The model of two parallel condensers and the application of the Helmholtz formula to adsorption of polar surfactants from aqueous solutions

A survey of the conceptions related to the model of two parallel condensers and to the difference in behaviour of the surface potential at electrodes and at free surfaces is presented, emphasizing the aspects remaining not fully clarified. It is shown, using elementary electrostatics, that the permittivity value entering into the expression of the Helmholtz formula may vary with the surface density of polar surfactants. The consistency of the model of two parallel condensers is improved if this effect is taken into account. The possible effects of imaging and of displacement of water molecules from the surface are discussed. The effective permittivity and the effective dipole moment can be evaluated from available data. The values found for these parameters in the case of aliphatic alcohols support the analysis which depending on the coverage in the case of electrodes, while at free surfaces, the effective permittivity is equal to twice the value for the vacuum.     

Modelling bioconcentration of pesticides in fish using biopartitioning micellar chromatography

Ecotoxicity assessment is essential before placing new chemical substances on the market. An investigation of the use of the chromatographic retention (log k) in biopartitioning micellar chromatography (BMC) as an in vitro approach to evaluate the bioconcentration factor (BCF) of pesticides in fish is proposed. A heterogeneous set of 85 pesticides from six chemical families was used. For pesticides exhibiting bioconcentration in fish (experimental log BCF > 2), a quantitative retention-activity relationships (QRAR) model is able to perform precise log BCF estimations of new pesticides. Considering the present data, the results based on log k seem to be more reliable than those from available software (BCFWIN and KOWWIN) and from log P (quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR)). It is also possible to perform risk assessment tasks fixing a threshold value for log k, which substitute two common threshold values, log P and experimental log BCF, avoiding the experimental problems related with these two parameters.     

A dielectric method to investigate the interfacial composition of micellar aggregates

The aggregation state of micellar solutions is mainly determined by the specific chemical and physical conditions within the interfacial region constituted by the polar head terminations and solvent molecules. In particular the mutual head group interactions and their interactions with solvent and cosolvent molecules strongly affect the overall shape, size and size distribution function of micellar solutions. It then becomes evident how important the determination of the composition and structural arrangement of the interfacial region is. Permittivity measurements of an heterogeneous system allow the evaluation of the permittivity of the suspended particles using one of the available mixture equations. If the suspended particles are constituted by separated regions with different dielectric properties it is possible to iterate the procedure to extract information on each of the regions. In the case of micellar aggregates there is the hydrocarbon core region, equivalent to an oil liquid phase, and an interfacial region, constituted by the polar head group terminations, solvent and cosolvent molecules. By comparing the interfacial permittivity with the permittivity of mixtures composed by the solvent and free head groups, it is possible to evaluate the composition of the micellar interface. We apply this methodology on two different surfactant mixtures: C₁₂E₆ in water and in water–urea (2, 4 and 6 M); octyl-β- -glucopyranoside in water and in water–glyclne (0.3 and 0.6 M). The results obtained concerning the conformation and composition at the interface are consistent with the overall behaviour of the solutions studied by many other different techniques supporting the proposed procedure.     

Effect of charge density fluctuations within a droplet on dielectric polarization of ionic microemulsions

A statistical model of the dielectric polarization of ionic water-in-oil microemulsions is proposed. The model makes it possible to describe the effect of temperature and dispersed phase content on the static dielectric permittivity behavior of the microemulsions at a region far below percolation. With the help of this model, the microemulsions formed with the surfactant, sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT), have been analyzed. The studied systems are considered to consist of nanometer-sized spherical non-interacting water droplets of equal size with negatively charged head groups , staying at the interface and positive counterions Na⁺, distributed in the electrical diffuse double layer of the droplet interior. It can be conjectured that two different mechanisms, that provide an increase of the static dielectric permittivity as a function of temperature, may take place. These may be attributed either to the aggregation of droplets or the temperature growth of polarizability of non-interacting and therefore non-aggregating droplets dispersed in oil. The results support the hypothesis that the experimental temperature behavior of dielectric polarization far below the percolation region is only due to the polarization of a single droplet and not to an aggregation. The droplet polarizability is proportional to the fluctuation mean-square dipole moment of a droplet. It is shown that this mean-square dipole moment and the corresponding value of the dielectric increment, depend upon the equilibrium distribution of counterions within a diffuse double layer. The density distribution of ions is determined by the degree of the dissociation of the ionic surfactant. The dissociation of the ionic surfactant in the system has been analyzed numerically. The relationship between the constant of dissociation and the experimental dielectric permittivity has been ascertained.     

