http://hdl.handle.net/2005/31 2013-04-30T23:01:08Z 2013-04-30T23:01:08Z Deshpande, Parag Arvind http://hdl.handle.net/2005/1967 2013-04-04T10:30:19Z 2013-04-03T18:30:00Z

Title: Development Of Ionic Catalysts For The Water-gas Shift Reaction And Exhaust Gas Purification Authors: Deshpande, Parag Arvind Abstract: Treatment of fuel cell feed H2 for the removal of CO is important owing to the poisoning of the catalysts, thereby affecting the performance of the fuel cell. Strong and preferential adsorption of CO over the catalyst takes place resulting in a reduction of the power output of the cell. Therefore, it is important to treat the fuel cell feed H2 to reduce its CO content below the tolerable limit. Development of efficient catalysts for the treatment of synthesis gas for the removal of CO and and H2 enrichment of the gas to make it suitable for fuel cells is one of the two goals of this thesis. One of the various possible strategies for the removal of CO from the synthesis gas can be the use of the water-gas shift reaction. We have developed noble metal substituted ionic catalysts for catalyzing the water-gas shift reaction and have studied in detail the kinetics of the reactions by proposing the relevant reaction mechanisms. Solution combustion, a novel technique for synthesizing nanocrystalline materials, was used for the synthesis of all the catalysts. All the compounds synthesized were solid solutions of the noble metal ion and transition or rare earth metal oxide support. Three different supports were used, viz., CeO2, ZrO2 and TiO2. Substitution of Zr and Ti in CeO2 up to 15 at% was also carried out to obtain the compounds with enhanced oxygen storage capacity. All the compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In some cases, where it was required, the use of FT-Raman spectroscopy was made for structural analysis. The compounds were nanocrystalline with metals substituted in ionic form in the support. The water-gas shift reaction was carried out over the synthesized catalysts with a reactant gas mixture that simulated the actual refinery gas composition. The variation of CO concentration with temperature was traced. The changes in the oxidation state of the metal showed the involvement of the various redox pairs over the reducible oxide like substituted CeO2 and TiO2. The mechanism of the reaction over ZrO2-based compounds was found to take place utilizing the surface hydroxyl groups. Rate expressions for the reactions over all the catalysts following different mechanisms were derived from the proposed elementary processes. Nonlinear regression was used for the estimation of various parameters describing the rate of reaction. Having established the high activity of Pt-ion substituted TiO 2 for the reactions, steam reforming of wood gas obtained from the gasification of Casuarina wood chips was carried out. The enrichment of the gas stream, which initially consisted of nearly 10% H 2 was carried out by steam reforming and H2-rich stream was obtained with H2 as high as 40% by volume in the treated gas. The second motive behind this thesis was to test the activity of the noble-metal substituted ionic catalysts for the treatment of the exhaust gas coming out of a fuel cell. In the fuel cell utilizing H2, the exhaust gases contain certain amount of unreacted H2, which can not be recovered or utilized economically. However, the gases are combustible and H 2 has to be removed in order to make the gas clean. We have shown high activity of the combustion-synthesized ionic compounds for catalytic combustion of H2. All the compounds showed high activity for H2 combustion and complete removal of H2 was possible. The rates were found to increase with an decrease in H2:O2 ratio and complete conversion of H2 was possible within 100 oC with air. A mathematical model was developed for the kinetics of catalytic H2 combustion based on the elementary processes that were proposed using the spectroscopic evidences. CO tolerant capacity of the catalysts was also tested. It was found that the temperature requirement for most of the catalysts increased with the introduction of CO. However, it was still possible to obtain complete conversions within 200 oC. To summarize, fuel cell processing systems utilizing H 2 remained central to the study. Treatment of the gases, both before and after reaction from the fuel cell was carried out over noble metal-substituted ionic catalyst, synthesized by solution combustion technique. Mechanisms of the reactions were proposed on the basis of spectroscopic evidences and the kinetic rate parameters were estimated using non-linear regression.

