Cross-polarization with magic-angle spinning kinetics and impedance spectroscopy study of proton mobility,local disorder,and thermal equilibration in hydrogen-bonded poly(methacrylic acid)

The ¹H–¹³C cross-polarization with magic-angle spinning (CP MAS) kinetics was studied in poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) having the purpose to track the links between the local order in the main chain and the proton dynamics in peripheral hydrogen bond networks. The experimental CP MAS kinetic curves were analyzed applying the models of isotropic and anisotropic spin-diffusion with thermal equilibration. The fractal dimension D_p ≈ 3 was deduced that indicates that PMAA behaves as an isotropic 3D-system. No proton conductivity in the neat PMAA was deduced from the impedance spectroscopy data analyzing the frequency dependences of the complex dielectric permittivity. The value of local order parameter S = 0.70 for CH₂ in PMAA occupies an intermediate position between 0.63 and 0.85 deduced for CH₂ sites in the main chains of poly(vinyl phosphonic acid) and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), that is, the true proton conductor and the polymer that contains the H-bond network, however, no proton conductivity, respectively.     

Intertwined Detection and Recognition Roles of Tetrazine in Synergistic Anion-π and H-bond Based Anion Receptor

The intrinsic properties of tetrazine as a π-anion receptor and as an on/off recognition probe merged with H-bond ability of an urea motif into a single architecture constitutes a new generation of well-defined anion receptors. Complexation properties directly benefit from the dual and synergistic contribution of tetrazine and urea. In this study, we report on the synthesis and assessment of binding properties to anions of diverse geometries. Association constants have been predicted by theoretical calculations and evaluated by multiple and complementary experimental techniques including electrospray-mass tandem spectroscopy, NMR, UV-visible, steady state fluorescence spectroscopies and time resolved fluorescence. These results provide the basis for a better understanding of both the complexation and the anion-dependent quenching mechanism.     

Unravelling the Role of Water in Ultrafast Excited-State Relaxation Dynamics within Nano-Architectures of Chlorophyll a

Water plays a pivotal role in structural stability of supramolecular pigment assemblies designed for natural light harvesting (for example, chlorosome antenna complex) as well as their artificial analogs. However, the dynamic role of water in the context of excite-state relaxation has not been explored till date, which we report here. Using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we investigate the excited-state dynamics of two types of nano-scale assemblies of chlorophyll a with different structural motifs, rod-shaped and micellar assemblies, that depend on the water content. We show how water participates in excess energy dissipation by vibrational cooling of the non-thermally populated Q_y band at different rates in different types of clusters but exhibits no polar solvation dynamics. For the micelles, we observe a bifurcation of stimulated emission line shape, whereas a positive-to-negative switching of differential absorption is observed for the rods; both these observations are correlated with their specific structural aspects. Density functional theory calculations reveal two possible stable ground state geometries of dimers, accounting for the bifurcation of line shape in micelles. Thus, our study elucidates water-mediated structure–function relationship within these pigment assemblies.     

Complementarity between micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement in a Bose–Einstein condensate with two Rydberg impurities

We theoretically study complementarity between micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement in a Bose–Einstein condensate with two Rydberg impurities. We investigate quantum dynamics of micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement in the micro-macro system. It is found that strong micro-macro entanglement between Rydberg impurities and the BEC can be generated by the use of initial micro-micro entanglement between two Rydberg impurities, which acts as the seed entanglement to create micro-macro entanglement. We demonstrate a curious complementarity relation between micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement, and find that the complementarity property can be sustained to some extent even though in the presence of the BEC decoherence.     

Analysis,design and simulation of MIM plasmonic filters with different geometries for technical parameters improvement

In this paper, four optical filter topologies based on metal–insulator–metal waveguides are proposed and the designed structures are investigated numerically using finite-difference timedomain method. Triangular-shaped adjunctions have been added to the filter structures to improve their transmission spectrum. These improved structures consist of air as the insulator and silver as the metal. The relative permittivity of metal has been described via the Drude,Drude–Lorentz, and Palik models. The first filter's transmission spectrum shows an acceptable transmittance. In the second optimized filter, the transmission spectrum has been improved. The transmittance spectrum can be tuned through adjusting the edge of the triangle in these four optimized filters. As a result, the bandwidths of resonance spectra can be adjusted. The theory of such tapered structures will be investigated by the tapered transmission line and will be solved with the transfer matrix method. This method shows a better performance and higher transmission efficiency in comparison with the basic structures. On the other hand, the final filter has been chosen as the best one because of its hexagonal resonator. The main reason for having a better result is due to a longer interaction length in comparison with the circular resonator. This in turn creates much better energy coupling and results in higher transmission.     

