The incorporation of a spacer among membranes has a major influence on fluid dynamics and performance metrics. Spacers create feed channels and operate as turbulence promoters to increase mixing and reduce concentration/temperature polarization effects. However, spacer geometry remains unoptimized, and studies continue to investigate a wide range of commercial and custom-made spacer designs. The in-depth discussion of the present systematic review seeks to discover the influence of Reynolds number or solution flowrate on flow hydrodynamics throughout a spacer-filled channel. A fast-flowing solution sweeping one membrane's surface first, then the neighboring membrane's surface produces good mixing action, which does not happen commonly at laminar solution flowrates. A sufficient flowrate can suppress the polarization layer, which may normally require the utilization of a simple feed channel rather than complex spacer configurations. When a recirculation eddy occurs, it disrupts the continuous flow and effectively curves the linear fluid courses. The higher the flowrate, the better the membrane performance, the higher the critical flux (or recovery rate), and the lower the inherent limitations of spacer design, spacer shadow effect, poor channel hydrodynamics, and high concentration polarization. In fact, critical flow achieves an acceptable balance between improving flow dynamics and reducing the related trade-offs, such as pressure losses and the occurrence of concentration polarization throughout the cell. If the necessary technical flowrate is not used, the real concentration potential for transport is relatively limited at low velocities than would be predicted based on bulk concentrations. Electrodialysis stack therefore may suffer from the dissociation of water molecules. Next studies should consider that applying a higher flowrate results in greater process efficiency, increased mass transfer potential at the membrane interface, and reduced stack thermal and electrical resistance, where pressure drop should always be indicated as a consequence of the spacer and circumstances used, rather than a problem.
Electrochemical dechlorination of chlorobenzene in organic solutions was studied. Electrolysis of chlorobenzene in acetonitrile solution in a one-compartment cell fitted with a platinum cathode and a zinc anode at 60mA/cm(2) and 0 degrees C was found to be the optimum conditions, which gave complete dechlorination of chlorobenzene. However, similar result could not be achieved when applying these conditions to 1,3-dichlorobenzene and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. We found that the use of naphthalene which reacted as a mediator in the appropriate system could accelerate the reduction and gave complete dechlorination of those chlorobenzenes. Moreover, in the presence of naphthalene the reaction time could be shortened by half compared to dechlorination in the absence of naphthalene.
Microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) are emerging green processes producing useful products from renewable sources without causing environmental pollution and treating wastes. The separator, an important part of METs that greatly affects the latter's performance, is commonly made of Nafion proton exchange membrane (PEM). However, many problems have been identified associated with the Nafion PEM such as high cost of membrane, significant oxygen and substrate crossovers, and transport of cations other than protons protons and biofouling. A variety of materials have been offered as alternative separators such as ion-exchange membranes, salt bridges, glass fibers, composite membranes and porous materials. It has been claimed that low cost porous materials perform better than PEM. These include J-cloth, nylon filter, glass fiber mat, non-woven cloth, earthen pot and ceramics that enable non-ion selective charge transfer. This paper provides an up-to-date review on porous separators and plots directions for future studies.
Electrochemical dechlorination of chlorobenzenes in the presence of various arene mediators such as naphthalene, biphenyl, phenanthrene, anthracene, and pyrene, was studied. The amount of mediator required was able to be reduced to 0.01 equiv. for all mediators except for anthracene, with the complete dechlorination of mono-, 1,3-di- and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene still achieved. This catalytic amount of mediator plays an important role in accelerating the dechlorination through the rapid formation of radical anions prior to reduction of the chlorobenzenes.
An electrogenerative flow-through reactor with an activated reticulated vitreous carbon cathode was developed. The influence of palladium-tin activation of the cathode towards gold deposition was studied by cyclic voltammetry. The reactor proved to be efficient in recovering more than 99% of gold within 4 h of operation. The performance of the reactor was evaluated with initial gold concentrations of 10, 100 and 500 mg L-1 and various electrolyte flow rates. Gold recovery was found to be strongly dependent on electrolyte flow rate and initial gold concentration in the cyanide solution under the experimental conditions used.
