Advances in the electrochemical regeneration of aluminum hydride

In previous work, a reversible cycle that uses electrolysis and catalytic hydrogenation of spent Al_(s) for the regeneration of alane (AlH₃) was reported. In this study, the electrochemical synthesis of alane is improved. Advances in the electrochemical regeneration of alane have been achieved via the use of lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH₄) and lithium chloride (LiCl). Lithium chloride reacts in a cyclic process and functions as an electro-catalytic additive that enhances the electrochemical process by increasing the cell efficiency and the alane production. Electrochemical techniques are used to show that the increased rate of alane generation is due to the electro-catalytic effect of lithium chloride, rather than an electrolyte enhanced effect.     

Spectroscopic and structural investigations of α‐, β‐, and γ‐AlH3 phases

With its reputation as a high‐energy density fuel, aluminum hydride (AlH₃) has received renewed attention as a material that is particularly suitable, not only for hydrogen storage but also for rocket propulsion. While the various phases of AlH₃ have been investigated theoretically, there is a shortage of experimental studies corroborating the theoretical findings. In response to this, we present here an investigation of these compounds based primarily on two research areas in which there is the greatest scarcity of information in the literature, namely Raman and infrared (IR) absorption analysis. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of experimental far‐IR absorption results on these compounds. Two different samples prepared by broadly similar ethereal reactions of AlCl₃ with LiAlH₄ were analyzed. Both Raman and IR absorption measurements indicate that one sample is purely γ‐AlH₃ and that the other is a mixture of α‐, β‐, and γ‐AlH₃ phases. X‐ray diffraction confirms the spectroscopic findings, most notably for the β‐AlH₃ phase, for which optical spectroscopic data are reported here for the first time. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantum chemical calculations on Al-CVD using DMEAA: surface reaction mechanism of AlH3 on Al(111)

An investigation has been made of the elementary surface reactions of alane and its surface dissociation products using density functional theory and a cluster model to elucidate the reaction mechanism of the deposition of aluminium in aluminium chemical vapour deposition (Al-CVD) using dimethylethylamine alane (DMEAA). Molecular structures, potential energies, and normal mode frequencies of the reactants, the products, and the transition states were calculated for each of the surface elementary reactions. Based on transition state theory, rate constants were estimated from the calculation results. The proposed reaction mechanism is the following. DMEAA is adsorbed onto an aluminium surface without any dissociation in the gas phase; DMEAA dissociates into dimethylethylamine (DMEA) and alane on the surface; DMEA is desorbed and alane remains adsorbed; the adsorbed alane molecules dissociate to AlH₂, AlH, and H on the surface; hydrogen molecules to be desorbed are produced from the hydrogen atoms of AlH whose aluminium atoms form a quasi-aluminium surface on the original surface. The cluster size and structure dependence in quantum chemical calculations has also been considered using model clusters.     

The synthesis of hafnium nanomaterials by alkali metal reduction of hafnium tetrachloride

Hafnium tetrachloride was reduced in organic solvents with lithium powder, sodium–potassium alloy, or lithium hydride/Et₃B. All reductions required sonochemical agitation to proceed at an appreciable rate, with the notable exception of the reaction of HfCl₄ with Li in diethyl ether. Activation of C–H bonds occurred in all reactions, which resulted in carbon-containing products. HfCl₄ was reduced on a 50-g scale with LiH/Et₃B, and a 10-g scale with Li powder in pentane. All the solid products from the reductions were converted to nanomaterials by annealing under vacuum from 500 to 1,000 °C, which also resulted in the sublimation of the alkali metal salts. The nanomaterials contain a mixture of products with the α-Hf (hexagonal) structure (crystallite size 8–250 nm) and the HfC (FCC) structure (crystallite size 3–80 nm), with the amount of hafnium in the bulk annealed product varying from 88 to 99 wt%. When toluene, pentane, or triethylamine solvents were used, the presence of amorphous graphitic or carbonaceous material was also detected by solid state ¹³C NMR. Thermally annealed products were additionally characterized by electron microscopy and thermal analysis under Ar/O₂, and have BET surface areas ranging from 2.7 to 155 m²/g.     

