Lanthanide Luminescence Revealing the Phase Composition in Hydrating Cementitious Systems.

The hydration process of Portland cement in a cementitious system is crucial for development of the high-quality cement-based construction material. Complementary experiments of X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) using europium (Eu(III)) as an optical probe are used to analyse the hydration process of two cement systems in the absence and presence of different organic admixtures. We show that different analysed admixtures and the used sulphate carriers in each cement system have a significant influence on the hydration process, namely on the time-dependence in the formation of different hydrate phases of cement. Moreover, the effect of a particular admixture is related to the type of sulphate carrier used. The quantitative information on the amounts of the crystalline cement paste components is accessible via XRD analysis. Distinctly different morphologies of ettringite and calcium-silicate-hydrates (C-S-H) determined by SEM allow visual conclusions about formation of these phases at particular ageing times. The TRLFS data provides information about the admixture influence on the course of the silicate reaction. The dip in the dependence of the luminescence decay times on the hydration time indicates the change in the structure of C-S-H in the early hydration period. Complementary information from XRD, SEM and TRLFS provides detailed information on distinct periods of the cement hydration process.

Differences in reactivity of epoxides in the copolymerisation with carbon dioxide by zinc-based catalysts: propylene oxide versus cyclohexene oxide.

The homogeneous dinuclear zinc catalyst going back to the work of Williams et al. is to date the most active catalyst for the copolymerisation of cyclohexene oxide and CO(2) at one atmosphere of carbon dioxide. However, this catalyst shows no copolymer formation in the copolymerisation reaction of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide, instead only cyclic carbonate is found. This behaviour is known for many zinc-based catalysts, although the reasons are still unidentified. Within our studies, we focus on the parameters that are responsible for this typical behaviour. A deactivation of the catalyst due to a reaction with propylene oxide turns out to be negligible. Furthermore, the catalyst still shows poly(cyclohexene carbonate) formation in the presence of cyclic propylene carbonate, but the catalyst activity is dramatically reduced. In terpolymerisation reactions of CO(2) with different ratios of cyclohexene oxide to propylene oxide, no incorporation of propylene oxide can be detected, which can only be explained by a very fast back-biting reaction. Kinetic investigations indicate a complex reaction network, which can be manifested by theoretical investigations. DFT calculations show that the ring strains of both epoxides are comparable and the kinetic barriers for the chain propagation even favour the poly(propylene carbonate) over the poly(cyclohexene carbonate) formation. Therefore, the crucial step in the copolymerisation of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide is the back-biting reaction in the case of the studied zinc catalyst. The depolymerisation is several orders of magnitude faster for poly(propylene carbonate) than for poly(cyclohexene carbonate).

The heat of formation of gaseous PuO(2)2+ from relativistic density functional calculations.

Using a set of model reactions, we estimated the heat of formation of gaseous PuO2(2+) from quantum-chemical reaction enthalpies and experimental heats of formation of reference species. To this end, we carried out relativistic density functional calculations on the molecules PuO(2)2+, PuO2, PuF6, and PuF4. We used a revised variant (PBEN) of the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof gradient-corrected exchange-correlation functional, and we accounted for spin-orbit interaction in a self-consistent fashion. As open-shell Pu species with two or more unpaired 5f electrons are involved, spin-orbit interaction significantly affects the energies of the model reactions. Our theoretical estimate for the heat of formation DeltafH degree 0(PuO2(2+),g), 418+/-15 kcal mol-1, evaluated using plutonium fluorides as references, is in good agreement with a recent experimental result, 413+/-16 kcal mol-1. The theoretical value connected to the experimental heat of formation of PuO2(g) has a notably higher uncertainty and therefore was not included in the final result.