Measurement of Atrazine Adsorption onto Surficial Sediments(Natural Surface Coatings)——New Evidence for the Importance of Fe Oxides

To reveal the relative contribution of the components, Fe, Mn oxides or organic materials（OMs） in the surficial sediments（SSs）, and the natural surface coating samples（NSCSs） to adsorbing atrazine（AT）, a selective chemical extraction technique was employed, to remove the different components, and the adsorption characteristics of AT on the SSs and the NSCSs were investigated. The observed adsorptions of AT on the original and extracted SSs and NSCSs were analyzed by nonlinear least squares fitting（NLSF） to estimate the relative contribution of the components. The results showed that the maximum adsorption of AT on the NSCSs was greater than that in the SSs, before and after extraction treatments, implying that the NSCSs were more dominant than the SSs for organic pollutant adsorption. It was also found that the Fe oxides, OMs, and residues in SSs（NSCSs） facilitated the adsorption of AT, but Mn oxides directly or indirectly restrained the interaction of AT with SSs（NSCSs） particles. The contribution of the Fe oxides to AT adsorption was more than that of OMs; the greatest contribution to AT adsorption on a molar basis was from the Fe oxides in the nonresidual fractions, indicating that the Fe oxides played an important role in controlling the environmental behavior of AT in an aquatic environment.

Artificial Neural Network and Full Factorial Design Assisted AT-MRAM on Fe Oxides, Organic Materials, and Fe/Mn Oxides in Surficial Sediments

Artificial neural network（ANN） and full factorial design assisted atrazine（AT） multiple regression adsorption model（AT-MRAM） were developed to analyze the adsorption capability of the main components in the surficial sediments（SSs）. Artificial neural network was used to build a model（the determination coefficient square r2 is 0.9977） to describe the process of atrazine adsorption onto SSs, and then to predict responses of the full factorial design. Based on the results of the full factorial design, the interactions of the main components in SSs on AT adsorption were investigated through the analysis of variance（ANOVA）, F-test and t-test. The adsorption capability of the main components in SSs for AT was calculated via a multiple regression adsorption model（MRAM）. The results show that the greatest contribution to the adsorption of AT on a molar basis was attributed to Fe/Mn（–1.993 μmol/mol）. Organic materials（OMs） and Fe oxides in SSs are the important adsorption sites for AT, and the adsorption capabilities are 1.944 and 0.418 μmol/mol, respectively. The interaction among the non-residual components（Fe, Mn oxides and OMs） in SSs interferes in the adsorption of AT that shouldn’t be neglected, revealing the significant contribution of the interaction among non-residual components to controlling the behavior of AT in aquatic environments.

Magnetic Fe_3O_4-Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites-Based Electrochemical Biosensing

An electrochemical biosensing platform was developed based on glucose oxidase(GOx)/Fe3O4-reduced graphene oxide(Fe3O4-RGO) nanosheets loaded on the magnetic glassy carbon electrode(MGCE).With the advantages of the magnetism, conductivity and biocompatibility of the Fe3O4-RGO nanosheets, the nanocomposites could be facilely adhered to the electrode surface by magnetically controllable assembling and beneficial to achieve the direct redox reactions and electrocatalytic behaviors of GOx immobilized into the nanocomposites. The biosensor exhibited good electrocatalytic activity, high sensitivity and stability. The current response is linear over glucose concentration ranging from 0.05 to 1.5 m M with a low detection limit of0.15 μM. Meanwhile, validation of the applicability of the biosensor was carried out by determining glucose in serum samples. The proposed protocol is simple, inexpensive and convenient, which shows great potential in biosensing application.