Traditional methods for the recovery of gold from electronic scrap by hydrometallurgy were cyanidation followed by adsorption on activated carbon or cementation onto zinc dust and by electrowinning. In our studies, a static batch electrochemical reactor operating in an electrogenerative mode was used in gold recovery from cyanide solutions. A spontaneous chemical reaction will take place in the reactor and generate an external flow of current. In this present work, a static batch cell with an improved design using three-dimensional cathodes namely porous graphite and reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) and two-dimensional cathode materials, copper and stainless steel plates were coupled with a zinc anode. The electrogenerative system was demonstrated and the performance of the system using various cathode materials for gold recovery was evaluated. The system resulted in more than 90% gold being recovered within 3h of operation. Activated RVC serves as a superior cathode material having the highest recovery rate with more than 99% of gold being recovered in 1h of operation. The morphology of gold deposits on various cathode materials was also investigated.
Hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized by the solid transformation of ferrous hydroxide and ferrihydrite in hydrothermal condition. The as-prepared α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were characterized by UV-vis, PL, XRD, Raman, TEM, AFM, FESEM, and EDX analysis. The experimental results indicated the formation of uniform hematite nanoparticles with an average size of 45 nm and perfect crystallinity. The electrochemical behavior of a GC/α-Fe2O3 electrode was studied using CV and EIS techniques with an electrochemical probe, [Fe(CN)6](3-/4-) redox couple. The electrocatalytic activity was investigated toward DA oxidation in a phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.8) by varying different experimental parameters. The chronoamperometric study showed a linear response in the range of 0-2 μM with LoD of 1.6 μM for DA. Square wave voltammetry showed a linear response in the range of 0-35 μM with LoD of 236 nM for DA.
The requirement for high quality pulps which are widely used in paper industries has increased the demand for pulp refining (beating) process. Pulp refining is a promising approach to improve the pulp quality by changing the fiber characteristics. The diversity of research on the effect of refining on fiber properties which is due to the different pulp sources, pulp consistency and refining equipment has interested us to provide a review on the studies over the last decade. In this article, the influence of pulp refining on structural properties i.e., fibrillations, fine formation, fiber length, fiber curl, crystallinity and distribution of surface chemical compositions is reviewed. The effect of pulp refining on electrokinetic properties of fiber e.g., surface and total charges of pulps is discussed. In addition, an overview of different refining theories, refiners as well as some tests for assessing the pulp refining is presented.
Stepping into the new globalizes and paradigm shifted era, a huge revolution has been undergone by the electrochemical industry. From a humble candidate of the superconductor resources, today electrosorption has demonstrated its wide variety of usefulness, almost in every part of the environmental conservation. With the renaissance of activated carbon (AC), there has been a steadily growing interest in this research field. The paper presents a state of art review of electrosorption technology, its background studies, fundamental chemistry and working principles. Moreover, recent development of the activated carbon assisted electrosorption process, its major challenges together with the future expectation are summarized and discussed. Conclusively, the expanding of electrosorption in the field of adsorption science represents a potentially viable and powerful tool, leading to the superior improvement of pollution control and environmental preservation.
A single-step fabrication of a glucose biosensor with simultaneous immobilization of both ferrocene mediator and glucose oxidase in a photocurable methacrylic film consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate-co-2-hydroxylethyl methacrylate) was reported. The entrapped ferrocene showed reversible redox behaviour in the photocured film and no significant leaching of both entrapped ferrocene and enzyme glucose oxidase was observed because of the low water absorption properties of the co-polymer films. From electrochemical studies, ferrocene entrapped in the co-polymer film demonstrated slow diffusion properties. A linear glucose response range of 2-11 mM was obtained at low applied potential of +0.25 V. The glucose biosensor fabricated by this photocuring method yielded sensor reproducibility and repeatability with relative standard deviation of <10% and long-term stability of up to 14 days. The main advantage of the use of photocurable procedure is that biosensor membrane fabrication can be performed in a single step without any lengthy chemical immobilization of enzyme.