On the mechanism of phase transformation in Ag2Se

A differential thermal analysis ΔT _y (T) in vacuum has been performed, and the temperature gradient ΔT _x (T) along the Ag₂Se sample during the transition α → β has been studied. It has been shown that the transitions α → α′ and β′ → β are displacive transitions and that the transition α′ → β′ is a reconstructive transition. It has been found that the temperature gradient along the sample during the transition α′ → β′ passes through a deep minimum due to a strong increase in the specific heat capacity.     

Fine structure of the muonic <Superscript>4</Superscript>He ion

On the basis of quasi-potential approach to the bound state problem in QED we calculate the vacuum polarization, recoil and structure corrections of orders α⁵ and α⁶ to the fine splitting interval ΔE ^fs = E(2P _3/2) − E(2P _1/2) in muonic ₂⁴He ion. The resulting value ΔE ^fs = 146180.68 μeV provides reliable guideline in performing a comparison with the relevant experimental data.     

Renormalization and Asymptotic Expansion of Dirac’s Polarized Vacuum

We perform rigorously the charge renormalization of the so-called reduced Bogoliubov-Dirac-Fock (rBDF) model. This nonlinear theory, based on the Dirac operator, describes atoms and molecules while taking into account vacuum polarization effects. We consider the total physical density ρ _ph including both the external density of a nucleus and the self-consistent polarization of the Dirac sea, but no ‘real’ electron. We show that ρ _ph admits an asymptotic expansion to any order in powers of the physical coupling constant α _ph, provided that the ultraviolet cut-off behaves as L ~ e^{3p(1-Z₃)/2a_ph} >> 1{\Lambda\sim e^{3\pi(1-Z_3)/2\alpha_{\rm ph}} \gg 1}. The renormalization parameter 0 < Z ₃ < 1 is defined by Z ₃ = α _ph/α, where α is the bare coupling constant. The coefficients of the expansion of ρ _ph are independent of Z ₃, as expected. The first order term gives rise to the well-known Uehling potential, whereas the higher order terms satisfy an explicit recursion relation.     

The dynamical mixing of light and pseudoscalar fields

We solve the general problem of mixing of electromagnetic and scalar or pseudoscalar fields coupled by axion-type interactions L _int = g _ϕ ϕε _μναβ F ^μν F ^αβ . The problem depends on several dimensionful scales, including the magnitude and direction of background magnetic field, the pseudoscalar mass, plasma frequency, propagation frequency, wave number, and finally the pseudoscalar coupling. We apply the results to the first consistent calculations of the mixing of light propagating in a background magnetic field of varying directions, which show a great variety of fascinating resonant and polarization effects.      

Intrinsic and mechanically modified thermal stabilities of α-, β- and γ-aluminum trihydrides AlH3

The intrinsic and mechanically modified thermal stabilities of the α-, β-, and γ-phases of AlH₃ have been experimentally determined. The thermogravimetric profiles of the α- and γ-phases exhibit dehydriding reactions in the temperature range of 370–450 K. The amounts of hydrogen released are nearly 9 mass %. The profile of the β-phase shows the continuous dehydriding reactions, which differs from the other two phases. The values of the enthalpy of dehydriding reactions ΔH_dehyd. are determined to be 6.0±1.5, -3∼-5 and 1.0±0.5 kJ/mol H₂ for the α-, β- and γ-phases, respectively. The milling-time dependences of the powder X-ray diffraction measurement and thermal analyses indicate the occurrence of the dehydriding reactions both in the α- and γ-phases during milling, but there is no drastic change in the β-phase. PACS 84.60.Ve; 51.30.+i; 81.70.Pg     

Semi-analytic approach to higher-order corrections in simple muonic bound systems: Vacuum polarization,self-energy and radiative-recoil

