Characterization and electrochemical deposition of natural melanin thin films

Melanin is an important class of biological pigments because of its distinct chemical and physical properties. The electrochemical deposition of natural melanin thin films was studied using two different techniques; constant potential and cyclic voltammetry along with a deposition time of five hours. The thin films deposited electrochemically on a fluorine-doped tin oxide conductive glass substrate using the constant potential method, exhibited faster growth rate and better adhesion to the fluorine-doped tin oxide working electrodes than those deposited using the cyclic voltammetry method. The thin films deposited on the fluorine-doped tin oxide conductor glass using the constant potential method were also more homogeneous than those deposited via the cyclic voltammetry technique. The increase of film thickness is related to the increase of electrochemical deposition time. Interestingly, the electrochemical deposition using the constant potential method had the advantage of consuming less electric charge. The physical and chemical structures of the melanin thin films were characterized using ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis. The ultraviolet–visible absorption spectra showed the correlation between the variation of deposition rates of melanin and the type of electrochemical technique employed as well as the thickness of the film. The average thickness of the film is 500 nm which absorb 40% of light in both type of films. The atomic force microscopy images illustrated the homogeneous deposition of the melanin molecules on the fluorine-doped tin oxide conductive glass substrate, indicating that the thickness of the thin films can be controlled. We estimated an average grain size of 14.093 Å. The ease of preparing such thin films of organic materials can open new avenues towards the use of soft conductors, in contrast to the complex preparation of industrial semiconductors.     

线电荷与接地半无限大导体板所形成的电场

将镜像法和保角变换法相结合,计算由线电荷与接地半无限大导体板所形成的电场,给出其电势分布和场强分布,进一步得出等势线方程和电场线方程,并利用数学软件MATLAB绘制出等势线图和电场线图.     

Structural, optical and electrical properties of Zn1−xCdxO thin films prepared by PLD

Ternary polycrystalline Zn_1−xCd_xO semiconductor films with cadmium content x ranging from 0 to 0.23 were obtained on quartz substrate by pulse laser deposited (PLD) technique. X-ray diffraction measurement revealed that all the films were single phase of wurtzite structure grown on c-axis orientation with its c-axis lattice constant increasing as the Cd content x increasing. Atomic force microscopy observation revealed that the grain size of Zn_1−xCd_xO films decreases continuously as the Cd content x increases. Both photoluminescence and optical measurements showed that the band gap decreases from 3.27 to 2.78 eV with increasing the Cd content x. The increase in Cd content x also leads to the broadening of the emission peak. The resistivity of Zn_1−xCd_xO films decreases evidently for higher values of Cd content x. The shift of PL emission to visible light as well as the decrease of resistivity makes the Zn_1−xCd_xO films potential candidate for optoelectronic device.     

水热-溶胶-凝胶法合成多壁碳纳米管-Na3V2（PO4）3复合物及其作为锂离子电池正极材料的性能

采用水热和溶胶-凝胶相结合的方法,制备了具有良好电化学性能的新型多壁碳纳米管-Na₃V₂（PO₄）₃（MWCNT-NVP）复合材料（MWCNT的质量分数为8.74%）. 通过场发射扫描电子显微镜表征可知,MWCNT分散在NVP纳米颗粒之间,并起到“电子导电线”的作用. 与纯Na₃V₂（PO₄）₃相比,MWCNT-NVP具有更高的比容量和更优异的循环性能. 在0.2C（35.2 mA·g^-1）的电流密度下,3.0-4.5 V的电压范围内,MWCNT-NVP的初始比容量为82.2 mAh·g^-1. 循环100次以后,比容量为72.3 mAh·g^-1. 在1.0-3.0 V充放电时,MWCNT-NVP的初始容量为100.6 mAh·g^-1. 100次循环以后,其容量保持率高达90%. 同时,交流阻抗测试表明,由于MWCNT的存在,MWCNT-NVP的导电性有了显著的提高. 以上结果表明,MWCNT-NVP是一种良好的锂离子电池电极材料.     

Conductor‐like screening model for relaxed excited states: Implementation in the semiempirical method MSINDO

Two approaches to treat solvent polarization and reorientation effects for excited states of molecules and surfaces have been implemented in the recently developed MSINDO‐sCIS method (Gadaczek, Krause, Hintze, Bredow, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2011, 7, 3675). They allow for an efficient calculation of analytical energy gradients and hence open the opportunity to investigate fluorescence effects or photochemical reactions in solution for large molecules that are difficult to treat with high‐level methods. Both approaches are based on the conductor‐like screening model (COSMO) (Klamt and Schüürmann, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1993, 2, 799) in combination with the configuration interaction singles (CIS) method (Foresman, Head‐Gordon, Pople, and Frisch, J. Phys. Chem. 1992, 96, 135). The paper gives a brief outline of the theoretical background. As a first application, solvent shifts of three well‐studied, environment‐sensitive fluorescent dyes (Kucherak, Didier, Mély, and Klymchenko, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010, 1, 616) have been calculated and compared with experimental results and standard time‐dependent density functional theory. A statistical evaluation of MSINDO‐COSMO‐sCIS is provided for a set of 39 molecules suggested recently by Jacquemin et al. (Jacquemin, Planchat, Adamo, and Mennucci, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2012, 8, 2359). Calculated vertical and adiabatic excitation energies and fluorescence energies are compared to experimental data. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

