Submit to Catalysts Review for Catalysts Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 14618

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zixian Jia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

SINOPEC Dalian Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals Co., Ltd., Dalian 116045, China
Interests: plasma catalysis; hybrid material; in operando spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. De-Zheng Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Key Lab of Materials Modification, Dalian University of Technology, Ministry of Education, Dalian 116024, China
Interests: plasma catalysis; plasma modification; nanosecond pulsed discharge

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heterogeneous catalysis has attracted a lot of attention in recent years because of its wide potential for pollution control. The desired catalysts should meet low cost, environmental, as well as user-friendly requirements. All these requirements can only be met through 1) catalyst development and optimization following new approaches in design and synthesis or 2) having insight into interfacial chemistry taking place between the gas or liquid phase and the catalytic surface. By using in situ or operando characterization, deep mechanistic insight into the fundamentals of heterogeneous catalysis can be acquired.

This Special Issue aims to cover the most recent progress and advances in the field of heterogeneous catalysts for pollution control. Submissions to this Special Edition are welcome in the form of original research papers that utilize in situ gas or liquid systems to better understand into the interfacial chemistry taking place between the gas or liquid phase and the catalytic surface.

Dr. Zixian Jia
Prof. Dr. De-Zheng Yang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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

in situ characterization
in operando spectroscopy
plasma catalysis
interfacial chemistry

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 3587 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Laccase Cross-Linked Ultraporous Aluminas for Sustainable Biodegradation of Remazol Brilliant Blue R

by Huan Xu, Guilhem Boeuf, Kairuo Zhu, Zixian Jia, Andrei Kanaev, Rabah Azouani, Zhengyan Wu, Mamadou Traore and Abdellatif Elm’selmi

Catalysts 2022, 12(7), 744; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12070744 - 06 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1512

Abstract

Over the past few decades, enzyme-based green and sustainable chemistry has attracted extensive research attention, which provides a promising alternative to the conventional treatment methods of recalcitrant micropollutants. However, enzyme denaturation and stability loss remain critical challenges for its potential applications in industrial wastewater treatment. In this study, laccase from Trametes versicolor (laccase T.) was cross-linked immobilized by ultraporous alumina (UPA) for the sustainable biodegradation of Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR). Through sequential use of an aminosilane coupling agent (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and bifunctional cross-linker glutaraldehyde (GA), the synthesized biocatalysts showed better immobilization performances (about 4-fold to physical adsorption). The GA concentration considerably affected the laccase T. cross-linking degree, while the GA post-treatment protocol showed the highest laccase T. immobilization yield with lower activity recovery. Moreover, the biocatalyst stabilities including pH stability, thermal stability, storage stability, and reusability were also studied. Tolerance to broader pH and temperature ranges, better storage stability, good reusability of laccase T. cross-linked UPA(γ) biocatalysts, and their continuous RBRR biodegradation efficiency highlight the potentials of enzyme-based inorganic materials in industrial wastewater treatment, which can broaden our understanding of their practical applications in environmental fields. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 3438 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Decomposition of Naphthalene by Dielectric Barrier Discharge in Conjunction with a Catalyst at Atmospheric Pressure

by Jinjin Li, Zhi Zheng, Xiao Cui, Yunhu Liu, Ting Fan, Yueyue Liu, Dalei Chang and Dezheng Yang

Catalysts 2022, 12(7), 740; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12070740 - 05 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1691

Abstract

In this study, coaxial dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma, in conjunction with a metal oxide catalyst, was used to degrade naphthalene. The characteristics of plasma discharge were studied by measuring voltage and current waveforms and the Lissajous figure. The effects of different parameters of the process on naphthalene decomposition in air were investigated. XRD, BET, and SEM data were used to investigate the nature, specific surface area, and surface morphology of the catalyst. The results show that the mineralization of naphthalene reached 82.2% when the initial naphthalene concentration was 21 ppm and the total gas flow rate was 1 L/min in the DBD reactor filled with Al₂O₃. The mineralization of naphthalene first increased and then became stable with the increase in treatment time and discharge power. The TiO₂ catalyst has more apparent advantages than the two other studied catalysts in terms of the removal efficiency and mineralization of naphthalene due to this catalyst’s large specific surface area, porous structure, and photocatalytic properties. In addition, the introduction of a small amount of water vapor can promote the mineralization and CO₂ selectivity of naphthalene. With further increases in the water vapor, Fe₂O₃ has a negative effect on the naphthalene oxidation due to its small pore size. The TiO₂ catalyst can overcome the adverse effects of water molecule attachment due to its photocatalytic properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4427 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Degradation of Benzene Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Combined with Transition Metal Oxide Catalyst in Air

by Yuwei Li, Hao Yuan, Xiongfeng Zhou, Jianping Liang, Yueyue Liu, Dalei Chang and Dezheng Yang

