The present disclosure relates generally to reactor systems that include (a) a housing having an interior surface that may be at least partially reflective, (b) at least one reactor cell disposed within an interior of the housing, the at least one reactor cell including an enclosure and a plasmonic photocatalyst on a catalyst support disposed within the at least one enclosure, where the enclosure is optically transparent and includes at least one inlet for a reactant to enter the at least one cell and at least one outlet for a reformate to exit the at least one cell and (c) at least one light source disposed within the interior of the housing and/or external to the housing. At least one light-management feature and/or at least one thermal-management feature is applied to the reactor cell, reactor system, or a reformer system comprising many reactor systems, in order to improve efficiency.

The present invention relates to a quantum dot containing a metastable phase which contains at least partly a crystal structure at quantum dot synthesis temperature at room temperature.

An apparatus and a method for plant extraction are disclosed. The apparatus of the present invention comprises an extraction module, a separating module and a reservoir. The method essentially includes plant material preparing, decarboxylating, active components extracting and separating. By using liquid tetrafluoroethane as the solvent in the apparatus of the present invention, the active components of the plant material are efficiently extracted under low pressure extraction and high pressure extraction conditions.

The present invention concerns, in particular, a method for obtaining a product with magnetocaloric effect from a single piece of material having a magnetic phase transition, the method comprising irradiation of at least one part of the material with ions, the irradiation being carried out with a suitable flux so that, after the irradiation, the material has various magnetic phase transition temperatures in the various parts of the material.

A variety of particles forming microencapsulated thermochromic materials are provided. The particles can include a thermochromic core and a metal oxide shell encapsulating the thermochromic core. The thermochromic core can include one or both of an organic thermochromic material and an inorganic salt thermochromic material. In some aspects, the particles include a dye selected from a crystal violet lactone dye, a fluoran dye, and a combination thereof. In still further aspects, the particles include a color developer selected from a hydroxybenzoate, a 4, 4-dihydroxydiphenyl propane, a hydroxycoumarin derivative, a lauryl gallate, and a combination thereof. In some aspects, the metal oxide shell is a TiO.sub.2 shell. The particles can be used in cements and paints and for a variety of building materials. Methods of making the particles and building materials and methods of use, for example, for removing a volatile organic carbon from a building material, are also provided.

A system and method for operating a lighting array is disclosed. In one example, the system and method detect the presence or absence of short circuiting current flow through a light emitting device and provide an indication of the same. The system and method may also increase or decrease current flow through the lighting array to compensate for reduced lighting output or to reduce the possibility of lighting array degradation.

Provided herein are methods and systems for converting natural gas, and specifically methane, into higher-value oxycarbon products, such as methanol, methyl formate, and formic acid. The natural gas is introduced into an aqueous solution with hydroxyl radicals and reacted in ambient conditions to form the desired products in the presence of a metal catalyst. The methods described herein overcome the over-activation dilemma of prior art methods that lead to the formation of undesirable carbon oxide compounds. Methods and apparatus for forming hydrogen peroxide via electrolysis and for forming hydroxyl radicals from the hydrogen peroxide via reaction with ferrous ions are also provided.

An improved photocatalytic device in which within semiconductors, absorbed electromagnetic radiation is known to generate electron-hole pairs; unwanted recombination of the radiation-generated electrons and holes is a significant limitation of photocatalytic efficiency, while the simultaneous local presence of both electrons and holes at the photocatalyst surface make reaction-specificity difficult to control. A photocatalytic device is described in which radiation-generated electrons and holes are spatially separated to be individually introduced into the reactant flow, minimizing unwanted recombination while promoting reaction-specific outcomes.

In an apparatus producing hydrogen gas by the decomposition reaction of water using photocatalyst, its miniaturization is achieved while suppressing the decrease of production efficiency of hydrogen gas as low as possible or improving the efficiency. The apparatus 1 comprises a container portion 2 receiving water W; a photocatalyst member 3 immersed in the water, having photocatalyst which generates excited electrons and positive holes when irradiated with light, causes a decomposition reaction of the water and generates hydrogen gas; a light source 4 emitting the light irradiated to the photocatalyst member; and a heat exchange device 7 conducting waste heat of the light source to the water in the container portion; wherein the water to be decomposed on the photocatalyst member in the container portion is warmed by the waste heat of the light source by the heat exchange device.

An object is to provide a light irradiation apparatus irradiating a light to a sample in a reaction vessel while stirring the sample more efficiently. A rotating stage can rotate around a first axis that is a central axis thereof. A holding mechanism holds reaction vessels whose longitudinal directions are a direction of the central axis on a circumference around the first axis on the rotating stage at equal intervals. Rotation mechanisms hold bottoms of the reaction vessels and rotate the reaction vessels around second axes that are central axes of the reaction vessels, respectively. A light irradiation mechanism is disposed on the rotating stage and irradiates a light emitted from at least one light emitting diode to the reaction vessels from a predetermined direction.