The current discrepancy of theory and experiment observed recently in muonic hydrogen necessitates a reinvestigation of all corrections to contribute to the Lamb shift in muonic hydrogen (μH), muonic deuterium (μD), the muonic \hbox{³He{}^3{\rm He}} 3 He ion (denoted here as μ ³He⁺), as well as in the muonic \hbox{⁴He{}^4{\rm He}} 4 He ion (μ ⁴He⁺). Here, we choose a semi-analytic approach and evaluate a number of higher-order corrections to vacuum polarization (VP) semi-analytically, while remaining integrals over the spectral density of VP are performed numerically. We obtain semi-analytic results for the second-order correction, and for the relativistic correction to VP. The self-energy correction to VP is calculated, including the perturbations of the Bethe logarithms by vacuum polarization. Subleading logarithmic terms in the radiative-recoil correction to the 2S–2P Lamb shift of order α(Zα)⁵ μ ³ln(Zα) / (m _μ m _N ) are also obtained. All calculations are nonperturbative in the mass ratio of orbiting particle and nucleus.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript>α</Subscript> radiation of foil under interaction with laser pulse of relativistic intensity

An analytical model of K _α radiation of thin laser targets has been developed. It has been shown that, for such targets, the motion of fast electrons is significant not only in the target itself but also in vacuum. The considered dependences for the free path length of a fast electron and for the absorption coefficient of laser radiation on the laser intensity with allowance for the electron motion in vacuum make it possible to match the results of the proposed model with the experimental data on generation of K _α radiation in wide ranges of laser intensities (10¹⁸–10²¹ W/cm²) and thicknesses (1–100 μm) of targets.     

T Violation in Neutrino Oscillation above GUT Scale

We study the Planck scale effects in the neutrino sector on the asymmetry between T-conjugate oscillation probabilities. ΔP _T =P(ν _α →ν _β )−P(ν _β →ν _α ), in a three flavor neutrino mixing. In this paper, we discuss some aspect of T violation effects in three flavor neutrino oscillation.     

Radiative corrections to the Coulomb energy levels and emission of a hydrogen-like atom in a superstrong magnetic field

The probability and intensity of hydrogen-like atom emission in strong magnetic field В >> Z ^2α2 B ₀, α = e ²/cħ = 1/137, and B ₀ = m ² c ³ /eħ = 4.41⋅10¹³ G is calculated. The role of electron-positron vacuum polarization is discussed.     

Investigation of the role of the projectile-target orientation angles on the evaporation residue production

The measured yield of evaporation residues in reactions with massive nuclei have been well reproduced by using the partial fusion and quasifission cross sections obtained in the dinuclear-system model. The influence of the orientation angles of the projectile- and target-nucleus symmetry axes relative to the beam direction on the production of the evaporation residues is investigated for the ⁴⁸Ca + ¹⁵⁴Sm reaction as a function of the beam energy. At the low beam energies only the orientation angles close to αP = 30° (projectile) and αP = 0°–15° (target) can contribute to the formation of evaporation residues. At large beam energies (about E _c.m. = 140–180 MeV) the collisions at all values of orientation angles αP and α _T of reactants can contribute to the evaporation residue cross section which ranges between 10–100 mb, while at E _c.m. > 185 MeV the evaporation residue cross section ranges between 0.1–1 mb because the fission barrier for the compound nucleus decreases by increasing its excitation energy and angular momentum.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis and magnetic property of magnetite and hematite nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) have been prepared by a simple microwave heating method using FeCl₃, polyethylene glycol and N₂H₄·H₂O. The amount of N₂H₄·H₂O has an effect on the final phase of Fe₃O₄. The morphology of α-Fe₂O₃ was affected by the heating method. Crystalline α-Fe₂O₃ agglomerates were formed immediately at room temperature and most of these nanoparticles within agglomerates show the same orientation along [110] direction. After microwave heating, ellipsoidal α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were formed following an oriented attachment mechanism. Both Fe₃O₄ and α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles exhibit a small hysteresis loop at room temperature.     

