Voltammetric determination of mesotrione at hanging mercury drop electrode

A study of the electrochemical reduction of the mesotrione pesticide on a hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) was performed as a basis for the development of a sensitive analytical method for natural samples. The electrochemical characteristics of herbicide mesotrione dissolved in a phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) have been determined by means of electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) over a wide range of pH from 2.0 to 10.0. The experimental parameters, such as electrolyte type and its pH, pulse amplitude, and scan rate were optimized. The method was applied to the determination of the pesticide in a spiked soil samples. Using this method, a linear calibration curve for mesotrione was obtained up to the 0.1 μM range in pH 7 phosphate buffer solution with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 50 nM. The method can be applied successfully to the determination of mesotrione in soils. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Sterically stabilized emulsion polymerization of styrene: Pseudo‐semicontinuous approach

The sterically stabilized emulsion polymerization of styrene initiated by a water‐soluble initiator at different temperatures has been investigated. The rate of polymerization (R_p) versus conversion curve shows the two non‐stationary‐rate intervals typical for the polymerization proceeding under non‐stationary‐state conditions. The shape of the R_p versus conversion curve results from two opposite effects—the increased number of particles and the decreased monomer concentration at reaction loci as the polymerization advances. At elevated temperatures the monomer emulsion equilibrates to a two‐phase or three‐phase system. The upper phase is transparent (monomer), and the lower one is blue colored, typical for microemulsion. After stirring such a multiphase system and initiation of polymerization, the initial coarse polymer emulsion was formed. The average size of monomer/polymer particles strongly decreased up to about 40% conversion and then leveled off. The initial large particles are assumed to be highly monomer‐swollen particles formed by the heteroagglomeration of unstable polymer particles and monomer droplets. The size of the “highly monomer” swollen particles continuously decreases with conversion, and they merge with the growing particles at about 40–50% conversion. The monomer droplets and/or large highly monomer‐swollen polymer particles also serve as a reservoir of monomer and emulsifier. The continuous release of nonionic (hydrophobic) emulsifier from the monomer phase increases the colloidal stability of primary particles and the number of polymer particles, that is, the particle nucleation is shifted to the higher conversion region. Variations of the square and cube of the mean droplet radius with aging time indicate that neither the coalescence nor the Ostwald ripening is the main driving force for the droplet instability. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 804–820, 2003     

Study on a Cross Diffusion Parabolic System

This paper considers a kind of strongly coupled cross diffusion parabolic system,which can be usedas the multi-dimensional Lyumkis energy transport model in semiconductor science.The global existence andlarge time behavior are obtained for smooth solution to the initial boundary value problem.When the initialdata are a small perturbation of an isothermal stationary solution,the smooth solution of the problem under theinsulating boundary condition,converges to that stationary solution exponentially fast as time goes to infinity.     

THE LARGE TIME BEHAVIOR OF SPECTRAL APPROXIMATION FOR A CLASS OF PSEUDOPARABOLIC VISCOUS DIFFUSION EQUATION

The asymptotic behavior of the solutions to a class of pseudoparabolic viscous diffusion equation with periodic initial condition is studied by using the spectral method. The semidiscrete Fourier approximate solution of the problem is constructed and the error estiation between spectral approximate solution and exact solution on large time is also obtained. The existence of the approximate attractor AN and the upper semicontinuity d(AN,A)→0 are proved.     

Side‐chain crystallization behavior of graft copolymers consisting of an amorphous main chain and crystalline side chains. II. Poly(n‐hexyl methacrylate)‐graft‐poly(ethylene glycol)

The phase behavior and crystallization of graft copolymers consisting of poly(n‐hexyl methacrylate) (PHMA) as an amorphous main chain and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as crystallizable side chains (HMAx with 15 ≤ x ≤ 73, where x represents the weight percentage of PEG) were investigated. Small‐angle X‐ray scattering profiles measured above the melting temperature of PEG suggested that a microdomain structure with segregated PHMA and PEG domains was formed in HMA40 and HMA46. This phase behavior was qualitatively described by a calculated phase diagram based on the mean‐field theory. Because of the segregation of PEG into microdomains, the crystallization temperature of the PEG side chains in HMAx was higher than that in poly(methyl acrylate)‐graft‐poly(ethylene glycol) having a similar value of x, which was considered to be in a disordered state above the melting temperature. In HMAx with x ≤ 40, PEG crystallization was strongly restricted, probably because the PEG microdomains were isolated in the PHMA matrix. As a result, the growth of PEG spherulite was not observed because the PEG crystallization occurred after vitrification of the PHMA segregated domains. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 129–137, 2007     