Fe3C-N-doped carbon modified separator for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries

A new Fe3C-N-doped reduced graphene oxide(Fe3C-N-rGO)prepared by a facile method is used as a separator for high performance lithium-sulfur(Li-S)batteries.The Fe3C-N-rGO is coated on the surface of commercial polypropylene separator(Celgard 2400)close to the sulfur cathode.The special nanotubes are in-situ catalyzed by Fe3C nanoparticles.They could entrap lithium polysulfides(Li PSs)to restrain the shuttle effect and reduce the loss of active material.The battery with the modified separator and sulfur cathode shows an excellent cycle performance.It has a high rate performance,580.5 mAh/g at the high current rate of 4 C relative to 1075 mAh/g at 0.1 C.It also has an initial discharge capacity of 774.8 m Ah/g measured at 0.5 C and remains 721.8 mAh/g after 100 cycles with a high capacity retention of 93.2%.The outstanding performances are notable in recently reports with modified separator.

Perovskite Sr0.9Fe0.9Zr0.1O3-δ:Redox-stable Structure,Oxygen Vacancy,Electrical Properties and Steam Electrolysis Performance

Many researchers have studied on perovskite oxide for its unique structure.Perovskite oxides,ABO3-δ,with different A and B metals have shown wide applications in many fields,in particular solid oxide electrolysers.SrFeO3-δ,typical perovskite oxides,in which iron is the mixed-valence cation with the capacity to change the chemical valence,have a wide range of oxygen nonstoichiometry.In this study,Sr（0.9）Fe（0.9）Zr（0.1）O3-δ（SFZO） is synthesized and then treated in 5%H2/Ar and air at high temperature,exhibiting excellent redox stability.Redox-stable structure,oxygen vacancy and electrical properties of SFZO are investigated.Steam electrolysis is then performed with SFZO cathode under 5%H2O/5%H2/Ar and 5%H2O/Ar atmospheres,respectively.The present results indicate that the SFZO is a novel promising cathode material for solid oxide steam electrolyser.

Effect of SO_2 on Performance of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes

Effects of SO2 in ambient air on the performance and durability of solid oxide fuel cell（SOFC） cathode were evaluated by galvanostatic measurement. Comparison between two cathode materials was made to consider the cathode degradation mechanisms. The degradation performance is associated with a slow decomposition of the La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3（LSCF） due to the segregation of strontium oxide. Negligible deterioration for （La0.7Sr0.3）MnO3 （LSM） cathode was caused by SO2 poisoning under a current density of 200 mA/cm2. Metal sulphate formation may explain a slight deterioration under increasing high the concentration of SO2. It was verified that the poisoning mechanism for the two cathode materials resulted from the gradual decomposition of the cathode materials.

Antimony oxidation and adsorption by in-situ formed biogenic Mn oxide and Fe–Mn oxides

Antimony（Sb）, which can be toxic at relatively low concentrations, may co-exist with Mn（Ⅱ）and/or Fe（Ⅱ） in some groundwater and surface water bodies. Here we investigated the potential oxidation and adsorption pathways of Sb（Ⅲ and V） species in the presence of Mn（Ⅱ） and Mn-oxidizing bacteria, with or without Fe（Ⅱ）. Batch experiments were conducted to determine the oxidation and adsorption characteristics of Sb species in the presence of biogenic Mn oxides（BMOs）, which were formed in-situ via the oxidation of Mn（Ⅱ） by a Mn-oxidizing bacterium（Pseudomonas sp. QJX-1）. Results indicated that Sb（Ⅲ） ions could be oxidized to Sb（V） ions by BMO, but only Sb（V） originating from Sb（Ⅲ） oxidation was adsorbed effectively by BMO. Introduced Fe（Ⅱ） was chemically oxidized to Fe OOH, the precipitates of which mixed with BMO to form a new compound, biogenic Fe–Mn oxides（BFMO）. The BMO part of the BFMO mainly oxidized and the Fe OOH of the BFMO mainly adsorbed the Sb species. In aquatic solutions containing both As（Ⅲ） and Sb（Ⅲ）, the BFMO that formed in-situ preferentially oxidized Sb over As but adsorbed As more efficiently. Chemical analysis and reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that the presence of Fe（Ⅱ）, As（Ⅲ） and Sb（Ⅲ） accelerated the oxidation of Mn（Ⅱ） but inhibited the activity of Mn-oxidizing bacteria. These results provide significant insights into the biogeochemical pathways of Sb, Mn（Ⅱ） in aquatic ecosystems, with or without Fe（Ⅱ）.

