In this work, we focus on the impact that the interface structure formed by graphene and a bilayer of anatase (001)-oriented exerts on electronic and optical properties of the final nanocomposite. In order to perform such analysis, we have modeled, optimized, and investigated the electronic properties of several graphene-TiO 2 hybrids by means of density functional theory based calculations. Our results suggest that the physisorbed system is less electronically coupled and does not enhance the photoresponsivity in the visible region. On the other hand, the chemical bond between graphene and TiO 2 nanosheet, a Ti-O-C bridge, clearly makes the two components highly electronically coupled and the graphene oxide (GO)/TiO 2 chemisorbed system is characterized by a higher photoresponsivity in the visible region. This result is ascribed to the raise of a new valence band maximum state that lies in the pristine bandgap of TiO 2 nanosheet, consequence of the hybridization between GO and TiO 2 .ß 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 1 Introduction About four decades of intense investigations have revealed TiO 2 as one of the best materials for photocatalytically oriented applications. Its suitability in this field stems from its high stability, cheapness, prompt availability, and non-toxicity. However, anatase TiO 2 (aTiO 2 ), similarly to the other most stable polymorph rutile, has a wide bandgap (3.2 eV) [1] that restricts its ability to absorb light to wavelengths shorter than 387 nm [2], i.e., mainly absorbing in the UV region that represents only the 4% of the full solar spectrum.Anatase wavelength onset tailoring toward the visible region represents an extremely active field of investigation, as witnessed by the huge number of patents and papers recently published [3][4][5]. Doping of a-TiO 2 , in all its possible dimensionality reduced structures (i.e., nanosheets, nanotubes, nanowires, nanorods, and nanoparticles) is subject of deep investigation in order to properly tailor the bandgap of TiO 2 , aiming to replace in the near future the pollutant fossil fuels with clean hydrogen obtained via light-assisted water splitting on TiO 2 electrodes.Recently, the hybrid carbon-titania nanocomposites have attracted the attention of the scientific community for their possible applications in photocatalysis and photovoltaics, as testified by the large number of papers and reviews appeared in literature [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].

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The development of process monitoring and control methods is important to maintaining product quality in chemical plants safely and effectively. Therefore, multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) methods have been developed, but traditional MSPC methods cannot detect faults relating to process variables that are difficult to measure online. In this work, a new MSPC method including soft sensor prediction is proposed to solve this problem. Soft sensors predict values of difficultto-measure variables that are used as input variables of fault detection models. The proposed method enables the real-time control of processes using difficult-to-measure variables. The fault detection performance of the proposed method is demonstrated and compared with that of traditional MSPC methods using the Tennessee Eastman process and real industrial process data sets. The results show that the proposed method can achieve more accurate and earlier fault detection than traditional MSPC methods.

The in situ adsorption behavior of coumarin, a widely used inhibitor in nickel electrodeposition, onto a concaved substrate in water under an electric field was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM images showed that under an electric field, coumarin adsorbs more preferentially on the edge of a concavity than on its inside, while the preferential bias of adsorption was not observed without an electric field. These results suggest that the preferential adsorption of coumarin onto a profiled substrate in water is driven by the electric field rather than by the conventionally suggested convective diffusion effect.

The search for novel materials with photocatalytic applicability is one of the most debated and investigated topics in materials science. In this context, interfaced hybrid systems are considered systems of particular interest. Y. Masuda et al. (pp. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/pssb.201451089) have studied layered systems formed by graphene and TiO2 nanosheets (NSs). A full characterization of “dry” (physisorbed) and "wet" (chemisorbed) models able to mimic the synthetic routes is here performed. For the latter systems, that formally represent graphene oxide (GO)‐titania hybrids, the relationship between oxygen amount and electronic/optical properties is investigated. In both physisorbed and chemisorbed models charge transfer between graphene and TiO2 NS is observed, but the chemical bond between graphene and TiO2 NS clearly increases the electronic coupling between the two layered components. The GO/TiO2 chemisorbed system is characterized by a higher photoresponsivity in the visible region due to the raise of the new valence band maximum state that lies in the pristine bandgap of TiO2 NS. Same effect is not observed for physisorbed systems which do not show, at variance, increased photoresponsivity in the visible region.