The focus of this paper is centered on the thermal reduction of KMnO₄ at controlled temperatures of 400 and 800 °C. The materials under study were characterized by atomic absorption spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, average oxidation state of manganese, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, and impedance spectroscopy. The structural formulas, found as a result of these analyses, were $K_{0.29}^{+}\left(M{n}_{0.84}^{4+}M{n}_{0.16}^{3+}\right)O_{2.07}·0.61H_{2}O$ and $K_{0.48}^{+}\left(M{n}_{0.64}^{4+}M{n}_{0.36}^{3+}\right)O_{2.06}·0.50H_{2}O$ . The N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms show the microporous and mesoporous nature of the structure. Structural analysis showed that synthesis temperature affects the crystal size and symmetry, varying their electrical properties. Impedance spectroscopy (IS) was used to measure the electrical properties of these materials. The measurements attained, as a result of IS, show that these materials have both electronic and ionic conductivity. The conductivity values obtained at 10 Hz were 4.1250 × 10⁻⁶ and 1.6870 × 10⁻⁴ Ω⁻¹cm⁻¹ for Mn4 at 298 and 423 K respectively. For Mn8, the conductivity values at this frequency were 3.7074 × 10⁻⁷ (298) and 3.9866 × 10⁻⁵ Ω⁻¹cm⁻¹ (423 K). The electrical behavior was associated with electron hopping at high frequencies, and protonic conduction and ionic movement of the K⁺ species, in the interlayer region at low frequencies.

Alumina-supported manganese catalysts with cryptomelane and/or birnessite structure have been prepared using a simple method based on the thermal decomposition of potassium permanganate. The samples have been characterized by XRD, FTIR, TGA, DSC, N₂ adsorption at −196 °C, SEM, H₂-TPR and XPS, and their catalytic activity for soot combustion has been tested and compared to that of a reference Pt/alumina catalyst. The thermal decomposition of alumina-supported KMnO₄ yields a mixture of supported birnessite and potassium manganate which is the most effective, among those prepared, to lower the soot combustion temperature. However, this material is not useful for soot combustion because the accelerating effect is not based on a catalytic process but on the oxidation of soot by potassium manganate. A suitable soot combustion catalyst is obtained after potassium manganate is removed by water washing, yielding only the birnessite phase on the γ-Al₂O₃ support. This birnessite phase can be transformed into cryptomelane by calcination at 600 °C. These two samples, γ-Al₂O₃-supported birnessite and cryptomelane are suitable catalysts for soot combustion in NO_x/O₂ mixtures, as their catalytic activity is based on the NO₂-assited mechanism, that is, both catalysts accelerate the oxidation of NO to NO₂ and NO₂ promotes soot oxidation. The soot combustion temperatures obtained with these birnessite/cryptomelane alumina-supported catalysts are similar to that obtained with the reference Pt/alumina catalyst.

The modulation in the synthesis parameters of layered manganese oxides allowed us to produce materials with different AC conductivities. These conductivities were correlated with the catalytic performance of the materials in the decomposition of methylene blue, as a model of electron transfer reactions. The manganese oxides were prepared by thermal reduction of KMnO₄ at 400°C and 800°C where one sample was heated at 1°C/min and the other was heated at 10°C/min. The materials were characterized by atomic absorption, average oxidation states of manganese, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that, by increasing the synthesis temperature, both the lamellar arrangement and the crystal size increased, while the Mn⁴⁺ amount in the material decreased. Furthermore, it was observed that as the conductivity increases for the materials, the catalytic performance also increases. Therefore, a direct correlation between the conductivity and catalytic performance can be established. For example, the layered manganese oxides material synthesized at 400°C, using a heating rate of 10°C/min, showed the highest AC conductivity and had the best performance in the degradation of methylene blue. Finally, we propose a general mechanism for understanding how manganese oxides behave as catalysts that produce oxidizing species from H₂O₂ which degrades methylene blue. Our proposed mechanism takes into consideration the state of aggregation of the catalyst, the availability of Mn⁴⁺, and the electrical conductivity.

In recent years, polymer engineering, at the molecular level, has proven to be an effective strategy to modulate thermal conductivity. Polymers have great applicability in the food packaging industry, in which transparency, lightness, flexibility, and biodegradability are highly desirable characteristics. In this work, a possible manner to adjust the thermal conductivity in cassava starch biopolymer films is presented. Our approach is based on modifying the starch molecular structure through the addition of borax, which has been previously used as an intermolecular bond reinforcer. We found that the thermal conductivity increases linearly with borax content. This effect is related to the crosslinking effect that allows the principal biopolymer chains to be brought closer together, generating an improved interconnected network favoring heat transfer. The highest value of the thermal conductivity is reached at a volume fraction of 1.40% of borax added. Our analyses indicate that the heat transport improves as borax concentration increases, while for borax volume fractions above 1.40%, heat carriers scattering phenomena induce a decrement in thermal conductivity. Additionally, to obtain a deeper understanding of our results, structural, optical, and mechanical characterizations were also performed.