第三族金属氧化物离子对二氧化碳转化的红外光谱研究

本文利用红外光解离光谱研究了第三族金属氧化物离子对二氧化碳分子的转化机制. 研究表明，对于[ScO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系，在n≤4时，形成了溶剂化结构；在n=5时，形成了碳酸盐结构，实现了二氧化碳的转化. 对于[YO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系，需要4个二氧化碳分子就可以实现二氧化碳的转化. 而在[YO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系中，只发现了溶剂化结构，没有观察到碳酸盐结构. 理论计算表明，[YO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系拥有最小的溶剂化结构向碳酸盐结构转化能垒，[LaO(CO₂)_n]⁺体系拥有最大的溶剂化结构向碳酸盐结构转化能垒. 本文从分子水平揭示了不同金属氧化物离子对二氧化碳分子转化的影响规律.     

On-chip multiphoton Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state based on integrated frequency combs

One of the most important multipartite entangled states, Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state (GHZ), serves as a fundamental resource for quantum foundation test, quantum communication and quantum computation. To increase the number of entangled particles, significant experimental efforts should been invested due to the complexity of optical setup and the difficulty in maintaining the coherence condition for high-fidelity GHZ state. Here, we propose an ultra-integrated scalable on-chip GHZ state generation scheme based on frequency combs. By designing several microrings pumped by different lasers, multiple partially overlapped quantum frequency combs are generated to supply as the basis for on-chip polarization-encoded GHZ state with each qubit occupying a certain spectral mode. Both even and odd numbers of GHZ states can be engineered with constant small number of integrated components and easily scaled up on the same chip by only adjusting one of the pump wavelengths. In addition, we give the on-chip design of projection measurement for characterizing GHZ states and show the reconfigurability of the state. Our proposal is rather simple and feasible within the existing fabrication technologies and we believe it will boost the development of multiphoton technologies.     

Impact of the Oxygen Defects and the Hydrogen Concentration on the Surface of Tetragonal and Monoclinic ZrO2 on the Reduction Rates of Stearic Acid on Ni/ZrO2

The role of the specific physicochemical properties of ZrO₂ phases on Ni/ZrO₂ has been explored with respect to the reduction of stearic acid. Conversion on pure m‐ZrO₂ is 1.3 times more active than on t‐ZrO₂, whereas Ni/m‐ZrO₂ is three times more active than Ni/t‐ZrO₂. Although the hydrodeoxygenation of stearic acid can be catalyzed solely by Ni, the synergistic interaction between Ni and the ZrO₂ support causes the variations in the reaction rates. Adsorption of the carboxylic acid group on an oxygen vacancy of ZrO₂ and the abstraction of the α‐hydrogen atom with the elimination of the oxygen atom to produce a ketene is the key to enhance the overall rate. The hydrogenated intermediate 1‐octadecanol is in turn decarbonylated to heptadecane with identical rates on all catalysts. Decarbonylation of 1‐octadecanol is concluded to be limited by the competitive adsorption of reactants and intermediate. The substantially higher adsorption of propionic acid demonstrated by IR spectroscopy and the higher reactivity to O₂ exchange reactions with the more active catalyst indicate that the higher concentration of active oxygen defects on m‐ZrO₂ compared to t‐ZrO₂ causes the higher activity of Ni/m‐ZrO₂.     

XPS and resistive studies on thin films of a copper(II)‐based coordination polymer deposited on functionalized interdigital electrodes

A symmetrical 2‐thiopyrimidine based molecule with an expanded π‐electron system is synthesized and used to form a self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) on gold surfaces. Utilizing chemical vapor deposition a monolayer of (3‐mercaptopropyl)triethoxysilane is formed on silicon dioxide substrates. Both of these SAM coated substrates are characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the growth of a coordination polymer built up from 5,5′‐(ethyne‐1,2‐diyl)bis(2‐hydroxyacetophenone) and copper(II) on dual SAM coated transducers is studied. After the deposition procedure on interdigital electrodes the electrical properties of the polymer are investigated performing resistive measurements. A significant change of the resistance, which depends on the surrounding atmosphere, proves the sensing behavior of the synthesized coordination polymer. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 335–344