Study of alternating current conduction mechanism in polypyrrole-magnesium ferrite hybrid nanocomposite through correlated barrier hopping model

In the present work, both polypyrrole (PPy) and optimized polypyrrole–magnesium ferrite (PPy-MgFe₂O₄) hybrid nanocomposite were synthesized separately by simple oxidative chemical polymerization method and then structurally characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The FTIR spectrum of the composite showed the presence of characteristic absorption bands of both PPy and MgFe₂O₄ in the composite confirming interfacial interaction of PPy with MgFe₂O₄. That this interaction is not affected by crystalline behaviour of predominant MgFe₂O₄ particles but that MgFe₂O₄ has embedded in PPy matrix was confirmed by XRD studies. Agglomerated granular spherical morphology of the composite was confirmed by SEM studies. Decrease in AC conductivity of the composite as compared to PPy due to the formation of interfacial heterojunction barrier between p-type PPy and n-type MgFe₂O₄ was confirmed experimentally and well supported theoretically by calculating binding energy, hopping distance and density of states at Fermi level of PPy and the composite as per CBH model.     

Surface species in the direct amination of methanol over Brønsted acidic mordenite catalysts

Quantitative in situ infrared spectroscopy in combination with kinetic analysis is utilized to derive mechanistic aspects for the reaction of methanol with ammonia on Brønsted acidic mordenite. Under non-reactive conditions, a coadsorption complex between methanol and ammonia is found, in which only ammonia is in direct interaction with the Brønsted acid sites of the zeolite. This complex is proposed to be the precursor for the formation of protonated methylamines in the zeolite pores which are formed in sequential order up to tetramethylammonium ions. These methylamines are unable to desorb under reaction conditions in the absence of ammonia. They leave the surface either by ammonia adsorption assisted desorption or by scavenging of methyl groups from protonated methylamines by ammonia. Both steps are concluded to be potentially rate determining.     

A Stability Analysis of Convolution Quadraturea for Abel-Volterra Integral Equations

We investigate the stability properties of numerical methodsfor weakly singular Volterra integral equations of the secondkind. Our theory extends the stability theory of linear multistepmethods for ordinary differential equations. We introduce theconcepts of A-stability, A()-stability etc. for Abel-Volterraequations. The stability region is characterized in terms ofthe weights of the method. It is shown that the order of anA-stable convolution quadrature cannot exceed 2. Further westudy the stability properties of implicit Adam methods, withparticular emphasis on the question of A()-stability.     

Observation of the Debye-Waller factor in a colloidal single crystal

Bragg diffraction spot intensities of a colloidal single crystal were found to exhibit a DebyeWaller factor-like decay. The Lindemann parameter and the mean-square displacement after infinite times of the colloidal particles could be obtained.     

Formation of sulfur surface species on a commercial NO<Subscript>x</Subscript>-storage reduction catalyst

The influence of SO₂ exposure under lean (oxidizing) and rich (reducing) reaction conditions on the storage and oxidation/reduction function of a commercial NO_x storage-reduction catalyst was investigated by temperature-programmed uptake experiments and high temperature XRD. Both the storage capacity and the oxidation/reduction function of the catalyst were deactivated by SO₂ exposure under lean and rich reaction conditions. The deactivation of the storage component, i.e. the loss of the NO_x storage capacity, resulted mainly from the formation of Ba-sulfates accumulating in the bulk phase, which have a high thermal stability (>800°C) and, therefore, cannot be removed under the typical operation conditions of a NSR catalyst. For the oxidation function only a temporarily deactivation during lean reaction conditions was observed. Besides the formation of SO^2- ₄ species on the storage component at the beginning of the SO₂ exposure under rich conditions, an adsorption of SO₂ on the noble metal component was observed resulting in the formation of sulfur deposits. The oxidation of these sulfur species with a subsequent spillover of SO^2- ₄ species to the storage component during lean conditions could accelerate the deactivation of the storage capacity.     

Cole-Cole Analysis of the Superspin Glass System Co 80 Fe 20 /Al 2 O 3

Ac susceptibility measurements were performed on discontinuous magnetic multilayers [Co 80 Fe 20 ( t )/Al 2 O 3 (3 nm)] 10 , t = 0.9 and 1.0 nm, by Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometry. The CoFe forms nearly spherical ferromagnetic single-domain nanoparticles in the diamagnetic Al 2 O 3 matrix. Due to dipolar interactions and random distribution of anisotropy axes the system exhibits a spin-glass phase. We measured the ac susceptibility as a function of temperature 20 h T h 100 K at different dc fields and as a function of frequency 0.01 h f h 1000 Hz. The spectral data were successfully analyzed by use of the phenomenological Cole-Cole model, giving a power-law temperature dependence of the characteristic relaxation time c and a high value for the polydispersivity exponent, f , 0.8, typical of spin glass systems.     

Measurement of charge distributions for 229Th(nth,f) and 232U(nth,f)

A gas ΔE ? E_R telescope has been used to measure charge yields and their correlations with kinetic energies for ²²⁹Th and ²³²U. Even-charge yields are enhanced compared with odd-charge yields for both fissioning systems; this enhancement increases for events with higher kinetic energy. The mean odd-even effect $\text{δ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>p</mtext>}}\text{is}\text{= (40±4)\%}\text{for}{}^{229}\text{Th}$; it is $\text{(21 ± 3)\%}\text{for}{}^{232}\text{U-the same as for}{}^{233}\text{U}\text{((22.1±2.1)\%)}\text{and}{}^{235}\text{U}\text{((23.7±0.7)\%)}$. The energy-integrated δ_p and δ_p for different energy windows, vary strongly as a function of charge (Z) due to the underlying shells. The δ_p averaged over Z increases fast with kinetic energy, contrary to the existing results for ²³³U and ²³⁵U, where δ_p flattens off at low energies. For both systems, the most probable kinetic energy ē shows a strong odd-even stagger; the mean odd-even effect on energy, $\text{δE}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>K</mtext>}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>o?e</mtext>}}\text{,}\text{is}\text{1.4 ± 0.3}\text{MeV for}{}^{229}\text{Th, and}\text{1.7±0.4}\text{MeV for}{}^{232}\text{U}\text{—}$ the latter is about twice the value for ${}^{233}\text{U}\text{(0.95 ± 0.09}\text{MeV}\text{)}\text{and}{}^{235}\text{U}\text{(0.7}\text{MeV}\text{)}$. These results are discussed in terms of the existing models.