Porous solgel fiber as a transducer for highly sensitive chemical sensing

A novel solgel process for making porous silica fiber and doping the fiber core with sensing material is described. A CoCl(2) -doped solgel fiber was fabricated and was used to construct an active-core optical fiber moisture sensor. Test results show that the sensitivity of the active-core optical fiber sensor is much higher than that of an evanescent-wave-based optical fiber sensor.     

A class of exact solutions for doubly anharmonic oscillators

The solution of a difference equation in the form of an infinite continued fraction is used to obtain a class of exact solutions for the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of doubly anharmonic oscillators described by potentials of the type (1/2)²x²+(1/4)x⁴+(1/6)x⁶, n>0, provided certain constraints on the couplings are satisfied. The class is denumerably infinite but not complete.     

Modes of vibrations due to (U-center + additive anion impurities) in KC1—II

Defect modes due to U-centers in potassium chloride containing additive anion impurities have been computed by Green's functions techniques. Local vibrations due to U-centers in alkali halides have cubic symmetry, but when one of the twelve nearest neighbour anions is replaced by an additive impurity, the site symmetry of the system reduces from O_h to C_2v and gives rise to new vibrational modes. The phonon Green's functions have been analysed according to the irreducible representation of the point group symmetry, pertaining to the substitutional impurity. We have considered the vibrations of the U-center, additive anion impurity and their nearest neighbours i.e. 36-dimensional defect space. Using group theory, symmetry coordinates were constructed and the 36 x 36 dimensional matrix was block diagonalised into various irreducible representations. The computed local mode frequencies have been conpared with the experimental measurements. Reasonably good agreement is found between them. The computed results for resonant mode frequencies are also displayed.     

Ultrasonic and Thermophysical Properties of Cobalt Nanowires

Acoustical Physics - We have estimated elastic, mechanical, thermal and ultrasonic properties, in high temperature regime, of cobalt nanowires (Co-NWs) having a hexagonal close-packed (HCP)...     

A microfocus X‐ray fluorescence beamline at Indus‐2 synchrotron radiation facility

A microfocus X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy beamline (BL‐16) at the Indian synchrotron radiation facility Indus‐2 has been constructed with an experimental emphasis on environmental, archaeological, biomedical and material science applications involving heavy metal speciation and their localization. The beamline offers a combination of different analytical probes, e.g. X‐ray fluorescence mapping, X‐ray microspectroscopy and total‐external‐reflection fluorescence characterization. The beamline is installed on a bending‐magnet source with a working X‐ray energy range of 4–20 keV, enabling it to excite K‐edges of all elements from S to Nb and L‐edges from Ag to U. The optics of the beamline comprises of a double‐crystal monochromator with Si(111) symmetric and asymmetric crystals and a pair of Kirkpatrick–Baez focusing mirrors. This paper describes the performance of the beamline and its capabilities with examples of measured results.     

Computational studies on the thermal decomposition of the CH2FOCHFO radical

Theoretical studies have been carried out on the kinetics and thermochemistry of the thermal decomposition of the CH₂FOCHFO radical formed during the photo-oxidation of CH₂FOCH₂F (HFE-152E) using the dual-level method of obtaining the optimised structure at DFT(M06-2X)/6-311++G(d,p) followed by a single-point energy calculation at the G3 level of theory. The rate constant for different reaction channels involved during the decomposition processes of CH₂FOCHFO is evaluated at 298 K and 1 atm using canonical transition-state theory. The results point out that the C–H bond scission is the dominant path involving an energy barrier of 9.5 kcal mol^?1 determined at the G3 level of theory. A potential energy diagram is constructed and the results are compared with the data available from the literature for a structurally similar molecule.     

Reactivity studies of carbon,phosphorus and sulfur‐based acyl sites with tertiary oximes in gemini surfactants

Kinetic studies of the reactions of tertiary oximes (monoisonitroso acetone; MINA and butane 2,3 dione monooxime; BDMO) with some carboxylate (p‐nitrophenyl acetate and p‐nitrophenyl benzoate), phosphate (p‐nitrophenyl diphenyl phosphate and bis (2,4‐dinitrophenyl) phosphate) and sulfonate (p‐nitrophenyl p‐toluene sulphonate) esters in gemini surfactants have been conducted. The observed first‐order rate constant versus surfactant profiles show micelle‐assisted bimolecular reactions involving interfacial ion exchange between bulk aqueous media and micellar pseudophase. Experimental results showed that MINA exhibited better nucleophilic activity towards ester cleavage than BDMO. Pseudophase model has been applied in order to determine micellar second‐order rate constants and binding constants. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.