Tunable L-band erbium-doped fibre ring laser by means of induced cavity loss using a fibre taper

In this paper, we present a continuous-wave tunable fibre ring laser operating in the L-band. A bi-directional pumped L-band erbium-doped fibre amplifier provides gain to the loop. Tunability is achieved by bending a single-mode fibre taper using a micrometer drive, controlling in this way the spectral cavity losses. Laser emission is achieved between 1587 and 1606 nm, and low variation of the output laser power is observed over all the tuning range. PACS 42.55.Wd; 42.60.Da     

Isotopic Liftings of Clifford Algebras and Applications in Elementary Particle Mass Matrices

Isotopic liftings of algebraic structures are investigated in the context of Clifford algebras, where it is defined a new product involving an arbitrary, but fixed, element of the Clifford algebra. This element acts as the unit with respect to the introduced product, and is called isounit. We construct isotopies in both associative and non-associative arbitrary algebras, and examples of these constructions are exhibited using Clifford algebras, which although associative, can generate the octonionic, non-associative, algebra. The whole formalism is developed in a Clifford algebraic arena, giving also the necessary pre-requisites to introduce isotopies of the exterior algebra. The flavor hadronic symmetry of the six u,d,s,c,b,t quarks is shown to be exact, when the generators of the isotopic Lie algebra are constructed, and the unit of the isotopic Clifford algebra is shown to be a function of the six quark masses. The limits constraining the parameters, that are entries of the representation of the isounit in the isotopic group SU(6), are based on the most recent limits imposed on quark masses.     

Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of MIL‐125 by Post‐Synthetic Modification with CrIII and Ag Nanoparticles

NH₂‐MIL‐125, [Ti₈O₈(OH)₄(bdc‐NH₂)₆] (bdc^2?=1,4‐benzene dicarboxylate) is a highly porous metal–organic framework (MOF) that has a band gap lying within the ultraviolet region at about 2.6 eV. The band gap may be reduced by a suitable post‐synthetic modification of the nanochannels using conventional organic chemistry methods. Here, it is shown that the photocatalytic activity of NH₂‐MIL‐125 in the degradation of methylene blue under visible light is remarkably augmented by post‐synthetic modification with acetylacetone followed by Cr^III complexation. The latter metal ion extends the absorption from the ultraviolet to the visible light region (band gap 2.21 eV). The photogenerated holes migrate from the MOF’s valence band to the Cr^III valence band, promoting the separation of holes and electrons and increasing the recombination time. Moreover, it is shown that the MOF’s photocatalytic activity is also much improved by doping with Ag nanoparticles, formed in situ by the reduction of Ag⁺ with the acetylacetonate pendant groups (the resulting MOF band gap is 2.09 eV). Presumably, the Ag nanoparticles are able to accept the MOF’s photogenerated electrons, thus avoiding electron–hole recombination. Both, the Cr‐ and Ag‐bearing materials are stable under photocatalytic conditions. These findings open new avenues for improving the photocatalytic activity of MOFs.     

Cleft extensions of a family of braided Hopf algebras

We introduce a family of braided Hopf algebras that (in characteristic zero) generalizes the rank 1 Hopf algebras introduced by Krop and Radford and we study its cleft extensions.     

镁掺杂氧化铈整体式催化剂催化CO2和CH3OH直接合成碳酸二甲酯

采用共沉淀法成功地合成了不同Mg掺杂量的Ce_1-xMg_xO₂(x=0.05、0.10、0.15、0.20)固溶体催化材料,并运用透射电子显微镜(TEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)、氮气吸附-脱附测试、拉曼光谱、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、CO₂程序升温脱附(CO₂-TPD)等技术对这些材料进行了表征。结果发现,通过调控CeO₂晶格中Mg的含量,可以调控所制备的Ce_1-xMg_xO₂催化材料的粒径、比表面积、表面缺陷等。其中Ce_0.90Mg_0.10O₂展现了最佳的表面性质,具有最小的平均粒径(约5.8 nm),最大的比表面积(约136 m2·g^-1)以及最高的表面氧含量(31.98%)。将Ce_1-xMg_xO₂催化材料涂覆在堇青石蜂窝陶瓷上制成整体催化剂,考察其对CO₂和CH₃OH直接合成碳酸二甲酯的催化性能。在140℃、2.4 MPa、反应2 h的条件下,Ce_0.90Mg_0.10O₂整体催化剂上碳酸二甲酯的收率高达20.21%,催化效果明显优于CeO₂和其余的Ce_1-xMg_xO₂(x=0.05、0.15、0.20)催化材料。     

