Thermodynamic stability of SrCeO3

Thermochemistry of the reaction between SrCO₃ and CeO₂ as

     

Effect of initial monomer concentration on the equilibrium swelling and elasticity of hydrogels

The linear swelling ratio α and the effective network chain length N of a series of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAAm) hydrogels were investigated as a function of the gel preparation concentration . PDMAAm hydrogels were prepared at a fixed cross-linker ratio but at various initial monomer concentrations. It was found that α is not a monotonic function of . As is increased, α first decreases up to about and remains constant in a narrow range of , but then it increases continuously. The -dependence of α is due to the variation of the network chain length N depending on the gel preparation concentration. In the range of below 0.1, N follows the scaling relationship , while at higher concentrations, N varies only slightly with . The increase of α with N obeys the relation , as predicted by the Flory-Rehner theory.     

Theoretical study on the reaction of the Δ ground state of ZrO with CS2 in the gas phase

The mechanisms for the three products ZrS⁺, and ZrOS⁺ of the title reaction have been studied by using B3LYP/6-311+G* and CCSD(T)/SDD+6-311+G* methods. It is found that both ZrS⁺ and formations involve the same O/S exchange process via a four-center transition state TS12 to form an intermediate IM2. Exception of that IM2 can dissociate into the ZrS⁺ product, a favorable intramolecular rearrangement mechanism associated with the formation has been identified, which explains why ZrS⁺ was excluded as a precusor for the formation and why the lower efficiency of the ZrS⁺ formation was observed in experiment. For the formation of ZrOS⁺, two parallel channels (path A and B) yielding their corresponding product isomer have been identified. Path B involving an insertion–elimination mechanism with a calculated barrier underestimated by ca. 25.0 kJ/mol should be attributed to the threshold of 114.8 ± 12.5 kJ/mol assigned in the experiment. But path A should make some contributions to the formation of ZrOS⁺ at elevated energy.     

Crystal growth, characterization and physical properties of PrNiSb3, NdNiSb3 and SmNiSb3

The crystal structures of three new intermetallic ternary compounds in the LnNiSb₃ (Ln=Pr, Nd and Sm) family have been characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. PrNiSb₃, NdNiSb₃ and SmNiSb₃ all crystallize in an orthorhombic space group, Pbcm (No. 57), Z=12, with , , , and ; , , , and ; and , , , and , for Ln=Pr, Nd and Sm, respectively. These compounds consist of rare-earth atoms located above and below layers of nearly square, buckled Sb nets, along with layers of highly distorted edge- and face-sharing NiSb₆ octahedra. Resistivity data indicate metallic behavior for all three compounds. Magnetization measurements show antiferromagnetic behavior with (PrNiSb₃), 4.6 K (NdNiSb₃), and 2.9 K (SmNiSb₃). Effective moments of 3.62 μ_B, 3.90 μ_B and 0.80 μ_B are found for PrNiSb₃, NdNiSb₃ and SmNiSb₃, respectively, and are consistent with Pr³⁺ (f ²), Nd³⁺ (f ³), and Sm³⁺ (f ⁴).     

Crystal growth, transport, and magnetic properties of Ln3Co4Sn13 (Ln=La, Ce) with a perovskite-like structure

Ln₃Co₄Sn₁₃ (Ln=La, Ce) have been synthesized by flux growth and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. These compounds adopt the Yb₃Rh₄Sn₁₃-type structure and crystallize in the cubic space group (No. 223) with Z=2. Lattice parameters at 298 K are , , and , for the La and Ce analogues, respectively. The crystal structure consists of an Sn-centered icosahedron at the origin of the unit cell, which shares faces with eight Co trigonal prisms and 12 Ln-centered cuboctahedra. Magnetization data at 0.1 T show paramagnetic behavior down to 1.8 K for Ce₃Co₄Sn₁₃, with per Ce³⁺, while conventional type II superconductivity appears below 2.85 K in the La compound. Electrical resistivity and specific heat data for the La compound show a corresponding sharp superconducting transition at T_c∼2.85 K. The entropy and resistivity data for Ce₃Co₄Sn₁₃ show the existence of the Kondo effect with a complicated semiconducting-like behavior in the resistivity data. In addition, a large enhanced specific heat coefficient at low T with a low magnetic transition temperature suggests a heavy-fermionic character for the Ce compound. Herein, the structure and physical properties of Ln₃Co₄Sn₁₃ (Ln=La, Ce) are discussed.     

Synthesis, structure and optical limiting effect of a novel inorganic-organic hybrid polymer containing mixed chains of copper(I)/iodine

In this paper, treatment of N-ethyl-benzo[f]quinolium (ebq) iodide and CuI with excess KI afforded an unusual coordination polymer [(ebq)₂(Cu₃I₄)(CuI₂)]_n (1). 1 crystallizes in tetragonal system, space group P4(2)bc with cell parameters of , , , Z=8, , R₁=0.0447 and wR₂=0.0974. A highly interesting feature of 1 is its presence of mixed types of chains [ and chain] in one crystal lattice based on supramolecular self-assembly directed by cations. The infinite chains and in 1 could be described as the edge-sharing arrangement of CuI₄ tetrahedron. Furthermore, IR, EA, UV-Vis, thermal analysis and optical limiting measurements were adopted to characterize polymer 1. The optical limiting experiment shows that the present polymer exhibits a large optical limiting capacity.