Research on the Properties of Steel Slag with Different Preparation Processes.

To promote the resource utilization of steel slag and improve the production process of steel slag in steelmaking plants, this research studied the characteristics of three different processed steel slags from four steelmaking plants. The physical and mechanical characteristics and volume stability of steel slags were analyzed through density, water absorption, and expansion tests. The main mineral phases, morphological characteristics, and thermal stability of the original steel slag and the steel slag after the expansion test are analyzed with X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG) tests. The results show that the composition of steel slag produced by different processes is similar. The main active substances of other processed steel slags are dicalcium silicate (C2S), tricalcium silicate (C3S), CaO, and MgO. After the expansion test, the main chemical products of steel slag are CaCO3, MgCO3, and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H). Noticeable mineral crystals appeared on the surface of the steel slag after the expansion test, presenting tetrahedral or cigar-like protrusions. The drum slag had the highest density and water stability. The drum slag had the lowest porosity and the densest microstructure surface, compared with steel slags that other methods produce. The thermal stability of steel slag treated by the hot splashing method was relatively higher than that of steel slag treated by the other two methods.

One-pot fabrication of hollow cross-linked fluorescent carbon nitride nanoparticles and their application in the detection of mercuric ions.

Hollow cross-linked fluorescent carbon nitride nanoparticles (CNNPs) were fabricated via a facile one-pot solvothermal process. The obtained CNNPs were characterized by multiple analytical techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The excitation-dependent fluorescence emission spectra showed significant differences for the CNNPs derived from various proportions of citric acid monohydrate and urea. The fluorescence quantum yield of the obtained CNNPs could reach 31%. The CNNPs exhibited good fluorescence quenching selectivity to mercuric ions. Concentration experiments showed that there existed two parts of linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and concentration of Hg(2+) ions in the range of 0.1-8 and 8-32 µM. The limit of detection (LOD) was estimated to be 0.094 µM. This method can be applied to the detection of Hg(2+) ions in tap water samples.

Electrocatalytical oxidation and sensitive determination of acetaminophen on glassy carbon electrode modified with graphene-chitosan composite.

The electrochemical behaviors of acetaminophen (ACOP) on a graphene-chitosan (GR-CS) nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronocoulometry (CC) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Electrochemical characterization showed that the GR-CS nanocomposite had excellent electrocatalytic activity and surface area effect. As compared with bare GCE, the redox signal of ACOP on GR-CS/GCE was greatly enhanced. The values of electron transfer rate constant (ks), diffusion coefficient (D) and the surface adsorption amount (Γ(*)) of ACOP on GR-CS/GCE were determined to be 0.25s(-1), 3.61×10(-5) cm(2) s(-1) and 1.09×10(-9) mol cm(-2), respectively. Additionally, a 2e(-)/2H(+) electrochemical reaction mechanism of ACOP was deduced based on the acidity experiment. Under the optimized conditions, the ACOP could be quantified in the range from 1.0×10(-6) to 1.0×10(-4) M with a low detection limit of 3.0×10(-7) M based on 3S/N. The interference and recovery experiments further showed that the proposed method is acceptable for the determination of ACOP in real pharmaceutical preparations.

Cathodic electrochemiluminescent behavior of luminol at nafion-nano-TiO2 modified glassy carbon electrode.

The electrochemiluminescence (ECL) behavior of luminol on a nafion-nano-TiO(2) modified glassy carbon electrode (nafion-nano-TiO(2)--GCE) was studied. Two ECL peaks (ECL-1 and ECL-2) were found during cathodic potential scanning. ECL-1 at ca -0.4 V (vs Ag--AgCl reference electrode) came from the reaction between luminol and active oxygen anion produced at the GCE surface directly, while ECL-2 at ca -0.9 V (vs Ag--AgCl reference electrode) came from the reaction between luminol and the active oxygen anion catalyzed by TiO(2.) The possible mechanism for the generation of both ECL peaks has been proposed. The reproducibility of the ECL intensities on nafion-nano-TiO(2)--GCE at ECL-1 and ECL-2 was good, with relative standard deviations (n = 10) of 4.3 and 1.3%, respectively. The ECL-2 generated at the nafion-nano-TiO(2)--GCE surface was further developed to detect the dissolved oxygen, and a detection limit of 0.02 mg/L was achieved. The proposed method was applied to detect dissolved oxygen in water with satisfactory result.