A novel tungsten trioxide (WO3)/ITO porous nanocomposite for enhanced photo-catalytic water splitting

Hybrid nanocomposite films of ITO-coated, self-assembled porous nanostructures of tungsten trioxide (WO(3)) were fabricated using electrochemical anodization and sputtering. The morphology and chemical nature of the porous nanostructures were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of WO(3) porous nanostructures were studied in various alkaline electrolytes and compared with those of titania nanotubes. A new type of alkaline electrolyte containing a mixture of NaOH and KOH was proposed for the first time to the best of our knowledge and shown to improve the photocurrent response of the photoanodes. Here, we show that both the WO(3) nanostructures and titania nanotubes (used for comparison) exhibit superior photocurrent response in the mixture of NaOH and KOH than in other alkaline electrolytes. The WO(3) porous nanostructures suffered from surface corrosion resulting in a huge reduction in the photocurrent density as a function of time in the alkaline electrolytes. However, with a protective coating of ITO (100 nm), the surface corrosion of WO(3) porous nanostructures reduced drastically. A tremendous increase in the photocurrent density of as much as 340% was observed after the ITO was applied to the WO(3) porous nanostructures. The results suggest that the hybrid ITO/WO(3) nanocomposites could be potentially coupled with titania nanotubes in a multi-junction PEC cell to expand the light absorption capability in the solar spectrum for water splitting to generate hydrogen.     

The effect of Cl...π interactions on the conformations of 4‐chloro‐5‐(2‐phenoxyethoxy)phthalonitrile and 4‐chloro‐5‐[2‐(pentafluorophenoxy)ethoxy]phthalonitrile

4‐Chloro‐5‐(2‐phenoxyethoxy)phthalonitrile, C₁₆H₁₁ClN₂O₂, (I), and 4‐chloro‐5‐[2‐(pentafluorophenoxy)ethoxy]phthalonitrile, C₁₆H₆ClF₅N₂O₂, (II), show different types of electrostatic interaction. In (I), the phenoxy and phthalonitrile (benzene‐1,2‐dicarbonitrile) moieties are well separated in an open conformation and intermolecular C—H...π interactions are observed in the crystal packing. On the other hand, in (II), the pentafluorophenoxy moiety interacts closely with the Cl atom to form a folded conformation containing an intramolecular halogen–π interaction.     

Molecular weight distribution in free radical polymerization with long-chain branching

A new theory to predict the molecular weight distribution in free radical polymerization that includes chain transfer to polymer is proposed. This theory is based on the branching density distribution of the primary polymer molecules. The branching density distribution provides the information on how each chain is connected to other chains, and therefore, a full molecular weight distribution can be calculated by application of the Monte Carlo simulation. The present theory accounts for the history of the generated branched structure and can be applied to various reaction systems that involve branching and crosslinking regardless of the reactor types used. The present simulation confirmed the validity of the method of moments in a batch polymerization proposed earlier. It was shown clearly why gelation never occurs by chain transfer to polymer without the assistance of other interlinking reaction such as bimolecular termination by combination. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Quasiconformal extension of biholomorphic mappings in several complex variables

Letf(z, t) be a subordination chain fort ∈ [0, α], α>0, on the Euclidean unit ballB inC ⁿ. Assume thatf(z) =f(z, 0) is quasiconformal. In this paper, we give a sufficient condition forf to be extendible to a quasiconformal homeomorphism on a neighbourhood of . We also show that, under this condition,f can be extended to a quasiconformal homeomorphism of onto itself and give some applications. Partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) no. 14540195 from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 2004.     

Structural determination of carnosadine,a new cyclopropyl amino acid,from red alga Grateloupia carnosa

A new cyclopropyl amino acid, carnosadine, was isolated from red alga Grateloupia carnosa and the structure was determined to be 1-amino-2-guanidino-methylcylopropane-1-carboxylic acid from the results of NMR, mass spectrometry and coloring tests.     

Growth theorems and coefficient bounds for univalent holomorphic mappings which have parametric representation

Let B be the unit ball in Cn with respect to an arbitrary norm and let f(z,t) be a g-Loewner chain such that e−tf(z,t)−z has a zero of order k+1 at z=0. In this paper, we obtain growth and covering theorems for . Moreover, we consider coefficient bounds and examples of mappings in .     

New interpolation technique for the CIP method on curvilinear coordinates

We propose a new interpolation technique for the CIP method applied to curvilinear coordinates. The CIP method can hardly maintain third-order accuracy on curvilinear coordinates. The reason for the degeneracy in accuracies has not been discussed in detail. This paper reveals the problems of the CIP method on curvilinear coordinates and presents an improved CIP method to solve the advection equation accurately. The features of the presented method are: (1) the metric computation on the upwind stencil is defined in the same manner as in the advection phase of the CIP method; and (2) gradient values in the physical domain in the computation on the curvilinear coordinates are used. Various test problems show that the improved CIP method has approximate third-order accuracy.     

On some classes of bounded univalent mappings in several complex variables

Let B ⁿ be the Euclidean unit ball in C ⁿ . In this paper, we study several properties of strongly starlike mappings of order α (0 < α < 1) and bounded convex mappings on B ⁿ . We prove that K-quasiregular strongly starlike mappings of order α on B ⁿ have continuous and univalent extensions to ${\overline{B}^n}$ . We show that bounded convex mappings on B ⁿ are strongly starlike of some order α. We give a coefficient estimate for K-quasiregular strongly starlike mappings of order α on B ⁿ . Finally, we give examples of strongly starlike mappings of order α and bounded convex mappings on B ⁿ .