A novel route to Pt-Bi2O3 composite thin films and their application in photo-reduction of water

A novel homoleptic bismuth(III) β-diketonate (dibenzoylmethane – dbm) complex [Bi(dbm)3]2 has been used as a precursor to thin films of crystalline β-Bi2O3, and hexachloroplatinic acid (H2PtCl6·6H2O) has been demonstrated as a suitable precursor for deposition of platinum nanoparticles, both deposited via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). Thin films of Pt–Bi2O3 were co-deposited from a mixture of [Bi(dbm)3]2 and H2PtCl6·6H2O; the introduction of Pt particles into β-Bi2O3 causes hydrogen to be evolved during photolysis of water over the composite material, a property not found for Pt particles or β-Bi2O3 alone

End-User Development of Voice User Interfaces based on Web content

Voice Assistants, and particularly the latest gadgets called smart speakers, allow end users to interact with applications by means of voice commands. As usual, end users are able to install applications (also called skills) that are available in repositories and fulfill multiple purposes. In this work we present an end-user environment to define skills for voice assistants based on the extraction of Web content and their organization into different voice navigation patterns. We describe the approach, the end-user development environment, and finally we present some case studies based on Alexa and Amazon Echo

Photocatalytic evolution of hydrogen and oxygen from ceramic wafers of commercial titanias

Several commercial titania photocatalyst powders were formed into thin (ca. 350 mu m), 25 mm diameter ceramic wafers, sputter deposited with Pt on one side. The activities of each of the ceramic wafers were tested for hydrogen and oxygen evolution from aqueous sacrificial systems. The commercial sample PC50 (Millennium Chemicals, UK) yielded reproducible ceramic wafers with high activity for water photoreduction. Many of the ceramic wafers displayed low water photo-oxidation activities; however, these were greatly increased with addition of a NiO co-catalyst. In a selected case, hydrogen evolution activity was compared between a PC50 wafer and an identical weight of platinised PC50 powder suspension. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A Comparison of the Potential Capability of SFS, SPS and HVSFS for the Production of Photocatalytic Titania Coatings

The photocatalytic capabilities of titanium dioxide are widely published. Reported applications of titania coatings include air purification, water purification and self-cleaning. Suspension spray has been highlighted as a possible route for the deposition of highly active nanostructured TiO2 coatings. Published work has demonstrated the capabilities of suspension plasma spray and high-velocity suspension flame spray; however, little work exists for suspension flame spray (SFS). Herein, these three suspension spray processes are compared as regards their capability to produce photocatalytic TiO2 coatings and their potential for industrial scale-up. A range of coatings were produced using each process, manipulating coating parameters in order to vary phase composition and other coating characteristics to modify the activity. The coatings produced varied significantly between the processes with SFS being the most effective technique as regards future scale-up and coating photoactivity. SFS coatings were found to be up to nine times more active than analogous coating produced by CVD