2013-04-03T18:30:00Z Vinu, R http://hdl.handle.net/2005/1655 2012-04-23T05:15:46Z 2012-04-22T18:30:00Z

Title: Kinetics Of Photo Initiated Organic And Polymer Reactions Authors: Vinu, R Abstract: Photo-initiated reactions involve the use of ultraviolet (UV) or visible light radiation to effect chemical transformations. Some of the advantages of photo-initiated reactions over thermal or high pressure reactions include mild reaction conditions like ambient temperature and pressure, good control over the reaction by the simple switching on/off the light source, and faster reaction kinetics. Usually, semiconductor photocatalysts or oxidizing agents are used to enhance the rate of photo reactions. “Photocatalysis” involves the generation of valence band holes and conduction band electrons by the band gap excitation of a semiconductor photocatalyst. These charge carriers produce reactive hydroxyl and superoxide radicals, which mediate oxidation and reduction reactions. However, the oxidizing agents are decomposed by the incident radiation to generate reactive radicals, which accelerate the photo reaction. Today, photocatalysis and photo-oxidative reactions are widely being practiced for environmental pollution abatement, synthesis of fine chemicals, synthesis of polymers, generation of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier, and in anti-fogging and self-cleaning surface treatments. The present investigation focuses on elucidating the mechanism and kinetics of environmentally and synthetically relevant photo-initiated reactions for a better understanding of the fundamental aspects of the photo processes. The different photo-initiated reactions studied in this dissertation can be grouped under the broad categories of (i) photocatalytic degradation of organic compounds like dyes and phenols, and reduction of metal ions, (ii) photocatalytic degradation of polymers, (iii) selective photocatalytic oxidation of cyclohexane, (iv) sonophotocatalytic degradation of dyes, (v) photopolymerization, and (vi) sonophotooxidative degradation of polymers. Nano-sized TiO2, synthesized by solution combustion technique (henceforth denoted as CS TiO2), was used as the photocatalyst for most of the above reactions, except for the last two polymer reactions, where organic initiators were used. Invariably, the photocatalytic activity of CS TiO2 was compared with the commercially available Degussa P-25 TiO2 (DP25). Based on the experimental results, detailed mechanisms were proposed for the different reactions, kinetic models were derived, and the rate coefficients signifying the importance of the underlying reaction steps were evaluated. Pd2+ substituted and Pd0 impregnated TiO2 were synthesized by solution combustion and reduction techniques, respectively, and characterized by powder XRD, XPS, TEM, BET surface area, UV/visible, TGA, FT-IR and photoluminescence measurements. While the above catalysts are known to be more active compared to CS TiO2 for the gas phase NO reduction and NO decomposition reactions, it was found in this study, that these catalysts exhibit lower activity for the degradation of organic compounds like dyes, phenol and 4-chlorophenol, in the aqueous phase. The decrease in activity was correlated with a reduction in surface area and photoluminescence intensity of these catalysts, compared to CS TiO2. Ag+ substituted (Ag sub) and Ag0 impregnated (Ag imp) nano-TiO2 were synthesized by solution combustion and reduction techniques, respectively, and characterized by the above standard measurements. These catalysts were used for the photodegradation of dyes, and the selective photooxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone. For the photocatalytic degradation of dyes, unsubstituted CS TiO2 exhibited the highest activity, followed by 1% Ag imp and 1% Ag sub. However, for the photooxidation of cyclohexane, the total conversion of cyclohexane and the selectivity of cyclohexanone followed the order: 1% Ag sub > DP-25 > CS TiO2 > 1% Ag imp. The kinetics of photodegradation of the dyes and the photooxidation of cyclohexane was modeled using Langmuir-Hinshelwood rate equation, and a free radical mechanism, respectively. This study proves that the photoactivity of a catalyst is not solely determined by a single physical property, but rather by a number of variables including the surface area, band gap, surface hydroxyl content, oxide ion vacancy and surface charge of the catalyst. The photocatalytic degradation of five anionic, eight cationic and three solvent dyes, containing different functional groups, was evaluated. The degradation of the dyes was