Hypercoulometric effect in an electron capture detector polarized with an additional voltage

Summary This paper reports measurements of the current characteristics and of the signal corresponding to a constant concentration of Freon F-11 for an electron-capture detector, supplied with a pulse voltage with a changeable pulse duration, amplitude and repetition time. It was found that an additional voltage applied to the detector cathode increased the detector signal by about 50% and that the maximal signal was observed at 5 V. The influence of the polarized voltage on the electron caputure efficiency coefficient (p) measured with two detectors in series was demonstrated and the reliability of the sample mass calculation by means of (p) is discussed.     

Bipolar pulse conductometric monitoring of ion-selective electrodes: Part 1. Method development with a calcium-selective electrode and elucidation of the basic principles involved

The potential generated by a plastic-membrane calcium ion-selective electrode (i.s.e.) is shown to be indirectly measurable by a non-zero current method based on bipolar pulse conductance. Linear current—voltage curves are obtained using 0–5-V pulses; the current axis intercept is related to the i.s.e. potential. A simple electrical contact (e.g., platinum or stainless steel) can be used instead of a poised reference electrode as the counter electrode in this two-electrode system. Long-term exposure of the i.s.e. to calcium solutions causes an upward drift in the measured current. This drift is minimized by avoiding long exposure times to solution, rinsing the electrode between measurements, and constructing current—voltage curves for determination of the current axis intercepts. Voltage pulses lasting 100 μs are optimum for this method. Shorter pulses are subject to error from capacitive charging currents, and longer pulses yield poorer precision, and degrade the electrode through faradaic reactions. The measured signal is dependent upon Ca²⁺ concentration (rather than activity), making ionic strength adjustment unnecessary. The concentration dependence is induced by application of voltage pulses greater than ~ 15 mV in amplitude. Selectivities of the potentiometric and conductometric methods are shown to be comparable for a variety of interfering monovalent and divalent cations. The conductometric method yields a fast i.s.e. response because of induced migration of Ca²⁺ into the membrane. Response time decreases as the pulse height increases. Pulses greater than 2 V in magnitude yield response times limited by the solution mixing time rather than by the electrode.     

Optical Kerr effect spectroscopy using time-delayed pairs of pump pulses with orthogonal polarizations

We characterize in detail a recently introduced technique in which perpendicularly polarized pulses with controllable intensities and timing are used for the excitation step in optical Kerr effect spectroscopy. We examine the ratio of pump pulse intensities required to cancel the contribution of reorientational diffusion or of a Raman-active intramolecular vibration to the signal as a function of the delay time between excitation pulses. These results indicate that the signal can be described well as arising from the sum of independent third-order responses initiated by each pump pulse. This conclusion is further supported by using data obtained with a single pump pulse to model decays obtained with two pump pulses.     

Electroporation of subcutaneous mouse tumors by rectangular and trapezium high voltage pulses

The artificial electrotransfer of bioactive agents such as drugs, peptides or therapeutical nucleic acids and oligonucleotides by membrane electroporation (MEP) into single cells and tissue cells requires knowledge of the optimum ranges of the voltage, pulse duration and frequency of the applied pulses. For clinical use, the classical electroporators appear to necessitate some tissue specific presetting of the pulse parameters at the high voltage generator, before the actual therapeutic pulsing is applied. The optimum pulse parameters may be derived from the kinetic normal mode analysis of the current relaxations due to a voltage step (rectangular pulse). Here, the novel method of trapezium test pulses is proposed to rapidly assess the current (I)/voltage (U) characteristics (IUC). The analysis yields practical values for the voltage U(app) between a given electrode distance and pulse duration t(E) of rectangular high voltage (HV) pulses, to be preset for an effective in vivo electroporation of mouse subcutaneous tumors, clamped between two planar plate electrodes of stainless steel. The IUC of the trapezium pulse compares well with the IUC of rectangular pulses of increasing amplitudes. The trapezium pulse phase (s) of constant voltage and 3 ms duration, following the rising ramp phase (r), yields a current relaxation which is similar to the current relaxation during a rectangular pulse of similar duration. The fit of the current relaxation of the trapezium phase (s) to an exponential function and the IUC can be used to estimate the maximum current at a given voltage. The IUC of the falling edge (phase f) of the trapezium pulse serves to estimate the minimum voltage for the exploration of the long-lived electroporation membrane states with consecutive low-voltage (LV) pulses of longer duration, to eventually enhance electrophoretic uptake of ionic substances, initiated by the preceding HV pulses.     

