Green solvent approach for printable large deformation thermoplastic elastomer based piezoresistive sensors and their suitability for biomedical applications

Composites based on biocompatible thermoplastic elastomer styrene‐ethylene/butylene‐styrene (SEBS) as matrix and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) as nanofillers show excellent mechanical and piezoresistive properties from low to large deformations. The MWCNT/SEBS composites have been prepared following a green solvent approach, to extend their range of applicability to biomedical applications. The obtained composites with 2, 4, and 5 wt % MWCNT content provide suitable piezoresistive response up to 80% deformation with a piezoresistive sensibility near 2.7, depending on the applied strain and MWCNT content. Composite sensors were also developed by spray and screen printing and integrated with an electronic data acquisition system with RF communication. The possibility to accurately control the composites properties and performance by varying MWCNT content, viscosity, and mechanical properties of the polymer matrix, shows the large potential of the system for the development of large deformation printable piezoresistive sensors. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 2092–2103     

Sonochemical synthesis of carbon supported Sn nanoparticles and its electrochemical application

A sonochemical approach was employed to prepare Vulcan carbon XC-72R supported by Sn nanoparticles at room temperature in the presence of ethylene glycol. The reduction of metallic Sn ion and ethylene glycol takes place and in turn the glycolate ion as formed acts as a stabilizing agent. Transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have illustrated that the metallic Sn nanoparticles are successfully embedded on the carbon. The significantly observed reduction over potential for oxygen reduction reaction displays a higher catalytic activity of carbon supported by Sn nanoparticles due to the large surface area of the modified electrode.     

Large‐Scale Synthesis of Helicene‐Like Molecules for the Design of Enantiopure Thin Films with Strong Chiroptical Activity

Helicenes are fascinating molecules owing to their unusual properties and applications in many fields from catalysis to organic electronics. Herein, we report a straightforward pathway for the synthesis of helicene‐like molecules on a gram scale in an enantiopure form. Thin‐film materials with good propagating optical properties and very high chiroptical responses have been grown by using pulsed laser ablation without altering the structure or the enantiopurity of the molecules. Moreover, electronic and vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopies coupled with theoretical calculations enabled some dependences of the chiroptical properties with the structure to be highlighted, for example, effects of rigidification, aromatization, or the state of matter (liquid versus solid).     

Dielectric barrier discharge in needle-to-plane configuration: Model of surface charge relaxation

Relaxation process of surface charge owing to dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in “needle – air gap – polyethylene terephthalate film – plane” configuration is considered. Experimental data of the surface charge relaxation (SCR) are obtained by means of the rotating capacitive probe. Taking into account Gaussian radial distribution of accumulated charge density, effective surface and volume electrical conductivities of a barrier dielectric, phenomenological model of SCR for any dielectric thickness is proposed and exact solutions are obtained. The adequacy of the model is confirmed by the numerical computation. There is a good agreement between the experimental results and the model calculations.     

Effect of thickness of CdTe/Ge heterojunction photodetectors on optoelectronic properties

The influence of the thickness of CdTe/n-Ge heterojunction photodetectors on I–V curves was studied experimentally and theoretically. The thicknesses of the CdTe thin films were 110, 130, 150, and 200 nm. The power intensity of illumination was 150 mW/cm². Increasing the thickness led to an increase in photocurrent.     

Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of polyvinyl alcohol/phytic acid polymer film and its thermal stability,mechanical properties and surface resistivity

In this paper, polyvinyl alcohol/phytic acid polymer (PVA/PA polymer) was synthesized through esterification reaction of PVA and PA in the case of acidity and ultrasound irradiation and characterized, and PVA/PA polymer film was prepared by PVA/PA polymer and characterized, and the influence of dosage of PA on the thermal stability, mechanical properties and surface resistivity of PVA/PA polymer film were researched, and the influence of sonication time on the mechanical properties of PVA/PA polymer film was investigated. Based on those, it was concluded that the hydroxyl group on the chain of PVA and the phosphonic group on PA were connected together in the form of phosphonate bond, and the hydroxyl group on the chain of PVA were connected together in the form of ether bond after the intermolecular dehydration; in the meantime, it was also confirmed that PVA/PA polymer film prepared from 1.20 mL of PA not only had the high thermal stability and favorable ductility but also the low surface resistivity in comparison with PVA/PA polymer film with 0.00 mL of PA, and the ductility of PVA/PA polymer film was very sensitive to the sonication time.     

Macrokinetic study on ozone boundary concentration. Effect of temperature

The process of ozone production in pure oxygen using the tubular, high voltage pulse supplied ozonizer was studied. The unusual methodology of conducting kinetics measurements of the ozone synthesis process was presented. It was shown how the process rate changes along the discharge gap. The effect of power density and gas residence time in the discharge gap on the process rate was analysed. The temperature influence on the course of the process, particularly on the ozone boundary concentration and ozone decomposition rate constant, was discussed.     

Investigation of quadrature imbalance compensation algorithm for coherent 6PolSK-QPSK

6PolSK-QPSK is a promising modulation format in optical fiber communication. Because of the damage suffered during the transmission and reception, a series of algorithms are needed to be adopted to recover the original data. We proposed a novel quadrature imbalance compensation algorithm based on the data statistical properties. Simulation results show that the quadrature imbalance can be well compensated with the proposed algorithm.     

Structural,optical and microwave dielectric properties of Ba1−xSrxWO4 ceramics prepared by solid state reaction route

In this paper, Barium Strontium Tungstate (Ba_1−xSr_x)WO₄ crystals with (x = 0; 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0) were prepared by standard wet milling ceramic preparation method. These crystals were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform Raman (FT-Raman) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic techniques. The shape, growth and average crystal size distribution of these crystals were investigated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Their optical properties were investigated by ultraviolet visible (UV–vis) absorption and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. XRD patterns, Rietveld refinements data, FT-Raman and FT-IR spectroscopies indicate that all the crystals present a scheelite-type tetragonal structure without deleterious phases. FT-Raman spectra exhibited 6 Raman active modes in range from 100 to 1000 cm⁻¹, while the FT-IR spectra presented 2 infrared active modes in range from 500 to 1000 cm⁻¹. SEM micrographs showed well sintered BaWO₄ grains, while the substitution of Sr induced modifications in the shape and reduction in the grain size. UV–vis absorption measurements evidenced an increase in the values of the optical band gap (from 4.36 to 4.53 eV) with the increase of Sr into BaWO₄ lattice. Dielectric constant, temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τ_f), quality factors were measured with Hakki–Coleman technique. The value of τ_f found −43.68 ppm/°C for BaWO₄ which increased to −21.40 ppm/°C for the SrWO₄.     

Structural and optical characterization of CdS nanoparticles prepared by chemical precipitation method

In the present study we have synthesized CdS semiconducting quantum dots by the chemical precipitation method using Thioglycerol as the capping agent. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are employed to characterize the size, morphology and crystalline structure of the as-prepared material. The synthesized QPs have a mixture of cubical and hexagonal crystal symmetry with 12 nm average diameter. Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy is used to calculate the band gap of the material and blue shift in absorption edge. Confinement of the optical phonon modes in the QPs is studied by Raman spectroscopy, while FTIR for identification of chemical bonds in the nanomaterial. Multiple cadmium and sulphur defects were observed by employing the photoluminescence (PL) method.