High-performance hydrogen production and oxidation electrodes with hydrogenase supported on metallic single-wall carbon nanotube networks

We studied the electrocatalytic activity of an [FeFe]-hydrogenase from Clostridium acetobutylicum (CaH2ase) immobilized on single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) networks. SWNT networks were prepared on carbon cloth by ultrasonic spraying of suspensions with predetermined ratios of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes. Current densities for both proton reduction and hydrogen oxidation electrocatalytic activities were at least 1 order of magnitude higher when hydrogenase was immobilized onto SWNT networks with high metallic tube (m-SWNT) content in comparison to hydrogenase supported on networks with low metallic tube content or when SWNTs were absent. We conclude that the increase in electrocatalytic activities in the presence of SWNTs was mainly due to the m-SWNT fraction and can be attributed to (i) substantial increases in the active electrode surface area, and (ii) improved electronic coupling between CaH2ase redox-active sites and the electrode surface.     

Sequential spectrofluorimetric determination of free and total glycerol in biodiesel in a multicommuted flow system

A new procedure for spectrofluorimetric determination of free and total glycerol in biodiesel samples is presented. It is based on the oxidation of glycerol by periodate, forming formaldehyde, which reacts with acetylacetone, producing the luminescent 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine. A flow system with solenoid micro-pumps is proposed for solution handling. Free glycerol was extracted off-line from biodiesel samples with water, and total glycerol was converted to free glycerol by saponification with sodium ethylate under sonication. For free glycerol, a linear response was observed from 5 to 70 mg L⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.5 mg L⁻¹, which corresponds to 2 mg kg⁻¹ in biodiesel. The coefficient of variation was 0.9% (20 mg L⁻¹, n = 10). For total glycerol, samples were diluted on-line, and the linear response range was 25 to 300 mg L⁻¹. The detection limit was 1.4 mg L⁻¹ (2.8 mg kg⁻¹ in biodiesel) with a coefficient of variation of 1.4% (200 mg L⁻¹, n = 10). The sampling rate was ca. 35 samples h⁻¹ and the procedure was applied to determination of free and total glycerol in biodiesel samples from soybean, cottonseed, and castor beans.     

On the sum of the Laplacian eigenvalues of a tree

Given an n-vertex graph G=(V,E), the Laplacian spectrum of G is the set of eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix L=D-A, where D and A denote the diagonal matrix of vertex-degrees and the adjacency matrix of G, respectively. In this paper, we study the Laplacian spectrum of trees. More precisely, we find a new upper bound on the sum of the k largest Laplacian eigenvalues of every n-vertex tree, where k∈{1,…,n}. This result is used to establish that the n-vertex star has the highest Laplacian energy over all n-vertex trees, which answers affirmatively to a question raised by Radenkovi? and Gutman [10].     

Nanostructure of polysaccharide complexes

The interaction of gum arabic (GA) with chitosan (Ch) of different degree of deacetylation was studied by turbidity measurements, dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy. The structure of the complexes was found to be directly related to the charge density of chitosan molecules. Gum arabic and chitosan with a degree of deacetylation of 75% form soluble complexes with a loosely globular structure of about 250 nm, at weight ratios up to 1.2, if the concentrations are kept low (total biopolymer concentration up to 0.06%). If chitosan has a higher charge density (degree of deacetylation of 93%), colloidal particles are formed, independently of the polymer concentration or ratio. At low concentrations and GA/Ch ratios of 1 or 1.2, the particles have diameters of 200-250 nm. The formation of soluble complexes is attributed to a chitosan lower charge density and the presence of non-charged monomers, which prevent the efficient self-assembly of the macromolecules.