Carbon based-materials/metal-organic framework for catalytic oxidation in direct borohydride fuel cell application

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), are known as novel types of crystalline materials formed by organic bridging ligands and coordination of metal ions. MOFs have unique characteristics such as high porosity, large surface area, and high structural durability. However, MOFs have some disadvantages such as having low stability, as well as electrical conductivity which causes their catalysis efficiency and application to be limited to a large extent. Thus, among the solutions made in previous studies, to overcome the disadvantages of this MOF is to combine it with carbon-based material to form a composite with better properties than pure MOF. This current review focuses on the performance of carbon-based material/MOF catalyst composites for direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) application. The catalytic oxidation of borohydride performance using carbon-based material/MOF catalyst is clearly and scientifically observed to enhance the catalytic activity in previous studies. There is no denying that carbon-based materials are widely used in fuel cell applications and have great advantages such as low toxicity, unique structure, good porosity properties, lightweight, controllable heteroatom doping, and easy processing, as well as excellent mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties. Thus, this review provides a summary of the application of carbon-based materials and MOFs with the properties and performance of this composite including the catalytic oxidation activity and DBFC potential for the entire system

Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue under UV Light Irradiation on Prepared Carbonaceous TiO

This study involves the investigation of altering the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 using composite materials. Three different forms of modified TiO2, namely, TiO2/activated carbon (AC), TiO2/carbon (C), and TiO2/PANi, were compared. The TiO2/carbon composite was obtained by pyrolysis of TiO2/PANi prepared by in situ polymerization method, while the TiO2/activated carbon (TiO2/AC) was obtained after treating TiO2/carbon with 1.0 M KOH solution, followed by calcination at a temperature of 450°C. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTA), Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), and UV-Vis spectroscopy were used to characterize and evaluate the prepared samples. The specific surface area was determined to be in the following order: TiO2/AC > TiO2/C > TiO2/PANi > TiO2 (179 > 134 > 54 > 9 m2 g−1). The evaluation of photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation was also of the same order, with 98 > 84.7 > 69% conversion rate, which is likely to be attributed to the porosity and synergistic effect in the prepared samples

Decomposition of Formic Acid and Acetic Acid into Hydrogen Using Graphitic Carbon Nitride Supported Single Metal Catalyst

In a combination of generation and storage of hydrogen gas, both formic acid (FA) and acetic acid (AA) have been notified as efficient hydrogen carriers. This study was conducted to synthesize the monometallic catalysts namely palladium (Pd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) on graphitic-carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and to study the potential of these catalysts in FA and mixed formic acid (FA)-acetic acid (AA) decomposition reaction. Several parameters have been studied in this work such as the type of active metals, temperature, and metal loadings. The mass percentage of Pd, Cu, and Zn metal used in this experiment are 1, 3, and 5 wt%, respectively. At low temperature of 30 °C, 5 wt% Pd/g-C3N4 catalyst yielded higher volume of gas with 3.3 mL, instead of other Pd percentage loadings. However, at higher temperature of 70 °C and 98% FA concentration, Pd with 1 wt%, 3 wt%, and 5 wt% of loading over g-C3N4 has successfully produced optimum gas (H2 and CO2) of 4.3 mL, 7.4 mL, and 4.5 mL in each reaction, respectively. At higher temperature, Pd metal showed high catalytic performance and the most active element of monometallic system in ambient condition. Meanwhile, at higher percentage of Pd metal, the catalytic decomposition reaction also increased thus producing more gas. However, it can be seen the agglomeration of the particles formed at higher loadings of Pd (5 wt%), and remarkably lowering the catalytic activity at higher temperature, while higher activity at low temperature of 30 °C. The result also showed low catalytic decomposition reaction for Cu and Zn catalyst, due to the small formation of Cu and Zn metal, but presence of high metal oxide (CuO) and (ZnO) promotes the passive layer formation on the catalyst surface

Decomposition of Formic Acid and Acetic Acid into Hydrogen Using Graphitic Carbon Nitride Supported Single Metal Catalyst

In a combination of generation and storage of hydrogen gas, both formic acid (FA) and acetic acid (AA) have been notified as efficient hydrogen carriers. This study was conducted to synthesize the monometallic catalysts namely palladium (Pd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) on graphitic-carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and to study the potential of these catalysts in FA and mixed formic acid (FA)-acetic acid (AA) decomposition reaction. Several parameters have been studied in this work such as the type of active metals, temperature, and metal loadings. The mass percentage of Pd, Cu, and Zn metal used in this experiment are 1, 3, and 5 wt%, respectively. At low temperature of 30 °C, 5 wt% Pd/g-C3N4 catalyst yielded higher volume of gas with 3.3 mL, instead of other Pd percentage loadings. However, at higher temperature of 70 °C and 98% FA concentration, Pd with 1 wt%, 3 wt%, and 5 wt% of loading over g-C3N4 has successfully produced optimum gas (H2 and CO2) of 4.3 mL, 7.4 mL, and 4.5 mL in each reaction, respectively. At higher temperature, Pd metal showed high catalytic performance and the most active element of monometallic system in ambient condition. Meanwhile, at higher percentage of Pd metal, the catalytic decomposition reaction also increased thus producing more gas. However, it can be seen the agglomeration of the particles formed at higher loadings of Pd (5 wt%), and remarkably lowering the catalytic activity at higher temperature, while higher activity at low temperature of 30 °C. The result also showed low catalytic decomposition reaction for Cu and Zn catalyst, due to the small formation of Cu and Zn metal, but presence of high metal oxide (CuO) and (ZnO) promotes the passive layer formation on the catalyst surface

Palmitic acid-based amide as a corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 1M HCl

Due to growing environmental concerns and regulations limiting the use of harmful and toxic synthetic corrosion inhibitors, there is a high demand for sustainable corrosion inhibitors. In this study, a green and rapid technique was used to synthesize amide N-(4-aminobutyl)palmitamide (BAPA) which yielded 91.17% of the product within 2 min, compared to a low yield of 75–80% and a very long 8–10 h reaction time with the conventional thermal condensation method. The chemical structure of BAPA was analyzed by FT-IR, 1HNMR and 13CNMR spectra, as well as CHNS elemental analysis. When applied to mild steel exposed to 1 M HCl, BAPA delayed and reduced corrosion by adsorbing to the steel surface to form a protective layer. The inhibition efficiency increased with increasing amide concentration, and maximal inhibition of 91.5% was observed at 0.5 mM BAPA. The adsorption of BAPA on mild steel in an acidic solution was studied and inhibition performance was correlated with the calculated adsorption-free energy ΔGads, indicating good agreement between the experimental and adsorption findings. Surface morphology of untreated and treated mild steel coupons was evaluated by SEM, and based on density functional theory (DFT) computations and atomic charges analysis, a stronger interaction was observed between BAPA and mild steel surface leading to the formation of a compact protective film on the metallic surface. This protective film is attributed to the presence of nitrogen atoms and carbonyl group in the chemical structure of BAPA