Solar Fuels: Photoelectrosynthesis of CO from CO2 at p‐Type Si using Fe Porphyrin Electrocatalysts

Photoelectrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to CO can be driven at a boron‐doped, hydrogen terminated, p‐type silicon electrode using a meso‐tetraphenylporphyrin Fe^III chloride in the presence of CF₃CH₂OH as a proton source and 0.1 M [NBu₄][BF₄]/MeCN/5 % DMF (v/v) as the electrolyte. Under illumination with polychromatic light, the photoelectrocatalysis operates with a photovoltage of about 650 mV positive of that for the dark reaction. Carbon monoxide is produced with a current efficiency >90 % and with a high selectivity over H₂ formation. Photoelectrochemical current densities of 3 mA cm^?2 at ?1.1 V versus SCE are typical, and 175 turnovers have been attained over a 6 h period. Cyclic voltammetric data are consistent with a turnover frequency of ${k{{{\rm Si}\hfill \atop {\rm obs}\hfill}}}$ =0.24×10⁴ s^?1 for the photoelectrocatalysis at p‐type Si at ?1.2 V versus SCE this compares with ${k{{{\rm C}\hfill \atop {\rm obs}\hfill}}}$ =1.03×10⁴ s^?1 for the electrocatalysis in the dark on vitreous carbon at a potential of ?1.85 V versus SCE.     

3‐Acetoxy­cyclo­hex‐4‐ene‐1,2‐di­carboxyl­ic anhydride

The title compound, C₁₀H₁₀O₅, was found to exist as the endo–cis isomer with a pair of enantiomers in the asymmetric unit. The cyclo­hexene ring is folded about the methyl­ene‐to‐CH(acetoxy) vector to give a boat conformation.     

Spectrophotometric determination of clotrimazole and Phenylephrine-HCl in pharmaceutical formulation using 1, 2-naphthoquinone-4-Sulphonic acid sodium salt (NQS) as a chromogenic reagent

A sensitive, rapid and economical spectrophotometric method based on their interaction with NQS reagent in basic medium, which produces orange-colored complexes, has been devised to identify many drugs with amino groups (clotrimazole and phenylephrine-HCl). The maximum absorption for the complexes of clotrimazole and phenylephrine-HCl is 455 and 484 nm, respectively. Beer's law is applicable in the concentration ranges of (2–40) μg/ml for clotrimazole and (0–20) μg/ml for phenylephrine-HCl. The molar absorptivity values are 3931.1760 L/mol.cm and 4521.4074 L/mol.cm of clotrimazole and phenylephrine-HCl respectively with accuracy of 100.0285%–103.1456% and RSD better than 3.3211%. The method has been successfully used to determine these medications in pharmaceutical formulations, and it has been found to be superior to British Pharmacopeia standard procedures. At a 95% confidence level, F and t-tests are less than the tabulated values.     

Radiometric efficiency of analytical filters at different physical conditions

The radiometric efficiency of three analytical filters AFA-RSP-20, AFA-RMP-20 and AFA-RMV-20 was examined at different air velocities and aerosol number concentrations. An experimental setup had been constructed with 2 m³ radon chamber. Alpha radiometry was used to measure the deposited activities in the filters. Aerosols parameters like number concentration and size distribution are measured continuously with an aerosol diffusion spectrometer (ADS). RMV filter has a stable efficiency ~ 99.8%. The RSP and RMP filters efficiency is depending on the aerosol concentration and air sampling velocity. The effect of an aerosol concentration on the filter efficiency is more obvious than the effect of air velocity.

     

Photoconductivities of Nanocrystalline Vanadium Pentoxide Thin Film Grown by Plasma RF Magnetron Sputtering at Different Conditions of Deposition

Physics of the Solid State - In this study, the fabrication and characterization of a metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) visible photodetector based on V2O5 were investigated. The V2O5...     

Near‐Infrared Triggered Decomposition of Nanocapsules with High Tumor Accumulation and Stimuli Responsive Fast Elimination

A near‐infrared (NIR) induced decomposable polymer nanocapsule is demonstrated. The nanocapsules are fabricated based on layer‐by‐layer co‐assembly of azobenzene functionalized polymers and up/downconversion nanoparticles (U/DCNPs). When the nanocapsules are exposed to 980 nm light, ultraviolet/visible photons emitted by the U/DCNPs can trigger the photoisomerization of azobenzene groups in the framework. The nanocapsules could decompose from large‐sized nanocapsule to small U/DCNPs. Owing to their optimized original size (ca. 180 nm), the nanocapsules can effectively avoid biological barriers, provide a long blood circulation (ca. 5 h, half‐life time) and achieve four‐fold tumor accumulation. It can fast eliminate from tumor within one hour and release the loaded drugs for chemotherapy after NIR‐induced dissociation from initial 180 nm capsules to small 20 nm U/DCNPs.     