quantified using the initial rate of decolorization and overall percent mineralization. The decolorization of the anionic dyes with CS TiO2 followed the order: Indigo Carmine > Eosin Y > Amido Black 10B > Alizarin Cyanine Green > Orange G. The decolorization of the cationic dyes with DP-25 followed the order: Malachite Green > Pyronin Y > Rhodamine 6G > Azure B > Nile Blue Sulfate > Auramine O ≈ Acriflavine ≈ Safranin O. CS TiO2 exhibited higher rates of decolorization and mineralization for all the anionic dyes, while DP-25 was better in terms of decolorization for most of the cationic dyes. The solvent dyes exhibited adsorption dependent decolorization. The observed results were rationalized based on the molecular structure and degradation pathway of the dyes. The simultaneous photocatalytic degradation of phenolic compounds like phenol and 4-nitrophenol, and the reduction of metal ions like copper (Cu2+) and chromium (Cr6+) were studied. It was found that the presence of phenol accelerated the reduction of Cu2+ to Cu+, and the presence of phenol and 4-nitrophenol accelerated the adsorption of Cr6+ onto CS TiO2. A detailed dual-cycle, multi-step reaction mechanism was proposed for the simultaneous degradation and reduction, and a model was developed using the network reduction technique. The kinetic rate constants in the model were evaluated for the systems studied. The simultaneous UV and ultrasound (US) degradation of anionic dyes was carried out in presence of CS TiO2. The rates of degradation and mineralization of the dyes were higher for the sonophotocatalytic process compared to the individual photo-and sonocatalytic processes. The effect of dissolved gases and US intensity on the sonophotocatalytic degradation of the dyes was evaluated. A dual-pathway network mechanism of sonophotocatalytic degradation was proposed for the first time, and the rate equations were modeled using the network reduction technique. The kinetic rate coefficients of the individual steps were evaluated for all the systems by fitting the model with the experimental data. Eosin Y and Fluorescein dye sensitized visible light degradation of phenol, 4chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol was studied. A detailed mechanism of sensitized degradation was proposed, and a mechanistic model for the rate of degradation of the phenolic compound was derived by using the pyramidal network reduction technique to evaluate the rate coefficients. An important conclusion of this study indicates that at low initial dye concentrations, the rate of degradation of the phenolic compound is first order in the concentration of the dye, while at high initial dye concentrations, the rate is first order in the concentration of the phenolic compound. The different phenolic and dye intermediates that were formed during degradation were identified by mass spectrometry, and a most probable pathway of degradation was proposed. The solution photopolymerization of methyl-, ethyl-, butyl-and hexylmethacrylates in presence of benzoyl peroxide as the initiator was studied. The effect of initiator and monomer concentrations on the time evolution of polymer concentration, number average molecular weight (Mn) and polydispersity (PDI) was examined. The reversible chain addition and β-scission, and primary radical termination steps were included in the mechanism along with the classical initiation, propagation and termination steps. The rate equations were derived using continuous distribution kinetics and solved numerically to fit the experimental data. The model predicted the instantaneous increase of Mn and PDI of the polymers to steady state values. The rate coefficients exhibited a linear increase with the size of the alkyl chain of the alkyl methacrylates. Poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) copolymers of different compositions were synthesized and characterized. The copolymers were statistical with a relatively high percentage of acrylamide units, as determined by 13C-NMR. The aqueous phase photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of the copolymers and the homopolymers was conducted. The degradation was modeled using continuous distribution kinetics. The degradation followed a two step mechanism, wherein the rapid first step comprised of the scission of weak acrylic acid units along the chain, which was followed by the breakage of the relatively strong acrylamide units. The rate constants for the weak and strong links followed a linear trend with the percentage of acrylic acid and acrylamide in the copolymer, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation of