Mesoporous silica with worm-like pores of 9–10 nm in size were studied by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and high-resolution porosimetry, using nitrogen at 77 K and argon at 87 K. The pore sizes determined from SANS are in excellent agreement with those obtained from a recently developed non-local density functional theory (NLDFT) approach. Furthermore, the additional micropores in the m...

Al,Fe-pillared clay was synthesized from domestic clay from Bogovina according to a common procedure: grinding, sieving, Na exchange, pillaring, drying and calcination. Two synthesized samples differing only in calcining conditions were prepared. Phase composition and textural properties of the starting clay and synthesized pillared clays were characterized using X-ray diffraction and physisorp...

Nanoscale gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) is a promising nanomaterial with unique physicochemical properties that finds various applications ranging from biomedicine to catalysis. The preparation of highly porous Gd2O3 nanofoam greatly increases its surface area thereby boosting potential for functional use in such as water purification processes and catalytic applications. By using the combustion syn...

Recently, we found a single crystal host, [M(II)2(bza)4(pyz)]n (bza and pyz = benzoate and pyrazine, M = Rh and Cu), which is suitable for the study of gas-containing structure through gas adsorption. They generated gas inclusion crystals by transition from a closed to an open phase through the process of smooth physisorption; guest gases are adsorbed into the generated narrow channels of the l...

We calculate the potential energy surfaces for graphene adsorbed on Cu(111), Ni(111), and Co(0001) using density functional theory and the random phase approximation (RPA). For these adsorption systems covalent and dispersive interactions are equally important and while commonly used approximations for exchange-correlation functionals give inadequate descriptions of either van der Waals or chem...

Carbon nanoparticles with large surface areas were produced by the reduction of carbon disulfide with metallic lithium at 500 °C. The carbon nanoparticles account for about 80% of the carbon product. The carbon nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microsc...

Physisorption on metal surfaces, and the tunneling currents through the adsorbed species, are calculated using a unified formalism that presents both problems on the same footing. Our method is based on a self-consistent LCAO approach whereby the different interaction parameters defining the bonds, and the tunneling currents, are calculated using the atomic properties of the atomic species form...

A bifunctional nanocatalyst composed of iron containing SBA-15 material modified with sulfonic acid groups was synthesized by a mechanochemical approach. A full characterization of the obtained nanocatalyst was performed by N2 physisorption isotherms analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The mechanochemically ...

Different physisorption properties by 2D and 3D isomers of Au_{n};{-} clusters are observed and used to probe the 2D to 3D structural transition. Strong Ar clustering occurs on planar Au_{n};{-} and the planar faces of the pyramidal Au20-. An abrupt change of Ar clustering at Au12- confirms the 2D to 3D structural transition at this size, where both isomers coexist. The minor 2D isomer can be t...