In this report, a facile solution casting technique was used to fabricate polymer blend electrolytes of chitosan (CS):poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO):NH4SCN with high electrochemical stability (2.43V). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to investigate the polymer electrolyte formation. For the electrochemical property analysis, cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were carried out. Referring to the FTIR spectra, a complex formation between the added salt and CS:PEO was deduced by considering the decreasing and shifting of FTIR bands intensity in terms of functional groups. The CS:PEO:NH4SCN electrolyte was found to be electrochemically stable as the applied voltage linearly swept up to 2.43V. The cyclic voltammogram has presented a wide potential window without showing any sign of redox peaks on the electrode surface. The proved mechanisms of charge storage in these fabricated systems were found to be double layer charging. The EIS analysis showed the existence of bulk resistance, wherein the semicircle diameter decreased with increasing salt concentration. The calculated maximum DC conductivity value was observed to be 2.11 × 10-4 S/cm for CS:PEO incorporated with 40 wt% of NH4SCN salt. The charged species in CS:PEO:NH4SCN electrolytes were considered to be predominantly ionic in nature. This was verified from transference number analysis (TNM), in which ion and electron transference numbers were found to be tion = 0.954 and tel = 0.045, respectively. The results obtained for both ion transference number and DC conductivity implied the possibility of fabricating electrolytes for electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC) device application. The specific capacitance of the fabricated EDLC was obtained from the area under the curve of the CV plot.
In this work, the direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin (Hb), which was immobilized on carbonyl functionalized single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) and deposited onto a gold (Au) electrode has been described. The synthesis of the network of crosslinked SWCNT/Hb was done with the help of crosslinking agent EDC (1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide). The UV-Vis and FTIR spectroscopy of SWCNT/Hb networks showed that Hb maintained its natural structure and kept good stability. In addition with this, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) illustrated that SWCNT/Hb networks had a featured layered structure and Hb being strongly liked with SWCNT surface. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to study and to optimize the performance of the resulting modified electrode. The cyclic voltammetric (CV) responses of SWCNT/Hb networks in pH 7.0 exhibit prominent redox couple for the FeIII/II redox process with a midpoint potential of -0.46 V and -0.34, cathodic and anodic respectively. Furthermore, SWCNT/Hb networks are utilized for the detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Electrochemical measurements reveal that the resulting SWCNT/Hb electrodes display high electrocatalytic activity to H2O2 with high sensitivity, wide linear range, and low detection limit. Overall, the electrochemical results are due to excellent biocompatibility and excellent electron transport efficiency of CNT as well as high Hb loading and synergistic catalytic effect of the modified electrode toward H2O2.
The innovation of nanoparticles assumes a critical part of encouraging and giving open doors and conceivable outcomes to the headway of new era devices utilized as a part of biosensing. The focused on the quick and legitimate detecting of specific biomolecules using functionalized gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has turned into a noteworthy research enthusiasm for the most recent decade. Sensors created with gold nanoparticles or carbon nanotubes or in some cases by utilizing both are relied upon to change the very establishments of detecting and distinguishing various analytes. In this review, we will examine the current utilization of functionalized AuNPs and CNTs with other synthetic mixes for the creation of biosensor prompting to the location of particular analytes with low discovery cutoff and quick reaction.
Graphene and its hybrids are being employed as potential materials in light-sensing devices due to their high optical and electronic properties. However, the absence of a bandgap in graphene limits the realization of devices with high performance. In this work, a boron-doped reduced graphene oxide (B-rGO) is proposed to overcome the above problems. Boron doping enhances the conductivity of graphene oxide and creates several defect sites during the reduction process, which can play a vital role in achieving high-sensing performance of light-sensing devices. Initially, the B-rGO is synthesized using a modified microwave-assisted hydrothermal method and later analyzed using standard FESEM, FTIR, XPS, Raman, and XRD techniques. The content of boron in doped rGO was found to be 6.51 at.%. The B-rGO showed a tunable optical bandgap from 2.91 to 3.05 eV in the visible spectrum with an electrical conductivity of 0.816 S/cm. The optical constants obtained from UV-Vis absorption spectra suggested an enhanced surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response for B-rGO in the theoretical study, which was further verified by experimental investigations. The B-rGO with tunable bandgap and enhanced SPR could open up the solution for future high-performance optoelectronic and sensing applications.
The effect of scan rate on the accuracy of corrosion parameter in evaluating the efficiency of rice straw extract as corrosion inhibitor has been studied via potentiodynamic polarization measurement. Scan rate in the range of low (0.1- 0.25 mV s-1), medium (0.5-1.0 mV s-1) and high (1.5-2.0 mV s-1) scan were carried out on the carbon steel in 1 M HCl. The corrosion parameters such as corrosion rate, polarization resistance and corrosion current density have been analyzed through Tafel polarization curve. High scan rate gave poor accuracy of corrosion parameter compared to medium and low scan. Medium scan at 1.0 mV s-1 has been chosen as the optimum scan rate due to the approached steady-state and small disturbance of charged current. As a result, the addition of rice straw extract in 1 M HCl has reduced the values of corrosion current density in both cathodic and anodic reactions signified the corrosion has been inhibited. The efficiency of rice straw extracts as a corrosion inhibitor offer good result as much as 86%.