The Effective Permittivity of Reacting Mixture Solutions for Multiphysics Calculations

Huang and Yang (PIER Lett. 5: 99?C107, 2008) proposed a method based on experimental results to calculate the effective permittivity of liquid reacting mixture solutions. The method cannot be directly applied to multiphysics calculations for microwave heating on chemical reactions, because the derived formula of effective permittivity is a function of the reaction time. In this paper, we improve the method to obtain the effective permittivity as a function of the reactants?? concentrations and temperature by numerical fitting. Thus, the formula can be directly used for multiphysics calculation. Three measured effective permittivity curves for the iodination of acetone reaction under constant temperature were used to calculate the corresponding coefficients of the method at both 915?C2,450?MHz. The results calculated by the coefficients are in satisfactory agreement and approach the measured results.     

Simulation of the supramolecular organization and permittivity of methanol over a wide range of state parameters, including the supercritical region

Supramolecular structure models were suggested to describe the permittivity of methanol over a wide range of state parameters from the melting point to the supercritical region. The models were based on the quasi-chemical model of a nonideal associated solution. The permittivity and dipole correlation factor of methanol were calculated over the temperature range 177–593 K at pressures from 0.1 to 20 MPa for two supramolecular structure models. Methanol molecules formed chain associates according to the first model and chain and cyclic aggregates according to the second one. Both models successfully described the experimental data on pure methanol, but the inclusion of cyclic aggregates was necessary for consistency with models of methanol solutions in various solvents over the entire composition range. The thermodynamic and structural parameters of supramolecular aggregates were calculated. The particle-size distributions of aggregates and other integral and differential characteristics of association over the whole range of fluid methanol state parameters were determined for the first time.     

Relative permittivity of polar liquids. Comparison of theory, experiment, and simulation

A molecular-based second-order perturbation theory is applied to calculate the relative permittivity of polar liquids. Our basic model is the dipolar hard sphere fluid. The main purpose of this work is to propose various approaches to take into account the molecular polarizability. In the continuum approach, we apply the Kirkwood-Fr?hlich equation and use the high-frequency relative permittivity. The Kirkwood g-factor representing molecular correlations is calculated by a perturbation theory. In the molecular approach, the molecular polarizability is built into the model on the molecular level (the polarizable dipolar hard sphere fluid). To calculate the relative permittivity of this system, an equation obtained from a renormalization procedure is used. In both approaches, we apply a series expansion for the relative permittivity and show that these series expansions give results in better agreement with simulation data than the original equations. After testing our theoretical equations against our own Monte Carlo simulation results, we compare the results obtained from our theoretical equations and simulations to experimental data for amines, ethers, and halogenated, sulfur, and hydroxy compounds. We propose a procedure to calculate potential parameters (hard sphere diameter, reduced polarizability, and reduced dipole moment) from experimental data such as the permanent dipole moment, refractive index, density, and temperature. We show that for compounds of low relative permittivity the polarizable dipolar hard sphere (PDHS) model and the continuum approach give reasonable results. For nonassociative liquids of higher relative permittivity, the PDHS model overestimates experimental data due to unsatisfactory representation of the shape of the molecules. In the case of associative liquids, the PDHS model works well, and in some cases it underestimates the experimental values due to the unsatisfactory treatment of electrostatic interactions.     

Lorentz factors and surface permittivity of ionic crystals

The explicit analytical expressions and the corresponding numerical scheme are proposed for the calculation of Lorentz factors (LF) in ideal ionic crystals. Formulae for the permittivity tensors and local fields based on the calculated LF are given for a number of crystal types, including such as CsCl, NaCl, CaF₂ and ZnS, where Clausius–Mossotti and the addition rules are valid, and others, like Cu₂O, TiO₂, perovskite, wurtzite where the violation of both rules is common. The equations for the wave-vector-dependent permittivity in infinite crystals and for surface and lone layer permittivity are derived, and sample numerical calculations of the bulk, surface, and single layer permittivity are in a reasonable agreement with the data of measurements if the crystal structure parameters and ions' polarizabilities are used as the input data.     