Reaction (<Emphasis Type="Italic">n, γα</Emphasis>) assisted by internal and resonance conversion

We consider spectra of γ, internal conversion and α transitions in (n, γ) and (n, γα) reactions on ₆₀¹⁴³Nd. Probabilities of mixing of neutron resonances with different spins and parities arising due to internal and resonance conversion are also considered from the point of view of studying the P-violating processes. Arguments are presented in favor of that the α decay of the 55-eV neutron resonance 4⁻ to the ground state, observed earlier, may be due to such interaction.     

Hyperfine structure of the ground state muonic <Superscript>3</Superscript>He atom

On the basis of the perturbation theory in the fine structure constant α and the ratio of the electron to muon masses we calculate one-loop vacuum polarisation and electron vertex corrections and the nuclear structure corrections to the hyperfine splitting of the ground state of the muonic helium atom (μ e ³ ₂He). We obtain total results for the ground state hyperfine splitting Δ ν ^hfs = 4166.648 MHz which improves the previous calculation of Lakdawala and Mohr due to new corrections of orders α ⁵ and α ⁶. The remaining differences between our theoretical result and experimental value of the hyperfine splitting lie in the range of theoretical and experimental errors and require the subsequent investigation of higher order corrections.     

Radial alpha temperature exponents between 0.3 and 1.0 AU

Summary The dynamical characteristics of α-particles in the solar wind between 0.3 and 1.0 AU are studied. It has been found that the connections between alpha temperature and speed, normalized at 1AU, as well as radial temperature exponents significantly differ from those found for protons. Between α and proton temperature, generally, the α temperature depends stronger on flow speed. Nevertheless, the flow characteristics of alphas and protons concerning their speeds are similar. For example, the dependence ofT _α onV _α is stronger also for slow than for fast alpha flows. The alpha radial temperature decreases much slower than proton temperature away from the Sun, according to the relationT _α/T ₀=(r/r ₀)^−k withk varying from very low (0.10) to moderate values (0.60).T _α,T ₀ are the alpha temperatures at distancesr,r ₀(=1 AU), respectively. These findings strongly suggest an additional heating of alphas, for example by Alfven waves or Coulomb collisions. To speed up publication, the author of this paper has agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

On bound state computations in three- and four-electron atomic systems

A variational approach is developed for bound state calculations in three- and four-electron atomic systems. This approach can be applied to determine, in principle, an arbitrary bound state in three- and four-electron ions and atoms. Our variational wave functions are constructed from four- and five-body Gaussoids that respectively depend on six (r ₁₂, r ₁₃, r ₁₄, r ₂₃, r ₂₄, r ₃₄) and ten (r ₁₂, r ₁₃, r ₁₄, r ₁₅, r ₂₃, r ₂₄, r ₂₅, r ₃₄, r ₃₅ and r ₄₅) relative coordinates. The approach allows operating with the more than one electron spin functions. In particular, the trial wave functions for the ¹ S states in four-electron atomic systems include the two independent spin functions χ₁ = αβαβ + βαβα − βααβ − αββα and χ₂ = 2ααββ + 2ββαα − βααβ − αββα − βαβα − αβαβ. We also discuss the construction of variational wave functions for the excited 2³ S states in four- electron atomic systems.     

Alpha decay of isobaric analogue states in24Mg and28Si

Theα-decay of isobaric analogue states (which are forbidden by isospin selection rules) excited in²⁴Mg and²⁸Si through preton capture by²³Na atE _p=677 and 739 keV and by²⁷Al atE _p=295, 327 and 405 keV, respectively, have been studied using solid state track detectors. The ratio ofα-decay widths of the two resonance states in²⁴Mg to the state at 1.632 MeV (2⁺) in²⁰Ne yields the value 0.065 for the mixing parameterε and the value 4.01 keV for the Coulomb matrix element responsible for the isospin mixing in²⁴Mg. In²⁸Si the measurement of theα-decay widths of the three resonance states resulted in the determination of the proton, gamma and alpha partial widths which comprise the total width of the resonance states. Limits have been set for the value of the two mixing parameters involved in this case. Upper limits of 16 and 39 keV have been obtained for the Coulomb matrix elements responsible for the isospin mixing in²⁸Si.