Influence of the counteranion on silver(I)–dithioether coordination polymers

In order to rationalize the effect of the size and coordinating ability of counteranions upon the structure of Ag(I)–dithioether coordination polymers, a series of such polymers has been synthesized by the combination of the 1,3-bis(methylthio)propane building block and AgX silver salts (X = ClO₄⁻ (1), BF₄⁻ (2), CF₃SO₃⁻ (3), SbF₆⁻ (4), C₆H₅COO⁻ (5), CF₃COO⁻ (6), CF₃CF₂CF₂COO⁻ (7) and ⁻OOCCF₂CF₂COO⁻ (8)). Except in two cases, all complexes form 1D-coordination polymers.     

Study of the oxygen incorporation and diffusion in Sr(Ti0.65Fe0.35)O3 ceramics

For applications in high temperature fast conductometric gas sensors and oxygen membranes, several mixed conductors show promising features. In particular, acceptor-doped strontium titanate (STO) has been widely investigated for an application as a fast conductometric oxygen sensor. By a B-site substitution with 35% iron, the resulting ceramic solid solution SrTi_0.65Fe_0.35O₃ (STF35) exhibits a temperature-independent conductivity, an ideal prerequisite for a gas sensor.In the presented study, the oxygen tracer exchange behavior and the tracer diffusion of dense ceramic STF35 bulks have been investigated in the temperature range between 600 and 900 °C by means of ¹⁸O₂ tracer exchange experiments and subsequent secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), resulting in the determination of k* and D* values, respectively.Furthermore, by coating the samples with a thin alkaline earth metal oxide layer (CaO), a significantly enhanced oxygen surface exchange reaction was observed. These findings are in good agreement with previous results on STO single crystals.     

HIGH RESOLUTION GAS ADSORPTION STUDY ON ILLITES PERMUTED WITH VARIOUS CATIONS ASSESSMENT OF SURFACE ENERGETIC PROPERTIES

ABSTRACT

Ar and N₂ high resolution adsorption volumetry coupled to the Derivative Isotherm Simulation method was applied on nine homoionic illite samples (Li ?, Na ? K ? Rb ? Cs ? Mg ? Ca ? Sr ? and Ba ? illites). By comparing the adsorption isotherms it appears that the nature of the surface cation strongly influences the adsorption mechanisms.

The lateral and basal surface areas can only be derived from argon adsorption on monovalent samples. The argon adsorption energies varv with the nature of the surface compensating cation. Both cation size and electronegativity are involved. These interactions can, in first approach, be expressed in terms of surface tensionsγ_sv ^LW. Specific interactions appear when nitrogen is used revealing high energy adsorption sites located on basal faces. These sites could be related to some polar properties of the surface.     

Properties of cerium-zirconium mixed oxides partially substituted by neodymium: Comparison with Zr-Ce-Pr-O ternary oxides

CeO₂ doped with praseodymium, neodymium and/or zirconium atoms were prepared by coprecipitation and by the sol-gel method. Structural properties were investigated by in situ XRD and Raman spectroscopy while oxygen storage capacity (OSC) was measured by transient CO oxidation. All the compounds, except pure Nd₂O₃, have a fluorite-type structure as well as a Raman band at 560 cm⁻¹ characteristic of the oxygen vacancies involving non-stoichiometric oxides. The lattice parameter under hydrogen, being dependent on the temperature, revealed two reduction mechanisms: one at a low temperature at the surface and another at a high temperature in the bulk. Ce-Nd binary oxides show a strong tendency towards crystallite aggregation, which reduces accessibility to gases and OSC properties. Zirconium improves the thermal resistance to sintering of both Ce-Nd and Ce-Pr oxides. The Zr-Ce-Pr-O followed by Zr-Ce-Nd-O compounds displaying high oxygen mobility at a low temperature, appear to be very promising for practical applications such as OSC materials.     

Recent advances with electro-optic polymers

Abstract

In recent years the electro-optic polymers emerged as an important branch of material science. This growth and interest is fundamentally motivated by practical application of these materials in second-order nonlinear optics and in waveguiding configuration. Indeed, these materials marry excellent optical quality of amorphous σ bonded polymers with enhanced first hyperpolarizability of imbedded organic nonlinear optical molecules. Although a big progress was achieved with them, concerning particularly the science, understanding and applications, some problems remain still incompletely solved, particularly the stability of induced polar order by the application of external electric field and the molecule aggregation. In this review paper we recall techniques of thin film fabrication, poling, characterization of NLO properties and discuss more precisely problems of molecule aggregation as well as the temporal decay of polar order. A novel 3D second-order NLO chromophores, namely the [2] paracyclophanes, which may help to limit the aggregation, are proposed. We show, in particular, that this molecule can be poled in doped PMMA thin films. Practical applications of electro-optic polymers are also reviewed and discussed.     

Influence of ligand structure and molecular geometry on the properties of d polypyridinic transition metal complexes

Different strategies to improve the excited state properties of polypyridinic complexes by varying ligand structure and molecular geometry are described. Bidentate and tetradentate ligands based on fragments as dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine, dppz, and pyrazino[2,3-f][1,10]-phenanthroline, ppl, have been used. Quinonic residues were fused to these basic units to improve acceptor properties. Photophysical studies were performed in order to test theoretical predictions.     

Analysis and visualization tools in CFD, part II: A case study in grid adaptivity

The objective of the present paper is to show, in the context of a configurable resolution and analysis environment, how grid adaptivity methodology can be made configurable and rapidly applied to various problems. In order to reach this objective, our error estimation and grid adaptation tools were configured to integrate Zienkiewicz and Zhu's local error estimator. The environment was then applied to the simulation of incompressible isothermal flow and natural convection problems.