Organotrisulfide: A High Capacity Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

An organotrisulfide (RSSSR, R is an organic group) has three sulfur atoms which could be involved in multi‐electron reduction reactions; therefore it is a promising electrode material for batteries. Herein, we use dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) as a model compound to study its redox reactions in rechargeable lithium batteries. With the aid of XRD, XPS, and GC‐MS analysis, we confirm DMTS could undergo almost a 4 e^? reduction process in a complete discharge to 1.0 V. The discharge products are primarily LiSCH₃ and Li₂S. The lithium cell with DMTS catholyte delivers an initial specific capacity of 720 mAh g^?1_DMTS and retains 82 % of the capacity over 50 cycles at C/10 rate. When the electrolyte/DMTS ratio is 3:1 mL g^?1, the reversible specific energy for the cell including electrolyte can be 229 Wh kg^?1. This study shows organotrisulfide is a promising high‐capacity cathode material for high‐energy rechargeable lithium batteries.     

Integral $p$ -adic Hodge theory

Publications mathématiques de l'IHÉS - We construct a new cohomology theory for proper smooth (formal) schemes over the ring of integers of $\mathbf {C}_{p}$ . It takes values in a...     

Thiocyanate: selective membrane electrode based on macrotricyclic binuclear Cu(II)–Schiff base complex

A highly selective PVC membrane electrode was prepared for thiocyanate (SCN^?) determination, based on macrotricyclic binuclear Cu(II)–Schiff base complex as an ionophore. The novel macrotricyclic compound (cryptand) was synthesized by condensation of 4,4′-diamino-dibenzo-18-crown-6 with bis(4-formyl phenyl)terephthalate under high-dilution condition and the structure was confirmed by FT-IR, ¹H NMR,¹³C NMR and MS studies. The Cu(II) complex of the compound was prepared and was examined for use as anion-selective electrode as a carrier which displays an anti-Hofmeister selectivity sequence in following order: SCN^? > ClO₄ ^? > NO₃ ^? > CN^? > I^? > CO₃ ^2? > NO₂ ^? > Br^? > Cl^? > SO₄ ^2? with a preference for thiocyanate ion over many common anions. The electrode has a linear dynamic range between 1.0 × 10^?7 and 1.0 × 10^?1 M, with a Nernstian slope of ?58.9 mV decade^?1 and detection limit of 3.1 × 10^?8 M. The working pH range of the sensor was found be in the range of 3.0–8.0. It exhibits a fast response time of 20 s and has a lifetime of about 2 months. Application of the electrode for determination of thiocyanate in waste water samples and in human urine samples have also been demonstrated.     

Cationic Zinc Hydride Catalyzed Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Formate: Deciphering Elementary Reactions,Isolation of Intermediates,and Computational Investigations

Zinc has been an element of choice for carbon dioxide reduction in recent years. Zinc compounds have been showcased as catalysts for carbon dioxide hydrosilylation and hydroboration. The extent of carbon dioxide reduction can depend on various factors, including electrophilicity at the zinc center and the denticity of the ancillary ligands. In a few cases, the addition of Lewis acids to zinc hydride catalysts markedly influences carbon dioxide reduction. These factors have been investigated by exploring elementary reactions of carbon dioxide hydrosilylation and hydroboration by using cationic zinc hydrides bearing tetradentate tris[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]amine and tridentate N,N,N′,N′′,N′′-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine in the presence of triphenylborane and tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane.     

Sharp thresholds for nonlinear Hamiltonian cycles in hypergraphs

For positive integers r>?, an r‐uniform hypergraph is called an ?‐cycle if there exists a cyclic ordering of its vertices such that each of its edges consists of r consecutive vertices, and such that every pair of consecutive edges (in the natural ordering of the edges) intersect in precisely ? vertices; such cycles are said to be linear when ?=1, and nonlinear when ?>1. We determine the sharp threshold for nonlinear Hamiltonian cycles and show that for all r>?>1, the threshold for the appearance of a Hamiltonian ?‐cycle in the random r‐uniform hypergraph on n vertices is sharp and given by for an explicitly specified function λ. This resolves several questions raised by Dudek and Frieze in 2011.10     

Structural and electrical properties of pure and NaBr doped poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) polymer electrolyte films for solid state battery applications

A sodium ion conducting polymer electrolyte based on poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) complexed with sodium bromide (NaBr) was prepared using solution cast technique. Several experimental techniques such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, temperature-dependant conductivity and transference number measurements have been performed. XRD and FTIR studies confirm the complexation of salt with the polymer. Surface morphology was studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy. DC conductivity was measured in the temperature range of 303–373 K, and the conductivity was found to increase with the increase of dopant concentration as well as temperature. Transference number data suggests that the charge transport in this polymer electrolyte system is mainly due to ions. Using these polymer electrolyte films, electrochemical cells were fabricated with configuration Na/(PVA:NaBr)/V₂O₅ and Na/(PVA:NaBr)/(I2+C+electrolyte) and their discharge characteristics like open circuit voltage (OCV), short circuit current (SCC), power density, energy density were evaluated and compared. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Ionic Devices (ICID 2006), Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, Dec. 7–9, 2006.     

Structural and electrical properties of sol–gel grown (1 − x) (ZnO) + (x) (SnO2) (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5) nanocomposites

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Semiconducting oxide nanocomposites of ZnO/SnO2 with different weight ratio, i.e. (i) ZnO:SnO2?=?100:0 (ZnO0), (ii)...     

Detailed physicochemical and thermochemical investigation of Upper Assam oil shale

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The present work provides a detailed characterization and kinetic study of oil shale of Upper Assam, India. The physicochemical characteristics of oil...     

Design,synthesis, pharmacological evaluation and DNA interaction studies of binuclear Pt(II) complexes with pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyrimidine scaffold

Substituted pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyrimidine ligands were synthesized by cyclization, using 3‐(thiophen‐2‐yl)‐1H‐pyrazol‐5‐amine with substituted enones (3‐phenyl‐1‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)prop‐2‐en‐1‐one) in presence of KOH and DMF as solvent to form cyclic aromatic compounds. The substituted pyrazolo[1,5‐a] pyrimidine based binuclear Pt^II complexes containing neutral tetradentated ligands have general formula [Pt₂(5a–5f)Cl₄], (where, (5a ‐5f) = pyrazolo[1,5‐a] pyrimidine ligand). This compounds were characterized by physicochemical and spectroscopic method like elemental analyses, UV‐Visible, FT‐IR, EDX, TGA, molar conductivity, magnetic susceptibility measurements, mass spectroscopy, ¹H and ¹³C NMR method. The square planar geometry was predicted by electronic spectral study. All Pt^II compounds were evaluated by antimicrobial assay, in vitro brine shrimp assay, in vivo cellular level bioassay using S. Pombe cells and anti‐tuberculosis study. LC₅₀ (50% lethal concentration) values of compounds are observed between 6.450 ‐ 102.07 μg/mL. UV‐vis absorption titration, competitive displacement assay, molecular docking and viscosity measurement were carried out to examine the binding type and binding strength of complexes. The binding studies suggest partial intercalative binding mode of the complexes and the observed binding constant (K_b) values are found in the order of 6d > 6b > 6c > 6a > 6e > 6 f. The anti‐proliferative cytotoxicity of the synthesized Pt^II complexes (6a‐6f) were tested against the HCT‐116 (Human Colorectal Carcinoma) cancer cell line.