A Review of Palm Oil Biodiesel under Long-Term Storage Conditions

Palm-oil biodiesel is widely used as alternative to diesel; the influences of long-term oxidative degradation on its burning characteristics are a matter of some concern. To further our understanding of this issue, this study investigated the heat release, carbon residue, flash point, and cetane index, oxidative stability, Density, Viscosity, Total acid no. of palm-oil biodiesel in a constant-temperature water bath after long-term storage. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15016

A Review of Internal Combustion Engine Design

The most successful inventions of human includes internal combustion engine (I C Engine) as top of the list. The recent emphasis on fuel economy, pollution control and other automobile fields like low friction body profile has also stimulated theoretical searches for an automobile. Studies have found no alternative type that promises to have significant advantages in fuel economy or pollution control than conventional I C Engines. But from these studies, it appears that the conventional types of spark-ignition and Diesel engines will remain in their present predominant position in land and sea transportation and for industrial and portable power for the foreseeable future. And so, here is an approach to have combined design aspects for all basic I C Engine components in one paper. Design aspects includes components like, piston, piston rings, cylinder, cylinder head, connecting rod, crank and crank shaft, cam and cam shaft along with valve and valve gear mechanism. A paper can be the base for future detailed designing work of I C Engine along with stress analysis and simulation

π-Plasmon absorption of carbon nanotubes for the selective and sensitive detection of Fe3+ ions.

Inspired by the remarkable electronic and optical properties of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), various molecular sensing devices with sensitivity down to the single molecule level have been developed. However, most sensing approaches such as field effect transistors or near infrared (NIR) fluorescence require the rigorous debundling and separation of metallic tubes and semiconducting tubes in order to reach the desired high sensitivity. Interestingly, all carbon nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes, graphite, graphene, and even amorphous carbon exhibit extremely strong π-plasmon absorption in the ultraviolet region. This strong absorption has been studied as an undesired optical background for applications based on visible and NIR absorptions. For the first time, we found that the strong π-plasmon absorption of SWNTs in the ultraviolet region is extremely sensitive to ion binding. It is even much more sensitive than the absorption in the visible and NIR regions. Herein, we present our first exploration into using the extremely strong plasmon absorption of SWNTs to develop a new sensing platform for the detection of metallic ions. The detection selectivity is realized by modifying the surface of SWNTs with molecular ligands that have a high specificity for metal ions. As a demonstration, the new method is applied to selectively detect iron ions (Fe3+) by modifying the surface of the SWNTs with deferoxamine (DFO), a natural bacterial siderophore, which has a high specificity and affinity for Fe3+. The selective detection of Fe3+ in both aqueous solution and complex rain water is achieved with a pM level of sensitivity and detection limit. In situ resonant Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the sensitive detection possibly involves electron transfer between the formed Fe-DFO complexes and the SWNTs. We envisage that it can be used to detect other metal ions when a specific binding chelator is attached to the carbon nanotube surface

π-Plasmon absorption of carbon nanotubes for the selective and sensitive detection of Fe3+ ions.

Inspired by the remarkable electronic and optical properties of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), various molecular sensing devices with sensitivity down to the single molecule level have been developed. However, most sensing approaches such as field effect transistors or near infrared (NIR) fluorescence require the rigorous debundling and separation of metallic tubes and semiconducting tubes in order to reach the desired high sensitivity. Interestingly, all carbon nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes, graphite, graphene, and even amorphous carbon exhibit extremely strong π-plasmon absorption in the ultraviolet region. This strong absorption has been studied as an undesired optical background for applications based on visible and NIR absorptions. For the first time, we found that the strong π-plasmon absorption of SWNTs in the ultraviolet region is extremely sensitive to ion binding. It is even much more sensitive than the absorption in the visible and NIR regions. Herein, we present our first exploration into using the extremely strong plasmon absorption of SWNTs to develop a new sensing platform for the detection of metallic ions. The detection selectivity is realized by modifying the surface of SWNTs with molecular ligands that have a high specificity for metal ions. As a demonstration, the new method is applied to selectively detect iron ions (Fe3+) by modifying the surface of the SWNTs with deferoxamine (DFO), a natural bacterial siderophore, which has a high specificity and affinity for Fe3+. The selective detection of Fe3+ in both aqueous solution and complex rain water is achieved with a pM level of sensitivity and detection limit. In situ resonant Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the sensitive detection possibly involves electron transfer between the formed Fe-DFO complexes and the SWNTs. We envisage that it can be used to detect other metal ions when a specific binding chelator is attached to the carbon nanotube surface

Microwave Enabled One-Pot, One-Step Fabrication and Nitrogen Doping of Holey Graphene Oxide for Catalytic Applications

