Copper impurities in bulk ZnO: a hybrid density functional study

Transition metal doping of ZnO is considered as a promising way to obtain a diluted magnetic semiconducting oxide. In this work we investigate copper doping of ZnO by means of density functional theory, using a hybrid exchange-correlation functional and a periodic approach with localized atomic basis functions. Isolated copper species, such as copper substitutional to zinc, Cu(s), and Cu interstitial, Cu(i), are analyzed in terms of transition energy levels and hyperfine coupling constants with reference to available spectroscopic data. We also examine the potential magnetic interaction between copper species, their interaction with oxygen vacancies, and the possibility of copper clustering. The relative stability of the various copper impurities considered in this study is finally compared on the basis of their formation energy at different oxygen chemical potentials and Fermi level values.     

Zirconia Supported on Rice Husk Silica from Biowaste: A Novel,Efficient, and Recoverable Nanocatalyst for the Green Synthesis of Tetrahydro-1-benzopyrans

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - Zirconia supported silica from rice husk (an agricultural waste) has been utilized as a novel and efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of...     

Production of “in house” reference materials for ELISA screening of bovine urine and liver samples for clenbuterol

Clenbuterol screening of bovines is done by analysis of urine, for monitoring living animals, and liver, for monitoring animals after slaughter. ELISA has generally been used as the main method for these purposes. Nevertheless, in Europe, methods must be validated according to Commission Decision (EC) 657/2007 criteria, i.e. by use of reference materials. Production of “in house” reference materials is a possibility, but the homogeneity, storage temperature, and period of stability of these materials must be investigated in the laboratory itself. This paper reports GC–MS evaluation of an “in-house”-produced batch of aliquots of bovine urine and liver, fortified with 10.0 ng/ml and 10.0 ng/g clenbuterol, respectively, and stored at ?20 °C and at ?60 °C. For urine stored for 20 weeks at ?20 °C and at 60 °C the stability of clenbuterol was proved at the 95% confidence level. For liver, however, it was demonstrated at the same confidence level that clenbuterol was highly unstable during storage for 20 weeks at either of the temperatures studied.     

EPR properties of Au atoms adsorbed on various sites of the MgO(1 0 0) surface from relativistic DFT calculations

Using all electron fully relativistic DFT calculations we have computed the EPR properties of Au atoms bound to various sites of the MgO surface. Changes in g-tensor and hyperfine coupling constants provide a way to identify the gold adsorption site and to map the surface morphology by comparison of measured and calculated EPR spectra. We found a strong reduction of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant, a_iso(Au), for adsorbed gold compared to the free atom; this reduction, which is about 45% for terrace sites, is more pronounced when Au interacts with low-coordinated sites like steps, edges and corners where it is about 60%. The reduction of a_iso(Au) is accompanied by a corresponding increase of the superhyperfine interaction with the surface oxygen sites, as measured by a_iso(¹⁷O). Large anisotropies in the g-tensor are computed for all sites.     

Markov structures and decay of correlations for non-uniformly expanding dynamical systems

We consider non-uniformly expanding maps on compact Riemannian manifolds of arbitrary dimension, possibly having discontinuities and/or critical sets, and show that under some general conditions they admit an induced Markov tower structure. Moreover, the decay of the return time function can be controlled in terms of the time generic points need to achieve some uniform expanding behavior. As a consequence we obtain some rates for the decay of correlations of those maps and conditions for the validity of the Central Limit Theorem.     

Oxygen vacancies and peroxo groups on regular and low-coordinated sites of MgO, CaO, SrO, and BaO surfaces

The formation of an oxygen vacancy and the simultaneous re-adsorption of an oxygen atom on regular and low-coordinated (LC) sites (edges and corners) of the surface of alkaline-earth oxides with cubic rock salt structure, MgO, CaO, SrO, and BaO, has been investigated using DFT cluster model calculations. The process corresponds to the formation of a surface Frenkel defect when the vacancy formation energy is partially compensated by the energy gained in the formation of a peroxo group. The structural and electronic properties of vacancies and peroxo groups along the series of alkaline-earth oxides have been analyzed. We found that the role of low-coordinated sites on the surface chemistry of alkaline-earth oxides is of crucial importance for MgO, but decreases for the heavier members. For instance, on BaO the formation of a peroxo group is practically site-insensitive. This is not the case of the vacancy formation, which is always favored on the low-coordinated sites.     

