Design and fabrication of GeAsSeS chalcogenide waveguides with thermal annealing

We reported a chalcogenide glass-based rib waveguide fabricated using photolithography and dry etching method. A commercial software(COMSOL Multiphysics) was used to optimize the waveguide structure and the distribution of the fundamental modes in the waveguide based on the complete vector finite component. We further employed thermal annealing to optimize the surface and sidewalls of the rib waveguides. It was found that the optimal annealing temperature for Ge As Se S films is 220℃, and the roughness of the films could be significantly reduced by annealing. The zero-dispersion wavelength(ZDW) could be shifted to a short wavelength around ~2.1 μm via waveguide structural optimization, which promotes supercontinuum generation with a short wavelength pump laser source. The insertion loss of the waveguides with cross-sectional areas of 4.0 μm×3.5 μm and 6.0 μm×3.5 μm was measured using lens fiber and the cut-back method. The propagation loss of the 220℃ annealed waveguides could be as low as 1.9 d B/cm at 1550 nm.     

Quantitative Analysis of Al in Flour Products by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Combined with Partial Least Squares

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - Based on partial least squares (PLS) analysis, the effects of different smoothing points and different preprocessing methods on the accuracy and precision of the...     

Mechanistic Investigation and Conductance Modulation of a Metal-Molecule-Metal Junction via Extra Acid Addition

One important prerequisite for the fabrication of molecular functional device strongly relies on the understanding the conducting behaviors of the metal-molecule-metal junction that can respond to an external stimulus. The model Lewis basic molecule 4,4′-(pyridine-3,5-diyl)dibenzonitrile (DBP), which can react with Lewis acid and protic acid, was synthesized. Then, the molecular conducting behavior of DBP, DBP-B(C₆F₅)₃, and DBP-TfOH (DBP-B(C₆F₅)₃, and DBP-TfOH were produced by Lewis acid and protonic acid treatment of DBP) was researched and compared. Given that their identical physical paths for DBP, DBP-B(C₆F₅)₃, and DBP-TfOH to sustain charge transport, our results indicate that modifying the molecular electronic structure, even not directly changing the conductive physical backbone, can tune the charge transporting ability by nearly one order of magnitude. Furthermore, the addition of another Lewis base triethylamine (of stronger alkaline than DBP), to Lewis acid-base pair reverts the electrical properties back to that of a single DBP junction, that is constructive to propose a useful but simple strategy for the design and construction of reversible and controllable molecular device based on pyridine derived molecule.     

Synthesis of yolk-shell Bi2O3@TiO2 submicrospheres with enhanced potassium storage

Science China Chemistry - Due to their enormous potential for large-scale energy storage, rechargeable potassium-ion batteries have been widely researched and developed. However, the drastic volume...     

Electrochemical dehydrogenative N–H/N–H coupling reactions

The N–N bond is present in many important organic compounds, such as hydrazines, pyrazoles, azos, etc. Many methods based on transition metal catalyzed N–N coupling or functionalization of hydrazine have been reported for the synthesis of N–N containing organic compounds. In recent years, electrochemical dehydrogenative N–H/N–H coupling has become a powerful tool for the construction of N–N bearing organic compounds. The electrochemical methods employ electrons as traceless redox reagents instead of chemicals and produce hydrogen as the only byproduct. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the electrochemical dehydrogenative N–H/N–H coupling reactions with focus on the mechanistic insights and synthetic applications of these transformations.     

Preparation of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode materials by using different-sized Mn3O4 nanocrystals as precursors

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - High-voltage LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 with a spinel structure is considered as important cathode materials for high-energy density Li-ion batteries (LIBs). In this...     

Adsorption kinetics of Eu(III) and Am(III) onto bentonite: analysis and application of the liquid membrane tidal diffusion model

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - A new liquid membrane tidal diffusion model (LMTD) was applied based on three assumptions to analyze the kinetics of Eu(III) adsorption on...     

Strong π-π stacking interactions led to the mis-assignment of dimer emissions to the monomers of 1-acetylpyrene

Both experimental and computational studies showed owing to strong π-π stacking interactions, 1-acetylpyrene mainly exists in dimers and molecular aggregates even at low concentrations, which led to the mis-assignment of its monomer emission peaks.     

Zirconia fiber membranes based on PVDF as high-safety separators for lithium-ion batteries using a papermaking method

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Lithium-ion batteries have been receiving more and more attention because of the energy crisis. As an important subassembly of lithium-ion batteries, the...     

Strong Pancake 2e/12c Bond in π-Stacking Phenalenyl Derivatives Avoiding Bond Conversion

The nature of the 2e/12c bond and its conversion to a carbon-carbon single bond in phenalenyl dimers have prompted a great deal of interests recently. In this work, we theoretically investigated a series of π-stacking phenalenyl derivatives with 2e/12c bonding character by density functional theory (DFT) calculations to elucidate origin of this unusual bond conversion. Results show that bond-conversion of the phenalenyl dimer easily occurs at room-temperature both dynamically and thermodynamically. However, bond-conversion of hetero π-stacking adducts, in which the two center carbon atoms were substituted by boron and nitrogen atoms, respectively, is much more difficult, because the 2e/12c bond is stabilized by its charge transfer character. Consequently, the bond-conversion is an endothermic process, albeit with a low conversion barrier. Interestingly, Lewis acid-base interactions would be induced by substitution of the center nitrogen atom to phosphorus atom. The 2e/12c bond is further stabilized by 5.9 kcal mol⁻¹ and its conversion is also thermodynamically unfavorable.