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Developing high-efficiency and low-cost catalysts for hydrogen evolution from hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB) is significant and critical for the exploitation and utilization of hydrogen energy. Herein, the in-situ fabrication of well-dispersed and small bimetallic RuNi alloy nanoparticles (NPs) with tuned compositions and concomitant hydrolysis of AB are successfully achieved by using graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) as a NP support without additional stabilizing ligands. The optimized Ru1Ni7.5/g-C3N4 catalyst exhibits an excellent catalytic activity with a high turnover frequency of 901 min−1 and an activation energy of 28.46 kJ mol−1 without any base additives, overtaking the activities of many previously reported catalysts for AB hydrolysis. The kinetic studies indicate that the AB hydrolysis over Ru1Ni7.5/g-C3N4 is first-order and zero-order reactions with respect to the catalyst and AB concentrations, respectively. Ru1Ni7.5/g-C3N4 has a good recyclability with 46% of the initial catalytic activity retained even after five runs. The high performance of Ru1Ni7.5/g-C3N4 should be assigned to the small-sized alloy NPs with abundant accessible active sites and the synergistic effect between the composition-tuned Ru–Ni bimetals. This work highlights a potentially powerful and simple strategy for preparing highly active bimetallic alloy catalysts for AB hydrolysis to generate hydrogen.

Effects of two typical comminution methods (shearing and blending) on structural and biochemical properties of silver carp surimi were comparatively investigated. Surimi myofibrils in striated appearance were progressively disrupted within 15 min of blending. The myofibrils were completely disintegrated after shearing for 5 min. Surface hydrophobicity of surimi increased and then gradually decreased (p 0.05) under shearing, while it continuously increased (p 0.05) under blending. As shearing time was extended, α-helical structure decreased and β-sheet structure increased simultaneously; surface active sulfhydryl content (SH) increased and then decreased (p 0.05); and intensity of myosin heavy chain (MHC) was gradually reduced. However, secondary structure, MHC intensity and SH were slightly changed as blending time extended. Ca

The equilibrium solubilities of chlorhexidine in four solvent mixtures of methanol (1) + water (2), ethanol (1) + water (2), DMF (1) + water (2) and 1,4-dioxane (1) + w water (2) at temperature range from (278.15 to 318.15) K were reported. At the same composition of methanol, ethanol, DMF or 1,4-dioxane and temperature, the mole fraction solubility of chlorhexidine was highest in DMF (1) + w water (2) mixtures, and lowest in ethanol (1) + w water (2) mixtures. By using the Jouyban-Acree model, van’t Hoff-Jouyban-Acree model and Apelblat-Jouyban-Acree model, chlorhexidine solubility was well correlated obtaining RAD lower than 1.69% and RMSD lower than 0.87 × 10−4. The dissolution process of chlorhexidine in solvent solutions was endothermic for the dissolution process. To study the solvent effect, solubility data were correlated to KAT parameters and cavity term on the basis of linear solvation energy relationships concept. Results indicate the key effect of cavity term and π∗ in aqueous methanol and ethanol mixtures; cavity term in aqueous DMF mixtures; and cavity term, β and π∗ in aqueous 1,4-dioxan mixtures. Quantitative values for the local mole fraction of methanol (ethanol, DMF or 1,4-dioxane) and water around the chlorhexidine were computed by using the IKBI method applied to the determined solubility data. Chlorhexidine was preferentially solvated by water for the four solvent mixtures in water-rich compositions; while in intermediate and co-solvent-rich composition for ethanol (DMF, 1,4-dioxane) (1) + w water (2) mixtures, chlorhexidine is preferentially solvated by the co-solvent. The preferential solvation magnitude of chlorhexidine was highest in 1,4-dioxane mixtures than in the other three solvent mixtures.

