Ternary eutectic growth of Ag-Cu-Sb alloy within ultrasonic field

The liquid to solid transformation of ternary Ag42.4Cu21.6Sb36 eutectic alloy was accomplished in an ultrasonic field with a frequency of 35 kHz, and the growth mechanism of this ternary eutectic was examined. Theoretical calculations predict that the sound intensity in the liquid phase at the solidification interface increases gradually as the interface moves up from the sample bottom to its top. The growth mode of (ε θ Sb) ternary eutectic exhibits a transition of "divorced eutectic- mixture of anomalous and regular structures-regular eutectic" along the sample axis due to the inhomogeneity of sound field distribution. In the top zone with the highest sound intensity, the cavitation effect promotes the three eutectic phases to nucleate independently, while the acoustic streaming efficiently suppresses the coupled growth of eutectic phases. In the meantime, the ultrasonic field accelerates the solute transportation at the solid-liquid interface, which reduces the solute solubility of eutectic phases.     

Electro-hydrodynamic fabrication of ZnO-based dye sensitized solar cells

The electro-hydrodynamic (EHD) technique has been successfully applied for manufacturing ZnO photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Porous structure of ZnO film after calcinations was beneficial to the absorption of dye and infiltration of electrolyte. By using ionic liquid as an electrolyte, a high short-circuit photocurrent density of 12.1 mA/cm² was attained and the overall photo-to-electric energy conversion efficiency (η) was 3.4% under an AM-1.5 illumination at 100 mW/cm². At the same time, the influence factors on the solar cell performance, such as the concentrations of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) during EHD process and light intensity were discussed. PACS 81.07.Bc; 84.60.Jt; 81.15.Rs     

Efficient generation of a photon pair in a bulk periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate

In this report, we demonstrate the efficient generation of collinearly propagating photon pairs in a bulk periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate pumped by a cw laser. The detected coincidence counts are more than 7400/s with 3.58 mW pump power in a Hanbury-Brown-Twiss-type experiment. The estimated photon pair production rate is about 0.73 MHz/mW. This is very promising for some applications, such as quantum key distribution, proof of the Bell-inequality, preparation of single photon states in broadband wave packets, Franson-type interference and so on.     

无衍射光的干涉实验与理论分析

分析了两束无衍射光的干涉场分布形式和干涉条纹轨迹。将一束单色光入射两小孔产生的两束相干光照射轴锥镜,在轴锥镜后将产生两束无衍射光。根据单束倾斜光入射轴锥镜的无衍射理论,分析出这两束无衍射光产生的干涉场为每束无衍射光的无衍射场的线性叠加。利用零阶贝塞尔函数的零点公式,推导出两束无衍射光的干涉条纹的轨迹为双曲线。计算结果表明,干涉场中两中心的间距与两孔实际的间距和干涉场距轴锥镜的距离成正比。实验结果与理论仿真相一致。     

Facile Assembly of Dispersed ZrMCM‐41 Nanoparticles Promoted in‐situ by Zirconium Salt

Mesoporous ZrMCM‐41 nanoparticles were synthesized by a usual way where tetraethyl‐orthosilicate (TEOS) and zirconium nitrate were used as the inorganic precursors. The obtained nanoscale ZrMCM‐41 was characterized by X‐ray diffraction, N₂ physis‐sorption, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Characterization results revealed that zirconium salt added in the synthesis had a crucial effect on the assembly of nanoscale ZrMCM‐41 with relatively uniform particle size, which was rarely observed in reported studies for ZrMCM‐41 synthesized using the similar method. Meanwhile, the possible mechanism behind the synthesis was discussed based on the character of hydrolysis and condensation of TEOS and the mild acidic environment induced by the hydrolysable zirconium salt under aqueous conditions. Thus obtained nanoscale ZrMCM‐41 with developed pore structures may be advantageous to general applications in catalysis or adsorption host‐guest chemistry in terms of efficient mass transport of guest molecules.     

Polyvinylidene fluoride/polystyrene hybrid fibers with high ionic conductivity and enhanced mechanical strength as lithium-ion battery separators

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Ionic conductivity is an important separator parameter influencing the cycle life and rate capability of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To improve the ionic...     

On the conformal mappings in the unit disk fixing arbitrarily many boundary points

In this paper, we give a method of constructing conformal mappings defined in the unit disk which can fix arbitrarily many points on the unit circle.     

RABA (Reductive Alkylation By Acetone): A novel stable isotope labeling approach for quantitative proteomics

Quantitative proteomics is challenging and various stable isotope based approaches have been developed to meet the challenge. Hereby we describe a simple, efficient, reliable, and inexpensive method named reductive alkylation by acetone (RABA) to introduce stable isotopes to peptides for quantitative analysis. The RABA method leads to alkylation of N-terminal and lysine amino groups with isopropyl moiety. Using unlabeled (d₀) and deuterium labeled (d₆) acetone, a 6 Da mass split is introduced to each isopropyl modification between the light and heavy isotope labeled peptides, which is ideally suited for quantitative analysis. The reaction specificity, stoichiometry, labeling efficiency, and linear range of the RABA method have been thoroughly evaluated in this study using standard peptides, tryptic digest of proteins, as well as human cell lysate. Reliable quantitative results have been consistently obtained in all experiments. We also applied the RABA method to quantitative analysis of proteins in spinal cords of transgenic mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Highly homologous proteins (transgenic human SOD1 and endogenous mouse SOD1) were distinguished and quantified using the method developed in this study. In addition, the quantitative results using the RABA approach were independently validated by Western blot.     

Novel ring-cleaving reaction of 4-nitro-1,1,2,2,9,9,10,10-octafluoro[2.2]paracyclophane with nucleophiles

When 4-nitro-AF4 is treated with nucleophiles such as alkoxides and cyanide, a novel ring opening, cyclophane destroying reaction is observed whereby, via an S_NAr mechanism, the nucleophile attacks the bridgehead aryl carbon vicinal to the nitro group with subsequent aryl-CF₂ bond cleavage.