Laser-activated membrane introduction mass spectrometry (LAMIMS), a high-throughput screening method, evaluates heterogeneous catalysts under realistic reactor conditions. It is a precise, versatile system requiring no moving parts. The catalyst array is supported on carbon paper overlaid upon a silicone rubber membrane configured in a variation of membrane introduction mass spectrometry as int...

Microfabricated fuel cells have been designed and constructed on silicon integrated circuit wafers using many processes common in integrated circuit fabrication, including sputtering, polymer spin coating, reactive ion etching, and photolithography. Proton exchange membranes PEMs for an “integrated” fuel cell have been made by low-temperature, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silico...

Synchrotron-based scanning transmission X-ray spectromicroscopy (STXM) was used to characterize the local chemical environment at and around the platinum particles in the membrane (PTIM) which form in operationally tested (end-of-life, EOL) catalyst coated membranes (CCMs) of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEM-FC). The band of metallic Pt particles in operationally tested CCM membrane...

New porous materials such as zeolites, metal-organic frameworks and mesostructured oxides are of immense practical utility for gas storage, separations and heterogeneous catalysis. Their extended pore structures enable selective uptake of molecules or can modify the product selectivity (regioselectivity or enantioselectivity) of catalyst sites contained within. However, diffusion within pores c...

The present study describes the application of Fischer Tropsch biowaxes as a feedstock in a pilot-scale hydroprocessing unit at operating conditions very similar to industrial size hydrotreating plants of traditional refineries. The project focus on a future coprocessing of biowax/gasoil blends due to produce bio-products derived from lignocellulosic biomass: crack gases, naphtha, kerosene, die...

Enhancing the surface binding stability of chromophores, catalysts, and chromophore-catalyst assemblies attached to metal oxide surfaces is an important element in furthering the development of dye sensitized solar cells, photoelectrosynthesis cells, and interfacial molecular catalysis. Phosphonate-derivatized catalysts and molecular assemblies provide a basis for sustained water oxidation on t...

This study addresses the development of a compact reactor for oxidative steam-reforming of methanol (OSRM) to produce hydrogen in autothermal mode for fuel cells. The string reactor uses catalytically active brass wires with a diameter of 500 mm placed in parallel into a tube. The micro-channels in the reactor for gases are formed between the wires presenting hydrodynamics similar to the one in...

This work focuses on the nucleation and growth mechanisms of GaN nanowires (NWs) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The two main novelties of this study are the intensive employment of in-situ techniques and the direct comparison of selfinduced and catalyst-induced NWs. On silicon substrates, GaN NWs form in MBE without the use of any external catalyst seed. On sapphire, in contrast, NWs grow und...

Core/shell nanostructured carbon materials with carbon nanofiber (CNF) as the core and a nitrogen (N)-doped graphitic layer as the shell were synthesized by pyrolysis of CNF/polyaniline (CNF/PANI) composites prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline on CNFs. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared and Raman analyses indicat...

There are several obstacles to the commercialization of PEM fuel cells.  One of the reasons is that the presence of carbon monoxide (CO) in the reformatted fuel, even at a very small scale, decreases the fuel cell performance. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of CO in reformatted fuel on PEM fuel cell performance. For this purpose, a steady state, one-dimensional and non-isoth...