A series of bimetallic catalysts containing nickel supported over MgO-ZrO2 were tested for activity in the dry reforming of carbon dioxide. A nickel-cobalt bimetallic catalyst gave the best performance in terms of conversion and coke resistance from a range of Ni-X bimetallic catalysts, X=Ca, K, Ba, La, and Ce. The nitrogen-adsorption and hydrogen-chemisorption studies showed the Ni-Co bimetallic supported catalyst to have good surface area with high metal dispersion. This contributed to the high catalytic activity, in terms of conversion activity and stability of the catalyst, at an equimolar methane/carbon dioxide feed ratio. The kinetics of methane dry reforming are studied in a fixed-bed reactor over an Ni-Co bimetallic catalyst in the temperature range 700-800 °C by varying the partial pressures of CH4 and CO2. The experimental data were analyzed based on the proposed reaction mechanism using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model. The activation energies for methane and carbon dioxide consumption were estimated at 52.9 and 48.1 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The lower value of CO2 activation energy compared to the activation energy of CH4 indicated a higher reaction rate of CO2, which owes to the strong basicity of nanocrystalline support, MgO-ZrO2.
Since the complexity of photocatalyst synthesis process and high cost of noble cocatalyst leftovers a major hurdle to producing hydrogen (H2) from water, a noble metal-free Ni-Si/MgO photocatalyst was realized for the first time to generate H2 effectively under illumination with visible light. The catalyst was produced by means of simple one-pot solid reaction using self-designed metal reactor. The physiochemical properties of photocatalyst were identified by XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, EDX, UV-visible, XPS, GC and PL. The photocatalytic activities of Ni-Si/MgO photocatalyst at different nickel concentrations were evaluated without adjusting pH, applied voltage, sacrificial agent or electron donor. The ultrathin-nanosheet with hierarchically porous structure of catalyst was found to exhibit higher photocatalytic H2 production than hexagonal nanorods structured catalyst, which suggests that the randomly branched nanosheets are more active surface to increase the light-harvesting efficiency due to its short electron diffusion path. The catalyst exhibited remarkable performance reaching up to 714 µmolh-1 which is higher among the predominant semiconductor catalyst. The results demonstrated that the photocatalytic reaction irradiated under visible light illumination through the production of hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals on metals. The outcome indicates an important step forward one-pot facile approach to prepare noble ultrathin photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water.
Effective treatment of wastewater is crucial in order to achieve a sustainable development. For instance, highly efficient treatment processes with low capital requirements are the major prerequisite for implementation of the advanced wastewater treatment operations. Among various available treatment methods, the application of coagulation-flocculation process by using natural coagulant; chitosan has vast advantages such as low operating cost, environmental friendly and highly effective in the wastewater treatment operations. The application of nanotechnology in numerous treatment techniques are considered as the most significant advances in water and wastewater treatment practices. The utilization of magnesium oxide (MgO) as nano-adsorbent has recently gained attention as a potential treatment method in water remediation particularly for treating effluents with high amount of organic dyes and heavy metals due to its high treatment efficiency, low cost, versatility and environment compatibility. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of coagulation-flocculation process when using novel coagulant in which MgO coated with chitosan by investigating the percentage removal of several significant parameters which were turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and suspended solid. The removal efficiencies were determined throughout a series of experiments carried out using a standard jar test procedure in which three different coagulants; chitosan, MgO coated with chitosan and MgO were tested on water samples taken from Sg. Pusu. In addition, a set of experiments was designed using response surface methodology (RSM) in order to optimize adsorption of chitosan into MgO. The experiments were conducted at various concentrations of chitosan (10-30 mg/ml) and selected MgO dosage ranges (10-30 mg). From the obtained results, it was found that chitosan-MgO coagulant has good removal efficiencies of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and suspended solids at 92%, 91%, and 98% respectively from the optimization of adsorption of chitosan-MgO. The MgO coated with chitosan is the best coagulant in this study compared to chitosan and MgO alone because of the ability of treating the river water with up to 90 % removal for all the main parameters. The results showed that coagulation-flocculation is effective as a treatment for treating river water.
