On the role of the microporous layer in PEMFC operation

The condition of liquid water breakthrough at the cathode of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFC) is studied experimentally and data on corresponding water saturation and capillary pressure are provided for gas diffusion layers (GDL) with and without a microporous layer (MPL). The data demonstrate that the GDL saturation at water breakthrough is drastically reduced from ca. 25% to ca. 5% in the presence of MPL. This observation is consistent with considerations of invasion percolation in finite-size lattices and suggests an explanation for the role of MPL in improving PEMFC performance at high current densities.     

Hyperfine field and electric quadrupole interaction of51V in YFe2 and HoFe2

Spin echo measurements were made on Y(Fe_0.99V_0.01)₂, (Y_0.97Ho_0.03) (Fe_0.99V_0.01)₂ and Ho(Fe_0.96 V_0.04)₂ compounds. The addition of Ho to YFe₂ causes a spin reorientation from <111> to <100> but this is not reflected in the⁸⁹Y or⁵¹V hyperfine fields. A well resolved⁵¹V NMR line was observed at 51.5 MHz and 60.0 MHz respectively for Y and Ho Laves compounds but with no evidence of quadrupole satellites. Small quadrupole splittings ¦2P_t¦ = 171 ±5 kHz and 178 ±5 kHz respectively for Y and Ho compounds were deduced from the oscillatory decay of the⁵¹V spin echo after a two pulse sequence.On leave from Department of Physics, University College, The University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Campbell, ACT, Australia.     

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Implications of the solvent effect in quantitative capillary gas chromatography of minor constituents in mixtures—a study using deuterium labeled and unlabeled benzofluoranthenes

Perdeuterated benzofluoranthenes have slightly shorter retention times than their equivalent unlabeled forms in a DB-5 capillary column. Under column overload conditions, perdeuterated benzofluoranthenes in moderate multifold excesses, which might be encountered in their use as internal standards and carriers for quantitative analysis, are seen to exhibit both normal and reverse solvent effects on their close eluting congeners. In some cases the effects may be used to advantage by knowledgeable analysts, but for the ignorant and unwary the effects can lead to serious errors in identification and quantification.     

Valence‐to‐core X‐ray emission spectroscopy of titanium compounds using energy dispersive detectors

X‐ray emission spectroscopy (XES) of transition metal compounds is a powerful tool for investigating the spin and oxidation state of the metal centers. Valence‐to‐core (vtc) XES is of special interest, as it contains information on the ligand nature, hybridization, and protonation. To date, most vtc‐XES studies have been performed with high‐brightness sources, such as synchrotrons, due to the weak fluorescence lines from vtc transitions. Here, we present a systematic study of the vtc‐XES for different titanium compounds in a laboratory setting using an X‐ray tube source and energy dispersive microcalorimeter sensors. With a full‐width at half‐maximum energy resolution of approximately 4 eV at the Ti Kβ lines, we measure the XES features of different titanium compounds and compare our results for the vtc line shapes and energies to previously published and newly acquired synchrotron data as well as to new theoretical calculations. Finally, we report simulations of the feasibility of performing time‐resolved vtc‐XES studies with a laser‐based plasma source in a laboratory setting. Our results show that microcalorimeter sensors can already perform high‐quality measurements of vtc‐XES features in a laboratory setting under static conditions and that dynamic measurements will be possible in the future after reasonable technological developments.     

Rapid fabrication of glass/PDMS hybrid µIMER for high throughput membrane proteomics

Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics has brought a radical approach to systems biology, offering a platform to study complex biological functions. However, key proteomic technical challenges remain, mainly the inability to characterise the complete proteome of a cell due to the thousands of diverse, complex proteins expressed at an extremely wide concentration range. Currently, high throughput and efficient techniques to unambiguously identify and quantify proteins on a proteome-wide scale are in demand. Miniaturised analytical systems placed upstream of MS help us to attain these goals. One time-consuming step in traditional techniques is the in-solution digestion of proteins (4-20 h). This also has other drawbacks, including enzyme autoproteolysis, low efficiency, and manual operation. Furthermore, the identification of α-helical membrane proteins has remained a challenge due to their high hydrophobicity and lack of trypsin cleavage targets in transmembrane helices. We demonstrate a new rapidly produced glass/PDMS micro Immobilised Enzyme Reactor (μIMER) with enzymes covalently immobilised onto polyacrylic acid plasma-modified surfaces for the purpose of rapidly (as low as 30 s) generating peptides suitable for MS analysis. This μIMER also allows, for the first time, rapid digestion of insoluble proteins. Membrane protein identification through this method was achieved after just 4 min digestion time, up to 9-fold faster than either dual-stage in-solution digestion approaches or other commonly used bacterial membrane proteomic workflows.     

Impact of plasticizers and tackifiers on the crystallization of isotactic poly(1-butene)

Crystallization of a semi-crystalline polyolefin in the presence of low molecular weight modifiers was quantified by differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy. The polyolefin was a commercial grade of isotactic poly(1-butene) (iPB). Two modifiers were used: an oligomeric plasticizer, designated HOAO, which decreased the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the system, and an oligomeric tackifier, designated HOCP, which increased T_g. Binary iPB/modifier blends containing 10% or 20% by weight of HOAO or HOCP were examined to determine how their addition affects T_g, while ternary iPB/HOAO/HOCP blends containing 10% or 20% by weight of total modifier were examined to determine the effects of dilution by using a ratio of HOAO to HOCP that matched the T_g of iPB. The addition of modifier decreased the nucleation rate, spherulitic crystal growth rate, and final crystallinity of each blend. However, only the nucleation rate showed a dependence on the type of modifier, with nucleation retarded more by HOCP than by HOAO. A Hoffman-Weeks analysis of the melting point as a function of crystallization temperature confirmed that the driving force for nucleation was reduced, and that the effect was larger for HOCP. An Avrami analysis of the bulk crystallization kinetics was consistent with these observations, as the Avrami exponents were in the range of 3-4.     

Characteristics of mass and nuclear charge distributions of229th(nth,f). implications for fission dynamics

The mass and nuclear charge distributions of fission fragments from²²⁹Th(n_{th, f}) have been measured at several kinetic energies with the mass spectrometer Lohengrin (ILL-Grenoble). The average proton e-o effect, which reaches 41%, induces large oscillations in the parameters of the isotopic charge distribution. A comparison of the data from different fissile nuclei shows the importance of the last stage of the process for intrinsic excitations.