Experimental and theoretical investigations on a CVD grown thin film of polymeric carbon nitride and its structure

A polymeric carbon nitride thin film has been grown using chemical vapor deposition. The characterization of the material shows that it has the same molecular composition as a formerly synthesized graphitic carbon nitride powder but both substances differ widely in their structural organization. In particular, our analyses reveal a paradoxical character in which the thin film sample exhibits simultaneously a high degree of organization in the stacking of the polymer sheets with strong inter-layer interactions, as expected from the growth technique, and a complete lack of crystallinity. A comprehensive theoretical study based on massive semi-empirical quantum chemistry computations has permitted to explain the properties of the material and to elucidate fundamental issues regarding the structural conformation of graphitic carbon nitride

A simple approach to synthesize g-C3N4 with high visible light photoactivity for hydrogen production

Se-modified g-C3N4 was synthesized from sonicated aqueous suspensions of melamine cyanurate and SeO2. The different thermal condensation temperatures in the 500–650 °C range were found to influence the photophysical properties and hydrogen evolution rates. H2 evolution increased dramatically by two orders of magnitude when Pt co-catalyst (1 wt.%) was incorporated, reaching an HER of 75 µmol H2/h

Photocatalytic activity of a new composite material of Fe (III) oxide nanoparticles wrapped by a matrix of polymeric carbon nitride and amorphous carbon

Polymeric carbon nitride was synthesized from urea and doped with Cu and Fe to act as co-catalysts. The material doped with Fe was a new composite material composed of Fe(III) oxides (acting as a co-catalyst) wrapped by the polymer layers and amorphous carbon. Furthermore, the copper doped material was described in a previous report. The photocatalytic degradation of the azo dye direct blue 1 (DB) was studied using as photocatalysts: pure carbon nitride (CN), carbon nitride doped with Cu (CN-Cu) and carbon nitride doped with Fe (CN-Fe). The catalysts were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method (BET), etc. The adsorption phenomenon was studied using the Langmuir and Freundlich models. For the kinetic study, a solution of 500 mg L-1 of DB1 was treated with each catalyst, visible light and H2O2. The dye concentration was measured by spectrophotometry at the wavelength of 565 nm, and the removal of the total organic content (TOC) was quantified. BET analysis yielded surface areas of 60.029, 20.116 and 70.662 m2g-1 for CN, CN-Cu and CN-Fe, respectively. The kinetics of degradation were pseudo-first order, whose constants were 0.093, 0.039 and 0.110 min-1 for CN, CN-Cu and CN-Fe, respectively. The total organic carbon (TOC) removal reached the highest value of 14.46% with CN-Fe

Development and evaluation of a tropical feed library for the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Rrotein System model Desenvolvimento e avaliação de uma biblioteca de alimentos tropicais para o modelo "Sistema de Carboidrato e Proteína Líquidos" da Universidade de Cornell

The Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) model has been increasingly used in tropical regions for dairy and beef production. However, the lack of appropriate characterization of the feeds has restricted its application. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a feed library containing feeds commonly used in tropical regions with characteristics needed as inputs for the CNCPS. Feed composition data collected from laboratory databases and from experiments published in scientific journals were used to develop this tropical feed library. The total digestible nutrients (TDN) predicted at 1x intake of maintenance requirement with the CNCPS model agreed with those predicted by the Weiss et al. (1992) equation (r² of 92.7%, MSE of 13, and bias of 0.8%) over all feeds. However, the regression r² of the tabular TDN values and the TDN predicted by the CNCPS model or with the Weiss equation were much lower (58.1 and 67.5%, respectively). A thorough comparison between observed and predicted TDN was not possible because of insufficient data to characterize the feeds as required by our models. When we used the mean chemical composition values from the literature data, the TDN predicted by our models did not agree with the measured values. We conclude using the TDN values calculated using the Weiss equation and the CNCPS model that are based on the actual chemical composition of the feeds result in energy values that more accurately represent the feeds being used in specific production situations than do the tabular values. Few papers published in Latin America journals that were used in this study reported information need by models such as the CNCPS.<br>O uso do Sistema de Carboidrato e Proteina Líquidos da Universidade de Cornell (CNCPS) tanto para produção de leite como carne tem aumentado durante o últimos anos nas regiões tropicais. Entretanto, a falta de uma caracterização adequada de alimentos tem restringido o seu uso corretamente. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo principal o desenvolvimento e a avaliação de uma tabela de composição de alimentos utilizados nas condições tropicais. Os dados da composição desses alimentos foram baseados nas informações necessárias para o uso do modelo CNCPS desenvolvido pela Universidade de Cornell, USA. A composição desses alimentos foi obtida através de análises realizadas em laboratórios e de experimentos publicados em revistas científicas. Os nutrientes digestíveis totais (NDT) estimados através da composição de carboidratos e proteina dos alimentos pela equação de Weiss et al. (1992) e pelo modelo CNCPS foram comparados com os valores da tabela. O NDT estimado ao nível de mantença (1x) com o modelo CNCPS obteve valores próximos aos estimados pela equação de Weiss et al. (1992) (r² = 92.7% e bias = 0.8%). Entretanto, o r² da regressão entre os valores de NDT da tabela e o estimado pelo CNCPS e por Weiss foram menores (58.1 e 67.5%, respectivamente). Uma comparação completa entre os valores observados e preditos não foi possível devido a falta de caracterização dos alimentos conforme necessário pelos modelos testados. Quando os valores médios de literatura foram utilizados, a correlação entre o NDT estimado e o observado foi muito baixa. Concluímos que os valores de NDT estimados por Weiss e modelo CNCPS fornecem melhores estimativas de NDT do que os valores de tabela. A maioria dos trabalhos publicados que foram avaliados nesse estudo raramente incluíam informações necessárias para modelos como o CNCPS