NORRRM: A Free Software to Calculate the CIPW Norm

This work gives an introduction to the R package NORRRM whose main purpose is to calculate the CIPW Norm. Although there are many softwares and spreadsheets available to estimate the standard mineral assemblages in igneous rocks, this package has the following advantages: a) it has the ability to be run on any operating computer systems (BSD, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X®, Windows®);b) an input argument allows choose different procedures to set the Fe-oxidation ratio;c) the options to use whole-rock major as well as minor oxides and trace elements in the computation;d) the output data yields highly consistent results achieving absolute match between the sum of the input weights of oxides recalculated on an anhydrous basis and the sum of the weights of estimated normative minerals and;e) the functions are written in R language and released under terms that guarantee users the freedom to study, adapt, modify, and distribute the software.

Selective oxidation of methane and carbon deposition over Fe_2O_3/Ce_(1-x)Zr_xO_2 oxides

A series of Fe2O3/Al2O3, Fe2O3/CeO2, Ce0.7Zr0.3O2, and Fe2O3/Ce1-xZrxO2（x = 0.1–0.4） oxides was prepared and their physicochemical features were investigated by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, transmission electron microscope（TEM）, and H2-temperature-programmed reduction（H2-TPR） techniques. The gas–solid reactions between these oxides and methane for syngas generation as well as the catalytic performance for selective oxidation of carbon deposition in O2-enriched atmosphere were investigated in detail. The results show that the samples with the presence of Fe2O3show much higher activity for methane oxidation compared with the Ce0.7Zr0.3O2solid solution,while the CeO2-contained samples represent higher CO selectively in methane oxidation than the Fe2O3/Al2O3sample. This suggests that the iron species should be the active sites for methane activation, and the cerium oxides provide the oxygen source for the selective oxidation of the activated methane to syngas during the reaction between methane and Fe2O3/Ce0.7Zr0.3O2. For the oxidation process of the carbon deposition, the CeO2-containing samples show much higher CO selectivity than the Fe2O3/Al2O3sample, which indicates that the cerium species should play a very important role in catalyzing the carbon selective oxidation to CO. The presence of the Ce–Zr–O solid solution could induce the growth direction of the carbonfilament, resulting in a loose contact between the carbon filament and the catalyst. This results in abundant exposed active sites for catalyzing carbon oxidation, strongly improving the oxidation rate of the carbon deposition over this sample. In addition, the Fe2O3/Ce0.7Zr0.3O2also represents much higher selectivity（ca. 97 %） for the conversion of carbon to CO than the Fe2O3/CeO2sample, which can be attributed to the higher concentration of reduced cerium sites on this sample. The increase of the Zr content in the Fe2O3/Ce1-xZrxO2samples could improve the reactivity of the materials for methane oxidation, but it also reduces the selectivity for CO formation.

Achieving high conversion of syngas to aromatics

Realizing high CO conversion and high aromatics selectivity simultaneously in syngas-to-aromatics(STA)reaction is still challenging.Herein,we report a 57.5%CO conversion along with 74%aromatics selectivity over a composite catalyst consisting of Fe/ZnCr_(2)O_(4)(Fe modified ZnCr_(2)O_(4)spinel)oxide and H-ZSM-5 zeolite.Impregnation of only 3 wt%of Fe onto ZnCr_(2)O_(4)can remarkably increase CO conversion without sacrificing the aromatics selectivity.Oxygen vacancy concentration is improved after impregnating Fe.The highly dispersed iron carbide species is formed during the reaction over Fe/ZnCr_(2)O_(4)spinel oxide.The synergistic effect of oxygen vacancy and iron carbide results in a rapid formation of abundant oxygenated intermediate species,which can be continuously transformed to aromatics in H-ZSM-5.This study provides a new insight into the design of highly efficient catalyst for syngas conversion.

