Reversible Ultra-Slow Crystal Growth of Mixed Lead Bismuth Perovskite Nanocrystals: The Presence of Dynamic Capping

An ultra-slow crystal growth over a period of 24 h of a newly synthesized CH₃NH₃Pb_1/2Bi_1/3I₃ perovskite (MPBI) nanocrystal in non-polar toluene medium is reported here. From several spectroscopic techniques as well as from TEM analysis we found that the size of nanocrystals changes continuously with time, in spite of being capped by the ligands. Using a single molecular spectroscopic technique, we also found that this size change is not due to the stacking of nanocrystals but due to crystal growth. The notable temperature dependence and reversible nature of the nanocrystals growth is explained by the dynamic nature of the capping. The observed temperature-dependent ultra-slow growth is believed to be a pragmatic step towards controlling the size of perovskite NC in a systematic manner.     

Cu (II) and Co (II/III) complexes of N,O‐chelated Schiff base ligands: DNA interaction,protein binding,cytotoxicity, cell death mechanism and reactive oxygen species generation studies

A series of copper (II) ( 1 and 3 ) and cobalt (II/III) ( 2 , 4 and 5 ) complexes comprising different imino‐phenolate ligands DCH , DTH and DBH ₂ (where DCH = 2,4‐dichloro‐6‐((mesitylimino)methyl)phenol, DTH = 2,4‐di‐tert‐butyl‐6‐((mesitylimino)methyl) phenol and DBH ₂ = 2,4‐dibromo‐6‐((mesitylimino)methyl)phenol) have been prepared with excellent yield and high purity. By utilizing different spectroscopic tools such as UV–visible, electrospray ionization (ESI)‐mass, Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and elemental analysis, the prepared complexes ( 1 – 5 ) were thoroughly characterized. The molecular structure of the synthesized complexes was ascertained by using single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction studies (SCXRDs). The experiment reveals that Complexes 1 – 5 bind to calf thymus DNA (CT‐DNA) through non‐intercalative way with good interacting abilities. However, 1 – 5 are excellent quenchers of the fluorescence intensity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) following the static pathway. Additionally, they had shown remarkable cytotoxic potential against MCF‐7 (mammary gland adenocarcinoma) and A549 (lung adenocarcinoma) cell lines. The IC₅₀ values associated with these complexes were much lower than the conventional drug cisplatin. Apoptosis‐induced cell death was confirmed from the DNA fragmentation studies and Hoechst 33342 staining. The 2′,7′‐dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFDA) assay indicates that the complex mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation is accountable for governing the apoptosis mechanism via oxidative cell distress. Apart from these studies, by carrying out density functional theory (DFT) method, highest occupied molecular orbital–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO–LUMO) energy gap calculations and optimized structures of the synthesized complexes were accomplished.     

Continuum thermodynamic formulation of models for electromagnetic thermoinelastic solids with application in electromagnetic metal forming

The purpose of this work is the formulation and application of a continuum thermodynamic approach to the phenomenological modeling of a class of engineering materials which can be dynamically formed using strong magnetic fields. This is carried out in the framework of a thermodynamic, internal-variable-based formulation in which the deformation, temperature and magnetic fields are in general coupled. This coupling takes the form of the Lorentz force as an additional supply of momentum, and the electromotive power as an additional supply of energy, in the material. In the current approach, the basic thermomechanical field relations for mass, momentum and moment of momentum are obtained from the total energy balance via invariance, and completed by Maxwells field equations. The constitutive formulation is based on the exploitation of the Müller-Liu entropy principle, here for the case of isotropic thermoelastic, viscoplastic material behaviour. The resulting reduced constitutive and field relations and restrictions are then applied to the modeling and simulation of high-speed electromagnetic forming of metal tubes and sheet metal. In this context, scaling arguments show that, over the relevant length- and timescales of engineering interest, the evolution of the magnetic field is diffusive in nature, and thermal conduction is negligible. Comparison of the simulation and experimental results for the final sheet metal form shows very good agreement.Received: 16 March 2004, Accepted: 6 May 2004, Published online: 17 September 2004PACS: 46.05. + b, 46.25.Hf, 46.35 + z Correspondence to: B. Svendsen     

Delineating incoherent non-Markovian dynamics using quantum coherence

We introduce a method of characterization of non-Markovianity using coherence of a system interacting with the environment. We show that under the allowed incoherent operations, monotonicity of a valid coherence measure is affected due to non-Markovian features of the system–environment evolution. We also define a measure to quantify non-Markovianity of the underlying dynamics based on the non-monotonic behavior of the coherence measure. We investigate our proposed non-Markovianity marker in the behavior of dephasing and dissipative dynamics for one and two qubit cases. We also show that our proposed measure captures the back-flow of information from the environment to the system and compatible with well known distinguishability criteria of non-Markovianity.     

Nonlocal time-delayed feedback control of spatiotemporal patterns: controlling a network of digital phase-locked loops

Nonlinear Dynamics - Control of spatially extended systems is an important and challenging topic of research. Previous control techniques rely on local or global feedback control. In this paper,...     

Imide‐functionalized naphthodithiophene based donor‐acceptor conjugated polymers for solar cells

Donor‐acceptor conjugated polymers containing a new imide‐functionalized naphthodithiophene (INDT) as the acceptor unit and a 2,2'‐bithiophene with varied substituents as the donor unit have been synthesized. The bandgaps of these polymers depend strongly on the dihedral angle of the 2,2'‐bithiophene unit. The 3,3'‐dialkoxy substitution (polymers PDOR / PBOR ) leads to near planar bithiophene conformation due to the well‐known S–O short contact, while the 3,3'‐dialkyl substitution (polymer PDR ) results in significant twisting due to the steric effect. Consequently PDOR / PBOR shows the lowest bandgap of 1.82/1.85 eV while PDR has a bandgap of 2.38 eV. Bulk‐heterojunction solar cells of the polymer/fullerene blends have been fabricated. Preliminary results show that PBOR gives the best device performance with power conversion efficiencies as high as 2.45% in air without any thermal annealing treatment, indicating the promising potential of INDT‐containing conjugated polymers for efficient solar cells. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 3818–3828     

Single amplifier biquad based inductor-free Chua’s circuit

The present paper reports an inductor-free realization of Chua??s circuit, which is designed by suitably cascading a single amplifier biquad based active band pass filter with a Chua??s diode. The system has been mathematically modeled with three-coupled first-order autonomous nonlinear differential equations. It has been shown through numerical simulations of the mathematical model and hardware experiments that the circuit emulates the behaviors of a classical Chua??s circuit, e.g., fixed point behavior, limit cycle oscillation, period doubling cascade, chaotic spiral attractors, chaotic double scrolls and boundary crisis. The occurrence of chaotic oscillation has been established through experimental power spectrum, and quantified with the dynamical measure like Lyapunov exponents.     

Synthesis of chiral oxa- and azacycle-fused anthraquinone derivatives

A convenient protocol for the synthesis of chiral pyran and piperidine ring-fused anthraquinone derivatives has been developed from (R)-2,3-O-cyclohexylidene-glyceraldehyde using sequential applications of enyne metathesis, Diels–Alder reaction and aromatization as key steps.