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An-Hui Lu

Publications and source records attributed to An-Hui Lu.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Preparation of high-surface-area zinc oxide with ordered porosity, different pore sizes, and nanocrystalline walls.

Transition-metal-oxide materials possessing ordered mesoporosity have recently attracted significant research interest due to their numerous potential applications. Among them, ordered mesoporous zinc oxide (ZnO) is a very tempting material because of the importance of ZnO in heterogeneous catalysis. Here, first results of the preparation of ordered mesoporous ZnO materials by using different templates are reported. Porous materials with high surface area, different pore sizes, and nanocrystalline ZnO walls were obtained. Furthermore, we compare the two fundamental templating techniques, involving liquid crystals or ordered mesoporous carbon materials as templates. Regarding the formation of mesoporous ZnO, it was evident that the hard-matter carbon template is superior.

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PubMed2005

Hierarchically structured monolithic silicalite-1 consisting of crystallized nanoparticles and its performance in the Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime.

In this study, we present a synthetic pathway for the fabrication of self-supporting zeolite monoliths consisting of crystallized nanoparticles. A resorcinol-formaldehyde-based organic aerogel is used as a template, and silicalite-1 is used as the zeolite example. The silicalite-1 monoliths obtained consist of individual well-defined zeolite nanocrystals with sizes of 30-40 nm. The monoliths exhibit a high mechanical stability and have hierarchical porosity, with micropores within the zeolite particles, a mesopore system formed by the packing of the nanoparticles, and a macropore system on the monolith level. Such monolithic zeolites show high selectivity typically above 80% to epsilon-caprolactam combined with a high rate of reaction of 0.46 g(caprolactame)/(g(catalyst).h) in the Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime.

Carbon↗
PubMed2005

High surface area, mesoporous, glassy alumina with a controllable pore size by nanocasting from carbon aerogels.

A strategy to synthesize amorphous, mesoporous alumina by nanocasting has been developed, involving carbon aerogel as a hard template and aluminum nitrate solution as an alumina precursor. The alumina generated exhibits small, transparent granules with a 3-6 mm diameter and has inherited the three-dimensional network structure of the carbon template. The mesopore surface area of the alumina can be as high as 365 m2 g(-1), and the pore volume reaches 1.55 cm3 g(-1) after calcination at 600 degrees C in air for 8 h. The pore parameters can be varied within a certain range by variation of the carbon aerogel template and the loading amount of the alumina precursor. At high loadings, the obtained glassy alumina clearly has a bimodal pore size distribution in the mesopore range.

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PubMed2004

Synthesis and characterization of nanocast silica NCS-1 with CMK-3 as a template.

Nanocast silica (NCS-1) was synthesized by a casting process by employing the mesoporous carbon CMK-3 (the replica of SBA-15) as a template, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the silica source, and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the catalyst. The ordered carbon template was removed by employing different methods, such as calcination, thermal treatment followed by calcination, and controlled combustion. According to XRD and TEM characterization, NCS-1 exhibits an ordered structure with hexagonal symmetry and retains the morphology of the original SBA-15 used for the synthesis of CMK-3 over two replication steps on the nanometer scale. This demonstrates the well-connected porosity in CMK-3 type carbon, which can be used as a mold to synthesize mesostructured materials. The nitrogen adsorption isotherms generally show type IV shape, indicating mesoporous characteristics. The structure of NCS-1 is strongly influenced by variables of the nanocasting process, such as the loading amount of silica, hydrolysis temperature, and carbon removal methods. The surface area, pore size, and pore volume of NCS-1 can be tuned to a certain range by varying these parameters.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Highly stable carbon-protected cobalt nanoparticles and graphite shells.

The fabrication of carbon-shell protected cobalt nanoparticles and hollow graphitic shells has been achieved via a pyrolysis process by using monodispersed cobalt nanoparticles as a template. These materials are mesoporous and highly stable under strong acidic and basic conditions.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Fabrication of magnetically separable mesostructured silica with an open pore system.

Magnetically separable mesostructured silica with an unobstructed pore system was fabricated through the deposition of cobalt nanoparticles on the outer surface of the submicron-sized silica particles. These cobalt nanoparticles were further protected by a nanometer-thick carbon shell against acid erosion. Due to the fact that the magnetic particles are grafted on the outer surface of the porous silica, the pores are still accessible for further modification, which could widen the application range of porous silica.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Control of mesoporous structure of aerogels derived from cresol-formaldehyde.

Polycondensation of a cresol mixture (C(m)) with formaldehyde (F) in basic aqueous solutions leads to formation of highly cross-linked C(m)F aquagels that can be supercritically dried with carbon dioxide to form organic C(m)F aerogels. Aerogels synthesized with different catalyst contents and reactant concentrations are characterized by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption. The present experimental results suggest that the C(m)F aerogels are typical mesoporous materials and have almost no micropores in bulk. The microstructure of the organic C(m)F aerogels can be controlled and tailored effectively by varying synthesis conditions during the initial sol-gel process. C(m)F organic aerogels with specific surface area as high as 627 m(2)/g and corresponding pore volume 2.06 ml/g have been obtained with a dominant pore size of 30 nm. C(m)F organic aerogels with peaky pore size distributions concentrated at 11 nm have also been prepared.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Study of Microstructure of High-Surface-Area Polyacrylonitrile Activated Carbon Fibers.

High-surface-area polyacrylonitrile (PAN) activated carbon fibers having different pore size distribution activated by KOH were investigated. Nitrogen adsorption, XRD, SEM, and TEM were used to characterize the microstructure of PAN-ACFs. The specific surface area of samples was calculated from the standard BET method, and micropore surface area and volume were obtained from the Horvath-Kawazoe equations. The average pore size and characteristic energy were calculated by the Dubinin-Radushkevich equation according to the multistage adsorption mechanism. The whole pore size distribution was calculated by employing the regularization method according to the density functional theory, which is based on a molecular model for the adsorption of nitrogen in porous solids. It was shown that the isotherms were type I, the pore size was around 0.4-0.8 nm, and the mesorpore size was around 2-4 nm. The XRD pattern showed that PAN-ACFs activated by KOH are of amorphous material composed of very small crystallites. The SEM and TEM results showed that the monograph differs with differing activation degree, and the network is uniform or disordered. That all of these methods are in good agreement with one another. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

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