Highly efficient P uptake by Fe3O4 loaded amorphous Zr-La (carbonate) oxides: Electrostatic attraction, inner-sphere complexation and oxygen vacancies acceleration effect

Bimetallic oxides composites have received an increasing attention as promising adsorbents for aqueous phosphate (P) removal in recent years. In this study, a novel magnetic composite MZLCO was prepared by hybridizing amorphous Zr-La (carbonate) oxides (ZLCO) with nano-FeOthrough a one-pot solvothermal method for efficient phosphate adsorption. Our optimum sample of MZLCO-45 exhibited a high Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity of 96.16 mg P/g and performed well even at low phosphate concentration. The phosphate adsorption kinetics by MZLCO-45 fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption capacity could reach 79% of the ultimate value within the first 60 min. The phosphate adsorption process was highly p H-dependent, and MZLCO-45 performed well over a wide p H range of 2.0-8.0. Moreover, MZLCO-45 showed a strong selectivity to phosphate in the presence of competing ions (Cl^(-), NO_(3)^(-), SO_(4)^(2-), HCO_(3)^(-), Ca^(2+), and Mg^(2+)) and a good reusability using the eluent of Na OH/Na Cl mixture, then 64% adsorption capacity remained after ten recycles. The initial 2.0 mg P/L in municipal wastewater and surface water could be efficiently reduced to below 0.1mg P/L by 0.07 g/L MZLCO-45, and the phosphate removal efficiencies were 95.7% and 96.21%, respectively. Phosphate adsorption mechanisms by MZLCO-45 could be attributed to electrostatic attraction and the inner-sphere complexation via ligand exchange forming Zr/La-O-P, -OH and CO_(3)^(2-)groups on MZLCO-45 surface played important roles in the ligand exchange process. The existence of oxygen vacancies could accelerate the phosphate absorption rate of the MZLCO-45 composites.

Early Crystallized Titanomagnetite from Evolved Magmas and Magma Recharge in the Mesoproterozoic Zhuqing Oxide-Bearing Gabbroic Intrusions,Sichuan,SW China

The ca. 1.5 Ga mafic intrusions in the Zhuqing area, predominantly composed of alkaline gabbroic rocks in the Kangdian region of SW China, occur as dykes or irregular small intrusions hosting Fe–Ti–V mineralization. All of the intrusions that intrude the dolomite or shales of the Mesoproterozoic Heishan Formation of the Huili Group are composed of three cyclic units from the base upward： a marginal cyclic unit, a lower cyclic unit and an upper cyclic unit. The Fe–Ti–V oxide ore bodies are hosted in the lower and upper cyclic units. The textural relationships between minerals in the intrusions suggest that titanomagnetite formed earlier than silicate grains because euhedral magnetite and ilmenite grains were enclosed in clinopyroxene and plagioclase. Both the magnetitess–ilmenitess intergrowths due to subsolidus oxidation–exsolutions and the relative higher V distribution coefficient between magnetite and silicate melts in the gabbros from the Zhuqing area are different from those of other typical Fe–Ti bearing mafic rocks, suggesting that the oxygen fugacity was low in the gabbric rocks from the Zhuqing area. This finding was further confirmed by calculations based on the compositions of magnetite and ilmenite pairs. The clinopyroxene, magnetite and ilmenite in the intrusions from the Zhuqing area had considerably lower Mg O than those of other typical Fe–Ti oxide-rich complexes, suggesting that the titanomagnetite from the intrusion may have crystallized at a relatively late stage of evolution from a more evolved magma. Titanomagnetite first fractionally crystallized and subsequently settled in the lower parts of the magma chamber, where it concentrated and formed Fe–Ti–V oxide ore layers at the bases of the lower and upper cycles. Moreover, the occurrence of multiple Fe-Ti oxide layers alternating with Fe-Ti oxide-bearing silicate layers suggests that multiple pulses of magma were involved in the formation of the intrusions and related Fe-Ti-V oxide deposits in the Zhuqing area.

