Facile and scalable fabrication engineering of fullerenol nanoparticles by improved alkaline-oxidation approach and its antioxidant potential in maize

A feasible in operation, labor-saving and low-cost one-step technology to fabricate fullerenol nanoparticles (FNPs) up to 10 g in laboratory was developed by improved alkaline-oxidation approach using moderately concentrated sodium hydroxide solution as the hydroxylation agent and o-dichlorobenzene as the solvent. This strategy paves the avenue for industrial-scale bulk production of FNPs. The resulted product, [C₆₀(OH)₂₂·8H₂O]_n, were characterized by various measurements including matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, high-resolution ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-Visible spectrophotometer, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic light scattering analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and electron spin resonance spectrometer. Radical scavenging assay in vitro confirmed the high efficiency of water-soluble [C₆₀(OH)₂₂·8H₂O]_n as a novel radical scavenger. Furthermore, [C₆₀(OH)₂₂·8H₂O]_n as an excellent candidate has the potential to serve as the plant defense stimulation agent in maize.

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Some new symmetric relations of quark masses and prediction of fourth-generation quark masses

In this study, we discover a mass space defined by generalized Koide relations, named here as k-relations, and achieve some new symmetric relations. These relations can be further used to predict the fourth-generation quark masses in terms of dilation magnitude and angular rotation ratios in the general mass space. Thus far, no theory has been proposed that can constrain the number of generations of quarks; this theory naturally limits the number of generations of quarks.     

A novel carbon source coated on C-LiFePO<Subscript>4</Subscript> as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries

The poor electronic conductivity and low lithium-ion diffusion are the two major obstacles to the largely commercial application of LiFePO₄ cathode material in power batteries. In order to improve the defects of LiFePO₄, a novel carbon source polyacrylonitrile (PAN), which would form the hierarchical porous structure after carbonization, is fabricated and used. This work comes up with a simple and facile carbothermal reduction method to prepare porous-carbon-coated LiFePO₄ (C-LiFePO₄-PC) composite and to study the effect of carbon-coated temperature on ameliorating the electrochemical performance. The obtained C-LiFePO₄-PC composite shows a high initial discharge capacity of 164.1 mA h g^?1 at 0.1 C and good cycling stability as well as excellent rate capacity (49.0 mA h g^?1 at 50 C). The most possible factors that improve the electrochemical performance could be related to the enhancement of electronic conductivity and the existence of porous carbon layers. In a word, the C-LiFePO₄-PC material would become an excellent candidate for application in the fields of lithium-ion batteries.     

Influence of γ-ray-induced effects on dielectric dispersion of CuO-doped calcium fluoroborophosphate glass system

γ-Ray-induced dielectric dispersion in CaF₂–B₂O₃–P₂O₅ glasses doped with different concentrations of CuO was investigated. The glass samples were exposed to γ-rays with dose varying within the range 0–10 kGy. The dielectric dispersion and spectroscopic properties were measured before and after γ-ray treatment. Additionally, thermoluminescence studies were performed on post-irradiated glass samples. The results of dielectric properties and dielectric breakdown strength indicated a substantial increase in the insulating strength of CuO containing glasses due to γ-ray irradiation. The analysis of these results together with UV-vis optical absorption, IR spectra, and thermoluminescence studies have indicated a gradual increase in the concentration of mono-valent copper ions due to γ-ray treatment of the glass network. The additional studies have confirmed that these Cu⁺ ions occupy network-forming positions, increase the polymerization of the borophosphate glass network, and facilitates for the increase of insulating strength of the titled glass.     

A facile method for the synthesis of large‐size Ag nanoparticles as efficient SERS substrates

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) enjoy a reputation as an ultrasensitive substrate for surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). However, large‐scale synthesis of Ag NPs in a controlled manner is a challenging task for a long period of time. Here, we reported a simple seed‐mediated method to synthesize Ag NPs with controllable sizes from 50 to 300 nm, which were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. SERS spectra of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) from the as‐prepared Ag NPs substrates indicate that the enhancement capability of Ag NPs varies with different excitation wavelengths. The Ag NPs with average sizes of ~150, ~175, and ~225 nm show the highest SERS activities for 532, 633, and 785‐nm excitation, respectively. Significantly, 150‐nm Ag NPs exhibit an enhancement factor exceeding 10⁸ for pyridine (Py) molecules in electrochemical SERS (EC‐SERS) measurements. Furthermore, finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) calculation is employed to explain the size‐dependent SERS activity. Finally, the potential of the as‐prepared SERS substrates is demonstrated with the detection of malachite green. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generation of Bianchi type V cosmological models with varying Λ-term

Bianchi type V perfect fluid cosmological models are investigated with cosmological term varying with time. Using a generation technique (Camci et al., 2001), it is shown that Einsteins field equations are solvable for any arbitrary cosmic scale function. Solutions for particular forms of cosmic scale functions are also obtained. The cosmological constant is found to be a decreasing function of time, which is supported by results from recent type Ia supernovae observations. Some physical aspects of the models are also discussed.     

Periodic Solutions for Completely Resonant Nonlinear Wave Equations with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions

We consider the nonlinear string equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions u_tt–u_xx=(u), with (u)=u³+O(u⁵) odd and analytic, 0, and we construct small amplitude periodic solutions with frequency for a large Lebesgue measure set of close to 1. This extends previous results where only a zero-measure set of frequencies could be treated (the ones for which no small divisors appear). The proof is based on combining the Lyapunov-Schmidt decomposition, which leads to two separate sets of equations dealing with the resonant and non-resonant Fourier components, respectively the Q and the P equations, with resummation techniques of divergent powers series, allowing us to control the small divisors problem. The main difficulty with respect to the nonlinear wave equations u_tt–u_xx+Mu=(u), M0, is that not only the P equation but also the Q equation is infinite-dimensional.