Sharif Digital Repository

Vacuum residue cracking has been successfully conducted under supercritical water condition in presence of various metal oxide nanocalysts, namely NiO, CuO, ZnO, Co2O3, and Cr2O3 synthesized at supercritical water. The cracking experiments were carried out at 450 °C. Three species of cracking: maltene, asphaltene, and coke were then weighed and their corresponding speciation was defined. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and elemental analysis (CHNS) tests were utilized to prove the performance of upgrading reactions. It was revealed that NiO showed the best performance among other catalyst, in which... 

In industrial scale of Gas to Liquid (GTL) process in Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, a part of reactor outlet gases such as CO2 and CH4 as side reaction products, is usually recycled. In this study, the influence of CO2 and CH4 on the performance and selectivity of Co-Ru/Al2O3 catalyst is investigated by injection of these gases (0-20 vol. % of feed) to the feed stream. The effect of temperature and feed flow rate, are also inspected. The results show that low amounts of CO2 in the feed stream, doesn't change the catalyst activity significantly but increasing the amount of CO2 (more than 10 vol. %) cause the CO conversion to decrease and the selectivity of heavy components to increase.... 

This article reports the synthesis of a magnetic heterogeneous catalyst through the decoration of gold ions onto the cross-linked polymeric nanocomposite from 2,6-diaminopyridine. The activity of the resulting catalyst was then evaluated in the bromination of aromatic compounds. The nitrogen rich support showed a high affinity to gold ions, and the measured content of Au was 0.76 mmol g-1. The structure of the catalyst was fully characterized by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area... 

Two-dimensional boron nitride quantum dots (2D BNQDs) with excellent chemical stability, high photoluminescence efficiency, and low toxicity are a new class of advanced materials for biosensing and bioimaging applications. To overcome the current challenge about the lack of facile, scalable, and reproducible synthesis approach of BNQDs, we introduce a green and facile approach based on mechanochemical exfoliation of bulk h-BN particles in ethanol. Few-layered hydroxylated-functionalized QDs with a thickness of 1-2 nm and a lateral dimension of 2-6 nm have been prepared. The synthesized nanocrystals exhibit a strong fluorescence emission at 407 and 425 nm with a quantum efficiency of ∼6.2%.... 

For the first time the new 32-membered macrocyclic dinuclear palladium complex of two aza-crown macrocycles, bearing two pyridine arms, Pd2L2Cl4 was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. Pd2L2Cl4 was investigated as a moisture/air-stable catalyst for Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction in the absence of copper and phosphine ligand in DMSO. Thermal stability, possible occurrence of tandem reactions, promoted catalytic performance as well as synergistic effects are of advantageous features of Pd2L2Cl4. By employing Taguchi method, optimum conditions (110 °C, 6 h, KOAc, 2 mol% cat.) were determined. Moreover, the... 

In this study, Fe3O4@Au/metal-organic frameworks (Fe3O4@Au/MOF) nanocomposite with flower-like core-shell structure was successfully synthesized via a hydrothermal route. The as-prepared catalyst was characterized using different techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, TEM, EDX, VSM, TGA, BET, and ICP. This nanocomposite exhibited an excellent catalytic performance in selective oxidation of cyclohexene to 2-cyclohexene-1-one by using molecular oxygen as green oxidant. The influence of reaction conditions including, pressure of molecular oxygen, temperature, time, solvent, and amount of catalyst on conversion and selectivity of products were evaluated. The activation energy (Ea) of the reaction was... 

Abstract: Au nanoparticles supported on cerium oxide/graphitic carbon nitride (CeO2@g-C3N4) was synthesized and used as heterogeneous catalyst in redox reaction. The catalyst was characterized by different techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, TEM, BET, TGA, and ICP. The as-prepared ternary nanocomposite was used as an effective catalyst for the reduction of toxic 4-nitrophenol to useful 4-aminophenol by NaBH4. The rate constant value of reduction reaction reached up to 0.106 s−1 by Au/CeO2@g-C3N4, which was 3.8, and 8.8 times higher than that of Au@CeO2 (0.028 s−1), and Au@g-C3N4 (0.012 s−1) nanocomposites, respectively. The superior catalytic performance of as-prepared catalyst in... 

