Electro‐Catalytic Degradation of Phenol Organics with SnO2‐Sb2O3/Ti Electrodes

The effect of extraordinary degradation of phenol organics on the SnO₂‐Sb₂O₃/Ti electrode is investigated through experimental research and theoretical analysis. The phenol organics contained 4‐chloro‐phenol, 4‐bromo‐phenol, and 2‐iodo‐phenol. At a current density of 4 mA cm^–2 and an electrolysis time of 12 h, the degradation efficiency of the phenols was over 98% with a relatively short degradation time, whereas the degradation time of the PbO₂/Ti electrode surpassed 40 h while delivering 100% disposal efficiency. Therefore, the effectiveness of electrochemical (EC) oxidation by the SnO₂‐Sb₂O₃/Ti was superior to that of the PbO₂/Ti electrode. At the same time, the SnO₂‐Sb₂O₃/Ti had higher oxygen generation potential and lower electron consumption than the other electrodes. This was mainly due to the effect of the middle Sb₂O₃ layer, which due to its high porosity and good catalytic effect, contributed to a better catalysis than the SnO₂ part.     

Toxicity-directed Fractionation of Tannery Wastewater Using Solid-phase Extraction and Luminescence Inhibition in Microtiter Plates

A four-step solid-phase extraction (SPE) method is presented for toxicity-directed fractionation of industrial wastewater. This fractionation procedure serves as a key step for identifying unknown organic toxicants in complex samples. Toxicity was determined as luminescence inhibition of Vibrio fischeri using microtiter plates. This method was compared to standard tests in glass cuvettes using both 37 standard chemicals and 24 wastewater fractions with EC₅₀ values covering five orders of magnitude. Results of both methods correlated well. 22 tannery wastewater samples were sequentially extracted using C₁₈e and polystyrene-divinylbenzene phases in combination with pH-changes. Final solid-phase filtrates showed low inhibition, so toxicity of inorganics could be neglected. Using 1/EC₅₀ values, the SPE eluates showed clearly different toxicity patterns. Even in eluates of the fourth extraction step, high toxic effects could be observed. In several cases, luminescence inhibition was increasing at the anaerobic treatment step compared to the corresponding untreated samples. After aerobic treatment, toxicity of most wastewater fractions was greatly diminished. HPLC/DAD analyses of the wastewater fractions showed a fair separation concerning compound polarity. However, the samples were still too complex to identify single compounds responsible for the detected toxicity. Therefore, a further clean-up step accompanied with toxicity testing is needed.     

What was the Volatile Composition of the Planetesimals that Formed the Earth?

Is there an asteroid type or meteorite class that best exemplifies the materials that went into the Earth? Carbonaceous chondrites were once the objects of choice, and in the minds of many this choice is still valid. However, the origin of primitive chondritic meteorites is unclear. At the extremes they could either be fragments of very small parent bodies that never became hot enough to undergo geochemical modification other than mild lithification, or remnants of the uppermost layers of a body that had undergone a significant degree of internal differentiation, while the top layers remained cool due to radiative heat loss or loss of volatiles to space. This latter case is problematic if one considers these objects as precursors to the Earth since the timescale for the evolution of such a small body could be longer than the timescale for the accretion of the Earth. Large-scale circulation of materials in the primitive solar nebula could greatly increase the diversity of materials near 1 AU while also making the entire inner solar system both more homogeneous and much wetter than previously expected. The total mass of the nebula is an important, but poorly constrained factor controlling the growth of planetesimals. There is also a selection effect that dominates our sampling of the planetesimals that may have existed 4.5 billion years ago; namely, small fragile bodies are more likely to be lost from the system or ground down by collisions between small bodies, yet these are precisely those that may have dominated the population from which the Earth accreted. The composition of these aggregates could have played a very important role in the early chemical evolution of the Earth. In particular, the Earth may have been much wetter and richer in hydrocarbons and other reducing materials than previously suspected.     

环境样品中有机物分析的前处理技术

综述了顶空法、吹脱－捕集法、固相萃取、微波萃取、超临界流体萃取技术在环境样品前处理中的应用现状并比较了这种几样品处理方法的优缺点。     

Nano-and micron-sized diamond genesis in nature: An overview

There are four main types of natural diamonds and related formation processes. The first type comprises the interstellar nanodiamond particles. The second group includes crustal nano-and micron-scale diamonds associated with coals, sediments and metamorphic rocks. The third one includes nanodiamonds and microndiamonds associated with secondary alteration and replacing of mafic and ultramafic rocks.The fourth one includes macro-, micron-and nano-sized mantle diamonds which are associated with kimberlites, mantle peridotites and eclogites. Each diamond type has its specific characteristics. Nanosized diamond particles of lowest nanometers in size crystallize from abiotic organic matter at lower pressures and temperatures in space during the stages of protoplanetary disk formation. Nano-sized diamonds are formed from organic matter at P-T exceeding conditions of catagenesis stage of lithogenesis. Micron-sized diamonds are formed from fluids at P-T exceeding supercritical water stability.Macrosized diamonds are formed from metal-carbon and silicate-carbonate melts and fluids at P-T exceeding 1150℃ and 4.5 GPa. Nitrogen and hydrocarbons play an important role in diamond formation.Their role in the formation processes increases from macro-sized to nano-sized diamond particles.Introduction of nitrogen atoms into the diamond structure leads to the stabilization of micron-and nanosized diamonds in the field of graphite stability.     

A method for the analysis of ultra-trace levels of semi-volatile and non-volatile organic compounds in snow and application to a Greenland snow pit

A method was developed to quantify a suite of organic compounds from snow melt water samples present at trace level concentrations, using a dichloromethane liquid–liquid extraction and GC–MS. Samples from a 3-m snow pit sampled in 2005 from Summit, Greenland were analyzed using the method developed, and a profile of organics over the past 4 years was compiled. Supporting data including the concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC), low molecular weight acids, and trace elements were determined using well established methods. The results show that low molecular weight acids contribute a significant percentage, up to 20%, of the measured TOC. Hopanes were measured quantitatively for the first time in Greenland snow. Hopanes, as well as PAHs, are at very low concentrations and contribute 0.0002–0.004% to TOC. Alkanes and alkanoic acids were also quantified, and contribute less than 1% and up to 7%, respectively to TOC. No apparent seasonal pattern was found for specific classes of organic compounds in the snow pit. The lack of seasonal pattern may be due to post-depositional processing.     

Carbon in Meteoroids: Wild 2 Dust Analyses, IDPs and Cometary Dust Analogues

Assuming that similar organic components as in comet 81P/Wild 2 are present in incoming meteoroids, we try to anticipate the observable signatures they would produce for meteor detection techniques. In this analysis we consider the elemental and organic components in cometary aggregate interplanetary dust particles and laboratory analyses of inter- and circumstellar carbon dust analogues. On the basis of our analysis we submit that (semi) quantitative measurements of H, N and C produced during meteor ablation will open an entire new aspect to using meteoroids as tracers of these volatile element abundances in active comets and their contributions to the mesospheric metal layers.