Phosphorus speciation and colloidal phosphorus responses to short-term cessation of fertilization in a lime concretion black soil

Long-term excessive application of mineral fertilizer has led to soil acidification and phosphorus(P) accumulation, increasing the risk of P loss and environmental pollution, and cessation of fertilization is widely considered as a cost-effective management strategy to relieve this situation;however, how such cessation influences P speciation and concentrations in a bulk soil and colloidal fractions and whether decreasing P concentration might maintain soil fertility remain unclear. In this study, the effects of long-term fertilization(ca. 40 years) and short-term cessation of fertilization(ca. 16 months) on inorganic, organic,and colloidal P in lime concretion black soil were investigated using P sequential fractionation and31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. After long-term fertilization, available P, dicalcium phosphate, iron-bound P, orthophosphate monoesters, and orthophosphate diesters increased significantly, but soil p H decreased by ca. 2.8 units, indicating that long-term fertilization caused soil acidification and P accumulation and changed P speciation markedly. In contrast, short-term fertilization cessation increased soil p H by ca. 0.8 units and slightly reduced available and inorganic P. Available P after fertilization cessation was 22.9–29.8 mg kg-1, which was still sufficient to satisfy crop growth requirements. Additionally, fertilization cessation increased the proportions of fine colloids(100–450 nm, including nontronite and some amorphous iron oxides) and drove a significant release of iron/aluminum oxide nanoparticles(1–100 nm) and associated P with orthophosphate and pyrophosphate species. In summary, short-term fertilization cessation effectively alleviated soil acidification and inorganic P accumulation, while concomitantly maintaining soil P fertility and improving the potential mobilization of P associated with microparticles.

Enhancement of the Photocatalytic Oxygen Production by Tantalum Nitride Supported Fe Atom Embedded N-Doped Graphene Oxide

Energy crises and environmental pollution have become urgent problems with human civilization development.Photocatalysis technology is a green method to deal with these challenges.The key to improve photocatalytic efficiency lies in the effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.In this work,we designed the Fe atom embedded N-doped graphene oxide(Fe-NGO)supporting on tantalum nitride(Ta_(3)N_(5))catalyst,which was employed to improve the photocatalytic oxygen production activity.The oxygen production of 5 wt%Fe atom embedded N-doped graphene oxide supporting on tantalum nitride(Fe-NGO/Ta_(3)N_(5))was 184.7μmol·g^(-1),about 3.5 times higher than that of the pure Ta_(3)N_(5).The introduction of the cocatalyst Fe-NGO acting as an electron conductor in the Fe-NGO/Ta_(3)N_(5) accelerates the carrier migration of Ta_(3)N_(5) and further enhances the photocatalytic oxygen production activity.N-doping increases the conductivity of graphene oxide(GO),and Fe atoms are used as the reactive sites to promote the combination of electron and sacrificial agent in the system.This work may provide insights into the research of new carbon.

Effects of different sludge disintegration methods on sludge moisture distribution and dewatering performance

A key step in sludge treatment is sludge dewatering. However, activated sludge is generally very difficult to be dewatered. Sludge dewatering performance is largely affected by the sludge moisture distribution. Sludge disintegration can destroy the sludge structure and cell wall, so as change the sludge floc structure and moisture distribution, thus affecting the dewatering performance of sludge. In this article, the disintegration methods were ultrasound treatment, K2 Fe O4oxidation and KMn O4 oxidation. The degree of disintegration（DDCOD）, sludge moisture distribution and the final water content of sludge cake after centrifuging were measured. Results showed that three disintegration methods were all effective, and K2 Fe O4oxidation was more efficient than KMn O4 oxidation. The content of free water increased obviously with K2 Fe O4and KMn O4 oxidations, while it decreased with ultrasound treatment. The changes of free water and interstitial water were in the opposite trend. The content of bounding water decreased with K2 Fe O4oxidation, and increased slightly with KMn O4 oxidation, while it increased obviously with ultrasound treatment. The water content of sludge cake after centrifuging decreased with K2 Fe O4oxidation, and did not changed with KMn O4 oxidation, but increased obviously with ultrasound treatment. In summary, ultrasound treatment deteriorated the sludge dewaterability, while K2 Fe O4and KMn O4 oxidation improved the sludge dewaterability.