The thermoluminescent properties of boric glass modified with lithium and potassium carbonates (LKB) and co-doped with CuO and MgO are reported for the first time. Two techniques are applied to investigate the effect of dopants and co-dopants on the thermal stimulation properties of LKB. The induced TL glow curves of a CuO-doped sample are found to be at 220°C with a single peak. An enhancement of about three times is shown with the increment of 0.1 mol % MgO as a co-dopant impurity. This enhancement may contribute to the ability of magnesium to create extra electron traps and consequently the energy transfer to monovalent Cu(+) ions. LKB:Cu,Mg is low Z material (Zeff=8.55), and observed 15 times less sensitive than LiF: Mg, Ti (TLD-100). The proposed dosemeter showed good linearity in TL dose-response, low fading and excellent reproducibility with a simple glow curve, and thus, can be used in the radiation dosimetry.
The effect of temperature change on the working and setting time of a glass ionomer luting cement and a resin luting cement was measured using the oscillating rheometer. The time taken for each cement to set was calculated from the chart recordings. It was observed that as the temperature increased, the working and setting time of both materials decreased. However, the reduction was much more marked for the dual curing resin cement.
The potential of Mg(x)Co(2-)(x)O(2) as heterogeneous reusable catalyst in transesterification of palm oil to methyl ester was investigated. The catalyst was prepared via co-precipitation of the metal hydroxides at different Mg-Co ratios. Mg(1.7)Co(0.3)O(2) catalyst was more active than Mg(0.3)Co(1.7)O(2) in the transesterification of palm oil with methanol. The catalysts calcined at temperature 300 °C for 4 h resulted in highly active oxides and the highest transesterification of 90% was achieved at methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1, catalyst loading of 5.00 wt.%, reaction temperature of 150 °C and reaction time of 2 h. The catalyst could easily be removed from reaction mixture, but showed 50% decrease in activity when reused due to leaching of active sites.
We demonstrate the preparation of nanostructures cobalt oxide/reduced graphene oxide (Co3O4/rGO) nanocomposites by a simple one-step cost-effective hydrothermal technique for possible electrode materials in supercapacitor application. The X-ray diffraction patterns were employed to confirm the nanocomposite crystal system of Co3O4/rGO by demonstrating the existence of normal cubic spinel structure of Co3O4 in the matrix of Co3O4/rGO nanocomposite. FTIR and FT-Raman studies manifested the structural behaviour and quality of prepared Co3O4/rGO nanocomposite. The optical properties of the nanocomposite Co3O4/rGO have been investigated by UV absorption spectra. The SEM/TEM images showed that the Co3O4 nanoparticles in the Co3O4/rGO nanocomposites were covered over the surface of the rGO sheets. The electrical properties were analyzed in terms of real and imaginary permittivity, dielectric loss and AC conductivity. The electrocatalytic activities of synthesized Co3O4/rGO nanocomposites were determined by cyclic voltammetry and charge-discharge cycle to evaluate the supercapacitive performance. The specific capacitance of 754 Fg-1 was recorded for Co3O4/rGO nanocomposite based electrode in three electrode cell system. The electrode material exhibited an acceptable capability and excellent long-term cyclic stability by maintaining 96% after 1000 continuous cycles. These results showed that the prepared sample could be an ideal candidate for high-energy application as electrode materials. The synthesized Co3O4/rGO nanocomposite is a versatile material and can be used in various application such as fuel cells, electrochemical sensors, gas sensors, solar cells, and photocatalysis.