Surface characterization and barrier properties of plasma‐modified polyethersulfone/layered silicate nanocomposites

This study describes the preparation of polyethersulfone (PES)/layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSNs) by mixing PES polymer chain into organically‐modified layered silicate in 1‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidinone (NMP) solution. Both X‐ray diffraction data and transmission electron microscopy images of PLSNs indicate that the silicate layers were almost exfoliated and randomly distributed into the PES matrix. The mechanical and barrier properties of PLSNs show remarkable enhancement in the storage modulus and water/oxygen permeability when compared with that of neat PES matrix. Surfaces modification of PES and PLSN films with various treated times, system pressures, and radio frequency (RF) powers were performed using a mixture of oxygen (O₂) and nitrogen (N₂) plasmas. The topographical and physical properties of plasma‐modified PES and PLSN surfaces were investigated using scanning probe microscopy (SPM), contact‐angle measurements, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These results indicate that the surface roughness of PLSNs with the same condition of plasma modification is lower than that of neat PES matrix and is probably due to the increase of stiffness with the presence of inorganic layered silicates in PES matrix. The surface properties of the PES and PLSNs are also changed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. The XPS spectra suggest that the exposure of the PES and PLSNs to the plasmas led to the combination of etching reactions of polymer surface initiated by plasma and the following addition reactions of new oxygen‐ and nitrogen‐containing functional groups onto polymer surfaces to change their surface properties. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 3185–3194, 2006     

锂离子电池硅基负极材料的研究进展

硅基材料是新一代高容量锂离子蓄电池负极材料的典型代表,近年来已成为理论研究和应用研究的热点.本文介绍了锂离子电池硅基负极材料的制备方法、电化学性能及其研究现状,分析了硅材料作为锂离子电池负极材料存在的问题;讨论了硅材料作为锂离子电池负极材料的研究前景.并指出若能克服目前存在问题,将有望成为新一代锂离子电池负极材料.     

LIMITING BEHAVIOR OF UNIFORM RECURSIVE TREES

The authors consider the limiting behavior of various branches in a uniform recursive tree with size growing to infinity.The limiting distribution ofζ_(n,m),the number of branches with size m in a uniform recursive tree of order n,converges weakly to a Poisson distribution with parameter 1/m with convergence of all moments.The size of any large branch tends to infinity almost surely.     

Infinite-order phase transition in a classical spin system

For an exactly soluble classical spin model with long-range inhomogeneous coupling it is proved that in the absence of external magnetic field the free energy is aC function of the temperature at the critical point.     

Transient bimodality in interacting particle systems

We consider a system of spins which have values ±1 and evolve according to a jump Markov process whose generator is the sum of two generators, one describing a spin-flipGlauber process, the other aKawasaki (stirring) evolution. It was proven elsewhere that if the Kawasaki dynamics is speeded up by a factor ^–2, then, in the limit 0 (continuum limit), propagation of chaos holds and the local magnetization solves a reaction-diffusion equation. We choose the parameters of the Glauber interaction so that the potential of the reaction term in the reaction-diffusion equation is a double-well potential with quartic maximum at the origin. We assume further that for each the system is in a finite interval ofZ with ^–1 sites and periodic boundary conditions. We specify the initial measure as the product measure with 0 spin average, thus obtaining, in the continuum limit, a constant magnetic profile equal to 0, which is a stationary unstable solution to the reaction-diffusion equation. We prove that at times of the order ^–1/2 propagation of chaos does not hold any more and, in the limit as 0, the state becomes a nontrivial superposition of Bernoulli measures with parameters corresponding to the minima of the reaction potential. The coefficients of such a superposition depend on time (on the scale ^–1/2) and at large times (on this scale) the coefficient of the term corresponding to the initial magnetization vanishes (transient bimodality). This differs from what was observed by De Masi, Presutti, and Vares, who considered a reaction potential with quadratic maximum and no bimodal effect was seen, as predicted by Broggi, Lugiato, and Colombo.