质子导体固体氧化物燃料电池的Ba_2Co_9O_(14)阴极材料

Ba2Co9O14(BCO)是一种新型的电子-氧离子混合导体,在氧离子导体的固体氧化物燃料电池(SOFC)中,其作为阴极材料的应用可能性已经得到证实,本工作探索BCO在质子导体SOFC中的应用可能性。采用固相反应法制备BCO粉体,研究BCO与质子导体电解质BZCY(Ba Zr0.1Ce0.7Y0.2O3-δ)之间的化学相容性,分析BCO-BZCY复合阴极在BZCY电解质上的电化学性能。当复合阴极中BCO的质量含量为70%时,阴极性能最佳,界面阻抗活化能为1.26 e V。以BCO-BZCY为阴极,Ni-BZCY为阳极,BZCY为电解质的阳极支撑型单电池,700℃时,单电池的极化阻抗为0.15Ω·cm2,最大功率密度为400 m W·cm-2。     

Optimal estimates of the field enhancement in presence of a bow-tie structure of perfectly conducting inclusions in two dimensions

This paper deals with the field enhancement due to insertion of a bow-tie structure of perfectly conducting inclusions into the two-dimensional space with a given field. The field enhancement is represented by the gradient blow-up of a solution to the conductivity problem. The bow-tie structure consists of two disjoint bounded domains which have corners with possibly different aperture angles. The domains are parts of cones near the vertices which are nearly touching to each other. We construct functions explicitly which characterize the field enhancement. As consequences, we derive optimal estimates of the gradient in terms of the distance between two inclusions and aperture angles of the corners. The estimates show in quantitatively precise way that the field is enhanced beyond the corner singularities due to the interaction between two inclusions, and the blow-up rate is much higher than the one for the case of inclusions with smooth boundaries.     

Novel Ba_(0.5)Sr_(0.5)Fe_(0.8)Zn_(0.2)O_(3-δ) membranes for POM

A novel cobalt-free perovskite based on Ba_(0.5)Sr_(0.5)Fe_(0.8)Zn_(0.2)O_(3-δ)(BSFZ)were prepared by EDTA-citric acid method.The lattice constants of the BSFZ perovskite were characterized by in situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction(HTXRD).The thermal expansion coefficient of BSFZ is 10.5×10~(-6)K~(-1),which is lower than that of cobalt-based perovskite materials.The BSFZ membrane was also used to construct reactors for the partial oxidation of methane(POM)to syngas.Results show that the BSFZ membrane...     

The influence of substrate surface roughness on microstrip transmission line loss using conventional analyses and length‐scale fractal analysis

Two components of conductor topography can impact conductor loss for signals in the GHz frequency range: conductor–ceramic interface roughness and conductor edge angle. This study is an experimental investigation of the influence of these conductor topographies on conductor loss in microstrip circuits produced by thick‐film technology. The aluminum nitride ceramic substrates have different surface roughnesses due to different surface finish processes. The substrate surfaces were characterized using conventional and length‐scale fractal analysis. The conductor–ceramic interface was measured with a contact profilometer. The conductor edge angle and conductor edge profile were measured optically. It was found that there is a direct correlation between conductor loss and conductor edge angle, whereas there is an inverse correlation between loss and substrate roughness or relative length of the conductor–ceramic interface. This is the opposite result to the conventional expectation of surface roughness effects on conductor loss. There is also a negative correlation between conductor edge angle and surface roughness or relative length. The loss behavior can be explained by the interaction of the conductor paste with the surfaces during processing. The paste tends to spread more on the smoother surfaces, and thus creates an elongated edge of diminishing cross‐section and a small edge angle. This leads to greater conductor loss. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meter-long CeO2/YSZ/Y2O3 buffer layers for YBCO coated conductors using DC reactive sputtering

This paper reports CeO₂/YSZ/Y₂O₃ buffer layers deposited on biaxially textured NiW substrates by DC reactive sputtering in a reel-to-reel system. The effect of partial pressure of water vapor (P_H2O) on surface morphology and orientation of the Y₂O₃ films was examined. The obtained CeO₂/YSZ/Y₂O₃ buffer layers exhibit a highly biaxial texture, with in- and out-of-plane FWHM values respectively in the range of 6.0–7.0° and 4.5–5.5°. Crystallographic consistency of CeO₂/YSZ/Y₂O₃ along meter length is excellent. Atomic force microscope observation (AFM) reveals a smooth, continuous and crack-free surface with a Root-mean-square roughness (RMS) lower than 10 nm.