Dielectric properties of ethyleneglycol-1,4-dioxane mixtures using TDR method

Complex permittivity has been determined for mixtures of ethyleneglycol-1,4-dioxane (EG-DX) with various concentrations in the frequency range from 100 MHz to 30 GHz at 25 degrees C by time domain reflectometry (TDR). A primary process with an asymmetric shape and a Debye-type small-amplitude high-frequency process are observed for each mixture. The deviation of the relaxation time for the primary process from that of the ideal mixture shows a maximum value at a mole fraction of 1,4-dioxane, xDX approximately =0.8. The static permittivity for the mixtures can be explained using the Luzar model by assuming the formation of two types of hydrogen-bonded dimers, one between EG-EG (pair 1) and the other between EG-DX (pair 2). The number of these pairs is also estimated as a function of concentration. These results of the relaxation time and static permittivity are interpreted on the basis of a model of two kinds of cooperative domains coexisting in the mixtures.     

The theory of viscoelastic characteristics of a highly stretched macromolecule in single molecule AFM

The theory for the deformation of a model macromolecule stretched by its ends under the action of high constant and low periodic forces is constructed. The macromolecule is composed of monomer units in three conformational states. The proposed theory describes the regime of a severe stretching of a macromolecule extended to a length close to its contour length, when its extension proceeds via conformational transitions between different states of monomer units. The structural parameters of the monomer unit are found to correlate with viscoelastic characteristics, which are calculated from the experimental results on the deformation of an individual macromolecule obtained by the frequency atomic force microscopy. For a monomer unit with three conformations, the force dependences of viscoelastic characteristics (effective coefficients of elasticity and friction) can show one or two minima. When the experimental dependences of the above parameters show two minima, the monomer unit can have three or more equilibrium states. With the knowledge of the viscoelastic characteristics of a macromolecule, it is possible to unequivocally estimate all structural parameters of a monomer unit for its three-state conformational model. When the force dependence of viscoelastic characteristics show only one minimum, the monomer unit can have two or more states and analysis of the corresponding viscoelastic characteristics at the minimum makes it possible to select between two- and three-state conformational models. Then, for the three-state model, experimental data allow the prediction of only equilibrium parameters of the monomer unit (position of the minima and energy); dynamic parameters (positions and height of barriers between equilibrium states) remain indeterminate. The proposed theory is used for the interpretation of the viscoelastic characteristics of dextran obtained by single-molecule AFM experiments. The three-state conformational model of a dextran unit is shown to agree better with the experimental data than with the two-state conformational model.     

Synthesis and Microwave Absorption Properties of BaTiO3-polypyrrole Composite

BaTiO₃ powders are prepared by sol-gel method by cotton template. Polypyrrole is pre-pared by chemical oxidation route in the emulsion polymerization system. Then BaTiO₃-polypyrrole composites with different mixture ratios are prepared by as-prepared material.The structure, morphology, and properties of the composites are characterized with Infrared spectrum, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and net-wok analyzer. The com-plex permittivity and reflection loss of the composites are measured at different microwave frequencies in S-band and C-band (0.03—6 GHz) employing vector network analyzer model PNA 3629D vector. The effect of the mass ratio of BaTiO₃ to polypyrrole on the microwave loss properties of the composites is investigated. A possible microwave absorbing mechanism of BaTiO₃-polypyrrole composite is proposed. The BaTiO₃-polypyrrole composite can find applications in suppression of electromagnetic interference and reduction of radar signature.     

Deformation of water droplets on solid surface in electric field

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the deformation of water droplets on a solid surface under electric stress. A mathematical model making it possible to simulate the axisymmetric as well as non-axisymmetric deformations of droplets is developed. According to this model, the droplet deformation depends on several parameters such as the volume and the number of droplets, the conductivity and the permittivity of droplets, their proximity to one another, the surface of the solid material, and the location of each droplet on the dielectric surface. The results of the simulation show the disturbance of the background field through the presence of a single or multiple droplets. An experimental study is also achieved by considering one to three droplets aligned simultaneously on a dielectric smooth surface between two electrodes subjected to AC voltages. The influence of the background field and the droplet location regarding the electrodes on the deformation of water droplets are evidenced.     

Dielectric behavior of double emulsions with "core-shell droplet" morphology

The dielectric behavior of double emulsions with "core-shell droplet" morphology is investigated over a broad range of frequency. A new modified Pauly-Schwan model is proposed for the complex permittivity of double emulsions. The proposed model takes into consideration the morphology and packing limit of droplets. The dielectric behaviors of oil-in-water-in-oil (O/W/O) and water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) types of double emulsions, as predicted by the proposed model, are discussed.     