the copolymers of methyl methacrylate with butyl methacrylate (MMA-BMA), ethyl acrylate (MMA-EA) and methacrylic acid (MMA-MAA) was carried out in toluene. The copolymers and the corresponding homopolymers degraded randomly along the chain. The degradation rate coefficient was determined using continuous distribution kinetics. The time evolution of the hydroxyl and hydroperoxide stretching vibration in the FT-IR spectra of the copolymers indicated that the degradation rate follows the order: MMA-MAA > MMA-EA > MMA-BMA. The photodegradation rate coefficients were compared with the activation energy of pyrolytic degradation. The observed contrast in the order of thermal stability compared to the photostability of these copolymers was attributed to the two different mechanisms governing the scission of the polymers and the evolution of the products. The mechano-chemical degradation of poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(ethyl methacrylate) and poly(n-butyl methacrylate) using US and UV radiation, in presence of benzoin as the photoinitiator, was carried out. A degradation mechanism that included the decomposition of the initiator, generation of polymer radicals by hydrogen abstraction of the initiator radicals, and reversible chain transfer between the stable polymer and the polymer radicals, was proposed. The mechanism assumed mid-point chain scission due to US and random chain scission due to UV radiation. The steady state evolution of PDI was successfully predicted by the continuous distribution kinetics model. The rate coefficients of polymer scission due to US and UV radiation exhibited a linear increase and decrease with the size of the alkyl group of the poly(alkyl methacrylate)s, respectively.

2012-04-22T18:30:00Z Manubhai, Thakkar Foram http://hdl.handle.net/2005/1025 2011-01-25T05:11:24Z 2011-01-24T18:30:00Z

Title: Investigations Of Polymer Grafted Lipid Bilayers Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics Authors: Manubhai, Thakkar Foram Abstract: Lipid molecules are amphiphilic in nature consisting of a hydrophilic head group and hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails. The lipid bilayer consists of two layers of lipid molecules arranged with their hydrophobic tails facing each other and their hydrophilic head groups solvated by water. Lipid bilayers with hydrophilic polymer chains grafted onto the head groups have applications in various fields, such as stabilization of liposomes designed for targeted drug delivery, synthesis of supported bilayers for biomaterial applications, surface modification of implanted medical devices to prevent biological fouling and design of in vitro biosensors. The focus of this thesis lies in understanding the effects of polymer grafting on the thermodynamics and mechanical properties of lipid bilayers. Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) has evolved as a promising method to study complex soft matter systems. The basic DPD algorithm, and its implementation are discussed in Chapter 2 of this thesis. It is important to achieve a tensionless state while studying phase transitions and deducing the mechanical properties of the bilayer. We proposed a modification of the Andersen barostat which can be incorporated in a DPD simulation to achieve the tensionless state as well as carry out simulations at a prescribed tension. In Chapter 3 of this thesis the effect of polymer grafting on single tailed lipid bilayers is studied. Simulations are carried out by varying the grafting fraction, Gf, defined as the ratio of the number of polymer molecules to the number of lipid molecules. At lowGf, the bilayer shows a sharp transition from the gel (Lβ) to the liquid crystalline (Lα) phase. This main melting transition temperature is lowered as Gf is increased. Corresponding to this, an increase in the area per head group is also observed. Above a critical value of Gf the interdigitated, LβI phase is observed prior to the main transition for the longer lipid tails. The analysis for two tailed lipids as a function of polymer chain length is extensively studied in Chapter 5. For the case of two tailed lipids, an intermediate interdigitated phase was not observed and the decrease in the melting temperature is more pronounced as the length of the polymer chain is increased. The scaling for fractional change in the area per head group, as well as the decrease in transition temperature as a function of polymer grafting are in good agreement with mean field theory predictions. The bending modulus (k) and area stretch modulus (kA) are essential for determining the shape and the mechanical