A new charging mode of Li-ion batteries with LiFePO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/C composites under low temperature

Li-ion batteries with LiFePO₄/C composites are difficult to be charged at low temperatures. In order to improve the low temperature performance of LiFePO₄/C power batteries, the charge–discharge characteristics were studied at different temperatures, and a new charging mode under low temperature was proposed. In the new charging mode, the batteries were excited by current pulses with the charge rates between 0.75 C and 2 C, while the discharge rates between 3 and 4 C before the conventional charging (CC–CV). Results showed that the surface temperature of Li-ion battery ascended to 3 °C at the end of pulse cycling when the environment temperature was −10 °C. Comparing with the conventional charging, the whole charge time was cut by 36 min (23.4%) and the capacity was 7.1% more at the same discharge rate, respectively.     

Thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties of Nd:YAG–CO2 Double-Pulse Laser-Induced Iron Plasmas

Double-Pulse Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of iron using both Nd:YAG and TEA–CO₂ lasers has been investigated to better understand mechanisms of signal enhancement. The signal dependence on the delay between the two laser pulses shows an enhanced signal when the CO₂ laser pulse interacts with the sample before the Nd:YAG pulse. Signal kinetics and a simple model of sample heating by the CO₂ pulse show that the enhancement during the first 700 ns is due primarily to sample heating. Images of the sample surface after ablation as well as time-integrated pictures of the plasma suggest that particles are ejected from the surface during the first microseconds after the arrival of the CO₂ pulse and provide fuel for the subsequent plasma created by the Nd:YAG laser.     

Oxidative conversion of cyclohexane in discharge plasma maintained with different high-voltage power sources

The influence of the pulse parameters of supply voltage in a barrier discharge reactor on the yield of incomplete oxidation of cyclohexane was studied. It was shown that the voltage pulse parameters have an insignificant effect on both the product composition of cyclohexane oxidation and on selectivity for the products cyclohexanone (40.8%), cyclohexanol (49.5%), and water (9.7%). The lowest power consumption for the conversion of cyclohexane was achieved with the use of a sine wave generator operating at a frequency of 50 Hz (3.0 kWh kg^?1) and a harmonic generator with a pulse duration of 15.3 μs and a pulse repetition frequency of 980 Hz (3.5 kWh kg^?1). The space mode of barrier discharge was realized with the use of a generator of microsecond (53 μs) alternating voltage pulses.     

Effects of FeCl3 as oxidizing agent on the conduction mechanisms in polypyrrole (PPy)/pc–ZnO hybrid heterojunctions grown by oxidative chemical vapor deposition

P‐type polypyrrole (PPy) films are deposited on glass and on n‐type polycrystalline ZnO (pc–ZnO) substrates by oxidative chemical vapor deposition under three different amounts of FeCl₃ used as oxidizing agents to form hybrid heterojunctions. Their microstructure, morphology, and electrical characteristics are studied. Particularly, current–voltage characteristics of the PPy/pc–ZnO heterojunctions are analyzed by defining an electrical equivalent circuit. The extracted parameters, together with the estimated heterojunction barrier height and the HOMO energy level of the PPy, indicate that a thermionic emission of holes at the heterojunction determines the saturation current of the diode at low voltage. For larger FeCl₃ amounts, the diode ideality factor increases indicating an increment of recombination by tunneling of charge carriers occurring at the heterojunction. This is attributed to a narrowing of the space charge region due to an increment of the number of charge carriers with a growing amount of FeCl₃. At high voltages, the PPy thickness influences the ohmic and space–charge limited current mechanisms at the bulk region. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 1537–1544     

Electrical breakdown of human erythrocytes: a technique for the study of electro-haemolysis

This paper describes a technique suitable for investigating the electromechanical breakdown properties of erythrocyte cells. The cells were exposed to square wave electric pulses of precise duration and voltage. The erythrocytes were suspended in normal isotonic saline between two opposing platinum electrodes. A red LED light source and photodiode detector system were positioned orthogonally to the electrodes to record changes in the light transmission that occur immediately after applying an electric pulse. The light transmitted through the electrically treated erythrocyte suspension could be monitored continuously. Experiments were conducted to explore the inter-relationship between the critical voltage and pulse length for haemolysis. Human blood taken from "healthy" donors underwent haemolysis at a critical field strength of 304 kV/m for a 5 micros pulse and 292 kV/m for a 50 micros pulse. The relationship of critical pulse length and critical voltage for the blood samples was found to be inversely linear.     

