Physical and Applied Chemistry of Novel Materials and Their Applications

A special issue of ChemEngineering (ISSN 2305-7084).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (16 May 2018) | Viewed by 29213

Special Issue Editor

Materials Science, Energy, and Nano-Engineering MSN Department, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid, Ben Guerir 43150, Morocco
Interests: thermodynamics; fluid phase equilibrium; structure–properties relationships; various thermodynamic-based models; process simulation models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an original and unique environment for researchers in academia and industry to share and discuss their cutting-edge results on the physical and applied chemistry of novel materials (such as ionic liquids, MOF, perovskites, ferroelectrics materials, nanomaterials, nanocatalysts, nanocomposite membrane, plasma technology, hybrid organic/inorganic sensors, biodegradable polymers, novel technological membranes, aerogels, novel heat transfer fluids, etc.) covering their characterization, modelling, and/or applications.

These novel materials possess unique properties useful for a wide range of applications in fields as diverse as petrochemicals, energy storage, fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, hydrometallurgy, environmental remediation and nuclear sciences. In all these fields, such materials can provide novel research strategies and technologies that enable major contributions towards establishing the sustainable processes required for the future of the process industry.

Topics

  • Application of advanced materials for
    a. Analytical separations
    b. Absorption/Adsorption
    c. Crystallization
    d. Distillation
    e. Extraction/Leaching
    f. Membrane separations
    g. Purification
    h. Novel separation processes
    I. Energy storage
  • Applications of advanced materials in
    a. Electrochemistry
    b. Biotechnology and biorefining
    c. Chemicals, pharmaceuticals and/or petrochemicals
    d. Gas capture and utilization
    e. Environmental remediation
    f. Polymerization
    g. Surface cleaning
    h. Waste treatment
  • Process modeling and fundamental studies 
    a. Equations of state
    b. Molecular modeling and simulation
    c. Electronic structure calculations
    d. Process simulation
    e. Group contribution modeling
    f. QSPR/QSAR modeling

Dr. Johan Jacquemin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Novel Materials (For example: ionic liquids, MOF, perovskites, ferroelectrics materials, nanomaterials, nanocatalysts, nanocomposite membrane, plasma technology, hybrid organic/inorganic sensors, biodegradable polymers, novel technological membranes, aerogels, novel heat transfer fluids, etc.)
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Chemical Chemistry
  • Characterization, Chemical Engineering Applications

