University of Notre Dame

About: University of Notre Dame is a education organization based out in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 22238 authors who have published 55201 publications receiving 2032925 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Notre Dame du Lac & University of Notre Dame, South Bend.

Overcoming ammonia synthesis scaling relations with plasma-enabled catalysis

Abstract: Correlations between the energies of elementary steps limit the rates of thermally catalysed reactions at surfaces. Here, we show how these limitations can be circumvented in ammonia synthesis by coupling catalysts to a non-thermal plasma. We postulate that plasma-induced vibrational excitations in N2 decrease dissociation barriers without influencing subsequent reaction steps. We develop a density-functional-theory-based microkinetic model to incorporate this effect, and parameterize the model using N2 vibrational excitations observed in a dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma. We predict plasma enhancement to be particularly great on metals that bind nitrogen too weakly to be active thermally. Ammonia synthesis rates observed in a dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma reactor are consistent with predicted enhancements and predicted changes in the optimal metal catalyst. The results provide guidance for optimizing catalysts for application with plasmas. Plasma catalysis holds promise for overcoming the limitations of conventional catalysis. Now, a kinetic model for ammonia synthesis is reported to predict optimal catalysts for use with plasmas. Reactor measurements at near-ambient conditions confirm the predicted catalytic rates, which are similar to those obtained in the Haber–Bosch process.

Forty Years of Oil Price Fluctuations: Why the Price of Oil May Still Surprise Us

Abstract: It has been forty years since the oil crisis of 1973/74. This crisis has been one of the defining economic events of the 1970s and has shaped how many economists think about oil price shocks. In recent years, a large literature on the economic determinants of oil price fluctuations has emerged. Drawing on this literature, we first provide an overview of the causes of all major oil price fluctuations between 1973 and 2014. We then discuss why oil price fluctuations remain difficult to predict, despite economists’ improved understanding of oil markets. Unexpected oil price fluctuations are commonly referred to as oil price shocks. We document that, in practice, consumers, policymakers, financial market participants and economists may have different oil price expectations, and that, what may be surprising to some, need not be equally surprising to others.

Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in Water and Wastewater

Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA is frequently detected in the feces of infected individuals. While infectious SARS-CoV-2 has not previously been identified in waste...