Microwave-assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Carbon Materials with Tunable Microstructure

A facile microwave-assisted hydrothermal route has been developed for a synthesis of versatile carbon materials. The monosaccharide fructose aqueous solution was adopted as the starting material, and the p H of the solution was adjusted to be in acidic（pH 4）, neutral（pH 7） and basic（pH 10.5） conditions. The p H buffered fructose solutions were treated at different temperatures by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique. As-prepared carbon materials displayed p H and temperature dependent multi-morphologies（porous, spherical or core-shell）, which were determined by transmission and scanning electron microscopic analyses（TEM and SEM）. And the hypothesis of dehydration mechanism of hydrothermal synthesis was analyzed by ultraviolet extinction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It was found that as compared with normal hydrothermal synthesis, microwave assistance could efficiently increase the production yield and improve the spherical geometry of the carbon particles in neutral condition. By changing the p H of the system, acidic p H induces aggregation of the spheres, while basic p H produces more trends toward core-shell or sponge-like porous structure. The study opens a novel route to the production of polytropic carbon materials and suggests a potential niche market established from the green synthesis.

Influence of Microwave Radiation on Properties and Structure of Fe_2O_3/SO_4^(2-) Solid Superacid Catalyst

The microwave radiation method was introduced to prepare the Fe_2O_3/SO solid superacid.Its structure and properties were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction and infrared spectrum analyses as well as measurement of magnetic susceptibility and rate of esterification. The structure of the superacids prepared in microwave field can be crystalline or non-crystalline, the latter has not been reported yet in literatures. Comparing with the traditional superacid, the non-crystalline Fe2O3/SO superacid prepared in microwave field has the highest magnetic susceptibility and catalytic activity. The di-coordination of Fe2O3 and SO and the S=O bi-bond were reinforced by microwave radiation, which is favorable for increasing the acid intensity of the Fe2O3/SO catalyst

Using vibrational infrared biomolecular spectroscopy to detect heat-induced changes of molecular structure in relation to nutrient availability of prairie whole oat grains on a molecular basis

Background： To our knowledge, there is little study on the interaction between nutrient availability and molecular structure changes induced by different processing methods in dairy cattle. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of heat processing methods on interaction between nutrient availability and molecular structure in terms of functional groups that are related to protein and starch inherent structure of oat grains with two continued years and three replication of each year.Method： The oat grains were kept as raw（control） or heated in an air-draft oven（dry roasting： DO） at 120 °C for 60 min and under microwave irradiation（MIO） for 6 min. The molecular structure features were revealed by vibrational infrared molecular spectroscopy.Results： The results showed that rumen degradability of dry matter, protein and starch was significantly lower（P 〈0.05） for MIO compared to control and DO treatments. A higher protein α-helix to β-sheet and a lower amide I to starch area ratio were observed for MIO compared to DO and/or raw treatment. A negative correlation（-0.99, P 〈 0.01）was observed between α-helix or amide I to starch area ratio and dry matter. A positive correlation（0.99, P 〈 0.01） was found between protein β-sheet and crude protein.Conclusion： The results reveal that oat grains are more sensitive to microwave irradiation than dry heating in terms of protein and starch molecular profile and nutrient availability in ruminants.

Modeling the WMAP large-angle anomalies as an effect of a local density inhomogeneity

We investigate large-angle scale temperature anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background （CMB） with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe （WMAP） data and model the large-angle anomalies as the effect of the CMB quadrupole anisotropies caused by the local density inhomogeneities. The quadrupole caused by the local density inhomogeneities is different from the special relativity kinematic quadrupole. If the observer inhabits a strong inhomogeneous region, the lo- cal quadrupole should not be neglected. We calculate such local quadrupole under the assumption that there is a huge density fluctuation field in the direction （284°, 74°）, where the density fluctuation is 10-3, and its center is - 112 h-1 Mpc away from us. After removing such mock signals from WMAP data, the power in the quadrupole, C2, increases from the range （200 - 260 μK2） to - 1000 μK2. The quantity S, which is used to estimate the alignment between the quadrupole and the octopole, decreases from （0.7 - 0.74） to （0.31 - 0.37）, while the model predicts that C2 = 1071.5 μK2, and S = 0.412. So our local density inhomogeneity model can, in part, explain the WMAP low-l anomalies.

Structural characterization and optical properties of long-lasting CaAl2O4：Eu2＋,Nd3＋ phosphors synthesized by microwave-assisted chemical co-precipitation

The present paper reported the structural and luminescent properties of Eu^（2＋） and Nd^（3＋） doped CaAl_2O_4 phosphor. The samples were prepared by microwave-assisted chemical co-precipitation（MA-CCP）, a synthesis technique which is suitable for small and uniform particle that could be used directly without grinding. The effects of different microwave temperatures on structure and photoluminescence behavior were studied. Formation of a phosphor and phase purity were confirmed by X-ray diffraction technique（XRD） with variable microwave temperatures. XRD analysis showed that the phosphors prepared by MA-CCP method at the temperature of 750, 900oC, respectively and solid-state reaction（SSR） method at 1300oC consisted of impurities. Commission Internationale de L＇Eclairage（CIE） color coordinates of CaAl_2O_4：Eu^（2＋）,Nd^（3＋） were suitable as blue light emitting phosphor. Excitation and emission peaks of the samples prepared by different methods in this study were almost the same. The images of SEM showed that the size of the phosphors prepared by MA-CCP method reached a submicrometer.