A flow injection analysis (FIA) method for the determination of four residual chlorine species, namely combined available chlorine (CAC), free available chlorine (FAC), total available chlorine (TAC) and chlorite (ClO2-) was developed using a flow-through triiodide-selective electrode as a detector. An important strategy of speciation studies utilized the kinetic discrimination of reactions between the CAC and FAC with Fe2+, which was applied to the speciation of FAC, CAC and TAC. The speciation of available chlorine species and chlorite (an oxychlorine species) was achieved by using the same set-up, but using flow streams of different pH. The effects of the pH of the carrier stream, the flow rate and the sample volume were studied. The method exhibited linearity from 2.8 x 10(-6) to 2.8 x 10(-4) M active chlorine (expressed as OCl-) with a detection limit of 1.4 x 10(-6) M. The selectivity of the method was studied by examining the minimum pH for the oxidation of iodide by other oxidants, and also by assessing the potentiometric selectivity coefficients. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of chlorine species in tap water, and disinfecting formulations where good agreement occurred between the proposed and standard methods were found.
The response of trilayer graphene nanoribbon (TGN)-based ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) to different pH solutions and adsorption effect on the sensing parameters are analytically studied in this research. The authors propose a TGN-based sensor to electrochemically detect pH. To this end, absorption effect on the sensing area in the form of carrier concentration, carrier velocity, and conductance variations are investigated. Also, the caused electrical response on TGN as a detection element is analytically proposed, in which significant current decrease of the sensor is observed after exposure to high pH values. In order to verify the accuracy of the model, it is compared with recent reports on pH sensors. The TGN-based pH sensor exposes higher current compared to that of carbon nanotube (CNT) counterpart for analogous ambient conditions. While, the comparative results demonstrate that the conductance of proposed model is lower than that of monolayer graphene-counterpart for equivalent pH values. The results confirm that the conductance of the sensor is decreased and Vg-min is obviously right-shifted by increasing value of pH. The authors demonstrate that although there is not the experimental evidence reported in the part of literature for TGN sensor, but the model can assist in comprehending experiments involving nanoscale pH sensors.
A newly developed electrochemical sensor for chlorothalonil based on nylon 6,6 film deposited onto screen printed electrode (SPE) with electrochemical modulation of pH at the electrode/solution interface was studied for the first time. Differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry (DPCSV) was used to carry out the electrochemical and analytical studies. Experimental parameters such as accumulation potential, initial potential, accumulation time and pH of Britton-Robinson buffer have been optimized. Chlorothalonil gave optimum analytical signal in a medium of 0.04 M Britton-Robinson buffer at pH 6.0. A well-defined reduction peak was observed, at Ep= -0.851 and -0.938 V vs. Ag/AgCl (3.0 M KCl) for both bare SPE and modified SPE, respectively. The peak currents of modified SPE were significantly increased as compared to bare SPE. At the modified SPE, a linear relationship between the peak current and chlorothalonil concentration was obtained in the range from 0.1 to 2.8 × 10-6 M with a detection limit of 1.53 × 10-8 M (S/N= 3). The practical applicability of the newly developed method has been demonstrated on analyses of real water samples. The newly developed sensor shows good reproducibility with RSD of 3.92%. The nylon 6,6 modified SPE showed itself as promising sensor with good selectivity for chlorothalonil determination.
Miniaturisation of microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCE) is becoming an increasingly important research topic, particularly in areas related to micro total analysis systems or lab on a chip. One of the important features associated with the miniaturised MCE system is the portable power supply unit. In this work, a very low electric field MCE utilising an amperometric detection scheme was designed for use in DNA separation. The device was fabricated from a glass/polydimethylsiloxane hybrid engraved microchannel with platinum electrodes sputtered onto a glass substrate. Measurement was based on a three-electrode arrangement, and separation was achieved using a very low electric field of 12 V/cm and sample volume of 1.5 µl. The device was tested using two commercial DNA markers of different base pair sizes. The results are in agreement with conventional electrophoresis, but with improved resolution. The sensitivity consistently higher than 100 nA, and the separation time approximately 45 min, making this microchip an ideal tool for DNA analysis.