SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF A NIGERIAN STANDARD SAND: IGBOKODA SAND

-1 reveal the presence of quartz and that it is in the crystalline form. Bands at around 800cm -1 -822.79cm -1 and 786.23cm -1, reveal that the silica is in the form of α-Quartz. The Raman spectrum of the sample has two peaks at around 203cm -1 and 463.07cm -1 for A1 vibrational mode characteristic of quartz. These peaks reflect that the sample studied belongs to the low temperature quartz. The occurrence of the Raman shift at 463.07cm -1 supports the observation from XRD studies which establishes that the quartz observed in this work is α-Quartz. The 29 Si NMR spectrum shows a prominent signal at -107.95 ppm correlating to quartz

Potential of anacardic acid for nanosized cellulose preparation under different treatment conditions

Herein, anacardic acid was applied for the preparation of nanosized cellulose using three different 11 treatment conditions including ultrasonication, microwave irradiation, and reflux. Physico-chemical 12 characterization was undertaken using FTIR, TEM, SEM, and XRD. FTIR, TEM, and SEM analyses 13 confirm the preparation of nanosized cellulose with similar chemical but different physical properties as 14 the cellulose starting material. In addition, calculated degrees of crystallinities from XRD data revealed 15 crystallinities of 53.9, 54.4, and 54.7 % for the nanosized cellulose prepared by ultrasonication (UNC), 16 microwave irradiation (MNC), and reflux (RNC) respectively, which all are higher than the 53.3 % of the 17 precursor cellulose. Overall, the study shows that anacardic acid holds potential for the preparation of 18 nanosized cellulose

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using sunlight-powered coordination polymers constructed from a tetracarboxylate linker

Here, we report the preparation of three coordination polymers - [Mn2(btec)]n, 1; [Ce2(H2btec)(btec)(H2O)2]n, 2; and [Fe(Hbtec)(H2O)2]n 3 from 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (H4btec). Physicochemical characterization of the coordination polymers were undertaken using microanalysis, X-ray crystallography, FTIR, PXRD, TGA/DSC, and UV/visible spectrophotometry to confirm the identities of the compounds. The Mn(II) centres in 1 exhibit octahedral geometry coordinated by six oxygen atoms and crystallizes in the monoclinic space group I2/m. In 2, Ce(III) centres adopt tricapped trigonal prism geometry, coordinated by three btec4-, three from H2btec2- and the oxygen from one coordinated water molecule. It crystallizes in the triclinic space group P . 3 is composed of an Hbtec ion and two water molecules coordinated to the Fe (III) ion. The band gaps of 1, 2, and 3 are 2.87, 3.10, and 3.61 eV, respectively, while their hydrogen peroxide-assisted efficiencies for the photodegradation of methylene blue are 91, 94, and 100 % respectively. An active species trapping experiment showed that an increase in hydroxy radicals (•OH) explains the enhanced efficiencies and provide an insight into the mechanism of the photodegradation of methylene blue by the photocatalysts. Efficiencies of mixtures of 2/H2O2 and 3/H2O2 reduced only slightly over five cycles of use and PXRD data revealed that 2 and 3 were chemically stable over the three cycles. Overall, the coordination polymers could serve as potential candidates for industrial-scale methylene blue degradation in the aqueous phase