The unique properties of holey graphene sheet, referred to graphene sheet with nanoholes in its basal plane, lead to wide range of applications, which cannot be achieved by its nonporous counterpart. However, its large scale solution based production requires graphene oxide (GO) or reduced GO (rGO) as starting materials, which take hours to days for their fabrication. Here, we report our unexpected discovery that GO with or without holes can be controllably, directly, and rapidly (tens of seconds) fabricated from graphite powder via a one-step-one-pot microwave assisted reaction with a production yield of 120 wt% of graphite. Furthermore, a fast and low temperature approach is developed for simultaneous nitrogen (N) doping and reduction of GO sheets. The N-doped holey rGO sheets demonstrate remarkable electrocatalytic capabilities toward electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction. The existence of the nanoholes not only provides a “short cut” for efficient mass transport, but also dramatically increases edges and surface area, therefore, creates more catalytic centers. The capability of rapid fabrication and N-doping as well as reduction of holey GO can lead us to develop efficient catalyst, which can replace previous coin metals for energy generation and storage, such as fuel cells and metal–air batteriesThis is the accepted version of the following article: Patel, M., Feng, W., Savaram, K., Khoshi, M. R., Huang, R., Sun, J., Rabie, E., Flach, C., Mendelsohn, R., Garfunkel, E. and He, H. (2015), Microwave Enabled One-Pot, One-Step Fabrication and Nitrogen Doping of Holey Graphene Oxide for Catalytic Applications. Small, 11: 3358–3368, which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.201403402.Peer reviewe

Graphene-Catalyzed Direct Friedel–Crafts Alkylation Reactions: Mechanism, Selectivity, and Synthetic Utility

Transition-metal-catalyzed alkylation reactions of arenes have become a central transformation in organic synthesis. Herein, we report the first general strategy for alkylation of arenes with styrenes and alcohols catalyzed by carbon-based materials, exploiting the unique property of graphenes to produce valuable diarylalkane products in high yields and excellent regioselectivity. The protocol is characterized by a wide substrate scope and excellent functional group tolerance. Notably, this process constitutes the first general application of graphenes to promote direct C–C bond formation utilizing polar functional groups anchored on the GO surface, thus opening the door for an array of functional group alkylations using benign and readily available graphene materials. Mechanistic studies suggest that the reaction proceeds via a tandem catalysis mechanism in which both of the coupling partners are activated by interaction with the GO surface

P‑Doped Porous Carbon as Metal Free Catalysts for Selective Aerobic Oxidation with an Unexpected Mechanism

An extremely simple and rapid (seconds) approach is reported to directly synthesize gram quantities of P-doped graphitic porous carbon materials with controlled P bond configuration. For the first time, it is demonstrated that the P-doped carbon materials can be used as a selective metal free catalyst for aerobic oxidation reactions. The work function of P-doped carbon materials, its connectivity to the P bond configuration, and the correlation with its catalytic efficiency are studied and established. In direct contrast to N-doped graphene, the P-doped carbon materials with higher work function show high activity in catalytic aerobic oxidation. The selectivity trend for the electron donating and withdrawing properties of the functional groups attached to the aromatic ring of benzyl alcohols is also different from other metal free carbon based catalysts. A unique catalytic mechanism is demonstrated, which differs from both GO and N-doped graphene obtained by high temperature nitrification. The unique and unexpected catalytic pathway endows the P-doped materials with not only good catalytic efficiency but also recyclability. This, combined with a rapid, energy saving approach that permits fabrication on a large scale, suggests that the P-doped porous materials are promising materials for “green catalysis” due to their higher theoretical surface area, sustainability, environmental friendliness, and low cost

Direct Production of Graphene Nanosheets for Near Infrared Photoacoustic Imaging

Hummers method is commonly used for the fabrication of graphene oxide (GO) from graphite particles. The oxidation process also leads to the cutting of graphene sheets into small pieces. From a thermodynamic perspective, it seems improbable that the aggressive, somewhat random oxidative cutting process could directly result in graphene nanosheets without destroying the intrinsic π-conjugated structures and the associated exotic properties of graphene. In Hummers method, both KMnO₄ and NO₂⁺ (nitronium ions) in concentrated H₂SO₄ solutions act as oxidants <i>via</i> different oxidation mechanisms. From both experimental observations and theoretical calculations, it appears that KMnO₄ plays a major role in the observed oxidative cutting and unzipping processes. We find that KMnO₄ also limits nitronium oxidative etching of graphene basal planes, therefore slowing down graphene fracturing processes for nanosheet fabrication. By intentionally excluding KMnO₄ and exploiting pure nitronium ion oxidation, aided by the unique thermal and kinetic effects induced by microwave heating, we find that graphite particles can be converted into graphene nanosheets with their π-conjugated aromatic structures and properties largely retained. Without the need of any postreduction processes to remove the high concentration of oxygenated groups that results from Hummers GO formation, the graphene nanosheets as-fabricated exhibit strong absorption, which is nearly wavelength-independent in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions, an optical property typical for intrinsic graphene sheets. For the first time, we demonstrate that strong photoacoustic signals can be generated from these graphene nanosheets with NIR excitation. The photo-to-acoustic conversion is weakly dependent on the wavelength of the NIR excitation, which is different from all other NIR photoacoustic contrast agents previously reported