Various techniques are commonly used to produce nano-crystalline NiAl2O4 materials; however, their practical applications in the microwave region remain very limited. In this work, flexible substrates for metamaterials containing two different concentrations of NiAl2O4 (labelled Ni36 and Ni42) have been synthesised using a sol-gel method. The formation of spinel structures in the synthesised materials is confirmed, and their crystalline sizes are determined using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive X-ray techniques. The dielectric properties, conductivities, loss tangents, and other parameters of the NiAl2O4-based substrates are analysed to evaluate their applicability as dielectric materials for the microwave frequency range. The obtained results show that the fabricated Ni36 and Ni42 nickel aluminates possess dielectric constants of 4.94 and 4.97 and loss tangents of 0.01 and 0.007, respectively; in addition, they exhibit high flexibility and light weight, which make them suitable for applications as metamaterial substrates. The synthesised structures are also validated experimentally using a commercially available electromagnetic simulator; as a result, double negative behaviour of the flexible metamaterials has been observed. Furthermore, it is found that the prepared NiAl2O4 substrates can be used in the S-, C-, and X-bands of the microwave frequency region.
Hydrogen produced from the photocatalytic splitting of water is one of the reliable alternatives to replace the polluting fossil and the radioactive nuclear fuels. Here, we provide unequivocal evidence for the existence of blue- and red-shifting O-H covalent bonds within a single water molecule adsorbed on the MgO surface as a result of asymmetric displacement polarizabilities. The adsorbed H-O-H on MgO gives rise to one weaker H-O bond, while the other O-H covalent bond from the same adsorbed water molecule compensates this effect with a stronger bond. The weaker bond (nearest to the surface), the interlayer tunneling electrons and the silver substrate are shown to be the causes for the smallest dissociative activation energy on the MgO monolayer. The origin that is responsible to initiate the splitting mechanism is proven to be due to the changes in the polarizability of an adsorbed water molecule, which are further supported by the temperature-dependent static dielectric constant measurements for water below the first-order electronic-phase transition temperature.
In recent times, magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles are proven to be an excellent antibacterial agent which inhibits the growth of bacteria by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). Release of ROS by nanoparticles will damage the cell membrane of bacteria and leads to the leakage of bacterial internal components and cell death. However, chemically synthesized MgO nanoparticles may possess toxic functional groups which may inhibit healthy human cells along with bacterial cells. Thus, the aim of the present study is to synthesize MgO nanoparticles using leaf extracts of Amaranthus tricolor and photo-irradiation of visible light as a catalyst, without addition of any chemicals. Optimization was performed using Box-Behnken design (BBD) to obtain the optimum condition required to synthesize smallest nanoparticles. The parameters such as time of reaction, the concentration of precursor, and light intensity have been identified to affect the size of biosynthesized nanoparticles and was optimized. The experiment performed with optimized conditions such as 0.001 M concentration of magnesium acetate as precursor, 5 cm distance of light (intensity), and 15 min of reaction time (light exposure) has led to the formation of 74.6 nm sized MgO nanoparticles. The antibacterial activities of MgO nanoparticles formed via photo-irradiation and conventional biosynthesis approach were investigated and compared. The lethal dosage of E. coli for photo-irradiated and conventional biosynthesis MgO nanoparticles was 0.6 ml and 0.4 ml, respectively. Likewise, the lethal dosage of S. aureus for both biosynthesis approaches was found to be 0.4 ml. The results revealed that the antibacterial activity of MgO nanoparticles from both biosynthesis approaches was similar. Thus, photo-irradiated MgO nanoparticles were beneficial over heat-mediated conventional method due to the reduced synthesis duration.
