Fabrication of a micro-direct methanol fuel cell using microfluidics

A direct-methanol fuel cell containing three parts: microchannels, electrodes, and a proton exchange membrane (PEM), was investigated. Nafion resin (NR) and polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-ran-butylene)-block-polystyrene (PS) were used as PEMs. Preparation of PEMs, including compositing with other polymers and their solubility, was performed and their proton conductivity was measured by a four point probe. The results showed that the 5 % Nafion resin has lower conductivity than the 5 % PS solution. The micro-fuel cell contained two acrylic channels, PEM, and two platinum catalyst electrodes on a silicon wafer. The assembled micro-fuel cells used 2 M methanol at the flow rate of 1.5 mL min^?1 in the anode channel and 5 × 10^?3 M KMnO₄ at the flow rate of 1.5 mL min^?1 in the cathode channel. The micro-fuel cell with the electrode distance of 300 ??m provided the power density of 59.16 ??W cm^?2 and the current density of 125.60 ??A cm^?2 at 0.47 V.     

XAFS analysis of indium oxynitride thin films grown on silicon substrates

Local structure of indium oxynitride thin films grown on silicon substrates was investigated by X‐ray absorption fine structure technique incorporated with first principle calculations. The thin films were grown by using reactive gas timing radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique with nitrogen (N₂) and oxygen (O₂) as reactive gasses. The reactive gasses were interchangeably fed into sputtering system at five different time intervals. The gas feeding time intervals of N₂:O₂ are 30 : 0, 30 : 5, 30 : 10, 30 : 20 and 10 : 30 s, respectively. The analysis results can be divided into three main categories. Firstly, the films grown with 30 : 0 and 30 : 5 s gas feeding time intervals are wurtzite structure indium nitride with 25 and 43% oxygen contaminations, respectively. Secondary, the film grown with 10 : 30 s gas feeding time intervals is bixbyite structure indium oxide. Finally, the films are alloying between indium nitride and indium oxide for other growth condition. The fitted radial distribution spectra, the structural parameters and the combination ratios of the alloys are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Labor unions and Nash bargaining using coalition formation games

In this paper we examine the properties of stable coalitions under sequential and simultaneous bargaining by competing labor unions. We do this using the Nash bargaining solution and various notions of stability, namely, Nash, coalitional, contractual and core stability.     

An extreme change in structural and optical properties of indium oxynitride deposited by reactive gas-timing RF magnetron sputtering

The indium oxynitride (InON) films were achieved by reactive RF magnetron sputtering indium target which has the purity of 99.999% with a novel reactive gas-timing technique. The structural, optical and electrical properties in a series of polycrystalline InON films affected by gas-timing of reactive N₂ and O₂ gases introduced to the chamber were observed. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the oxygen content in thin films that compounded to indium and nitrogen, which increased from 10% in indium nitride (InN) to 66% in indium oxide (In₂O₃) films. The X-ray diffraction peaks show that the phase of deposited films changes from InN to InON and to In₂O₃ with an increasing oxygen timing. The hexagonal structure of InN films with predominant (0 0 2) and (0 0 4) orientation was observed when pure nitrogen is only used as sputtering gas, while InON and In₂O₃ seem to demonstrate body-center cubic polycrystalline structures depending on gas-timing. The surface morphologies investigated from atomic force microscope of deposited films with varying gas-timing of O₂:N₂ show indifferent. The numerical algorithm method was used to define the optical bandgap of films from transmittance results. The increasing oxygen gas-timing affects extremely to the change of crystallinity phase from InN to InON and to In₂O₃, the increase of optical bandgap from 1.4 to 3.4 eV and the rise of sheet resistance from 15 Ω/□ to insulator.     

Photomodulated reflectance study on optical property of InN thin films grown by reactive gas-timing rf magnetron sputtering

The photoreflectance (PR) spectroscopy has been applied to investigate the band-gap energy (E_g) of indium nitride (InN) thin films grown by rf magnetron sputtering. A novel reactive gas-timing technique applied for the sputtering process has been successfully employed to grow InN thin films without neither substrate heating nor post annealing. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns exhibit strong peaks in the orientation along (0 0 2) and (1 0 1) planes, corresponding to the polycrystalline hexagonal-InN structure. The band-gap transition energy of InN was determined by fitting the PR spectra to a theoretical line shape. The PR results show the band-gap energy at 1.18 eV for hexagonal-InN thin films deposited at the rf powers of 100 and 200 W. The high rf sputtering powers in combination with the gas-timing technique should lead to a high concentration of highly excited nitrogen ions in the plasma, which enables the formation of InN without substrate heating. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) measurements further reveal traces of oxygen in these InN films. This should explain the elevated band-gap energy, in reference to the band-gap value of 0.7 eV for pristine InN films.