Relaxations in thermosets. XVI. Dielectric studies of negative feedback during curing of an epoxide-ethylene-diamine thermoset

The complex dielectric permittivity of thermosets of diglycidly ether of bisphenol-A cured with ethylene diamine has been studied during their isothermal curing at several temperatures. As cross-linking progresses, the dc conductivity decreases. At the beginning of the cure the dc conductivity can be fitted to both the scaling laws with a critical exponent of about 4 and an equation indicating approach toward a singularity. In the later stage of the cure, the change in permittivity corresponds to dipolar relaxation of an infinitely connected network, and the Argand diagram for the complex permittivity measured at a fixed frequency obtained as the curing process proceeds at 305 K is similar to that for the complex permittivity as frequency is varied for a time-invariant system which obeys a stretched exponential relaxation function with the curing parameter or exponent, γ = 0.29. Increase in the temperature of isothermal curing lowers both γ and the net decrease in the equilibrium permittivity on curing. A plot of the calculated relaxation time with curing time is sigmoidal and shifts to shorter times on increasing the curing temperature. Measurement of the dielectric properties during the cure but for different frequencies show that the various parameters for the curing kinetics are independent of the frequency of measurement. These observations confirm the development of our concepts of thermoset curing in terms of a phenomenon of negative feedback between molecular diffusion and chemical reactions.     

A quasichemical model for comb-like aggregation of monohydric alcohols: supramolecular structure and macroscopic properties

A new quasichemical model of the supramolecular structure of the liquid consisting of chain-like and comb-like hydrogen-bonded aggregates with branches of unit length has been developed. Analytical expressions for structural characteristics (size and structure distributions of aggregates), dielectric (permittivity, dipole correlation factor), optic (mean molecular anisotropy in liquid, optic correlation factor, anisotropic Rayleigh light scattering ratio) and thermodynamic (energy of intermolecular interactions in liquid, vaporisation enthalpy) properties of the liquid as functions of structural and thermodynamic aggregation parameters have been derived. The analytical model developed creates the foundation for studying the role of branched aggregates in the supramolecular structure of liquids and various macroscopic properties determined by different molecular parameters. The model is applied to pure methanol at ambient conditions. The dependence of structural characteristics of liquid, dipole correlation factor, permittivity, mean molecular anisotropy in liquid, vaporisation enthalpy on the equilibrium constants of chain-like and branched aggregation is studied. The results are compared with experimental data and computer simulation. The influence of branching degree of aggregates on different physicochemical properties of liquid is revealed and discussed.     

Quantum-chemical analysis of the thermodynamic isotope effect in quasi-one-dimensional H-bonded Pb(H/D)PO<Subscript>4</Subscript> ferroelectrics

The thermodynamics of the structural phase transition of H-bonded ferroelectric materials, Pb(H/D)PO₄, were considered in terms of the pseudo-spin Ising model with inclusion of tunneling and longrange effects. The pseudo-spin Hamiltonian parameters needed for analysis of the transition were determined by a procedure based on an independent quantum chemical method. A simplified scheme for the selection of model clusters was proposed, which allows the application of various quantum chemical methods, including high-level methods (CCSD/6-311+G** and so on), in the calculations of double-well potential profiles and Slater parameters. The calculation results were discussed in terms of two statistic models: molecular field approximation (MFA) and Bethe cluster method (BCM). The theoretical estimates of critical transition temperature for both systems are discussed and it is shown that the (semi)quantitative reproduction of experimental data is possible only in terms of BCM taking into account the tunneling effects. The explanation is given for the observed isotope effect caused by very pronounced increase in the critical transition temperature upon deuteration (ΔT_с ≈ 140 K). The crucial role belongs to the difference between tunneling effects in the ferroelectric crystals in question. It is emphasized that the observed differences between the crystal lattice and H/D bond geometries, including the mutual orientation of the bonds, must be accurately included in the calculations.     

Mitigating model deficiency in three-way data analysis by the combination of background constraining and iterative correcting techniques

PARAFAC is a popular model for trilinear data analysis in analytical chemistry. The prerequisite for the successful application of PARAFAC in analytical chemistry is that the three-way data array should follow a trilinear model, which is always violated by the presence of deviations such as Rayleigh scattering in fluorescence spectroscopy. In order to mitigate the influence of model deviations, background constraining and iterative correcting techniques are advocated in this contribution. The method established on these two techniques can nearly eliminate the effect of model deviation on the chemical loading parameters estimated. Compared with other methods for mitigating model deviations, the proposed method requires no prior knowledge about the chemical loading parameters. It is also unnecessary to assign weights to data entities as the weighted PARAFAC of Anderson does. Its implementation is comparable to PARAFAC-ALS and can be programmed to be completely automatic. Its performance has been demonstrated by fluorescent and chromatographic experiments.