Pattern formation in a variable diffusion predator–prey model with additive Allee effect

This paper deals with a variable diffusion predator–prey model with additive Allee effect. A good understanding of the existence of steady states is gained for the case  $\sigma =0$. The result shows that the reduce problem has multiple solutions. Moreover, by applying the singular perturbation method, we give a proof of existence of large amplitude solutions when  $\sigma$ is sufficiently small.     

An Insight into the Diffusion of Unsaturated Polyester (UP) Resin into Expanded Graphite (EG) to Improve the Mechanical Properties of the UP/EG Composites

Abstract

Polymer/expanded graphite (EG) nanocomposites have great importance in many industrial applications mainly due to their high electrical/thermal conductivity or flame retardancy. However, to fully employ the benefits of polymer/EG nanocomposites one must consider the high degree of porosity of EG. The high degree of porosity of EG can deteriorate the composites’ mechanical properties if the polymer chains cannot diffuse completely into the EG pores. In this article, an insight is given into the diffusion of unsaturated isophthalic polyester (UP) resin, consisting of a combination of maleic anhydride and isophthalic anhydride in the resin backbone, with two viscosities, into the pores of the EG particles of various degrees of porosity. The diffusion experiments were carried out on compressed EG tablets with the same density but different porosity due to the different porosity of the EG particles. The results showed that the diffusion rate of the UP resin with higher viscosity slightly decreased when the EG porosity decreased but, in the opposite way, it strongly increased for the low viscosity UP resin. The EG nanocomposites samples were molded at varying pressures. The micrographs of the fractured surfaces of the EG nanocomposites showed that the EG pores were not filled with resin, thus the EG nanocomposites had residual pores. It was found that composites containing EGs with higher expansion ratio and larger particles and pores showed larger residual pores. Furthermore, the composites prepared with the more viscous UP resin showed more residual pores. By applying a pressure of 10?bar instead of 1?bar, a reduction of 7–20% in the residual pores of the nanocomposites was observed which led to improved mechanical properties by up to 20% in flexural strength for the EG with the highest expansion ratio.     

A solvent-governed surface state strategy for rational synthesis of N and S co-doped carbon dots with multicolour fluorescence

ABSTRACT

Multicolour emissive carbon dots (CDs) are widely investigated by virtue of their merits on fluorescent properties. Method on heteroatom doping assisted with various solvents has been proved efficient in achieving multiple-colour-emissive CDs, especially long-wavelength emission. Herein, a synthesis of multicolour-emissive CDs by controlled surface function is reported. By tuning the thermal-pyrolysis temperature and molar ratio of reactants, optimal emission of the resulted CDs gradually shifts from blue to yellow light with the assistance of different solvents. According to the emissive relationship dependent on excitation, fluorescence lifetimes, and FT-IR of these CDs, the different surface states participated with S and N elements on the surface of carbogenic core govern fluorescent colours of the CDs. In terms of the applications, blue CDs (B-CDs) exhibits high sensitivity for ion detections of Ag⁺ and Fe³⁺, which is further illustrated to have different quenching mechanisms each other because that these ions have the affinity interaction with different surface groups of the CDs. Moreover, blue and yellow CDs solutions are mixed with PVP water solution to fabricate white-light CDs/PVP film, which exhibits stable fluorescence with a CIE coordinate of (0.32, 0.33) and endows these CDs as potentially fluorescent nanomaterial in the solid state lighting field.     

Sonochemical approach for synthesis of zinc oxide-poly methyl methacrylate hybrid nanoparticles and its application in corrosion inhibition

Hybrid nanoparticles (HNPs) with zinc oxide and polymethyl metha acrylate (inorganic/ polymer) were synthesized through the exploitation of ultrasound approach. The synthesized HNPs were further characterized employing transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. ZnO-PMMA based HNPs exhibit excellent protection properties to mild steel from corrosion when gets exposed to acidic condition. Electrochemical impendence spectroscopy (EIS) analysis was accomplished to evaluate the corrosion inhibition performance of MS panel coated with 2 wt% or 4 wt% of HNPs and its comparison with bare panel and that of loaded with only standard epoxy coating., Tafel plot and Nyquist plot analysis depicted that the corrosion current density (I_corr) decreases from 16.7 A/m² for bare material to 0.103 A/m² for 4% coating of HNPs. Applied potential (E_corr) values shifted from negative to positive side. These results were further supported by qualitative analysis. The images taken over a period of time indicated the increase in lifetime of MS panel from 2 to 3 days for bare panel to 10 days for HNPs coated panel, showing that ZnO-PMMA HNPs have potential application in metal protection from corrosion by forming a passive layer.     