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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1437 KiB  
Article
Effect of the Chemical Composition of Mesoporous Cerium-Zirconium Oxides on the Modification with Sulfur and Gold Species and Their Application in Glycerol Oxidation
by Piotr Kaminski
ChemEngineering 2017, 1(2), 18; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering1020018 - 18 Dec 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4013
Abstract
Ceria, zirconia, and mixed cerium-zirconium mesoporous oxides were synthesized and used as supports for sulfur and gold species. The materials were characterised using selected advanced techniques (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), elemental analysis, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), N [...] Read more.
Ceria, zirconia, and mixed cerium-zirconium mesoporous oxides were synthesized and used as supports for sulfur and gold species. The materials were characterised using selected advanced techniques (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), elemental analysis, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption, and desorption isotherms, Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-vis), Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), Temperature Programmed Reduction (TPR-H2), Thermogravimetric and Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTA)), which allowed for monitoring of the oxidation state of metals (cerium and gold) and the surface properties of the catalysts, in particular the concentration of the components on the surface and in the bulk of materials. The interactions between gold, sulfur, and metals from oxides were considered. The goal of this work was studied the changes in the chemical composition of materials and the oxidation states of cerium species after the modification of oxides with sulfur and gold species and the estimation of the influence of these changes on the surface properties. The chemical composition of surface affects the mobility of surface oxygen and the oxidation state of cerium, which can play the role of redox sites (e.g., Ce3+/Ce4+ species), and therefore it strongly influences the adsorption of hydrogen sulfide and then gold loading. Additionally, gold catalysts modified with sulfur species were tested in the reaction of glycerol oxidation in the liquid phase at basic conditions as the test reaction of the catalytic oxidation of organic pollutants from water. Full article
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8111 KiB  
Article
Effects of Grafting Azacrown Ether on Thermal and Swelling Properties of Chitosan Films
by Julius Toeri and Marie-Pierre Laborie
ChemEngineering 2017, 1(2), 16; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering1020016 - 17 Nov 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3123
Abstract
The thermal and swelling properties of a series of azacrown ether-crosslinked chitosans prepared with varying molar amounts of N,N-diallyl-7,13-diaza-1,7,10,16-tetraoxa-dibenzo-18-crown-6 (molar equivalents ranging from 0, 0.125, 0.167, 0.25 and 0.5) films were studied with Thermographimetric analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical [...] Read more.
The thermal and swelling properties of a series of azacrown ether-crosslinked chitosans prepared with varying molar amounts of N,N-diallyl-7,13-diaza-1,7,10,16-tetraoxa-dibenzo-18-crown-6 (molar equivalents ranging from 0, 0.125, 0.167, 0.25 and 0.5) films were studied with Thermographimetric analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical analysis (DMA) techniques and swelling kinetics. Introducing the azacrown (DAC) as crosslinker into the chitosan matrices (Ch) altered the thermal and swelling properties of the chitosan/crown ether films (Ch-DAC) systematically with respect to molar ratios. At lower DAC content, a depression of Tg revealed a dominating internal plasticization effect of DAC on chitosan, while higher DAC molar ratios systematically increased the Tg of the network. The films high swelling capacity (as high as 1200%) was reached within three hours in aqueous acidic media and decreased systematically with increasing DAC content. The swelling behavior was highly dependent on pH and followed second order kinetics. Understanding the thermal and swelling properties of this series of azacrown ether-crosslinked chitosans sets the stage to further shed light on their impact for heavy metal adsorption in water remediation applications. Full article
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1951 KiB  
Article
Dissolution of Trihexyltetradecylphosphonium Chloride in Supercritical CO2
by Mark P. Heitz, Kristina L. Fuller and Kaitlin A. Ordiway
ChemEngineering 2017, 1(2), 12; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering1020012 - 03 Nov 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5254
Abstract
We present steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic data derived from coumarin 153 (C153) in a binary solution comprised of trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride ([P6,6,6,14]+Cl) and supercritical CO2 (scCO2). Steady-state fluorescence of C153 was measured in neat [...] Read more.
We present steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic data derived from coumarin 153 (C153) in a binary solution comprised of trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride ([P6,6,6,14]+Cl) and supercritical CO2 (scCO2). Steady-state fluorescence of C153 was measured in neat scCO2 and ionic liquid (IL)-modified scCO2 solutions. The steady-state excitation and emission peak frequency data in neat scCO2 and IL/scCO2 diverge at low fluid density (ρr = ρ/ρc < 1). The prominent spectral differences at low fluid density provided clear evidence that C153 reports different microenvironments, and suggested that the IL is solubilized in the bulk scCO2 and heterogeneity of the C153 microenvironment is readily controlled by scCO2 density. C153 dimers have been reported in the literature, and this formed the basis of the hypothesis that dimerization is occurring in scCO2. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) electronic structure calculations yielded transition energies that were consistent with excitation spectra and provided supporting evidence for the dimer hypothesis. Time-resolved fluorescence measurements yielded triple exponential decays with time constants that further supported dimer formation. The associated fractional contributions showed that the dominant contribution to the intensity decay was from C153 monomers, and that in high density scCO2 there was minimal contribution from C153 dimers. Full article
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4128 KiB  
Article
Novel Method Based on Spin-Coating for the Preparation of 2D and 3D Si-Based Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries
by Marie Gabard, Mustapha Zaghrioui, David Chouteau, Virginie Grimal, Thomas Tillocher, Fouad Ghamouss and Nathalie Poirot
ChemEngineering 2017, 1(1), 5; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering1010005 - 27 Jul 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4889
Abstract
The present study describes a novel strategy for preparing thin Silicon 2D and 3D electrodes for lithium ion batteries by a spin coating method. A homogeneous and stable suspension of Si nanoparticles (SiNPs) was prepared by dispersing the nanoparticles in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) or [...] Read more.
The present study describes a novel strategy for preparing thin Silicon 2D and 3D electrodes for lithium ion batteries by a spin coating method. A homogeneous and stable suspension of Si nanoparticles (SiNPs) was prepared by dispersing the nanoparticles in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) or in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Pyr14TFSI). This proposed methodology was successfully employed to prepare 2D and 3D with different aspect ratios electrodes. Both 2D and 3D materials were then used as anode materials. The 2D SiNPs anodes exhibit a high reversible capacity, which is close to 3500 mAh·g−1 at C/10. For a higher discharge rate, the capacity of the 2D anode is considerably improved by dispersing the nanoparticles in Pyr14TFSI instead of NMP solvent. In order to further improve the anode performances, graphene particles were added to the SiNPs suspension. The anodes prepared using this suspension method exhibit relatively low columbic efficiency during the first few cycles (less than 30%) and low reversible capacity (2800 mAh·g−1 at C/10). The 3D SiNPs (NMP) electrode shows a higher intensity during cyclic voltammograms and a better stability under galvanostatic cycling than the 2D SiNPs (NMP) electrode. Full article
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Review

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962 KiB  
Review
Ionic Liquid as Reaction Media for the Production of Cellulose-Derived Polymers from Cellulosic Biomass
by Joana Maria Lopes, María Dolores Bermejo, Ángel Martín and María José Cocero
ChemEngineering 2017, 1(2), 10; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/chemengineering1020010 - 23 Oct 2017
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 8121
Abstract
The most frequent polymer on nature is cellulose that is present together with lignin and hemicellulose in vegetal biomass. Cellulose can be, in the future, sustainable raw matter for chemicals, fuels, and materials. Nevertheless, only 0.3% of cellulose is processed nowadays due to [...] Read more.
The most frequent polymer on nature is cellulose that is present together with lignin and hemicellulose in vegetal biomass. Cellulose can be, in the future, sustainable raw matter for chemicals, fuels, and materials. Nevertheless, only 0.3% of cellulose is processed nowadays due to the difficulty in dissolving it, and only a small proportion is used for the production of synthetic cellulosic fibers especially esters and other cellulose derivatives, normally in extremely polluting processes. The efficient and clean dissolution of cellulose is a major objective in cellulose research and development. Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered “green” solvents due to their low vapor pressure, that prevents them evaporating into the atmosphere. In addition, these molten salts present advantages in process intensification, leading to more than 70 patents in lignocellulosic biomass in ILs being published since 2005, most of them related to the production of cellulose derived polymers, e.g., acetates, benzoylates, sulfates, fuorates, phthalates, succinates, tritylates, or silylates. In this work, the use of ILs for production of cellulose derived polymers is thoroughly studied. To do so, in the first place, a brief summary of the state of the art in cellulose derivatives production is presented, as well as the main features of ILs in cellulose processing applications. Later, the main results in the production of cellulose derivatives using ILs are presented, followed by an analysis of the industrial viability of the process, considering aspects such as environmental concerns and ILs’ recyclability. Full article
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