Catalysts 2022, 12(2), 203; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12020203 - 08 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1852

Abstract

In this paper, a uniform and stable dielectric barrier discharge plasma is presented for degradation of benzene combined with a transition metal oxide catalyst. The discharge images, waveforms of discharge current, and the optical emission spectra are measured to investigate the plasma characteristics. The effects of catalyst types, applied voltage, driving frequency, and initial VOCs concentration on the degradation efficiency of benzene are studied. It is found that the addition of the packed dielectric materials can effectively improve the uniformity of discharge and enhance the intensity of discharge, thus promoting the benzene degradation efficiency. At 22 kV, the degradation efficiencies of dielectric barrier discharge plasma packed with CuO, ZnO and Fe₃O₄ are 93.6%, 93.2% and 76.2%, respectively. When packing with ZnO, the degradation efficiency of the dielectric barrier discharge plasma is improved from 86.8% to 94.9%, as the applied voltage increases from 16 kV to 24 kV. The catalysts were characterized by XPS, XRD and SEM. The synergistic mechanism and the property of the catalyst are responsible for benzene degradation in the plasma–catalysis system. In addition, the main physiochemical processes and possible degradation mechanism of benzene are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3446 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Particle Recognition on Transmission Electron Microscopy Images Using Computer Vision and Deep Learning for Catalytic Applications

by Anna V. Nartova, Mikhail Yu. Mashukov, Ruslan R. Astakhov, Vitalii Yu. Kudinov, Andrey V. Matveev and Alexey G. Okunev

Catalysts 2022, 12(2), 135; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12020135 - 22 Jan 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4185

Abstract

Recognition and measuring particles on microscopy images is an important part of many scientific studies, including catalytic investigations. In this paper, we present the results of the application of deep learning to the automated recognition of nanoparticles deposited on porous supports (heterogeneous catalysts) on images obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Cascade Mask-RCNN neural network was used. During the training, two types of objects were labeled on raw TEM images of ‘real’ catalysts: visible particles and overlapping particle projections. The trained neural network recognized nanoparticles in the test dataset with 0.71 precision and 0.72 recall for both classes of objects and 0.84 precision and 0.79 recall for visible particles. The developed model is integrated into the open-access web service ‘ParticlesNN’, which can be used by any researcher in the world. Instead of hours, TEM data processing per one image analysis is reduced to a maximum of a couple of minutes and the divergence of mean particle size determination is approximately 2% compared to manual analysis. The proposed tool encourages accelerating catalytic research and improving the objectivity and accuracy of analysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

15 pages, 3157 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Mass Transfer Rate-Time in Bubbles on Removal of Azoxystrobin in Water by Micro-Sized Jet Array Discharge

by Feng Chen, Dezheng Yang, Feng Yu, Yang Kun and Ying Song

Catalysts 2021, 11(10), 1169; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11101169 - 27 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1594

Abstract

In this work, the azoxystrobin removal in water by using a micro-size discharge array was investigated, and the removal efficiency can reach as high as 98.1% after 9 min plasma treatment as well as the energy utilization being only 0.73 g/(kW·h). Based on the relationship between the generation of gas bubbles and parameters of gas-liquid discharge, it was found that the variation of applied voltage, gas flow rate and initial solution temperature could cause particle number change, mass transfer rate change and the mass transfer time change, which significantly affected the practical applications at last. The experimental results indicated that when gas flow rate was 0.7 SLM (Standard Liter per Minute) and the initial solution temperature was 297 K with the applied voltage of 8 kV and discharge frequency of 6 kHz, the removal efficiency of azoxystrobin achieved maximum. Based on the analysis results of liquid mass spectrometry, the removal pathways of azoxystrobin were supposed by the decomposed by-products. Toxicity tests indicated that the decomposed products were safe and non-toxic. So, this study may reveal an azoxystrobin degradation mechanism and provide a safe, reliable and effective way for azoxystrobin degradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

17 pages, 19026 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review on Modification Methods of Adsorbents for Naphthalene in Environment

by Qingnan Xu, Hao Yuan, Hongli Wang, Yong Xu and Dezheng Yang

Catalysts 2022, 12(4), 398; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12040398 - 02 Apr 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2471

Abstract

Naphthalene is one of the most hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to public health. This paper comprehensively summarized the recent development of modification methods of adsorbents for naphthalene removal in the environment. Various modification methods used in the adsorbent were summarized, mainly including acid oxidation modification, salt modification, doping modification, amino modification, microwave modification, and plasma modification. These methods enhance the adsorption performance of naphthalene mainly by changing the pore size and the oxygen content on the surface of the adsorbent. The modification parameters and their effects on naphthalene removal as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method are described in detail. This review provides the necessary inspiration and guidance for the researchers who develop polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons adsorption materials in the environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In-Situ Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Pollution Control)

► Show Figures