12-tungstophosphoric acid, polyoxometalate with Keggin structure, and γ-Al2O3 were synthesized. Loading of 12-tungstophosphoric acid (HPW) on γ-Al2O3 was performed by the post-impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR, BET, and DRS techniques. According to the pertinent observation, using the post-impregnation method promises the stability of polyoxometalate Keggin structure after loading on γ-Al2O3 support. The stability of 20 %HPW/Al2O3 was also confirmed by a leaching test. Textural characterization demonstrates that HPW on the γ-Al2O3 had a much larger surface area as compared with the pure HPW. The 20 %HPW/Al2O3 exhibited roughly high activity toward an... 

We demonstrate for the first time the application of p-NiFe2O4/n-Fe2O3 composite thin films as anode materials for light-assisted electrolysis of water. The p-NiFe2O4/n-Fe2O3 composite thin films were deposited on planar fluorinated tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass as well as on 3D array of nanospike (NSP) substrates. The effect of substrate (planar FTO and 3D-NSP) and percentage change of each component (i.e., NiFe2O4 and Fe2O3) of composite was studied on photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation reaction. This work also includes the performance comparison of p-NiFe2O4/n-Fe2O3 composite (planar and NSP) devices with pure hematite for PEC water oxidation. Overall, the nanostructured... 

Aryl halides and especially inactive aryl chlorides were coupled to benzenoid aromatic rings in a Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction in the absence of organic solvents and toxic phosphine ligands. The reaction was catalysed by a recoverable magnetic nanocatalyst, Pd@Fe3O4, in aqueous media. This method is green, and the catalyst is easily removed from the reaction media using an external magnetic field and can be re-used at least 10 times without any considerable loss in its activity. The catalyst was characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopies, thermogravimetric analysis, inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, CHN analysis,... 

In this study, a series of Ni nano-catalysts supported on Al2O3 and MgO were prepared through the co-precipitation technique. Effects of the Al/Mg ratio on physicochemical characteristics of Ni/Al2O3–MgO catalysts were examined. Moreover, catalytic performance was investigated in order to determine the optimum catalyst for H2 production in aqueous phase reforming (APR) of glycerol. It was revealed that, the APR activity of synthesized catalysts strongly depended on the aforementioned ratio. In addition, it was observed that, the catalytic activity of Ni/MgO and Ni/Al2O3 samples were both lower than that of the corresponding mixed oxide supports. Furthermore, it was shown that, amongst the... 

The reaction of the functionalized mesoporous SBA-15 in absolute ethanol with copper (II) acetate afforded a novel CuII-Schiff base/SBA-15 catalyst. The compound CuII-Schiff base/SBA-15 was characterized by IR spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAX), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDXS), X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), and N2 adsorption/desorption studies. Further, the catalytic activity of this well-defined material was tested in three-component Copper-catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition (CuAAC) reactions to obtain 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazoles in good to excellent yields from an... 

Abstract: The magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles were synthesized and supported on the reduced graphene oxide. The characterization of the catalyst was performed by FT-IR, VSM, SEM, XRD, and BET techniques. The obtained results indicated that the in situ synthesis of Fe3O4 using coprecipitation method caused the homogenous formation of magnetite nanoparticles on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (average particle size ~ 71.032 nm) with high stability and catalytic activity toward electro-Fenton removal of Reactive Red 195. The effect of various factors (current intensity, initial pollutant concentration, catalyst weight, and pH) was evaluated by response surface methodology using central... 