Functional carbons that can provide abundant anchoring sites for metal nanoparticles (NPs) have shown great promise in boosting the catalytic activity for hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB), while the synthetic recipes for some of them are complicated, time-consuming and hazardous together with a low yield. Herein, we develop a facile and easily scalable one-pot synthetic strategy to nitrogen-doped carbon skeleton (NCS) via direct pyrolysis of ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid tetra-sodium salt in air. Attributing to the anchoring sites from abundant nitrogen-dopant and nanoporous structure of NCS, ultrasmall RuNi alloy NPs are highly distributed on NCS. The as-prepared RuNi/NCS can be used as a highly active catalyst for hydrogen production from AB hydrolysis at room temperature. Specifically, the optimal Ru1Ni1.90/NCS delivers an excellent catalytic activity with a very high turnover frequency of 1017 min−1 in basic solution, superior to many previous results. The kinetic studies indicate that AB hydrolysis catalyzed by Ru1Ni1.90/NCS is first-order and zero-order in terms of Ru and AB concentrations, respectively. Additionally, the isotopic analysis reveals that the O–H bond cleavage of water is the rate-determining step. The high catalytic activity of Ru1Ni1.90/NCS can be assigned to the ultrasmall RuNi nanostructure, highly nanoporous carbon matrix, and abundant N-dopant and the synergistic catalysis between the two metals. This study offers a simple synthetic protocol for construction of metal-carbon hybrid toward hydrogen generation from the hydrolysis of chemical storage materials.

The Chinese steppe is undergoing a drastic increase in nitrogen (N) deposition, and the precipitation in this region is predicted to increase. However, the response of soil N2O emissions to the coupling changes of precipitation and N deposition in grassland ecosystem has been seldom discussed. A manipulative field experiment was conducted to investigate the individual and interactive effects of precipitation increase and N deposition on soil N2O efflux in semi-arid temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia during the growing seasons of 2010 and 2011.The treatments included four N addition levels [20 g N m(-2) y(-1) (N20) 10 gN m(-2) y(-1) (N10), 5 g N m(-2) y(-1) (N5), and a zero-N control (CK)] and two water application levels [natural precipitation for dry (D) and 15% increase of long-term mean annual precipitation for wet (W) treatments]. Results indicated that N and water addition both significantly increased soil N2O effluxes < 0.01). The maximum N2O emissions were observed within 2-3 days after N addition to all treatments, and the N2O effluxes in W treatments were generally higher than in D treatments for the same N input level. For the treatments without N inputs, the N2O emission peak of WCK was 9.8% higher than DCK in 2010. The effect of water addition on N2O emission was more evident when more N fertilizer was applied. For the high N input treatments, the maximum N2O emission of WN20 treatment was 222.6% higher than DN20 in 2010. The changes in N and water availabilities accounted for 91.3% (2010) and 75.6% (2011) of the N2O cumulative efflux variation among different treatments (P < 0.01). The N2O effluxes were significantly affected by the interactive effect between N and water in 2010 and 2011 (P < 0.05). Significant interannual variability in the cumulative N2O emissions was observed, the cumulative N2O emissions in 2011 were significantly lower than those in 2010 even though the summer of 2011 experienced higher rainfall (P < 0.01). Temperature also significantly influenced soil N2O emission apart from the effects of water and N. The temperature change accounted for 41.3% (W) to 47.2% (D) of the temporal variations in N2O emission during the relatively dry 2010. The combined changes in soil moisture, NH4+-N, and temperature accounted for 43.1% (D) to 54.5% (W) of the temporal variations in N2O emission in the relatively wet year of 2011. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The equilibrium 5-nitrosalicylaldehyde solubility in methanol (1) + water (2), ethanol (1) + water (2), isopropanol (1) + water (2) and acetonitrile (1) + water (2) mixtures was determined by a shake-flask method from 273.15 K to 313.15 K under local pressure of 101.2 kPa. At the same mass fraction of methanol (ethanol, isopropanol or acetonitrile) and temperature, the mole fraction solubility of 5-nitrosalicylaldehyde was greater in (acetonitrile + water) mixture than in ethanol (1) + water (2), isopropanol (1) + water (2) and methanol (1) + water (2) mixtures. The relative importance of solute–solvent and solvent–solvent interactions upon the solubility variation was valued by using the linear solvation energy relationship analysis of solvent effect. The method of inverse Kirkwood–Buff integrals was used to study the preferential solvation on the basis of thermodynamic solution properties. The preferential solvation parameters for methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and acetonitrile were positive in the four mixtures in co-solvent-rich and intermediate composition, indicating that 5-nitrosalicylaldehyde was solvated preferentially by the co-solvent. It is conjecturable that in these regions 5-nitrosalicylaldehyde acts as a Lewis acid with the alcohols’ molecules; while for the acetonitrile + water mixture, the preferential solvation could be attributed to polarization effects. Moreover, the drugs’ solubility was mathematically represented via the Jouyban-Acree model acquiring the average relative deviations