Comparison of physicochemical properties of new ionic liquids based on imidazolium, quaternary ammonium, and guanidinium cations

More than 50 ionic liquids were prepared by using imidazolium, quaternary ammonium, and guanidinium cations and various anions. In these series, different cationic structures such as 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium [Bzmim]+, 1,3-dibenzylimidazolium [BzmiBz]+, 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium [C8mim]+, 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium [C10mim]+, tricapryl-methylammonium [Aliquat]+, benzyltriethylammonium [BzTEA]+, phenyltrimethylammonium [PhTMA]+, and dimethyldihexylguanidinium [DMG]+ were combined with anions, p-toluenesulfonate [TSA](-), dicyanoamide [DCA]-, saccharine (2-sulfobenzoic acid imide sodium salt) [SAC]-, trifluoroacetate [TFA]-, bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [Tf2N]-, trifluoromethanesulfonate [TfO]-, and thiocyanate [SCN]-. Important physical data for these ionic liquids are collated, namely solubility in common solvents, viscosity, density, melting point and water content. Apart from the viscosity, the Newtonian and non-Newtonian behavior of these ionic liquids is also disclosed. Stability of these ionic liquids under thermal, basic, acidic, nucleophilic, and oxidative conditions was also studied. The features of the solid-liquid phase transition were analyzed, namely the glass transition temperature and the heat capacity jump associated with the transition from the non-equilibrium glass to the metastable supercooled liquid. A degradation temperature of each ionic liquid was also determined. Comparisons of the properties of various ionic liquids were made.     

Spectroscopic and computational studies of a Ru(II) terpyridine complex: the importance of weak intermolecular forces to photophysical properties

The complex [Ru(tpy)(CO)(2)TFA]+[PF(6)]- (where tpy = 2,2':6',2' '-terpyridine and TFA = CF(3)CO(2)-) (1) has been synthesized and fully characterized spectroscopically. The X-ray structure of the complex has been determined. The photopysical properties of the ruthenium complex and the free ligand tpy have been investigated at room temperature and at 77 K in acetonitrile solution and in the solid state. Their electronic spectra are highly influenced by intermolecular stacking interactions, both in solution and in the solid state. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) calculations have been performed to characterize the electronic structure and the excited states of [Ru(tpy)(CO)(2)TFA]+[PF(6)]- and tpy. TDDFT calculations on three different conformations of free ligand have been performed as well. Absorption and emission spectra of tpy have been studied at different temperatures and concentrations in order to have a better understanding of this ruthenium derivative's properties. The absorption spectrum of 1 is characterized by metal-perturbed ligand-centered (LC) bands in the UV region. No metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) bands are observed in the visible for the complex. Only at high concentrations (10(-4) M) does a very weak band appear at 470 nm. At 77 K and low concentrations, solutions of 1 exhibit a major 3LC emission band centered at 468 nm (21.4 x 10(-3) cm(-1)). When the concentration of the complex is increased, an unstructured narrow emission at 603 nm (16.6 x 10(-3) cm(-1)), with a lifetime of 10 micros, dominates the emission spectrum in glassy acetonitrile. This emission originates from a pi-pi stacked dimeric (or oligomeric) species. TDDFT calculations performed on a tail-to-tail dimer structure, similar to that seen in the solid state, ascribe the transition to a triplet excited state, where intermolecular metal (d) --> ligand (pi*, polypyridine) charge transfer occurs. A good estimate of the transition energy is also obtained (623 nm, 1.94 eV).     

Preparation,crystal structures and spectroscopic characterization of oxalate copper(II) complexes containing the nitrogen ligands 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine and di(2-pyridyl)sulfide

The preparation, crystal structures and spectroscopic characterization of four oxalate copper(II) complexes containing the 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Mebpy) or di(2-pyridyl)sulfide (DPS) nitrogen ligands namely [μ-(ox){Cu(Mebpy)(NO₃)(H₂O)}₂] (1), [μ-(ox){Cu(Mebpy)(ClO₄)(H₂O)}₂] (2), [μ-(ox){Cu(DPS)(H₂O)}₂](ClO₄)₂ (3) and [Cu(DPS)(ox)(H₂O)] · 2H₂O (4) are described. X-ray diffraction measurements have shown that complexes 1–3 are binuclear, in which the oxalate anion bridges two Cu(II) centers, while the complex (4) is mononuclear and the oxalate anion adopts the terminal bidentate chelating coordination mode. In 1 and 2 the Cu(II) sites display a distorted octahedral geometry (4+2 environment) and in compounds 3 and 4 the Cu(II) centers exhibit a slightly distorted square pyramidal geometry. In addition, complexes 1 and 2 present a 2D supramolecular arrangement through hydrogen bonds between coordination water molecules and nitrate or perchlorate anions and π-stacking interaction between the pyridyl rings of Mebpy nitrogen ligands.