Microaerobic Fe (Ⅱ) oxidation coupled to carbon assimilation processes driven by microbes from paddy soil

Microaerobic Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation process at neutral pH, driven by microbes can couple to carbon assimilation process in iron-rich freshwater and marine environments;however, few studies report such coupled processes in paddy soil of the critical zone in South China. In this study, rhizosphere soil from flooded paddy field was used as the inoculum to enrich the microaerophilic Fe(Ⅱ)-oxidizing bacteria(FeOB) in gradient tubes with different Fe(Ⅱ) substrates(FeS and FeCO_3) and ^(13)C-biocarbonate as inorganic carbon source to track the carbon assimilation. Kinetics of Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation and biomineralization were analyzed, and the composition and abundance of the microbial community were profiled using 16 S rRNA gene-based highthroughput sequencing. Results showed that microbial cell bands were formed 0.5–1.0 cm below the medium surface in the inoculated tubes with Fe(Ⅱ) substances, while no cell band was found in the non-inocula controls. The protein concentrations in the cell bands reached the highest values at 18.7–22.9 mg m^L(-1) on 6 d in the inocula tubes with Fe(Ⅱ) substrates. A plateau of the yields of ^(13)C-biocarbonate incorporation was observed during 6–15 d at 0.44–0.54% and 1.61–1.98% in the inocula tubes with FeS and FeCO_3, respectively. The inocula tube with FeS showed a higher Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation rate of 0.156 mmol L^(-1) d^(-1) than that with FeCO_3(0.106 mmol L^(-1) d^(-1)). Analyses of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that amorphous iron oxide was formed on the surface of rod-shaped bacteria after Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation.Relative to the agar only control, the abundances of Clostridium and Pseudogulbenkiania increased in the inocula tube with FeS,while those of Vogesella, Magnetospirillum, Solitalea, and Oxalicibacterium increased in the inocula tube with FeCO_3, all of which might be the potential microaerophilic FeOB in paddy soil. The findings in this study suggest that microbes that couple microaerobic Fe(Ⅱ) oxidation to carbon assimilation existed in the paddy soil, which provides an insight into the iron-carbon coupling transformation under microaerobic conditions in the critical zone of the iron-rich red soil.

Arsenic and cadmium removal from water by a calcium-modified and starch-stabilized ferromanganese binary oxide

A new calcium-modified and starch-stabilized ferromanganese binary oxide (Ca-SFMBO)sorbent was fabricated with different Ca concentrations for the adsorption of arsenic (As)and cadmium (Cd) in water.The maximum As(Ⅲ) and Cd(Ⅱ) adsorption capacities of 1%CaSFMBO were 156.25 mg/g and 107.53 mg/g respectively in single-adsorption systems.The adsorption of As and Cd by the Ca-SFMBO sorbent was pH-dependent at values from 1 to 7,with an optimal adsorption pH of 6.In the dual-adsorbate system,the presence of Cd(Ⅱ) at low concentrations enhanced As(Ⅲ) adsorption by 33.3%,while the adsorption of As(Ⅲ) was inhibited with the increase of Cd(Ⅱ) concentration.Moreover,the addition of As(Ⅲ) increased the adsorption capacity for Cd(Ⅱ) up to two-fold.Through analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),it was inferred that the mechanism for the co-adsorption of Cd(Ⅱ) and As(Ⅲ) included both competitive and synergistic effects,which resulted from the formation of ternary complexes.The results indicate that the Ca-SFMBO material developed here could be used for the simultaneous removal of As(Ⅲ) and Cd(Ⅱ) from contaminated water.

