Ru nanoparticles on a Cs-loaded MgO superbase as highly efficient catalysts for ammonia synthesis.

Cs-Loaded MgO, a typical type of solid superbase, was used as a support to disperse and anchor Ru nanoparticles. Much enhanced Ru dispersion together with electron donation of Cs-loaded MgO enables Ru nanoparticles on Cs-loaded MgO to exhibit excellent activity and intrinsic activity for ammonia synthesis, superior to the conventional Ru/MgO catalyst and the state-of-the-art Cs modified Ru/MgO catalyst under identical reaction conditions.

A Modified Scrotoplasty for Treating Severe Penoscrotal Webbing in Children.

To compare a novel modified W-incision scrotoplasty (MWS) operation method with the conventional V-Y scrotoplasty for treatment of severe penoscrotal webbing (PSW) in children a retrospective study was conducted on 26 children. Circumcision combined with modified scrotoplasty was used to repair the webbed penis and phimosis of children and another 32 patients undergoing V-Y scrotoplasty served as the control group. There was a statistically significant difference of angle improvements of penis and scrotum in a horizontal position (-66 ± 10; -57 ± 6, P < 0.001) and the parent satisfaction score (Five Likert Scale) (4.7 ± 0.56; 3.8 ± 0.47, P < 0.001) between the two groups. All 26 children who underwent MWS presented with no serious postoperative complications, and there was no significant difference in surgical complications compared to children treated with V-Y scrotoplasty.

Transition and Alkali Metal Complex Ternary Amides for Ammonia Synthesis and Decomposition.

A new complex ternary amide, Rb2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ], which simultaneously contains both transition and alkali metal catalytic sites, is developed. This is in line with the recently reported TM-LiH composite catalysts, which have been shown to effectively break the scaling relations and achieve ammonia synthesis under mild conditions. Rb2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ] can be facilely synthesized by mechanochemical reaction at room temperature. It exhibits two temperature-dependent polymorphs, that is, a low-temperature orthorhombic and a high-temperature monoclinic structure. Rb2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ] decomposes to N2 , H2 , NH3 , Mn3 N2 , and RbNH2 under inert atmosphere; whereas it releases NH3 at a temperature as low as 80 °C under H2 atmosphere. Those unique behaviors enable Rb2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ], and its analogue K2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ], to be excellent catalytic materials for ammonia decomposition and synthesis. Experimental results show both ammonia decomposition onset temperatures and conversion rates over Rb2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ] and K2 [Mn(NH2 )4 ] are similar to those of noble metal Ru-based catalysts. More importantly, these ternary amides exhibit superior capabilities in catalyzing NH3 synthesis, which are more than 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of Mn nitride and twice of that of Ru/MgO. The in situ SR-PXD measurement shows that manganese nitride, synergistic with Rb/KH or Rb/K(NH2 )x H1-x , are likely the active sites. The chemistry of Rb2 /K2 [Mn(NH2 )x ] and Rb/K(NH2 )x H1-x with H2 /N2 and NH3 correlates closely with the catalytic performance.