The aim of this study was to prepare, characterize, and determine the in vitro anticancer effects of platinum-doped magnesia (Pt/MgO) nanoparticles. The chemical compositions, functional groups, and size of nanoparticles were determined using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Pt/MgO nanoparticles were cuboid and in the nanosize range of 30-50 nm. The cytotoxicity of Pt/MgO nanoparticles was determined via the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay on the human lung and colonic cancer cells (A549 and HT29 respectively) and normal human lung and colonic fibroblasts cells (MRC-5 and CCD-18Co repectively). The Pt/MgO nanoparticles were relatively innocuous to normal cells. Pt/MgO nanoparticles downregulated Bcl-2 and upregulated Bax and p53 tumor suppressor proteins in the cancer cells. Pt/MgO nanoparticles also induced production of reactive oxygen species, decreased cellular glutathione level, and increased lipid peroxidation. Thus, the anticancer effects of Pt/MgO nanoparticles were attributed to the induction of oxidative stress and apoptosis. The study showed the potential of Pt/MgO nanoparticles as an anti-cancer compound.
A three dimensional (3D) numerical solution of unsteady, Ag-MgO hybrid nanoliquid flow with heat and mass transmission caused by upward/downward moving of wavy spinning disk has been scrutinized. The magnetic field has been also considered. The hybrid nanoliquid has been synthesized in the presence of Ag-MgO nanoparticles. The purpose of the study is to improve the rate of thermal energy transmission for several industrial purposes. The wavy rotating surface increases the heat transmission rate up to 15%, comparatively to the flat surface. The subsequent arrangement of modeled equations is diminished into dimensionless differential equation. The obtained system of equations is further analytically expounded via Homotopy analysis method HAM and the numerical Parametric continuation method (PCM) method has been used for the comparison of the outcomes. The results are graphically presented and discussed. It has been presumed that the geometry of spinning disk positively affects the velocity and thermal energy transmission. The addition of hybrid nanoparticles (silver and magnesium-oxide) significantly improved thermal property of carrier fluid. It uses is more efficacious to overcome low energy transmission. Such as, it provides improvement in thermal performance of carrier fluid, which play important role in power generation, hyperthermia, micro fabrication, air conditioning and metallurgical field.
Ni-doped cobalt aluminate NixCo1-xAl2O4 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) spinel nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a simple microwave combustion method using urea as the fuel and as well as reducing agent. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) was confirmed the formation of single phase, cubic spinel cobalt-nickel aluminate structure without any other impurities. Average crystallite sizes of the samples were found to be in the range of 18.93 nm to 21.47 nm by Scherrer's formula. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectral analysis was confirmed the corresponding functional groups of the M-O, Al-O and M-Al-O (M = Co and Ni) bonds of spinel NixCo1-xAl2O4 structure. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images was confirmed the particle like nanostructured morphology. Energy band gap (Eg) value was calculated using UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and the Eg values increased with increasing Ni2+ dopant from x = 0.2 (3.58 eV) to x = 1.0 (4.15 eV). Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements exposed that undoped and Ni-doped CoAl2O4 samples have superparamagnetic behavior and the magnetization (Ms) values were increased with increasing Ni2+ ions. Spinel NixCo1-xAl2O4 samples has been used for the catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde and was found that the sample Ni0.6Co0.4Al2O4 showed higher conversion 94.37% with 100% selectivity than other samples, which may be due to the smaller particle size and higher surface area.
Nitridation behaviour of Al-Mg-Si alloys was studied as a function of temperature by means of thermogravimetry method. A reactive gas, N2-4%H2 at a rate of 10 ml/min was purged into the thermogravimetry analyser chamber. The Al alloys were heated from 25oC to 625oC at the heating rate of 15oC/min and then reduced to 3oC/min until it reached 1500oC. It was found that by varying the amount of Mg and Si in Al-Mg-Si alloys significantly influenced the growth of the composites. A differential thermogravimetric curve shows the Mg containing alloys experienced many steps of chemical reactions. This indicates that besides AlN presence as a major phase, other compounds also exist in the final product. The X-ray diffraction results confirmed the existence of oxide phases such as a-Al2O3, MgAl2O4 and MgO in addition to residual Si and Al metal. The presence of oxide compounds is believed to be due to the reaction between the alloying elements and residual oxygen gas left in the reaction atmosphere. It was also found that Si could play a role in promoting the weight gain of the composite produced. The heating rate has also a profound effect on the weight gain, whereby higher heating rate resulted in low yielded of AlN during the nitridation reaction of the Al-Mg-Si alloys.
