The present invention relates to a solid fuel, a system and a method for generating hydrogen. The solid fuel comprises sodium borohydride, catalyst loaded fibers and a binder, wherein the catalyst loaded fibers and the binder form a scaffold structure within which the sodium borohydride is positioned. The system comprises a fuel cartridge containing the solid fuel of the present invention for generating hydrogen gas, a reactor configured to house the fuel cartridge, a tank for storing water, a pump and a liquid conduit for conveying water from the tank to the fuel cartridge housed within the reactor to induce a hydrolysis reaction of the solid fuel contained in the fuel cartridge and a controller for regulating flow of the water.

A method for producing an oligomer, the method comprising a step of oligomerizing a polymerizable monomer comprising an olefin in the presence of a catalyst comprising an iron complex represented by the following Formula (1) and trialkylaluminum:

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[In Formula (1), R represents a hydrocarbyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms or an aromatic group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, a plurality of R in the same molecule may be the same or different, R represents a free radical having an oxygen atom and/or a nitrogen atom, a plurality of R in the same molecule may be the same or different, and Y represents a chlorine atom or a bromine atom].

A mild and efficient synthesis of primary amines and amides from aldehydes or ketones using a heterogeneous metal catalyst and amine donor is disclosed. The initial heterogeneous metal-catalyzed reaction between the carbonyl and the amine donor components is followed by the addition of a suitable acylating agent component in one-pot, thus providing a catalytic one-pot three-component synthesis of amides. Integration of enzyme catalysis allows for eco-friendly one-pot co-catalytic synthesis of amides from aldehyde and ketone substrates, respectively. The process can be applied to asymmetric synthesis or to the co-catalytic one-pot three-component synthesis of capsaicin and its analogues from vanillin or vanillyl alcohol. A co-catalytic reductive amination/dynamic kinetic resolution (dkr) relay sequence for the asymmetric synthesis of optically active amides from ketones is disclosed. Implementation of a catalytic reductive amination/kinetic resolution (kr) relay sequence produces the corresponding optically active amide product and optical active primary amine product with the opposite stereochemistry from the starting ketones.

A method and a system for producing a change in a medium disposed in an artificial container. The method places in a vicinity of the medium at least one of a plasmonics agent and an energy modulation agent. The method applies an initiation energy through the artificial container to the medium. The initiation energy interacts with the plasmonics agent or the energy modulation agent to directly or indirectly produce the change in the medium. The system includes an initiation energy source configured to apply an initiation energy to the medium to activate the plasmonics agent or the energy modulation agent.

A method and a system for producing a change in a medium disposed in an artificial container. The method places inavicinity of the medium at least one of a plasmonics agent and an energy modulation agent. The method applies an initiation energy through the artificial container to the medium. The initiation energy interacts with the plasmonics agent or the energy modulation agent to directly or indirectly produce the change in the medium. The system includes an initiation energy source configured to apply an initiation energy to the medium to activate the plasmonics agent or the energy modulation agent.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to an efficient entirely man-made nanobio hybrid fabricated through cell-free expression of transmembrane proton pump followed by assembly of the synthetic protein architecture with semiconductor nanoparticles for photocatalytic H.sub.2 evolution. The system produces H.sub.2 at a turnover rate of 240 ?mol of H.sub.2 (?mol protein).sup.?1 h.sup.?1 under green and 17.74 mmol of H.sub.2 (?mol protein).sup.?1 h.sup.?1 under white light at ambient conditions, in water at neutral pH with methanol as a sacrificial electron donor. Robsutness and flexibility of this approach allows for systemic manipulation at nanoparticle-bio interface toward directed evolution of energy materials and devices.

The present disclosure relates to a process for the conversion of biomass to crude bio-oil. Phycocyanin is extracted from the biomass to form phycocyanin extracted biomass (PEB) and subjecting the PEB to HTL conversion to obtain crude bio-oil. PEB results in improved yield of crude bio-oil as compared to the crude bio-oil yield from biomass without first extracting the phycocyanin from the biomass.

A process for producing an ether including treating (a) an ester with (b) hydrogen in the presence of (c) a heterogeneous catalyst to reduce the ester by hydrogenation to form an ether product, wherein the heterogeneous catalyst comprises a transition metal deposited on a sulfonic acid functionalized SiO.sub.2 support.

Methods, structures, devices and systems are disclosed for fabrication of microtube engines using membrane template electrodeposition. Such nanomotors operate based on bubble-induced propulsion in biological fluids and salt-rich environments. In one aspect, fabricating microengines includes depositing a polymer layer on a membrane template, depositing a conductive metal layer on the polymer layer, and dissolving the membrane template to release the multilayer microtubes.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to an efficient entirely man-made nanobio hybrid fabricated through cell-free expression of transmembrane proton pump followed by assembly of the synthetic protein architecture with semiconductor nanoparticles for photocatalytic H.sub.2 evolution. The system produces H.sub.2 at a turnover rate of 240 ?mol of H.sub.2 (?mol protein).sup.?1 h.sup.?1 under green and 17.74 mmol of H.sub.2 (?mol protein).sup.?1 h.sup.?1 under white light at ambient conditions, in water at neutral pH with methanol as a sacrificial electron donor. Robsutness and flexibility of this approach allows for systemic manipulation at nanoparticle-bio interface toward directed evolution of energy materials and devices.