTaO4. The band gap of Co3O4-InTaO4 was 2.7 eV, confirming that these catalysts have the ability to reduce CO2 to methanol. The methanol yield increased with the amount of Co3O4 cocatalysts. The catalyst had a higher activity in KHCO3 aqueous solution than in NaOH solution. The InTaO4 catalyst with 1 wt% Co3O4 cocatalyst had the highest activity among all catalysts. Co3O4 was incorporate into the surface structure of InTaO4 to form CoxInTaO4-x. It resulted in more defect sites on the surface of InTaO4 and changed the valence band structure. It formed a Schottky barrier to suppress the electron-hole recombination.

Liquid Phase Hydrogenation of <i>p</i>-Chloronitrobenzene on Au-Pd/TiO₂Catalysts: Effects of Reduction Methods

The effects of palladium addition and the reduction methods on Au/TiO2 were investigated. Pd was loaded on TiO2 firstly by incipient-wetness impregnation, Au was then loaded by deposition-precipitation method. The nominal loadings of Au and Pd were 1 wt% and 0.01 wt%. The bimetallic catalysts were reduced by heating at 453 K, by flowing H2 at 423 K, or by NaBH4 at 298 K. The catalysts were characterized by ICP, XRD, TEM, HRTEM, TPR and XPS. Hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene was carried out at 1.2 MPa H2 pressure and 353 K. The results showed that even adding very small amount of Pd could enhance activity and selectivity of p-chloroaniline significantly. Pd and Au formed alloy and Pd could donate partial electron to Au. Pd metal on the surface of alloy could adsorb hydrogen and enhanced the activity. The pretreatment methods did not change particle size significantly, all were below 4 nm. The sample reduced by NaBH4 could have higher concentration of Au0 and sustain small Au particle size, resulting in high activity.

Anticorrosion of WO₃-Modified TiO₂Thin Film Prepared by Peroxo Sol-Gel Method

The aim of this study was to develop a method to prepare WO3-TiO2 film which has high anticorrosion property when it was coated on type 304 stainless steel. A series of WO3-modified TiO2 sols were synthesized by peroxo-sol gel method using TiCl4 and Na2WO4 as the starting materials. TiCl4 was converted to Ti(OH)4 gel. H2O2 and Na2WO4 were added in Ti(OH)4 solution and heated at 95°C. The WO3-TiO2 sol was transparent, in neutral (pH^7) solution, stable suspension without surfactant, nano-crystallite and no annealing is needed after coating, and very stable for 2 years in stock. WO3-TiO2 sol was formed with anatase crystalline structure. These sols were characterized by XRD, TEM, and XPS. The sol was used to coat on stainless steel 304 by dip-coating. The WO3-TiO2 was anatase in structure as characterized by X-ray diffraction. There were no WO3 XRD peaks in the WO3-TiO2 sols, indicating that WO3 particles were very small, possibly incorporating into TiO2 structure, providing the amount of WO3 was very small. The TiO2 particles were rhombus shape. WO3-TiO2 had smaller size area than pure TiO2. The SEM results showed that the film coated on the glass substrate was very uniform. All films were nonporous and dense films. Its hardness reached 2 H after drying at 100°C, and reached 5 H after annealing at 400°C. The WO3-TiO2 film coated on 304 stainless steel had better anticorrosion capability than the unmodified TiO2 film under UV light illumination. The optimum weight ratio of TiO2: WO3 was 100:4.

Nanosized Au Catalysts Supported on Mg(OH)₂-CeO₂for Preferential Oxidation of CO in Hydrogen Stream

Preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in the presence of hydrogen (PROX) is a promising method to remove CO from a hydrogen-containing gas mixture. Nanosized gold catalyst supported on CeO2 and modified with Mg(OH)2 was used for preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in hydrogen-rich stream in this study. Mg(OH)2 was added on CeO2 by incipient-wetness impregnation. Au was loaded on Mg(OH)2-CeO2 by deposition-precipitation method. PROX reaction was carried out in a continuous flow, fixed bed reactor. CO/O2 feed ratio was fixed at 1 to magnify the difference of various catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by N2 sorption, TEM, HR-TEM and XPS. Mg(OH)2 formed a thin layer on the surface of CeO2. CeO2 was in the crystalline phase and Mg(OH)2 was amorphous. Au particles were homogeneously dispersed on the support with a size of 2 - 5 nm. Using CeO2 as a support could increase the dispersion of Mg(OH)2 and thus increase the interaction between Au and Mg(OH)2. Adding Mg(OH)2 on Au/CeO2 could suppress H2 oxidation and therefore increase CO oxidation activity.

Au/CuO_x-TiO₂Catalysts for CO Oxidation at Low Temperature

A series of Au/CuOx-TiO2 with various Cu/Ti ratios were prepared. CuOx/TiO2 was prepared by incipient-wetness im- pregnation with aqueous solution of copper nitrate. Au catalysts were prepared by deposition-precipitation method at pH 7 and 338 K. The catalysts were characterized by inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, temperature pro- gramming reduction, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron mi- croscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The reaction was carried out in a fixed bed reactor with a feed con- taining 1% CO in air at WHSV of 120,000 mL/h·g. High gold dispersion and narrow size distribution was obtained. The addition of CuOx in Au/TiO2 enhanced the activity on CO oxidation significantly. CuOx was in amorphous state which could stabilize the Au nanoparticles. Cu was in Cu1+ state. Cu donated partial electrons to Au. The interactions among Au, Cu1+ and TiO2 account for the high catalytic activity for CO oxidation. The significant promotional effect of CuOx on CO oxidation at low temperature was demonstrated.

A Simple and Quick Screening Method for Intrapulmonary Vascular Dilation in Cirrhotic Patients Based on Machine Learning

Background and Aims:Screening for hepatopulmonary syndrome in cirrhotic patients is limited due to the need to perform contrast enhanced echocardiography(CEE)and arterial blood gas(ABG)analysis.We aimed to develop a simple and quick method to screen for the presence of intrapulmonary vascular dilation(IPVD)using noninvasive and easily available variables with machine learning(ML)algorithms.Methods:Cirrhotic patients were enrolled from our hospital.All eligible patients underwent CEE,ABG analysis and physical examination.We developed a twostep model based on three ML algorithms,namely,adaptive boosting(termed AdaBoost),gradient boosting decision tree(termed GBDT)and eXtreme gradient boosting(termed Xgboost).Noninvasive variables were input in the first step(the NI model),and for the second step(the NIBG model),a combination of noninvasive variables and ABG results were used.Model performance was determined by the area under the curve of receiver operating characteristics(AUCROCs),precision,recall,F1-score and accuracy.Results:A total of 193 cirrhotic patients were ultimately analyzed.The AUCROCs of the NI and NIBG models were 0.850(0.738–0.962)and 0.867(0.760–0.973),respectively,and both had an accuracy of 87.2%.For both negative and positive cases,the recall values of the NI and NIBG models were both 0.867(0.760–0.973)and 0.875(0.771–0.979),respectively,and the precisions were 0.813(0.690–0.935)and 0.913(0.825–1.000),respectively.Conclusions:We developed a two-step model based on ML using noninvasive variables and ABG results to screen for the presence of IPVD in cirrhotic patients.This model may partly solve the problem of limited access to CEE and ABG by a large numbers of cirrhotic patients.