In the present work, we prepared MgO-La2O3-mixed-metal oxides (MMO) as efficient photocatalysts for degradation of organic pollutants. First, a series of MgAl-%La-CO3-layered double hydroxide (LDH) precursors with different contents of La (5, 10, and 20 wt%) were synthesized by the co-precipitation process and then calcined at 600 °C. The prepared materials were characterized by XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR, TGA, ICP, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. XRD indicated that MgO, La2O3, and MgAl2O4 phases were found to coexist in the calcined materials. Also, XRD confirms the orthorhombic-tetragonal phases of MgO-La2O3. The samples exhibited a small band gap of 3.0-3.22 eV based on DRS. The photocatalytic activity of the catalysts was assessed for the degradation of two dyes, namely, tartrazine (TZ) and patent blue (PB) as model organic pollutants in aqueous mediums under UV-visible light. Detailed photocatalytic tests that focused on the impacts of dopant amount of La, catalyst dose, initial pH of the solution, irradiation time, dye concentration, and reuse were carried out and discussed in this research. The experimental findings reveal that the highest photocatalytic activity was achieved with the MgO-La2O3-10% MMO with photocatalysts with a degradation efficiency of 97.4% and 93.87% for TZ and PB, respectively, within 150 min of irradiation. The addition of La to the sample was responsible for its highest photocatalytic activity. Response surface methodology (RSM) and gradient boosting regressor (GBR), as artificial intelligence techniques, were employed to assess individual and interactive influences of initial dye concentration, catalyst dose, initial pH, and irradiation time on the degradation performance. The GBR technique predicts the degradation efficiency results with R2 = 0.98 for both TZ and PB. Moreover, ANOVA analysis employing CCD-RSM reveals a high agreement between the quadratic model predictions and the experimental results for TZ and PB (R2 = 0.9327 and Adj-R2 = 0.8699, R2 = 0.9574 and Adj-R2 = 0.8704, respectively). Optimization outcomes indicated that maximum degradation efficiency was attained under the following optimum conditions: catalyst dose 0.3 g/L, initial dye concentration 20 mg/L, pH 4, and reaction time 150 min. On the whole, this study confirms that the proposed artificial intelligence (AI) techniques constituted reliable and robust computer techniques for monitoring and modeling the photodegradation of organic pollutants from aqueous mediums by MgO-La2O3-MMO heterostructure catalysts.
Multi-layer structure of functional materials often involves the integration of different crystalline phases. The film growth orientation thus frequently exhibits a transformation, owing to multiple possibilities caused by incompatible in-plane structural symmetry. Nevertheless, the detailed mechanism of the transformation has not yet been fully explored. Here we thoroughly probe the heteroepitaxially grown hexagonal zinc oxide (ZnO) films on cubic (001)-magnesium oxide (MgO) substrates using advanced scanning transition electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and first principles calculations, revealing two distinct interface models of (001) ZnO/(001) MgO and (100) ZnO/(001) MgO. We have found that the structure alternatives are controlled thermodynamically by the nucleation, while kinetically by the enhanced Zn adsorption and O diffusion upon the phase transformation. This work not only provides a guideline for the interface fabrication with distinct crystalline phases but also shows how polar and non-polar hexagonal ZnO films might be manipulated on the same cubic substrate.
