Frequency and voltage-dependent electrical and dielectric properties of Al/Co-doped PVA/p-Si structures at room temperature

In order to investigate of cobalt-doped interracial polyvinyl alcohol （PVA） layer and interface trap （Dit） effects, A1/p- Si Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） are fabricated, and their electrical and dielectric properties are investigated at room temperature. The forward and reverse admittance measurements are carded out in the frequency and voltage ranges of 30 kHz-300 kHz and -5 V-6 V, respectively. C-V or er-V plots exhibit two distinct peaks corresponding to inversion and accumulation regions. The first peak is attributed to the existence of Dit, the other to the series resistance （Rs）, and interfacial layer. Both the real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant （er and err） and electric modulus （Mr and Mrr）, loss tangent （tan~）, and AC electrical conductivity （aac） are investigated, each as a function of frequency and applied bias voltage. Each of the M~ versus V and Mrr versus V plots shows a peak and the magnitude of peak increases with the increasing of frequency. Especially due to the Dit and interfacial PVA layer, both capacitance （C） and conductance （G/w） values are strongly affected, which consequently contributes to deviation from both the electrical and dielectric properties of A1/Co-doped PVA/p-Si （MPS） type SBD. In addition, the voltage-dependent profile of Dit is obtained from the low-high frequency capacitance （CLF-CHF） method.     

Toward a universal quantum QSPR operator

This article presents a discussion about the formalism, which might be associated to a general Quantum quantitative structure–properties relations operator, appearing in a Boltzmann‐like exponential form, which is based in turn on the definition of the concept of thermal voltage, applied to thermally scaled electronic density functions. Three practical numerical examples are presented, corresponding to the calculation of the polarization angle in assorted chiral molecules, the estimation of fish toxicity for perchlorobenzene within the set of chlorobenzenes and a typical quantum QSAR study on the popular Cramer steroid set.     

Effect of bovine serum albumin on the surface properties of ionic liquid-type Gemini surfactant

The effect of bovine serum albumin on the surface properties of IL-type gemini surfactant ([C₁₀-4-C₁₀im]Br₂), have been investigated by surface tension method. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) as a function of BSA concentrations at various temperatures was investigated. The CMC of [C₁₀-4-C₁₀im]Br₂ increases with increasing the concentration of BSA as well as the temperature of the system. The interfacial parameters viz; maximum surface excess concentration (Γ_max), the minimum area per molecule (A_min), and surface pressure at CMC (Π_cmc) were calculated. In addition, thermodynamic parameters of adsorption and micellization were evaluated by using surface tension data. The results indicated that the binding of [C₁₀-4-C₁₀im]Br₂ to BSA is spontaneous and exothermic in nature. The process is entropy driven and hydrophobic interactions are the major driving forces.     

Solution-Processable Low Voltage Organic Transistors of Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-Based Conducting Polymer

A low-operating voltage and high performance polymeric field effect transistors using octadecylphosphonic acid-treated high-k AlOx and HfO₂ hybrid dielectrics were demonstrated. High-k metal oxide hybrid dielectrics were prepared by oxygen plasma treatment of deposited Al film for AlOx and by spin coating of solution-processable HfO₂ sol-gel solution for HfO₂ in combination with phosphoric acid-based self-assembled monolayer (SAM), resulting in high capacitance (10 nF/cm² for SiO₂, 600 nF/cm² for AlOx and 580 nF/cm² for HfO₂). With phosphoric acid-based SAM on high-k metal oxide and thermal annealing of thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-based conducting polymer, the device performance was significantly enhanced. The highest mobility of the transistors using ODPA-treated AlOx as a gate dielectric is 2.3 × 10^?2 cm² V^?1 s^?1 in the saturation region with the source-drain of ?2 V. In ODPA-treated HfO₂ hybrid dielectric, the saturated mobility is 1.1 × 10^?2 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and the threshold voltage was measured to be ?0.31 V, which is at least one order lower than SiO₂ hybrid dielectric (?3 V).     

Critical Heat Flux for Downward Facing Boiling on a Coated Hemispherical Surface

An experimental study was performed to investigate the effect of surface coating on the critical heat flux for downward facing boiling on the outer surface of a hemispherical vessel. Steady-state boiling experiments were conducted in the subscale boundary layer boiling (SBLB) facility using test vessels with metallic microporous coatings to obtain the local boiling curves and the local critical heat flux (CHF) limits. Similar heat transfer performance was observed for microporous aluminum and microporous copper coatings. When compared to the corresponding data without coatings, the boiling curves for the coated vessels were found to shift upward and to the right. This meant that the CHF limit was higher with surface coating and that the minimum film boiling temperatures were located at higher wall superheats. In particular, the microporous coatings were found to enhance the local CHF values appreciably at all angular locations explored in the experiments. Results of the present study showed that the microporous aluminum coating was very durable. Even after many cycles of steady state boiling, the vessel coating remained rather intact, with no apparent changes in color or structure. Although similar heat transfer performance was observed for microporous copper coatings, the latter were found to be much less durable and tended to degrade after several cycles of boiling.     

Newton-like methods for solving vector optimization problems

In the context of Euclidean spaces, we present an extension of the Newton-like method for solving vector optimization problems, with respect to the partial orders induced by a pointed, closed and convex cone with a nonempty interior. We study both exact and inexact versions of the Newton-like method. Under reasonable hypotheses, we prove stationarity of accumulation points of the sequences produced by Newton-like methods. Moreover, assuming strict cone-convexity of the objective map to the vector optimization problem, we establish convergence of the sequences to an efficient point whenever the initial point is in a compact level set.     

STABILITY ANALYSIS OF A CAPACITIVE FGM MICRO-BEAM USING MODIFIED COUPLE STRESS THEORY

Based on the Modified Couple Stress Theory,a functionally graded micro-beam under electrostatic forces is studied.The FGM micro-beam is made of two materials and material properties vary continuously along the beam thickness according to a power-law.Dynamic and static pull-in voltages are obtained and it is shown that the static and dynamic pull-in voltages for some materials cannot be obtained using classic theories and components of couple stress must be taken into account.In addition,it is shown that the values of pull-in voltages depend on the variation through the thickness of the volume fractions of the two constituents.     

Filling the Charge–Discharge Voltage Gap in Flexible Hybrid Zinc-Based Batteries by Utilizing a Pseudocapacitive Material

The high charge–discharge voltage gap is one of the main bottlenecks of zinc–air batteries (ZABs) because of the kinetically sluggish oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER) on the oxygen electrode side. Thus, an efficient bifunctional catalyst for ORR and OER is highly desired. Herein, honeycomb-like MnCo₂O_4.5 spheres were used as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst. It was demonstrated that both ORR and OER catalytic activity are promoted by Mn^IV-induced oxygen vacancy defects and multiple active sites. Importantly, the multivalent ions present in the material and its defect structure endow stable pseudocapacitance within the inactive region of ORR and OER; as a result, a low charge–discharge voltage gap (0.43 V at 10 mA cm⁻²) was achieved when it was employed in a flexible hybrid Zn-based battery. This mechanism provides unprecedented and valuable insights for the development of next-generation metal–air batteries.