Synthesis of nanocrystalline rutile-phase titania at low temperatures

Anatase and rutile are the predominant phases in titanium dioxide. In many cases, rutile stable phase is the desired product material, but at low temperatures methods of synthesis (aqueous route) produce metastable anatase as a major product that reverts to rutile only when heated up to 1000 °C. Calcination for obtaining rutile phase is the greatest energy demanding step for titanium dioxide production by the sulphate process, and is responsible for almost 60% of total energy consumption. In this work, an innovative technique involving a sonication pre-treatment in acid medium was developed to change particle reactivity and accelerate the anatase-to-rutile transformation. Scanning electron micrographs and surface area measurements confirmed the alteration in texture and porosity of the powders. Results indicate that it is possible to obtain 100% of rutile phase at temperatures as low as 430 °C

Pigmentos perolizados à partir do recobrimento de muscovita com óxidos de terras-raras

DepositadaA presente Patente de Invenção se refere à síntese de pigmentos perolizados com base em recobrimento de mica do tipo muscovita com óxidos de terras-raras. A muscovita utilizada é brasileira, natural e oriunda da província pegmatítica da região Borborema-Seridó (divisa entre RN e PB). Para síntese dos pigmentos utilizou-se o método de precipitação

Detailed crystallization study of co-precipitated Y1.47Gd1.53Fe5O12 and relevant magnetic properties

The crystallization process of co-precipitated Y1.5Gd1.5Fe5O12 powder heated up to 1000 ºC at rate of 5 °C min-1 was investigated. Above 810 ºC crystalline Y1.47Gd1.53Fe5O12 was obtained with a lattice parameter of 12.41 Å and a theoretical density of 5.84 g cm-3. Dry pressed rings were sintered at 1270 and 1320 ºC, increasing the grain-size from 3.1 to 6.5 µm, the theoretical density by 87.6 to 95.3% and decreasing Hc from 2.9725 to 1.4005 Oe. Additionally, Hc increased when the frequency of the hysteresis graph varied from 60 Hz to 10 kHz, the curie temperature was 282.4 ºC and Ms equalled 9.25 emu g-1 (0.17 kG) agreeing well with the Bs-value of the hysteresis graph and literature values

Degradation of some ceria electrolytes under hydrogen contact nearby anode in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)

This work is concerned with thermodynamic analysis of the stability of some ceria electrolytes under contact with hydrogen gas nearby anode in fuel cells. It was considered the following types of ceria-electrolytes: pure ceria, strontium-doped ceria, calcium-doped ceria and calcium-bismuth-doped ceria. The equilibrium Log (pH2O/pH2) vs. T diagrams were constructed for x = 0.1 and 0.01, where x is the fraction of initial ceria converted to Ce2O3 (proportional to the ratio between activities of Ce3+ and Ce4+ in the ceria electrolyte, which is proportional to the fraction of electronic conduction in the electrolyte at a given temperature). The predictions of the diagrams are as follows: (a) Ce1.9Ca0.1Bi0.8O5.1 and Ce0.9Sr0.1O1.9 are less stable than pure ceria for the whole temperature range (from 0 to 1000 °C); (b) Ce0.9Ca0.1O1.9 is more stable than pure ceria below about 650 °C for x = 0.1 and below about 400 °C for x = 0.01; (c) at each temperature in the considered range the pressure ratio pH2O(g)/pH2(g) has to be higher than thermodynamically predicted in order to keep CeO2 stable in the electrolyte contacting hydrogen gas. Thermodynamic predictions are entirely capable of explaining experimental data published on the subject (irreversible cell degradation in the case of SrO-doped ceria; weight loss from doped-ceria electrolyte above 700 °C; oxygen gas release during sintering of ceria)