Electrodeposited Silver Nanoparticles on Carbon Ionic Liquid Electrode for Electrocatalytic Sensing of Hydrogen Peroxide

Silver nanoparticles (narrowly dispersed in diameter) were electrodeposited on carbon ionic liquid electrode (CILE) surface using a two‐step potentiostatic method. Potentiostatic double pulse technique was used as a suitable and simple method for controlling the size and morphologies of silver nanoparticles electrodeposited on CILE. The obtained silver nanoparticles deposited on CILE surface showed excellent electrocatalytic activity (low overpotential of ?0.35 V vs. Ag/AgCl) towards reduction of hydrogen peroxide. A linear dynamic range of 2–200 μM with an experimental detection limit of 0.7 μM (S/N=3) and reproducibility of 4.1% (n=5) make the constructed sensor suitable for peroxide determination in aqueous solutions.     

Indirect determination of hexavalent chromium ion in complex matrices by adsorptive stripping voltammetry at a mercury electrode

A sensitive method for the determination of chromium ion(VI) in complex matrices such as crude oil and sludge is presented based on the decreasing effect of Cr(VI) on cathodic adsorptive stripping peak height of Cu-adenine complex. Under the optimum experimental conditions (pH 7.5 Britton-Robinson buffer, 5 × 10⁻⁵ M copper, 8 × 10⁻⁶ M adenine and accumulation potential −250 mV versus Ag/AgCl), a linear decrease of the peak current of Cu-adenine was observed, when the chromium(VI) concentration was increased from 5 μg L⁻¹ to 120 μg L⁻¹. Detection limit of 2 μg L⁻¹ was achieved for 120 s accumulation time. The relative standard deviations (R.S.D., %) were 1.8% and 4% for chromium(VI) concentrations of 18 μg L⁻¹ and 100 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of chromium(VI) in the presence of high levels of chromium(III), in various real samples such as crude oil, crude oil tank button sludge, waste water and tap water samples. Effects of foreign ions and surfactants on the voltammetric peak and the influences of instrumental and analytical parameters were investigated in detail. The accuracy of the results was checked by ICP and/or AA.     

Solvent-less synthesis of zinc oxide nanostructures from Zn(salen) as precursor and their optical properties

ZnO nanoparticles, 10–20 nm in size, were synthesized by heat treatment in air at 500 °C for 5 h., using [N,N′-bis(salicylaldehydo) ethylene diamine]zinc(II), i.e., Zn(salen), as precursor, which was obtained by a solvent-free solid–solid reaction. Heat-treated products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Room temperature photoluminescence spectra of ZnO nanostructures are dominated by green emission attributed to oxygen vacancy related donor–acceptor transition.     

Influence of Superconducting Leads Energy Gap on Electron Transport Through Double Quantum Dot by Markovian Quantum Master Equation Approach

The superconducting reservoir effect on the current carrying transport of a double quantum dot in Markovian regime is investigated. For this purpose, a quantum master equation at finite temperature is derived for the many-body density matrix of an open quantum system. The dynamics and the steady-state properties of the double quantum dot system for arbitrary bias are studied. We will show that how the populations and coherencies of the system states are affected by superconducting leads. The energy parameter of system contains essentially four contributions due to dots system-electrodes coupling, intra dot coupling, two quantum dots inter coupling and superconducting gap. The coupling effect of each energy contribution is applied to currents and coherencies results. In addition, the effect of energy gap is studied by considering the amplitude and lifetime of coherencies to get more current through the system.     

On factor-invariant graphs

We classify trivalent vertex-transitive graphs whose edge sets have a partition into a Hamilton cycle and a 1-factor that is invariant under the action of the full automorphism group.     

Electrochemical Behavior of Iron(III)/Iron(II) Couple in Dimethylformamide

The electrochemical behavior of the iron(III)/iron(II) couple was investigated in both complexing (Cl⁻) and noncomplexing (ClO⁻₄) media in dimethylformamide (DMF), and the results were compared with the results obtained in aqueous solutions. The diffusion coefficients for iron(III) and iron(II) in DMF are larger in complexing medium than in noncomplexing medium, contrary to the results obtained in aqueous solutions. The heterogeneous electron transfer rate constants for the iron(III)/iron(II) couple obtained in DMF were found to be smaller in DMF solution as a result of the specific adsorption of DMF. The formal potential of the Fe(III)/Fe(II) couple in DMF is about 0.2 V less positive in noncomplexing medium as a result of the greater stabilization of iron(III) by the strongly cation-solvating DMF. The formal potential of the same couple in complexing medium (Cl⁻) was found to be 0.5 V less positive due to a combination of solvation and complexation effects. Cyclic voltammetric investigations show a quasi-reversible electron transfer without any coupled chemical reaction.     

Determination of pKa values for (E)-2-hydroxy-5-(aryldiazenyl) benzaldehydes in dimethyl sulfoxide: Cyclic voltammetry and density functional theory calculations

The (E)-2-hydroxy-5-(aryldiazenyl) benzaldehydes (azo dyes 1–4 ) were synthesized in high purity. As they are insoluble in water, the usual analytical methods cannot be utilized to determine their pK_a values. Cyclic voltammetry was experimentally used to determine their pKa values in DMSO solvent. In addition, computational methods and a conductor-like screening model (COSMO) were used to calculate the solvent effect. , , K_exchange, and pK_a values were estimated for the azo dyes being studied using the BP86, TPSS, B3LYP, PBE0, TPSSh, and PW6B95 density functionals in def2-TZVP basis sets. The obtained mean absolute deviations (MADs) indicate that the results of BP86, PBE0, and PW6B95 functionals are in good agreement with experimental values.     

Spectrophotometric determination of nickel in vegetable oil with ammonium 2-amino-1-cyclohexene-1-dithiocarboate

The reaction between nickel and ammonium 2-amino-1-cyclohexene-1-dithiocarboate in aqueous acetone medium at pH 3.0-8.0 results in a stable dark red complex. The ratio of reagent to nickel in the complex is 2:1 and the formation constant is 7.38 +/- 0.12 x 10(10). Beer's law is obeyed up to 4 microg/ml nickel at the absorption maximum at 535 nm. The apparent molar absorptivity is 2.8 x 10(4) l.mole(-1). cm(-1), and the detection limit is 10 ng/ml nickel. The method is applied to the determination of nickel in vegetable oil.