110th Anniversary: Near-Total Epoxidation Selectivity and Hydrogen Peroxide Utilization with Nb-EISA Catalysts for Propylene Epoxidation

The Nb-EISA catalyst with relatively low Nb loadings (∼2 wt %) shows exceptional propylene epoxidation performance with H2O2 as oxidant at 30–40 °C, 5–9 bar propylene pressure with nearly total propylene oxide (PO) selectivity (>99%), H2O2 utilization (>99%) toward PO formation, high productivity (∼3200 mg/h/g), and mild Nb leaching (3–6%). The predominantly Lewis acidic nature of the Nb-EISA catalysts favors epoxidation while their relatively low Brønsted acidity inhibits H2O2 decomposition and Nb leaching. At higher Nb loadings (8–17 wt %), the catalytic performance deteriorates. However, significant performance improvements were achieved when the Nb-EISA materials are calcined in N2 (instead of air) during synthesis, depositing a carbon layer in the pores. The resulting pore hydrophobicity not only inhibits epoxide ring opening but also increases propylene concentration inside the pores resulting in higher EO productivity and lower H2O2 decomposition. The carbonized Nb-EISA materials also show improved stability to leaching

Logic Gates and Ring Oscillators Based on Ambipolar Nanocrystalline-Silicon TFTs

Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin film transistors (TFTs) are well suited for circuit applications that require moderate device performance and low-temperature CMOS-compatible processing below 250°C. Basic logic gate circuits fabricated using ambipolar nc-Si TFTs alone are presented and shown to operate with correct outputs at frequencies of up to 100 kHz. Ring oscillators consisting of nc-Si TFT-based inverters are also shown to operate at above 20 kHz with a supply voltage of 5 V, corresponding to a propagation delay of 5 V for several hours

Towards highly selective ethylene epoxidation catalysts using hydrogen peroxide and tungsten- or niobium-incorporated mesoporous silicate (KIT-6)

This is the published version. Copyright 2014 Royal Society of ChemistrySignificant ethylene epoxidation activity was observed over Nb- and W-incorporated KIT-6 materials with aqueous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as the oxidant and methanol as solvent under mild operating conditions (35 °C and 50 bar) where CO2 formation is avoided. The Nb-KIT-6 materials generally show greater epoxidation activity compared to the W-KIT-6 materials. Further, the ethylene oxide (EO) productivity observed with these materials [30–800 mg EO h−1 (g metal)−1] is of the same order of magnitude as that of the conventional silver (Ag)-based gas phase ethylene epoxidation process. Our results reveal that the framework-incorporated metal species, rather than the extra-framework metal oxide species, are mainly responsible for the observed epoxidation activity. However, the tetrahedrally coordinated framework metal species also introduce Lewis acidity that promotes their solvolysis (which in turn results in their gradual leaching) as well as H2O2 decomposition. These results and mechanistic insights provide rational guidance for developing catalysts with improved leaching resistance and minimal H2O2 decomposition

Estimation of sediment acoustic properties from horizontal array data

Oil companies conduct geophysical survey in different parts of the world. While the analysis conducted by them is directed towards determining the presence of oil in the deeper layers of the sediment, information on the shallower sediment layers that the data contains is generally ignored. In this paper we investigate the possibility of estimating the sediment properties from such data. The inversion is performed using both linear and non-linear methods. The performances of these methods are compared based on the correlation between the fields predicted by the models and the measured field