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Abstract: In this study, the particular effects of A-site donor doping in a lead-free piezoceramic material K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (KNN) doped with Sr2+, i.e., the crystal-structure change, the secondary-phase formation and the grain-size decrease, were investigated. The already-reported causes of these effects upon doping KNN were critically discussed and a mechanism of the effects’ formation was suggested and experimentally supported with advanced analytical methods. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analyses proved that the Sr occupies the perovskite A-sublattice, and locally modifies the KNN monoclinic structure to cubic. With the help of Sr K-edge EXAFS and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, the Sr was found to be homogenously distributed in the KNN perovskite lattice with 0.5, 1 and 2% Sr and no Sr segregation on the nano level was found in any of the studied samples with transmission electron microscopy. Introducing Sr into the A-sublattice, as well as accounting for the charge-compensating A-site vacancies in the starting composition, causes increasing lattice disorder and microstrain, as determined from a Rietveld refinement of the synchrotron X-ray diffraction data. Above 2% Sr the system segregates the A-site vacancies in a secondary phase in order to release the chemical pressure, as revealed by Raman spectroscopy. All these effects result in an increasing number of low-angle grain boundaries that limit the grain growth and finally lead to a significant grain-size decrease.
Found in: osebi
Keywords: perovskite, potassium sodium niobate, donor doping, cation vacancies
Published: 17.01.2017; Views: 4013; Downloads: 305
Fulltext (2,11 MB)

Abstract: Titanium dioxide has been widely used as an antimicrobial agent, UV-filter and catalyst for pollution abatement. Herein, surface modifications with selected transition metals (Me) over colloidal TiO2 nanoparticles and immobilization with a colloidal SiO2 binder as composite films (MeTiO2/SiO2) on a glass carrier were used to enhance solar-light photoactivity. Colloidal TiO2 nanoparticles were modified by loading selected transition metals (Me ¼ Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) in the form of chlorides on their surface. They were present primarily as oxo-nanoclusters and a portion as metal oxides. The structural characteristics of bare TiO2 were preserved up to an optimal metal loading of 0.5 wt%. We have shown in situ that metal-oxo-nanoclusters with a redox potential close to that of O2/O2 were able to function as co-catalysts on the TiO2 surface which was excited by solar-light irradiation. The materials were tested for photocatalytic activity by two opposite methods; one detecting O2 (reduction, Rz ink test) while the other detecting OH (oxidation, terephthalic acid test). It was shown that the enhancement of the solar-light activity of TiO2 by the deposition of transition metal oxo-nanoclusters on the surface depends strongly on the combination of the reduction potential of such species and appropriate band positions of their oxides. The latter prevented excessive self-recombination of the photogenerated charge carriers by the nanoclusters in Ni and Zn modification, which was probably the case in other metal modifications. Overall, only Ni modification had a positive effect on solar photoactivity in both oxidation and reduction reactions.
Found in: osebi
Keywords: surface modified TiO2, XANES, EXAFS, Nickel, solar light photocatalyst
Published: 01.06.2018; Views: 2674; Downloads: 0
Fulltext (1,24 MB)

Abstract: The process of methanol synthesis based on the hydrogenation of CO2 was investigated over binary Cu/ZnO catalyst materials, prepared by applying a novel electroless plating fabrication method. The activity of the produced catalytic samples was determined at temperature range between 200 and 300 °C and the feedstock conversion data were supplemented with a detailed microstructure analysis using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Cu and Zn K-edge, X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) measurements and extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) measurements. It was confirmed that the disorder in the Cu crystallites created unique geometrical situations, which acted as the additional reactive centres for the adsorption of the reactant molecule species. Copper and zinc structural synergy (spill-over) was also demonstrated as being crucial for the carbon dioxide’s activation. EXAFS and XANES results provide strong evidence for surface alloying between copper and zinc and thus the present results demonstrate new approach applicable for explaining metal–support interactions.
Found in: osebi
Keywords: EXAFS, CuZn alloy, Spillover mechanism, CO2 valorization, Electroless deposition method, Heterogeneous catalysis
Published: 12.04.2019; Views: 2740; Downloads: 0
Fulltext (1,92 MB)

Abstract: Catalyst design is crucial for improving catalytic activity and product selectivity. In a bifunctional Ni/ZSM-5 zeolite type catalyst, catalytic properties are usually tuned via varying Al and Ni contents. While changes in acid properties associated with Al sites are usually closely investigated, Ni phases, however, receive inadequate attention. Herein, we present a systematic structural study of Ni in the Ni/ZSM-5 materials by using Ni K-edge XANES and EXAFS analyses, complemented by XRD and TEM, to resolve the changes in the local environment of Ni species induced by the different Al contents of the parent ZSM-5 prepared by a “green”, template free technique. Ni species in Ni/ZSM-5 exist as NiO crystals (3–50 nm) and as charge compensating Ni2+ cations. The Ni K-edge XANES and EXAFS results enabled the quantification of Ni-containing species. At a low Al to Si ratio (nAl/nSi # 0.04), the NiO nanoparticles predominate in the samples and account for over 65% of Ni phases. However, NiO is outnumbered by Ni2+ cations attached to the zeolite framework in ZSM-5 with a high Al to Si ratio (nAl/nSi ¼ 0.05) due to a higher number of framework negative charges imparted by Al. The obtained results show that the number of highly reducible and active NiO crystals is strongly correlated with the framework Al sites present in ZSM-5 zeolites, which depend greatly on the synthesis conditions. Therefore, this kind of study is beneficial for any further investigation of the catalytic activities of Ni/ZSM-5 and other metal-modified bifunctional catalysts.
Found in: osebi
Keywords: Ni/ZSM-5 catalysts, zeolite, Ni XANES, EXAFS
Published: 11.05.2022; Views: 663; Downloads: 28
Fulltext (1,25 MB)
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