Investigation of the behavior of an Ising metamagnet under the influence of a field using Glauber dynamics

In this study, the kinetics of the Ising metamagnet where the interlayer interactions are ferromagnetic has been investigated under the mean field approximation. In describing the kinetics of the system, Glauber stochastic dynamics in the presence of an external field which performs time-dependent oscillations, has been utilized. Obtained results could be identified by two distinct types: the asymmetric solutions oscillating in the vicinity of finite values where the lattice magnetization has different values and the symmetric solutions being zero where the sublattice magnetizations are equal to each other. On the other hand, it has been observed that in the case where the system's initial state has a homogenous magnetization it exhibits two different periodical behaviors in the course of time.     

Building an Iron Chromophore Incorporating Prussian Blue Analogue for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation

The replacement of traditional ruthenium-based photosensitizers with low-cost and abundant iron analogs is a key step for the advancement of scalable and sustainable dye-sensitized water splitting cells. In this proof-of-concept study, a pyridinium ligand coordinated pentacyanoferrate(II) chromophore is used to construct a cyanide-based CoFe extended bulk framework, in which the iron photosensitizer units are connected to cobalt water oxidation catalytic sites through cyanide linkers. The iron-sensitized photoanode exhibits exceptional stability for at least 5 h at pH 7 and features its photosensitizing ability with an incident photon-to-current conversion capacity up to 500 nm with nanosecond scale excited state lifetime. Ultrafast transient absorption and computational studies reveal that iron and cobalt sites mutually support each other for charge separation via short bridging cyanide groups and for injection to the semiconductor in our proof-of-concept photoelectrochemical device. The reorganization of the excited states due to the mixing of electronic states of metal-based orbitals subsequently tailor the electron transfer cascade during the photoelectrochemical process. This breakthrough in chromophore-catalyst assemblies will spark interest in dye-sensitization with robust bulk systems for photoconversion applications.     

An In Vitro Study of the Interaction of Copper(II) Salicylates with Genomic DNA Using Gel Electrophoresis and Gel Permeation Chromatography

This papers describes the in vitro interaction of copper(II) acetylsalicylate and copper(II) salicylate with genomic DNA isolated from human blood. The two drug substances were found to bind to DNA after incubation with whole blood over night. Bonding was confirmed by detection of separated DNA electrophoresis bands for copper, copper(II) acetylsalicylate, copper(II) salicylate, acetylsalicylic acid and salicylic acid. Drug–DNA interactions were observed during electrophoresis in the form of fragmentation by formation of two bands when compared to controls. Gel permeation chromatography parameters also confirmed the occurrence of fragmentation. The use of gel permeation chromatography parameters as a measure of fragmentation of DNA is discussed. The fragmentation of genomic DNA after incubation with copper(II) acetylsalicylate and copper(II) salicylate suggested that these drug substances might be responsible for cytotoxicity in vivo.

     

Cyclization vs. Elimination Reactions of 5‐Aryl‐5‐hydroxy 1,3‐Diones: One‐Pot Synthesis of 2‐Aryl‐2,3‐dihydro‐4H‐pyran‐4‐ones

2‐Aryl‐2,3‐dihydro‐4H‐pyran‐4‐ones were prepared in one step by cyclocondensation of 1,3‐diketone dianions with aldehydes. The use of HCl (10%) for the aqueous workup proved to be very important to avoid elimination reactions of the 5‐aryl‐5‐hydroxy 1,3‐diones formed as intermediates. The TiCl₄‐mediated cyclization of a 2‐aryl‐2,3‐dihydro‐4H‐pyran‐4‐one with 1,3‐silyloxybuta‐1,3‐diene resulted in cleavage of the pyranone moiety and formation of a highly functionalized benzene derivative.     

Synthesis, growth and characterization of a new derivative 4-ethoxy-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium besylate monohydrate single crystal

A new organic material 4-ethoxy-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium besylate monohydrate, a derivative in the stilbazolium family, known for efficient nonlinear optical materials, has been synthesized for the first time. Employing the slow evaporation technique, optically transparent good quality single crystals of size 15 mm×10 mm×5 mm were grown from methanol. The cell dimensions obtained by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the crystal belongs to the monoclinic system. Functional groups of the grown crystal were identified from FTIR and NMR spectral analysis. UV−vis−NIR studies show that the crystal is transparent in the wavelength range 460-1100 nm. The thermal stability of the compound was determined by thermal analyses of the specimen.     

The effects of a thin film dopant precursor on the structure and properties of femtosecond-laser irradiated silicon

Femtosecond (fs) laser irradiation of a silicon substrate coated with a thin film is a flexible approach to producing metastable alloys with unique properties, including near-unity sub-band gap absorptance extending into the infrared. However, dopant incorporation from a thin film during fs-laser irradiation is not well understood. We study the thin film femtosecond-laser doping process through optical and structural characterization of silicon fs-laser doped using a selenium thin film, and compare the resulting microstructure and dopant distribution to fs-laser doping with sulfur from a gaseous precursor. We show that a thin film dopant precursor significantly changes the laser-material interactions, modifying both the surface structuring and dopant incorporation processes and in turn affecting p–n diode behavior.     

Enhancement of electrical properties due to Cr substitution in Co-ferrite nanoparticles synthesized by two chemical techniques

Nanocrystalline cobalt ferrites with nominal composition CoCr_xFe_2−xO₄ ranging from x=0.0 to 0.5 with step increment of 0.25 were prepared by sol–gel auto combustion and chemical co-precipitation techniques. A comparative study of structural, electrical and magnetic properties of these ferrites has been measured using different characterization techniques. Structural and micro-structural studies were measured using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Crystallite sizes of the series are within the range of 12–29±2 nm. Lattice parameters decrease by increasing Cr³⁺ concentration. FTIR confirms the presence of two lattice absorption bands. DC electrical resistivity increases to a value of ∼10¹⁰ Ω-cm with increase in Cr³⁺ concentration, but the most significant increase is in samples prepared by sol–gel combustion. Dielectric properties have been measured as a function of frequency at room temperature. Dielectric loss decreases to 0.1037 and 0.0108 at 5 MHz for chemical co-precipitation and sol–gel combustion, respectively. Impedance measurements further helped in analyzing the electrical properties and to separate the grain and grain boundary resistance effects using a complex impedance analysis. Magnetic parameters were studied using a vibrating sample magnetometer in the applied field of 10 kOe. The saturation magnetization decreased from 63 to 10.8 emu/gm with increase in Cr³⁺ concentration.