Investigation of the Li1+xV3O8 electrode–organic electrolyte interface by scanning photoelectron microscopy

To investigate the formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on the Li_1+xV₃O₈ electrode surface in the thermodynamic stability range of the organic electrolyte, we applied scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM) to a pristine electrode and to an electrode after ten cycles. The F K-edge absorption spectrum of the cycled electrode showed that LiF forms on the electrode surface during the lithium insertion–extraction process in the Li_1+xV₃O₈/Li cell. The photoelectron spectrum for the cycled electrode showed intense spectral features corresponding to Li 1s, F 2s, F 2p, and P 2p electron signals, whereas these spectral features were of negligible intensity for the pristine electrode. The above results give strong support for the formation of an SEI that consists of LiF and compounds containing phosphorus during operation of the battery. The SPEM images also revealed that the fluorine distribution on the surface of the cycled electrode was inhomogeneous.     

Dimensional variation in production of high-aspect-ratio micro-pillars array by micro powder injection molding

Micro powder injection molding (μPIM) is one of the potential processes for the mass production of metallic microstructures and micro components. Here, μPIM is the miniaturization of conventional PIM, which involves four processing steps: mixing, injection molding, debinding and sintering. This paper looks into the feasibility and effectiveness of μPIM as a key mass production process for the fabrication of metallic micro components. For it to be an effective re-production process, it is imperative to examine how well parts can be duplicated/fabricated from a master mold. In this work, the dimensional variation of high-aspect-ratio micro-pillars arrays, in particular the dimensional shrinkage, global warpage, and surface roughness at each stage of the μPIM process for a range of molding pressures, are quantified and compared in detail. The sensitivity of the dimensional variation of the microstructures to the packing pressure is reported. The mechanism behind the dimensional variation is analyzed. PACS 81.20.Ev; 81.20.Hy; 81.70.Fy; 07.60.Ly; 81.05.-t     

Noncommutative electromagnetism as a large <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> gauge theory

We map noncommutative (NC) U(1) gauge theory on ℝ _C ^d ×ℝ _NC ²ⁿ to U(N→∞) Yang–Mills theory on ℝ _C ^d , where ℝ _C ^d is a d-dimensional commutative spacetime while ℝ _NC ²ⁿ is a 2n-dimensional NC space. The resulting U(N) Yang–Mills theory on ℝ _C ^d is equivalent to that obtained by the dimensional reduction of (d+2n)-dimensional U(N) Yang–Mills theory onto ℝ _C ^d . We show that the gauge-Higgs system (A _μ ,Φ ^a ) in the U(N→∞) Yang–Mills theory on ℝ _C ^d leads to an emergent geometry in the (d+2n)-dimensional spacetime whose metric was determined by Ward a long time ago. In particular, the 10-dimensional gravity for d=4 and n=3 corresponds to the emergent geometry arising from the 4-dimensional N=4{\mathcal{N}}=4 vector multiplet in the AdS/CFT duality. We further elucidate the emergent gravity by showing that the gauge-Higgs system (A _μ ,Φ ^a ) in half-BPS configurations describes self-dual Einstein gravity.     

Layered perovskites with giant spontaneous polarizations for nonvolatile memories

A series of titanate-based layered perovskites having large values of the spontaneous polarization P(s) were developed for their applcations to nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memories. Among these, the Nd-modified bismuth titanate [Bi(4-x)Nd(x)Ti(3)O(12) (BNdT)] system exhibited the most remarkable ferroelectric properties. The c-axis oriented BNdT capacitor was characterized by a switchable remanent polarization 2P(r) of over 100 microC/cm(2) and imprinting and fatigue-free behavior. The active Ti site responsible for the giant P(s) was identified with the help of Rietveld analysis, x-ray absorption near-edge structure study, and ab initio quantum computations.     

Temperature and injection current dependent electroluminescence study of GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well laser diode grown using tertiarybutylarsine and tertiarybutylphosphine

GaInP/AlGaInP triple quantum well (TQW) lasers, grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using tertiarybutylarsine (TBAs) and tertiarybutylphosphine (TBP), were fabricated with a pulsed anodic oxidation (PAO) process. The devices worked at room temperature (RT) with the lowest threshold current density (J_th) of 1.5 kA/cm² ever reported for GaInP/AlGaInP lasers grown using TBAs and TBP. Temperature dependent (35–250 K) electroluminescence (EL) study of the GaInP/AlGaInP laser diode showed almost the same luminescence quenching behavior at a high temperature region (120–250 K), independent of the injection current (100–150 mA). A model involving a nonradiative recombination mechanism was presented to interpret the EL quenching behavior over the experimental temperature range. The nonradiative recombination centers in the Al-containing barrier or cladding layer are believed to contribute to the loss of carriers via nonradiative recombination. PACS 78.60.Fi; 71.20.Nr; 78.67.De; 81.15.Gh; 42.55.Px     

Multifarious injection chamber for molecular structure study (MICOSS) system: development and application for serial femtosecond crystallography at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X‐ray Free‐Electron Laser

The multifarious injection chamber for molecular structure study (MICOSS) experimental system has been developed at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X‐ray Free‐Electron Laser for conducting serial femtosecond crystallography. This system comprises several instruments such as a dedicated sample chamber, sample injectors, sample environment diagnostic system and detector stage for convenient distance manipulation. Serial femtosecond crystallography experiments of lysozyme crystals have been conducted successfully. The diffraction peaks have reached to ～1.8 Å resolution at the photon energy of 9.785 keV.     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan-clay nanocomposites with antimicrobial activity

Chitosan-montmorillonite nanocomposites were prepared by an ion exchange reaction between water soluble oligomeric chitosan and a Na⁺-montmorillonite. The chitosan-montmorillonite nanocomposites were rapidly prepared within 1 h due to the high affinity between the chitosan and the montmorillonite clay host. The basal spacings of the composites were in a range of 14.5-19.6 Å depending on the mixing ratio of chitosan to clay. According to the thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and powder X-ray diffraction analysis the thermal stability of chitosan was remarkably improved in the interlayer space due to the strong electrostatic interaction of cationic chitosan molecules with anionic silicate layers. From the antimicrobial activity test it was found that the nanocomposites showed a synergistic effect in the antimicrobial activity against to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.     

Polarized Raman scattering and lattice eigenmodes of antiferromagnetic NdFeO3

The first‐ and second‐order Raman‐active phonons in the orthorhombic Pbnm NdFeO₃ single crystals were studied by means of polarized Raman scattering and lattice dynamics computations (LDC). The zone‐center phonons of A_g symmetry were distinguished from the B_1g eigenmodes by performing polarized Raman scattering experiments using two parallel polarization configurations, X′(ZZ)X′ and Z(X′X′)Z. With the help of LDC, we were able to assign most of the observed Raman‐active modes, including phonons of B_2g and B_3g symmetry. The LDC results indicated that among the 16 force constants employed, the one corresponding to the stretching vibration between the central Fe cation and the axial oxygen atom in a FeO₆ octahedron unit had the largest value. This suggests that the B‐site Fe cation is more tightly bound to the axial O1 ion than the other two equatorial O2 ions. It was further shown that at higher wavenumbers, the displacement of oxygen atoms contributed dominantly to the zone‐center vibrations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.