毛细管电泳脉冲伏安电化学分离检测胺类化合物

电化学检测高效毛细管电泳自 80年代末问世以来 ,已迅速发展为一种重要的分析方法 ,但是具有许多优点的现代电分析化学方法在毛细管电泳检测中的应用还不多 .扫描伏安电化学检测是继安培检测方法之后应用较多的一种方法 ,它除具有安培检测方法的优点外 ,还能得到被测物质的电流随电压变化的伏安特性 [1～ 5 ] ,但由于在电极电位的扫描过程中会产生较大的充电电流 ,进而影响检测的灵敏度和检出限 .脉冲安培检测可获得较高的灵敏度和低的检出限 ,并减少电极的污染 ,因而被应用于高效液相色谱 [6,7] 和毛细管电泳 [8,9] 中检测有机化合物 .目前…     

Theoretical analysis of localized heating in human skin subjected to high voltage pulses

Electroporation, the increase in the permeability of bilayer lipid membranes by the application of high voltage pulses, has the potential to serve as a mechanism for transdermal drug delivery. However, the associated current flow through the skin will increase the skin temperature and might affect nearby epidermal cells, lipid structure or even transported therapeutic molecules. Here, thermal conduction and thermal convection models are used to provide upper and lower bounds on the local temperature rise, as well as the thermal damage, during electroporation from exponential voltage pulses (70 V maximum) with a 1 ms and a 10 ms pulse time constant. The peak temperature rise predicted by the conduction model ranges from 19 degrees C for a 1 ms time constant pulse to 70 degrees C for the 10 ms time constant pulse. The convection (mass transport) model predicts a 18 degrees C peak rise for 1 ms time constant pulses and a 51 degrees C peak rise for a 10 ms time constant pulse. The convection model compares more favorably with previous experimental studies and companion observations of the local temperature rise during electroporation. Therefore, it is expected that skin electroporation can be employed at a level which is able to transport molecules transdermally without causing significant thermal damage to the tissue.     

Study of space charge phenomena in d.c. electron-capture detectors

The influence of space charge phenomena on the field and the potential in a d.c. electron-capture detector (ECD) under simplified conditions was studied. The results make it possible to explain the shape of the current-voltage characteristics of a d.c. ECD and the dependence of the sensitivity of such a detector on the electrode distance with positively and negatively polarized sources. All of these dependences studied using an ECD with variable geometry (electrode distances between 0.25 and 30 mm) and a changeable radioactive source (³H, ⁶³Ni, ²⁴¹Am).     

6 Mcps photon-counting X-ray computed tomography system using a 25 mm/s-scan linear LSO–MPPC detector and its application to gadolinium imaging

6 Mcps photon counting was carried out using a detector consisting of a 1.0 mm-thick LSO [Lu₂(SiO₄)O] single-crystal scintillator and an MPPC (multipixel photon counter) module in an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system. The maximum count rate was 6 Mcps (mega counts per second) at a tube voltage of 100 kV and a tube current of 0.91 mA. Next, a photon-counting X-ray CT system consists of an X-ray generator, a turntable, a scan stage, a two-stage controller, the LSO–MPPC detector, a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). Tomography is accomplished by repeated linear scans and rotations of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the linear scan with a scan velocity of 25 mm/s. The pulses of the event signal from the module are counted by the CC in conjunction with the PC. The exposure time for obtaining a tomogram was 600 s at a scan step of 0.5 mm and a rotation step of 1.0°, and photon-counting CT was accomplished using gadolinium-based contrast media.     

Optimizing electron-capture detector performance for gas chromatographic analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls

Summary A modified simplex technique has been applied to optimize the performance of an electron-capture detector under constant-current and constant-frequency pulse modes for the gas chromatographic analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls. Optimal performance was obtained by adjusting the four experimental parameters of pulse voltage, detector temperature, make-up gas flow rate, and reference current (or pulse frequency) using the signal-to-noise ratio of the eluting peak as the criterion. The results show that constant-current pulse mode has better sensitivity and dynamic range whereas the constant-frequency pulse mode has the lower detection limit. Subsequent principal component factor analysis indicated that similar performance is achievable using only three parameters.     