Enhanced magnetocaloric effect in Eu-doped La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 compounds

Orthorhombic La_0.7-xEu_xCa_0.3MnO₃ samples (x = 0.04–0.12) with apparent density of ρ = 3.9–4.1 g/cm³ prepared by solid-state reactions have been studied. The analysis of temperature-dependent magnetization for an applied field H = 500 Oe indicated a decrease of the Curie temperature (T_C) from about 225 K for x = 0.04 through 189 K for x = 0.08–146 K for x = 0.12. The magnetocaloric (MC) study upon analyzing M(H, T) data has revealed that the magnetic entropy change around T_C reaches the maximum (|ΔS_max|), which is dependent on both x and H. For an applied field interval of ΔH = 60 kOe, |ΔS_max| values are about 5.88, 4.93, and 4.71 J/kg⋅K for x = 0.04, 0.08, and 0.12, respectively. Though |ΔS_max| decreases with increasing x, relative cooling power (RCP) increases remarkably from 383 J/kg for x = 0.04 to about 428 J/kg for x = 0.08 and 0.12. This is related to the widening of the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition region when x increases. Particularly, if combining two compounds with x = 0.04 and 0.08 (or 0.12) as refrigerant blocks for MC applications, a cooling device can work in a large temperature range of 145–270 K, corresponding to RCP ≈ 640 J/kg for H = 60 kOe. M(H) analyses around T_C have proved x = 0.04 exhibiting the mixture of first- and second-order phase transitions while x = 0.08 and 0.12 exhibit a second-order nature. The obtained results show potential applications of Eu-doped La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ materials for magnetic refrigeration below room temperature.     

新型非对称二苯并[b,f][1,5]二氮杂环辛四烯的合成

以两种不同取代的2-氨基二苯甲酮为原料,氯苯为溶剂,BF3-Et2O为脱水剂,通过分子间脱水一步环化缩合制备非对称二苯并[b,f][1,5]二氮杂环辛四烯衍生物。运用HPLC监控反应过程,优化合成工艺,得到最佳反应条件为:等物质的量的两种不同取代2-氨基二苯甲酮和BF3-Et2O,在氯苯中回流反应12 h。化合物4a^4c为新化合物,其结构经1H NMR,13C NMR和MS(ESI)表征。     

Studies on coherent and incoherent spin dynamics that control the magnetic field effect on photogenerated radical pairs

Since 1970s, magnetic field effects (MFEs) on photogenerated radical pairs have been the centre of focus in the field of spin chemistry. The MFE attributes to quantum mechanical interconversion between the singlet and triplet radical pair states and subsequent spin-selective recombination reactions. In this New View article, the author picks up two hot topics studied during the last two decades, which are (i) so-called low field effect (LFE) and (ii) 2J-resonance MFE on fixed distance donor–acceptor linked molecules. In both of the topics, quantum mechanical explanations are given referring to recent reports, and some novel calculations have been carried out for bridging theoretical and experimental data for long-lived radical pairs. For the first topic, time domain calculations of coherent state mixing have been carried out for elucidation of hyperfine (HF) structure dependence of the LFE. For the second topic, Monte Carlo simulations of the torsional motion of polyaromatic linker unit have been carried out for the demonstration of fast decoherence in such rigid molecules. From these considerations, future possibilities of MFE studies on photo-functional materials and biomolecules have been indicated.     

Dynamical Analysis of a New Chaotic Fractional Discrete-Time System and Its Control

This article proposes a new fractional-order discrete-time chaotic system, without equilibria, included two quadratic nonlinearities terms. The dynamics of this system were experimentally investigated via bifurcation diagrams and largest Lyapunov exponent. Besides, some chaotic tests such as the 0–1 test and approximate entropy (ApEn) were included to detect the performance of our numerical results. Furthermore, a valid control method of stabilization is introduced to regulate the proposed system in such a way as to force all its states to adaptively tend toward the equilibrium point at zero. All theoretical findings in this work have been verified numerically using MATLAB software package.     

Controllable Preparation of Plasmonic Gold Nanostars for Enhanced Photothermal and SERS Effects

Gold nanostars(Au NSs) are asymmetric anisotropic nanomaterials with sharp edge structure. As a promising branched nanomaterial, Au NS has excellent plasmonic absorption and scattering properties. In order to tune the plasmonic photothermal and surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS) activity of Au NSs to obtain the desired characteristics, the effects of reagents on the local surface plasmon resonance(LSPR) bands of Au NSs were studied and the morphology and size were regulated. Nanoparticles with different sharp edges were synthesized to make their local plasmon resonance mode tunable in the visible and near-infrared region. The effects of the number and sharpness of different tips under the control of AgNO₃ on the photothermal response of Au NSs and the SERS activity and their mechanism were discussed in detail. The results show that as the length of the branch tip becomes longer and the sharpness increases, the plasmonic photothermal effect of Au NSs is strengthened, and the photothermal conversion efficiency is the highest up to 40% when the length of Au NSs is the longest. Au NSs with high SERS activity are used for the Raman detection substrate. Based on this property, the quantitative detection of the pesticide thiram is achieved.