Rapid and multimodal in vivo bioimaging of cancer cells through in situ biosynthesis of Zn＆Fe nanoclusters

Early diagnosis remains highly important for efficient cancer treatment, and hence, there is significant interest in the development of effective imaging strategies. This work reports a new multimodal bioimaging method for accurate and rapid diagnosis of cancer cells by introducing aqueous Fe^2＋ and Zn^2＋ ions into cancer cells （i.e., HeLa, U87, and HepG2 cancer cells）. We found that the biocompatible metal ions Fe^2＋ and Zn^2＋ forced the cancer cells to spontaneously synthesize fluorescent ZnO nanoclusters and magnetic Fe3O4 nanoclusters. These clusters could then be used for multimodal cancer imaging by combining fluorescence imaging with magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography imaging. Meanwhile, for normal cells （i.e., L02） and tissues, neither fluorescence nor any other obvious difference could be detected between pre- and post-injection. This multimodal bioimaging strategy based on the in situ biosynthesized Zn＆Fe oxide nanoclusters might therefore be useful for early cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Structure and catalytic property of CeO_2-ZrO_2-Fe_2O_3 mixed oxide catalysts for diesel soot combustion: Effect of preparation method

A series of Ceo.sFeo.30Zr0.20O2 catalysts were prepared by different methods （co-precipitations method, citric acid sol-gel method, impregnation method, physical mixed method, and hydrotherrnal method） and characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller （BET） and H2-TPR measurements. Potential of the catalysts in the soot oxidation was evaluated in a temperature-programmed oxidation （TPO） apparatus. The results showed that all the Fe3＋ and Zr4＋ were incor- porated into ceria lattice to form a pure Ce-Fe-Zr-O solid solution for the co-precipitation sample, but two kinds of Fe phases ex- isted in the Ce-Fe-Zr-O catalysts prepared by other methods： Fe3＋ incorporated into CeO2 lattice and dispersed Fe2O3 clusters. The free Fe2O3 clusters could improve the activity of catalysts for soot oxidation comparing with the pure Ce-Fe-Zr-O solid solution owing to the synergetic effect between free Fe2O3 and surface oxygen vacancies. In addition, the activity of catalysts strongly relied on the surface reducibility of free Fe2O3 particles. Holding both abundant free Fe2O3 particles and high oxygen vacancy concentration, the hydrothermal Ce0.5Fe0.3Zr0.202 catalyst presented the lowest Ti （251℃, ignition temperature of soot oxidation） and Tm （310 ℃, maximum oxidation rate temperature） for soot combustion （with tight-contact between soot and catalysts） among the five samples. Even after aging at 800 ℃ for 10 h, the Ti and Tm were still relatively low, at 273 and 361 ℃, respectively, indicating high catalytic stability.

Electromagnetic wave absorption in reduced graphene oxide functionalized with Fe3O4/Fe nanorings

We report the preparation of nanocomposites of reduced graphene oxide with embedded Fe3O4/Fe nanorings （FeNR@rGO） by chemical hydrothermal growth. We illustrate the use of these nanocomposites as novel electromagnetic wave absorbing materials. The electromagnetic wave absorption properties of the nanocomposites with different compositions were investigated. The preparation procedure and nanocomposite composition were optimized to achieve the best electromagnetic wave absorption properties. Nanocomposites with a GO：cx-Fe203 mass ratio of 1：1 prepared by annealing in HdAr for 3 h exhibited the best properties. This nanocomposite sample （thickness = 4.0 mm） showed a minimum reflectivity of -23.09 dB at 9.16 GHz. The band range was 7.4-11.3 GHz when the reflectivity was less than -10 dB and the spectrum width was up to 3.9 GHz. These figures of merit are typically of the same order of magnitude when compared to the values shown by traditional ferric oxide materials. However, FeNR@rGO can be readily applied as a microwave absorbing material because the production method we propose is highly compatible with mass production standards.