stability of biological cells or lipid based vesicles. In simulations, the bending modulus k is evaluated from the Fourier transform of the out-of-plane fluctuations of the bilayer mid-plane. In Chapter 4 of this thesis, we illustrate that a surface representation based on Delanuay triangulation provides a robust parameter free representation of the bilayer surface. By evaluating the bending modulus for single tail lipids of different tail lengths, the continuum scaling relation d2 is verified. To our knowledge this is the first systematic investigation and verification of this scaling relationship using computer simulations. Using the continuum relation, =kAd2/ we find that α depends weakly on the tail lengths of the bilayer. Nevertheless we illustrate that a value of α=130 can be used to reliably estimate the bending modulus from the area stretch modulus for polymer free bilayers. Using our method, we are also able to capture the low q scalings and obtain the bending modulus of the gel (Lβ) phase. Grafted polymer was found to increase the value of the bending modulus for single tail lipids. Although the presence of polymer directly increases the area per head group, the suppressed height fluctuations dominate and the bending modulus increases for the single tail lipids. For two tail lipids a small decrease in the bending modulus was observed at low grafting fractions and short polymer chains. For large polymer lengths the bending modulus was found to increase monotonically.

2011-01-24T18:30:00Z Dutta, Debosruti http://hdl.handle.net/2005/1329 2011-08-04T06:02:05Z 2011-08-03T18:30:00Z

Title: Methane Storage In Activated Carbon Nanostructures : A Combined Density Functional And Monte Carlo Study Authors: Dutta, Debosruti Abstract: Natural gas is stored as compressed natural gas (CNG) in heavy steel cylinders under pressures of 200-250 atm. However, such a method of storage has certain disadvantages which include multistage compression costs, limited driving range and safety aspects. Hence, alternative methods of storage such as adsorbed natural gas (ANG) which involve adsorbing natural gas at moderate pressures and room temperatures in a suitable nanoporous material are currently being explored. In this thesis, we have isolated model carbon nanostructures and defect geometries most likely to be found in these materials and investigated their specific interactions with methane. The thesis is concerned with ab-initio density functional theory calculations on these various model carbon nanostructures in order to identify the potential candidates that enhance methane adsorption. The adsorption energies of methane on graphite and graphene sheets were similar, with a value of 12.3 kJ/mol for graphene. The Stone-Wales defect in graphene was found to increase the methane adsorption energy to 37.2 kJ/mol, and small surface undulations on the graphene sheet resulted in a smaller increase (16 kJ/mol) in the adsorption energy relative to graphene. The presence of an interstitial carbon was found to significantly reduce the adsorption energy to 5.2 kJ/mol. The enhanced adsorption energy in the case of the Stone-Wales defect was attributed to the significant charge redistribution in the vicinity of the defect. A variety of functional groups such as carboxylic acid (COOH), carbonyl (CO), phenol (OH), pyran (-O-), phenone (=O), peroxide (OOH) and amine (NH2) groups have been observed on carbon surfaces. Extensive density functional calculations of methane adsorbed on various chemically functionalized graphene nanoribbons were carried out to evaluate their methane adsorption energies. A significant finding in this study, is the increased adsorption energies (relative to graphene) that occur for the functional groups containing the OH moiety. The adsorption energies for edge functionalized graphene nanoribbons are 27.6 and 69.7 kJ/mol for COOH and OOH functionalization. Additional computations reveal a strong correlation between the induced dipole moment on methane and the strength of the adsorption energies obtained for the extended nanoribbons. Adsorption isotherms for methane were obtained using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations for slit-like graphitic pores with and without functional groups. For both OH and COOH functionalized graphite, we observe more than a 40 % increase in the volumetric loading over bare graphite for the highest weight % of the functional group and smallest pore width considered. The maximum volumetric loading decreases with a decrease in the wt% of the functional groups and with an increase in the pore width.

2011-08-03T18:30:00Z