Biochar made from and applied as a bifunctional electrocatalyst in Zn-air batteries.

Biochar has been prepared by pyrolysis of (the vegetable sponge produced by ) and activated by mixing the pyrolyzed powder with KOH and pyrolyzed again. Non-activated and activated biochar have both been structurally and then electrochemically characterized to record their differences and assess their suitability as bifunctional oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalysts in Zn-air batteries. Non activated biochar carries several functional groups; however, the activation procedure led to a material with mainly O and Mg groups.

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Mechanism of the Reduction of O from Air to O by VO-,,-Amidate Compounds and Their Potential Use in Fuel Cells.

The two-electron reductive activation of O to O is of particular interest to the scientific community mainly due to the use of peroxides as green oxidants and in powerful fuel cells. Despite of the great importance of vanadium(IV) species to activate the two-electron reductive activation of O, the mechanism is still unclear. Reaction of VO species with the tridentate-planar carboxamide (ΗL) ligands in solution (CHOH:HO) under atmospheric O, at room temperature, resulted in the quick formation of [V(═O)(η-O)(κ-L)(HO)] and -[V(═O)(κ-L)] compounds.

Design and Modulation of Selectivity toward Vanadium(V) and Uranium(VI) Ions: Coordination Properties and Affinity of Hydroxylamino-Triazine Siderophores.

Based on the strong binding and high selectivity properties of 2,6-bis[hydroxy(methyl)amino]-4-morpholino-1,3,5-triazine (Hbihyat) for [UO], novel binucleating ligands (BLs) ,',″,-((1,4-phenylenebis(oxy))bis(1,3,5-triazine-6,2,4-triyl))tetrakis(-methylhydroxylamine) (Hqtn), ,-bis(4,6-bis(hydroxy(methyl)amino)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)benzene-1,4-diamine (Hpdl), and ,-bis(4,6-bis(hydroxy(methyl)amino)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)ethane-1,2-diamine (Henl) were synthesized. Binuclear complexes formed by coordination of hard metal ions with Hqtn are thermodynamically more stable than their mononuclear analogues with Hbihyat due to the increase in entropy accompanying the formation of more chelate rings. Reaction of either Hqtn or Hpdl or Henl with [UO] and [VO] resulted in the isolation of the binuclear complexes [(UO)(μ-qtn)(HO)] (), [(VO)(μ-qtn)][PPh][PPh4] (), [(UO)(μ-pdl)(HO)(MeOH)] (), [(VO)(μ-pdl)][PPh] (), [(UO)(μ-enl)(HO)] (), and [(VO)(μ-enl)][PPh] ().