Poly(2,5-dimethoxyaniline) film coating for corrosion protection of iron

A poly(2,5-dimethoxyaniline) (PDMA) film was coated on the iron surface by the electropolymerization of 2,5-dimethoxyaniline in neutral buffer solution (pH?6.86). The PDMA film strongly adhered to the surface because of the polar methoxy groups of the PDMA molecules. The fact that no electrochemical response of the PDMA film-coated iron electrode to dissolved Fe²⁺ exhibited that the PDMA film was less permeable to dissolved species, acting as a diffusion barrier against agents causing corrosion such as H₂O and O₂. The PDMA film coating greatly lowered the anodic current peak ascribed to the anodic dissolution of iron and the corrosion current in strongly acidic medium, 0.5?M H₂SO₄ aqueous solution (1?M?????mol?dm^??) as well as neutral medium (pH?6.86). The high anti-corrosion ability was due to a hybrid effect of the PDMA film not only as the diffusion barrier, but also as an in situ oxidant in spite of the slight redox activity of PDMA. In addition, the PDMA film is much more durable and adhesive than polyaniline film against over-oxidation.     

Magnetically Enhanced 15 kHz Glow Discharge of Methane

This work deals with the luminous chemical vapour deposition (plasma polymerization) of hydrocarbon polymeric thin films in a magnetic field enhanced discharge of methane. The films were deposited on 4″ <111> single crystal silicon substrates. We investigated the influence of the different glow discharge parameters (e.g. pressure, flow rate, power input, etc.) on the deposition rate of methane and the refractive index of the resulting polymeric films, as well as the distribution of these parameters across the wafer. We used a Shinko Seiki Plasma Polymerization equipment with a bell jar reactor comprising two electrodes connected to a symmetric AC power supply of 15 kHz. Two magnetrons were formed by placing two circular shaped concentric magnetic poles behind each electrode. The substrates were attached on both sides of a rotating wheel held at a floating potential in the middle of the two electrodes. This equipment allowed us to vary a single parameter and keep the other parameters constant over the whole process. We measured the thickness and the refractive index and their distribution over the wafer. The effect of the system pressure, decoupled from the effect of flow rate, is explained by the characteristic nature of luminous gas phase and by the polymerization/deposition mechanism of luminous chemical vapour deposition.     

Metal-to-Oxide Charge Transfer Observed by a Kelvin Probe Force Microscope

The charge transfer from a nanometer-sized transition metal particle to a catalyst support is thought to affect reactions over the metal surface. We propose the application of Kelvin probe force microscope, which is an extension of the atomic force microscope, to observe the charge transfer particle-by-particle. Our recent results on Na adatoms, Cl adatoms, Pt adatoms and particles, and Ni particles evaporated on TiO₂(110) are reviewed.     

Liquid crystal polymers 23. Steric and polar effects of large substituents in thermotropic aromatic polyesters with decamethylene spacers

A series of thermotropic aromatic polyesters based on a triad ester mesogenic unit containing an arylsulfonyl substituted hydroquinone group and a decamethylene spacer group was prepared. The large arylsulfonyl substituent was substituted in the para-position with either electron donating or accepting groups to study the effect of steric and polar interactions on the thermal transitions of these polymers and on the thermodynamic parameters of their isotropization transitions. All polymers formed nematic melts, and a regular decrease in T₁, ΔH₁ and ΔS₁ was observed with increasing molecular radius of the substituted hydroquinone group. However, a polarity or polarizability effect was superimposed on these relationships. Model compounds containing the same aromatic ester triad were prepared and their thermotropic properties were compared to those of the polymers. Essentially identical effects were observed for both.     

Topological charge quantization via path integration: An application of the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation

Editorial note: The complete text of this paper, dedicated to Professor Asim O. Barut, will appear in the August 1993 issue ofFoundations of Physics.     

Variable-priority queue and doughnut routing

This paper proposes a new data structure called a variable-priority queue. The queue supports, in addition to the ordinary queue operations, an operation MIN to find an item of minimum key and three operations to change keys of items. Any sequence of these m operations can be processed in O(m) time. Furthermore, as its application, this paper presents two efficient algorithms for network problems. The first finds multicommodity flows in cycles in linear time. The second, using the first, finds edge-disjoint paths connecting terminal pairs in a doughnut-shaped grid. The grid is bounded by two nested rectangles, and terminals are specified on the two rectangular boundaries outside the four corners. If there are k terminal pairs and all the terminals are ordered in clockwise order around rectangles, then the algorithm decides in O(k) time whether there are edge-disjoint paths connecting terminals in the grid, and actually finds edge-disjoint paths in O(k log k) time.     

Randomly displaced phase distribution design for computer-generated binary hologram with narrow recording spots

A random phase mask is often used for Fourier transform holography to improve its recording and reconstruction characteristics. However, a conventional random phase pattern has the disadvantage of expanding the recording spot, which is caused by the high-resolution phase modulation. Previously, we proposed a random phase pattern that makes the recording spot narrower than the conventional one with maintaining a moderate reconstruction quality. In the present study, we apply the proposed random phase pattern to computer-generated binary holograms and evaluate both the hologram distribution and reconstruction quality in terms of practical holographic memory systems. The results confirm the effectiveness of the random phase in the reconstruction for an elementary data pattern.