The catalytic activity of a mixture of ZnCl2: AlCl3 supported on silica gel was evaluated for the alkylation of phenols with benzyl alcohol, tret-butyl alcohol and styrene under microwave irradiation and solvent-free conditions. The catalyst preparation method, its characterization and reusability, were reported. The effect of the phenol to benzyl alcohol ratio and the time of reaction on the phenol conversion and distribution of products was investigated. A conversion percentage up to 97% was achieved when hydroquinone was used. A selective ortho- directed alkylation for phenol, α-naphthol and β-naphthol was observed. © Sharif University of Technology, December 2009  

A mild and practically-convenient one-pot procedure for the direct Mannich reaction has been developed using a condensation of amines, aldehydes and unmodified ketones under solvent free conditions in the presence of Znl 2 with good to excellent yields. The present methodology offers several advantages, such as excellent yields, simple procedures, short reaction times and milder conditions with very small amounts of catalyst. Furthermore, it is the first time that the catalytic activity of several catalysts under solvent free conditions has been studied. It was found that both the diastereoselectivity and the rate of reaction were improved with various Lewis acids and metal oxides. However,... 

A new magnetically separable nanocatalyst was successfully synthesized by immobilizing of vanadyl acetylacetonate complex, [VO(acac)2], onto silica coated magnetite nanoparticles previously functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (3-APTES) and reacted by 5-bromosalicylaldehyde to form Schiff base moiety. The obtained nanocatalyst was characterized by elemental analysis (CHN), FT-IR spectroscopy, Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Eventually, the resulting nanoparticles were used as catalyst for epoxidation of alkenes and... 

In this work, PtxPd1-x (x = 0, 0.5, and 1)nanoparticles (NPs)were synthesized on the surface of SiO2@graphene oxide which covered by 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim]PF6)ionic liquid (IL)layer. FT-IR spectroscopy, zeta potential, CHN elemental analysis, XRD, XPS, SEM, EDX, TEM, TGA, BET, and ICP-AES techniques were applied for the characterization of the multiphasic catalyst. The as-prepared nanocomposite was used as an effective heterogeneous catalyst for the oxidation of cyclohexene by molecular oxygen, as a green oxidant. Different experimental conditions such as oxygen pressure, reaction time, reaction temperature and amount of catalyst were investigated in this... 

Porous carbon template decorated with mixed transition metals/metal oxides with tunable architecture is becoming increasingly important and attractive as a kind of novel electrode materials. In this way, mixed-metallic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) provide an opportunity for fabrication of homogeneous mixed metals/metal oxides distribution in the porous carbon frame without any carbon precursor additive. Also, structures, dimensions and electrochemical performance of MOFs can be readily manipulated by simply tuning the metals molar ratio. In this study, we demonstrate the design and fabrication of petal-like NiCo/NiO-CoO metal/metal oxides with a rational composition embedded in 3D... 

Hybrid composites of MIL-101(Cr) and Nanoporous Graphene with ratios in the range of 10–50% were prepared via hydrothermal synthesis method. This study deals with an experimental investigation on selective oxidation of H2S into elemental sulfur in the range of 200–270 °C, the catalyst activity and selectivity toward sulfur was studied. High-temperature reactor tests indicated that the MIL-101(Cr)–NPG50–Mo could be a promising candidate with conversion and selectivity of 100% and 99.5% at 200 °C. The MIL-101(Cr)–NPG50–Mo stability showed there were not any significant changes in physical properties, the activity was evaluated after 20 h which was completely stable without any changes  

In this research, a series of NiO-xMgO-SiO2 catalysts with various MgO/SiO2 molar ratios were prepared via precipitation method followed by a hydrothermal treatment in the presence of PVP as surfactant. The synergic effect between MgO and SiO2 leading to the various characteristic and catalytic performance during propane steam reforming was investigated in detail. The results showed that 15 wt% NiO-0.5MgO–SiO2 catalyst possessed the highest catalytic activity (68.9% conversion for C3H8 at 550 °C) with a negligible amount of carbon formation after 20 h of reaction duration. This superior catalytic performance can be attributed to the enhanced basicity strength along with strong metal-support...