Determination of the lipid bilayer breakdown voltage by means of linear rising signal

Electroporation is characterized by formation of structural changes within the cell membrane, which are caused by the presence of electrical field. It is believed that "pores" are mostly formed in lipid bilayer structure; if so, planar lipid bilayer represents a suitable model for experimental and theoretical studies of cell membrane electroporation. The breakdown voltage of the lipid bilayer is usually determined by repeatedly applying a rectangular voltage pulse. The amplitude of the voltage pulse is incremented in small steps until the breakdown of the bilayer is obtained. Using such a protocol each bilayer is exposed to a voltage pulse many times and the number of applied voltage pulses is not known in advance. Such a pre-treatment of the lipid bilayer affects its stability and consequently the breakdown voltage of the lipid bilayer. The aim of this study is to examine an alternative approach for determination of the lipid bilayer breakdown voltage by linear rising voltage signal. Different slopes of linear rising signal have been used in our experiments (POPC lipids; folding method for forming in the salt solution of 100 mM KCl). The breakdown voltage depends on the slope of the linear rising signal. Results show that gently sloping voltage signal electroporates the lipid bilayer at a lower voltage then steep voltage signal. Linear rising signal with gentle slope can be considered as having longer pre-treatment of the lipid bilayer; thus, the corresponding breakdown voltage is lower. With decreasing the slope of linear rising signal, minimal breakdown voltage for specific lipid bilayer can be determined. Based on our results, we suggest determination of lipid bilayer breakdown voltage by linear rising signal. Better reproducibility and lower scattering are obtained due to the fact that each bilayer is exposed to electroporation treatment only once. Moreover, minimal breakdown voltage for specific lipid bilayer can be determined.     

Effect of parameters of pulse electrolysis on concentration changes in the loose zinc deposit and deposit properties

The parameters of pulse current modes (durations of pulses and pauses between pulses) have a significant influence on the growth dynamics and properties of loose zinc deposits if the process takes place under unsteady-state diffusion conditions. The coefficient k defined as the ratio of the growth time of the loose deposit to the transition time in the pulse was proposed as a criterion for describing the concentration changes. By varying the parameters of pulse electrolysis, one can change the density in situ and the morphology of the electro-deposited metal from highly porous loose deposits with branched dendritic particles to compact deposits.     

Differences between signal currents for both polarities of applied voltages on cavity ionization chambers

A difference between the surface potential of the charge collecting electrode and that of the guard electrode of an ionization chamber changes the charge collecting volume depending on the applied voltage. If the difference is large, the saturation curve of the signal current shows a maximum at a low applied voltage. Even when there is no electrical or mechanical defect, the signal current from a parallel plate ionization chamber irradiated with ⁶⁰Co γ-rays increases or decreases with the applied voltage beyond the recombination region depending on the polarity of the applied voltage. The variation in the signal current is explained as a result of the change in the stopping power of air due to the acceleration or deceleration of secondary electrons. These electrons are emitted from the polarizing electrode towards the collector as a result of Compton scattering. In a range of low applied voltages, the signal current from a cylindrical ionization chamber is expected to be smaller for a negative applied voltage than for a positive applied voltage. This is because epithermal electrons are expected to have a higher probability of being lost by back diffusion than positive ions which are originally produced in a thermal equilibrium condition. An experimental result, however, showed no difference in the polarities of the applied voltage. The result may be explained as a consequence of the fact that epithemal electrons do not drift for long distances and maintain their energies.     

新型多尖端旋转电极甲烷偶联等离子体反应器

研制了一种新型的带有一个多尖端旋转电极对一个同心圆筒型固定电极的甲烷放电制备碳二烃的等离子体反应器.以氢气共存条件下甲烷偶联研究对此反应器作出了评价.在此反应器中，反应物流垂直穿过两电极之间的环行等离子体反应区.在大约40 V供电电压、20 kHz脉冲放电等离子体条件下，在长时间连续反应后没有产生大量积炭.在同样的条件下，此多尖端旋转电极工艺比固定的尖端 平板电极工艺具有较高的甲烷转化率、碳二烃单程收率以及较高的能量效率.     

Simultaneous measurement of flight time and energy of large matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization ions with a superconducting tunnel junction detector

We evaluated a cryogenically cooled superconducting Nb-Al₂O₃-Nb tunnel junction (STJ) for use as a molecular ion detector in a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometer. The STJ responds to ion energy and theoretically should detect large molecular ions with a velocity-independent efficiency approaching 100%. The STJ detector produces pulses whose heights are approximately proportional to ion energy, thus the height of a pulse generated by the impact of a doubly charged ion is about twice the height of a singly charged ion pulse. Measurements were performed by bombarding the STJ with human serum albumin (HSA) (66,000 Da) and immunoglobulin (150,000 Da) ions. We demonstrate that pulse height analysis of STJ signals provides a way to distinguish with good discrimination HSA⁺ from 2HSA²⁺, whose flight times are coincident. The rise time of STJ detector pulses allows ion flight times to be determined with a precision better than 200 ns, which is a value smaller than the flight time variation typically observed for large isobaric MALDI ions detected with conventional microchannel plate (MCP) detectors. Deflection plates in the flight tube of the mass spectrometer provided a way to aim ions alternatively at a MCP ion detector.