We report the synthesis of N-doped TiO(2) nanofibers and high photocatalytic efficiency in generating hydrogen from ethanol-water mixtures under UV-A and UV-B irradiation. Titanate nanofibers synthesized by hydrothermal method are annealed in air and/or ammonia to achieve N-doped anatase fibers. Depending on the synthesis route, either interstitial N atoms or new N-Ti bonds appear in the lattice, resulting in slight lattice expansion as shown by XPS and HR-TEM analysis, respectively. These nanofibers were then used as support for Pd and Pt nanoparticles deposited with wet impregnation followed by calcination and reduction. In the hydrogen generation tests, the N-doped samples were clearly outperforming their undoped counterparts, showing remarkable efficiency not only under UV-B but also with UV-A illumination. When 100 mg of catalyst (N-doped TiO(2) nanofiber decorated with Pt nanoparticles) was applied to 1 L of water-ethanol mixture, the H(2) evolution rates were as high as 700 μmol/h (UV-A) and 2250 μmol/h (UV-B) corresponding to photo energy conversion percentages of ∼3.6 and ∼12.3%, respectively.

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The efficiency of azeotropic distillation and oven evaporation techniques for trace determination of water in oils has recently been questioned by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on the basis of measurements of the residual water found after the extraction step. The results were obtained by volumetric Karl Fischer (KF) titration in a medium containing a large excess of chloroform (> or = 65%), a proposed prerequisite to ensure complete release of water from the oil matrix. In this work, the extent of this residual water was studied by means of a direct zero-current potentiometric technique using a KF medium containing more than 80% chloroform, which is well above the concentration recommended by NIST. A procedure is described that makes it possible to correct the results for dilution errors as well as for chemical interference effects caused by the oil matrix. The corrected values were found to be in the range of 0.6-1.5 ppm, which should be compared with the 12-34 ppm (uncorrected values) reported by NIST for the same oils. From this, it is concluded that the volumetric KF method used by NIST gives results that are much too high.

With the novel probe, statistically significant differences between overlapping classes in score plots can be confirmed by calculating intra-model distances. The influence of molecular differences in the skin at different body locations is larger than the influence of gender or age and therefore relevant reference measurements are discussed.

In this study, a set of nitrogen-doped TiO 2 -based nanomaterials demonstrating photocatalytic activity was developed by combining the efforts of lattice doping and metal nanoparticle decoration and tested for photo-degradation of methylene blue dye by applying solar simulator irradiation. The surface potential shifts of these TiO 2 -based photocatalytic nanomaterials measured by Kelvin probe force microscope have been used to study the degree of electron generation of the photocatalysts after irradiation and were well correlated with the photocatalytic activity. The nitrogen-doped TiO 2 nanowires decorated with Pt nanoparticles can induce obvious electron accumulation and result in a large shift of surface potential. The analysis shows a clear correlation between the surface potential shift and the photodegradation activity. Furthermore, a thorough comparative photocatalytic activity study combined with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the materials-doped with nitrogen under various conditions-reveals that the photocatalytic efficiency of the catalysts is maintained even if the lattice doping is leached e.g., by thermal treatments after doping.