Simple and rapid flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of carbaryl after liquid-liquid extraction

A simple procedure was developed for the spectrophotometric determination of carbaryl and its hydrolysis product 1-naphthol in water. These compounds are extracted into xylene and back-extracted, as the 1-naphtholate, with 0.2 M NaOH. A 600-μl volume of the alkaline extract is injected into a flow analysis manifold which provides the reaction between naphtholate and 50 μg ml⁻¹ p-aminophenol solution in the presence of 0.004 M KIO₄ and spectrophotometric measurement is carried out at 596 nm. The method provides a limit of detection of 26.5 ng ml⁻¹ carbaryl and a sample frequency of 110 injections per hour. Recoveries in different types of matrices vary from 95 to 102%.     

Bioassay and bioactivity of polymer as carrier for some active compounds such as anticancer drugs

The present work deals with the development of a new slow release polymeric material, based on maize starch/cellulose acetate blend polymerized with acrylic acid monomer by free-radical mechanism. The polymerization was initiated by a redox system. The synthesized polymeric material may be used as a carrier for some active compounds such as anticancer drugs and has been characterized by Fourier transform spectroscopy. The active compounds are a new series of heterocyclic derivatives that had an anticancer effect and were prepared from pyrimidine and coumarin compounds, namely: 7-(2-methoxyphenyl)-5-thioxo-5,6-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-c] pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile (compound I), 8-(2-methoxyphenyl)-3,4-dioxo-6-thioxo-3,4,6,7-tetrahydro-2h-pyrimido[6,1-c]-[1,2,4]triazine-9-carbonitrile (compound II), and 4-substituted-1-(1-(7-methoxy-4-methyl-coumarin-8-yl) ethylidene) thiosemi-carbazide (compound III). They were incorporated into the prepared polymer matrix. The polymer-carried drug was tested for slow release drug delivery through testing it in aqueous media for different time periods and examining it as an anti-proliferative agent against human liver cancer cell line (HEPG2). The release rate of the drug was evaluated in aqueous media at different pHs as well as in dimethyl formamide which is the good solvent of such drugs. The release was measured spectrophotometrically. It was found that the release rate depends on the pH of the aqueous media. The release of the drug in the alkaline media was found to be high compared with other media. Also, the sustained release of the drug was extended to about 20 days. The activity of the released drug against human liver cancer cell line was tested. The results showed that compound (III) gave the highest growth inhibition activity followed by compound (II), while compound (I) indicated the lowest activity against the human liver (HEPG2) cancer cell line.     

On the poisedness of Bojanov–Xu interpolation

In this paper, we consider the bivariate Hermite interpolation introduced by Bojanov and Xu [SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 39(5) (2002) 1780–1793]. The nodes of the interpolation with Π_2k-δ, where δ=0 or 1, are the intersection points of 2k+1 distinct rays from the origin with a multiset of k+1-δ concentric circles. Parameters are the values and successive radial derivatives, whenever the corresponding circle is multiple. The poisedness of this interpolation was proved only for the set of equidistant rays [Bojanov and Xu, 2002] and its counterparts with other conic sections [Hakopian and Ismail, East J. Approx. 9 (2003) 251–267]. We show that the poisedness of this (k+1-δ)(2k+1) dimensional Hermite interpolation problem is equivalent to the poisedness of certain 2k+1 dimensional Lagrange interpolation problems. Then the poisedness of Bojanov–Xu interpolation for a wide family of sets of rays satisfying some simple conditions is established. Our results hold also with above circles replaced by ellipses, hyperbolas, and pairs of parallel lines.Next a conjecture [Hakopian and Ismail, J. Approx. Theory 116 (2002) 76–99] concerning a poisedness relation between the Bojanov–Xu interpolation, with set of rays symmetric about x-axis, and certain univariate lacunary interpolations is established. At the end the poisedness for a wide class of lacunary interpolations is obtained.     

Occurrence of Staggering and Identical Energies in Ground State Rotational Bands in Some Actinide Isotopes within Two-Parameter Rotational Model

Physics of Atomic Nuclei - The excitation energies of positive parity ground state bands in $${}^{230,232}$$ Th, $${}^{234,236,238}$$ U and $${}^{236,238}$$ Pu actinide nuclei suggest that they...