Preparation and characterization of poly-N-vinyl carbazole langmuir-blodgett films

Langmuir monolayers of poly-N-vinyl carbazole (PNVK) were obtained by dispensing PNVK dissolved in tetrahydrofuran onto an air-water interface. Surface pressure-area isotherms of mixed monolayer of the PNVK were studied under different subphase conditions such as temperature and pH of the subphase. It was demonstrated that the monolayer of PNVK remained stable over a temperature range of 10–40°C. The area per molecule of the solid phase was found to be 31Ų. These monolayers were transferred onto indium-tin-oxide-coated glass plates and characterized by spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques.     

Study of Exotic Nuclei

A high-sensitive fluorescence cell has been developed with an aim to perform laser spectroscopy of exotic nuclei. This fluorescence cell has been tested off-line for stable isotope ¹³³Cs. Also, an investigation of the nuclear root mean square (r.m.s.) charge and neutron radii, and of the binding energies of the cesium long isotopic chain has been carried out in the relativistic mean field (RMF) and relativistic Hartree–Bogoliubov (RHB) formalisms. The RMF/RHB calculations are compared with the experimental data and are found to be in good agreement.     

Pseudo-spin as a relativistic symmetry

The existence of broken pseudo-spin symmetry in the Pb nucleus has been studied in the relativistic mean field approach using realistic Lagrangian parameters. Its relationship to spin orbit splitting and the vanishingly small surface delta character of the mean spin orbit potential are investigated. In the ²⁰⁸Pb nucleus the broken pseudo-spin doublets are found to exist above the neutron (proton) Fermi surfaces. Received: 16 April 1998 / Revised version: 26 June 1998     

Analysis of two neutron (proton) transfer reaction data in the Zr-region

The spectroscopic amplitudes, form factors, angular distributions and total cross-sections for two nucleon transfer reactions in Zr-region in the zero range distorted wave Born approximation are calculated using consistent set of shell model wave functions. A single normalisation factor gives a good fit to all the two neutron transfer reaction data whereas the corresponding fit for the two-proton transfer reaction data is less satisfactory.     

Coimmobilization of urease and glutamate dehydrogenase in electrochemically prepared polypyrrole-polyvinyl sulfonate films

Immobilization of urease and glutamate dehydrogenase enzymes in electrochemically prepared polypyrrole-polyvinyl sulfonate films (PPY-PVS) was carried out using physical adsorption and electrochemical entrapment techniques. Detailed studies on optimum pH, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and scanning electron microscopy of the enzymes in the immobilized state were conducted. The value of the apparent Michaelis-Menten constant was experimentally determined to be 2.5 and 2.7 for physically adsorbed and electrochemically entrapped urease in PPY-PVS films, respectively.     

Quantum diffraction of position-momentum entangled photons from a sharp edge

In this paper, an experiment of quantum diffraction of position-momentum entangled photons from a straight sharp edge is presented. Path of a single photon of an entangled pair is partially blocked by a sharp edge whereas the other photon is detected at a stationary location without revealing the which-path information of the other photon. Quantum diffraction pattern of the sharp edge is revealed only in the correlated conditional detection of spatially separated photons and no diffraction pattern is formed in local detections of individual photons. Theoretical analysis of the quantum diffraction of position-momentum entangled photons from a sharp edge is also presented in this paper. Experimental measurements of the quantum diffraction pattern are compared with theoretically calculated quantum diffraction pattern of position-momentum entangled photons.     

Novel carbon materials for thermal energy harvesting

To decrease the consumption of fossil fuels, research has been done on utilizing low grade heat, sourced from industrial waste streams. One promising thermoenergy conversion system is a thermogalvanic cell; it consists of two identical electrodes held at different temperatures that are placed in contact with a redox-based electrolyte [1, 2]. The temperature dependence of the direction of redox reactions allows power to be extracted from the cell [3, 4]. This study aims to increase the power conversion efficiency and reduce the cost of thermogalvanic cells by optimizing the electrolyte and utilizing a carbon based electromaterial, reduced graphene oxide, as electrodes. Thermal conductivity measurements of the K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ solutions used, indicate that the thermal conductivity decreases from 0.591 to 0.547?W/m?K as the concentration is increased from 0.1 to 0.4?M. The lower thermal conductivity allowed a larger temperature gradient to be maintained in the cell. Increasing the electrolyte concentration also resulted in higher power densities, brought about by a decrease in the ohmic overpotential of the cell, which allowed higher values of short circuit current to be generated. The concentration of 0.4?M K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ is optimal for thermal harvesting applications using R-GO electrodes due to the synergistic effect of the reduction in thermal flux across the cell and the enhancement of power output, on the overall power conversion efficiency. The maximum mass power density obtained using R-GO electrodes was 25.51?W/kg (three orders of magnitude higher than platinum) at a temperature difference of 60?°C and a K₃Fe(CN)₆/K₄Fe(CN)₆ concentration of 0.4?M.     

Physicochemical study of spiropyran-terthiophene derivatives: photochemistry and thermodynamics

The photochemistry and thermodynamics of two terthiophene (TTh) derivatives bearing benzospiropyran (BSP) moieties, 1-(3,3″-dimethylindoline-6'-nitrobenzospiropyranyl)-2-ethyl 4,4″-didecyloxy-2,2':5',2″-terthiophene-3'-acetate (BSP-2) and 1-(3,3″-dimethylindoline-6'-nitrobenzospiropyranyl)-2-ethyl 4,4″-didecyloxy-2,2':5',2″-terthiophene-3'-carboxylate (BSP-3), differing only by a single methylene spacer unit, have been studied. The kinetics of photogeneration of the equivalent merocyanine (MC) isomers (MC-2 and MC-3, respectively), the isomerisation properties of MC-2 and MC-3, and the thermodynamic parameters have been studied in acetonitrile, and compared to the parent, non-TTh-functionalised, benzospiropyran derivative, BSP-1. Despite the close structural similarity of BSP-2 and BSP-3, their physicochemical properties were found to differ significantly; examples include activation energies (E(a(MC-2)) = 75.05 kJ mol(-1), E(a(MC-3)) = 100.39 kJ mol(-1)) and entropies of activation (ΔS = 43.38 J K(-1) mol(-1), ΔS = 37.78 J K(-1) mol(-1)) for the thermal relaxation from MC to BSP, with the MC-3 value much closer to the unmodified MC-1 value (46.48 J K(-1) mol(-1)) for this latter quantity. The thermal relaxation kinetics and solvatochromic behaviour of the derivatives in a range of solvents of differing polarity (ethanol, dichloromethane, acetone, toluene and diethyl ether) are also presented. Differences in the estimated values of these thermodynamic and kinetic parameters are discussed with reference to the molecular structure of the derivatives.