Detection of Refractive Index Change of Liquids by Diffractive Element talrd Sensor

Refractive index change of liquids was detected using a temperature compensated prism cavity together with a diffractive optical element fabricated by electron beam lithography. Small changes of refractive index could be detected from image data of the sensor.     

Abatement of Gas-phase p-Xylene via Dielectric Barrier Discharges

The effectiveness of applying dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) to remove p-xylene from gas streams was experimentally investigated in this study. Parameters investigated include applied voltage, gas flow rate, gas temperature and gas composition. Experimental results indicate that as high as 100% p-xylene removal efficiency is achieved for the gas stream containing low p-xylene concentration of 26 ppmv. Removal efficiency of p-xylene achieved with DBDs increases with increasing applied voltage. However, energy consumption is also increased with increasing applied voltage. The best energy efficiency of 7.1 g/kWh is achieved for the gas streams containing 500 ppmv p-xylene, 5% O₂, 1.6% H₂O_(g), and balanced N₂ at the applied voltage of 18 kV. Product analysis indicates that around 70 or 95% of the carbons in p-xylene molecules are transformed into carbon dioxide for the gas streams without or with water vapor, respectively.     

Polymer-induced fractal patterns of [60]fullerene containing poly(methacrylic acid) in salt solutions

Well-defined water-soluble pH-responsive [60]fullerene (C60) containing poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA-b-C60) was synthesized using the atom transfer radical polymerization technique. By varying pH and salt concentration, different types of fractal patterns at nano- to microscopic dimensions were observed for negatively charged PMAA-b-C60, while such structure was not observed for positively charged poly(2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-b-C60. We demonstrated that negatively charged fullerene containing polymeric systems can serve as excellent nanotemplates for the controlled growth of inorganic crystals at the nano- to micrometer length scale, and the possible mechanism was proposed.     

Hexagonal‐Shaped Tin Glycolate Particles: A Preliminary Study of Their Suitability as Li‐Ion Insertion Electrodes

Tin glycolate particles were prepared by a simple, one‐step, polyol‐mediated synthesis in air in which tin oxalate precursor was added to ethylene glycol and heated at reflux. Hexagonal‐shaped, micron‐sized tin glycolate particles were formed when the solution had cooled. A series of tin oxides was produced by calcination of the synthesized tin glycolate at 600–800 °C. It was revealed that the micron‐sized, hexagonal‐shaped tin glycolate now consisted of nanosized tin‐based particles (80–120 nm), encapsulated within a tin glycolate shell. XRD, TGA, and FT‐IR measurements were conducted to account for the three‐dimensional growth of the tin glycolate particles. When applied as an anode material for Li‐ion batteries, the synthesized tin glycolate particles showed good electrochemical reactivity in Li‐ion insertion/deinsertion, retaining a specific capacity of 416 mAh g^?1 beyond 50 cycles. This performance was significantly better than those of all the other tin oxides nanoparticles (<160 mAh g^?1) obtained after heat treatment in air. We strongly believe that the buffering of the volume expansion by the glycolate upon Li–Sn alloying is the main factor for the improved cycling of the electrode.     

Operational control based on environmental detector for floating LNG connection system during side-by-side offloading operation

Nonlinear Dynamics - This paper addresses the dynamic positioning problem for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier with unknown shielding effect via a sea state detector and robust control design....     

Enthalpies of transfer from water to methanol of cations complexed with 18-crown-6

Enthalpies of transfer from water to methanol have been obtained via a thermochemical cycle for the [M⁺18C6] complexes where M⁺  Na⁺, K⁺, Rb⁺, Cs⁺, and Ag⁺. Variation of the transfer enthalpy with M⁺ is small.     

Surface plasmons modulate the spatial coherence of light in Young's interference experiment

It is shown how surface plasmons that travel between the slits in Young's interference experiment can change the state of spatial coherence of the field that is radiated by the two apertures. Surprisingly, the coherence can both be increased and decreased, depending on the slit separation distance. This results in a modulation of the visibility of the interference fringes. Since many properties of a light field-such as its spectrum, polarization, and directionality - may change on propagation and are dependent on the spatial coherence of the source, our results suggest that the use of surface plasmons provides a new way to alter or even tailor the statistical properties of a light field.