Synthesis and Plasmon‐Induced Charge‐Transfer Properties of Monodisperse Gold‐Doped Titania Microspheres

Functional spheres : Monodisperse gold‐doped titania spheres with tunable sizes under high concentration of titanium precursor have been synthesized by introducing trace amounts of chloroauric acid into the reaction system. Surface photovoltage, surface photocurrent, and transient photovoltage measurements (see figure) of annealed samples reveal that gold nanodots can act as both electron acceptors and donors under the illumination of different wavelengths of light.

     

Mechanisms of reactive oxygen species photogeneration by benzo[a]pyrene: A DFT study

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) possesses photosensitive activity and can photogenerate reactive oxygen species (ROS), which have been postulated to be involved in the BaP induced oxidative DNA damage. Therefore, in the present work, a thermodynamic analysis on the ROS-photogenerating mechanisms of BaP was performed on the basis of quantum chemical calculations. It was revealed that: (i) the ¹O₂-generating pathway involves direct energy transfer from triplet excited state BaP to ³O₂ both in benzene and water; (ii) BaP gives birth to O₂^? through two pathways in water, i.e., electron transfer from triplet excited state BaP or anion radical of BaP to ³O₂.     

Generalized Fowler-Nordheim theory of field emission of carbon nanotubes

Based on the low-energy band structure of carbon nanotubes (CNs), we develop a generalized Fowler-Nordheim theory of the CN field emission, in which the behavior of the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics depends on the electric field and the diameter of the CNs. This formalism reveals the key differences of field emission between conventional bulk metallic emitters and low-dimensional emitters and gives a clear physical understanding of the non-Fowler-Nordheim feature of the I-V characteristics of the CN field emission.     

Polar Kerr-effect measurements of the high-temperature YBa2Cu3O6+x superconductor: evidence for broken symmetry near the pseudogap temperature

The polar Kerr effect in the high-T_(c) superconductor YBa2Cu3O6+x was measured at zero magnetic field with high precision using a cyogenic Sagnac fiber interferometer. We observed nonzero Kerr rotations of order approximately 1 microrad appearing near the pseudogap temperature T(*) and marking what appears to be a true phase transition. Anomalous magnetic behavior in magnetic-field training of the effect suggests that time reversal symmetry is already broken above room temperature.     

Optimization of synchronization in complex clustered networks

There has been mounting evidence that many types of biological or technological networks possess a clustered structure. As many system functions depend on synchronization, it is important to investigate the synchronizability of complex clustered networks. Here we focus on one fundamental question: Under what condition can the network synchronizability be optimized? In particular, since the two basic parameters characterizing a complex clustered network are the probabilities of intercluster and intracluster connections, we investigate, in the corresponding two-dimensional parameter plane, regions where the network can be best synchronized. Our study yields a quite surprising finding: a complex clustered network is most synchronizable when the two probabilities match each other approximately. Mismatch, for instance caused by an overwhelming increase in the number of intracluster links, can counterintuitively suppress or even destroy synchronization, even though such an increase tends to reduce the average network distance. This phenomenon provides possible principles for optimal synchronization on complex clustered networks. We provide extensive numerical evidence and an analytic theory to establish the generality of this phenomenon.     

The effect of ultrasound on lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of soy oil in solvent-free system

Comparative studies of lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of soy oil in solvent-free system were carried out in shaking bath and in ultrasonic bath. A suitable ultrasonic power of 1.64 W cm(-2) was determined to guarantee satisfactory hydrolysis extent and lipase activity. The influence of temperature, pH, enzyme concentration and water/oil ratio was investigated subsequently. Compared with that in shaking bath, optimum temperature and inactivation temperature of lipase in ultrasonic bath were about 5-10 degrees C higher, while pH effect in ultrasonic bath was similar; ultrasound also led to a smooth increase of reaction rate at relatively higher enzyme loading and less use of water to saturate hydrolysis substrate. In optimum conditions, the overall hydrolysis reaction rate in the ultrasonic bath process was above 2-fold than that in the shaking bath process.