In this article, modified κ-carrageenan hydrogel nanocomposites were synthesized to increase the release ability of carrageenan hydrogels under gastrointestinal conditions. The effect of MgO nanoparticle loading in a model drug (methylene blue) release is investigated. Characterization of hydrogels were carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Genipin was used to increase the delivery performance in gastrointestinal tract delivery by decreasing release in simulated stomach conditions and increasing release in simulated intestine conditions. It is shown that the amount of methylene blue released from genipin-cross-linked nanocomposites can be 67.5% higher in intestine medium and 56% lower in the stomach compared to κ-carrageenan hydrogel. It was found that by changing the nanoparticle loading and genipin concentration in the composite, the amount of drug released can be monitored. Therefore, applying nanoparticles appears to be a potential strategy to develop controlled drug delivery especially in gastrointestinal tract studies.
Food waste, a renewable resource, was converted to H2-rich gas via a catalytic steam gasification process. The effects of basic oxides (MgO, CaO, and SrO) with 10 wt% Ni/Al2O3 on the gasification properties of food waste were investigated using a U-shaped gasifier. All catalysts prepared by the precipitation method were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, H2-temperature-programmed reduction, NH3-temperature-programmed desorption, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The Ni/Al2O3 catalyst was reduced incompletely, and low nickel concentrations were detected on the surface of the alumina. The basic oxides minimized the number of acid sites and suppressed the formation of nickel-aluminate (NiAlxOy) phase in catalyst. In addition, the basic oxides shifted nickel-aluminate reduction reaction to lower temperatures. It resulted in enhancing nickel concentration on the catalyst surface and increasing gas yield and hydrogen selectivity. The low gas yield of the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst was attributed to the low nickel concentration on the surface. The maximum gas yield (66.0 wt%) and hydrogen selectivity (63.8 vol%) of the 10 wt% SrO- 10 wt% Ni/Al2O3 catalyst correlated with the highly dispersed nickel on the surface and low acidity. Furthermore, coke deposition during steam gasification varied with the surface acidity of the catalysts and less coke was formed on 10 wt% SrO- 10 wt% Ni/Al2O3 due to efficient tar cracking. This study showed that the steam gasification efficiency of the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst could be improved significantly by the addition of SrO.
This study conducted on the structure of modified acrylamide-based hydrogel by synthesizing the nano composites. The hydrogels employed in this study were provided through a combination of acrylamide monomers, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (NaCMC) and magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles by crosslinking polymerization. N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine and ammonium persulfate as the initiator was applied in the structure of the polymer. Findings of the study considered the nano composites consisting of MgO have the highest swelling ratio compared to pure Aam hydrogels. Thus, MgO is an appropriate nanoparticle to be used in the nano composites. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on a central composite design (CCD Design) was applied to optimize the preparation variables of a hydrogel consisted of MgO, NaCMC. With the swelling ratio for acrylamide-based hydrogel as the response, the effects of two variables, i.e. MgO and NaCMC were investigated. The effects of pH, temperature, MgO, and NaCMC on the drug release were investigated using the CCD design. The predicted appropriate drug release conditions for the hydrogel at the highest rate of temperature (37.50 °C) and pH: 4.10, is at its highest value, while the lower drug release is at temperature 38 °C and pH 3.50. With the desired value of MgO (0.01 g) and amount of NaCMC (0.1 g).
Undoped and Mn2+ doped CoAl2O4 (MnxCo1-xAl2O4; x = 0.0 to 1.0) spinel nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a microwave heating method using glycine as the fuel. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) was confirmed the cubic spinel structure. The average crystallite size of the samples was found to be in the range of 16.46 nm to 20.25 nm calculated by Scherrer's formula. The nano-sized particle-like morphology of the samples was confirmed by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) analysis. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) results showed the pure form of spinel aluminate structure. The band gap energy (Eg) of pure CoAl2O4 was estimated to be 3.68 eV from UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and the Eg values increased with increase of Mn2+ ions, due to the smaller grain size. The magnetic hysteresis (M-H) loop showed the superparamagnetic nature, and the magnetization and coercivity values increased with increasing Mn2+ ions, which was confirmed by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). All compositions of the nano-catalysts were tested as catalyst successfully for the conversion of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde and observed good catalytic activity.