Polymer blend nanocomposites: effect of mercapto silane modified kaolin clay on the thermal properties of Polypropylene/Polystyrene blend

Nanocomposites based on polypropylene/polystyrene blends were prepared by melt mixing in a Thermo Haake Rheochord mixer. The effect of mercapto silane modified kaolin clay on the properties of nanocomposites has been studied. The characterization of polypropylene/polystyrene/clay nanocomposites was made by dynamic mechanical analysis, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscopic, and the thermal stability was determined by using Thermogravimetric analysis. The activation energy of degradation was determined using three mathematical models, namely Horowitz–Metzger, Coats–Redfern and Broido's methods, and the results were compared. TGA results show an improved thermal stability for nanocomposite than the pure blend. The improvement in thermal stability of nanocomposites was confirmed by increasing the activation energy. Transmission electron microscopic observations showed that nanoclay layers were intercalated on the polymer matrix and were located at the interface between the two polymers Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis,thermal decomposition and dielectric behavior of bis(thiourea)silver(I)nitrate

New semi-organic bis(thiourea)silver(I)nitrate (TuAgN) single crystals have been grown from slow evaporation solution growth technique. Single crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals that the crystal belongs to orthorhombic system with the non-centrosymmetric space group C2221 and the calculated cell parameters are a = 33.3455 (6) Å, b = 45.2957 (7) Å, c = 20.3209 (5) Å, α = β = γ = 90°, and V = 30692.8 (10) Å ³. The thermal stability and decomposition behavior of TuAgN compound have been studied by thermogravimetric analysis at three different heating rates 5, 10, and 15 °C min^?1. The effective activation energy (E _a) and pre-exponential factor (ln A) of thermal decomposition of thiourea from TuAgN compound at three different heating rates are estimated by model free methods: Arrhenius, Flynn–Wall, Kissinger, and Kim–Park. The calculated effective activation energies were found to vary with the fraction (α) reacted. The compensation effect between the (ln A) and (E _a) has also been studied. Dielectric properties of TuAgN crystal have been studied in a wide range of frequencies and temperatures. AC conductivity has also been carried out.     

Metal‐Free Triplet Phosphors with High Emission Efficiency and High Tunability

Design of highly efficient phosphorescent emitters based on metal‐ and heavy atom‐free boron compounds has been demonstrated by taking advantage of the singlet fission process. The combination of a suitable molecular scaffold and appropriate electronic nature of the substituents has been utilized to tailor the phosphorescence emission properties in solution, neat solid, and in doped PMMA thin films.     

Self‐Assembly of DNA–Oligo(p‐phenylene‐ethynylene) Hybrid Amphiphiles into Surface‐Engineered Vesicles with Enhanced Emission

Surface‐addressable nanostructures of linearly π‐conjugated molecules play a crucial role in the emerging field of nanoelectronics. Herein, by using DNA as the hydrophilic segment, we demonstrate a solid‐phase “click” chemistry approach for the synthesis of a series of DNA–chromophore hybrid amphiphiles and report their reversible self‐assembly into surface‐engineered vesicles with enhanced emission. DNA‐directed surface addressability of the vesicles was demonstrated through the integration of gold nanoparticles onto the surface of the vesicles by sequence‐specific DNA hybridization. This system could be converted to a supramolecular light‐harvesting antenna by integrating suitable FRET acceptors onto the surface of the nanostructures. The general nature of the synthesis, surface addressability, and biocompatibility of the resulting nanostructures offer great promises for nanoelectronics, energy, and biomedical applications.     

Electrical Conductivity in TCNQ Salts of Bis(4-dimethylaminophenylimino) sulfur and its Structural Analogues

Four compounds, N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylene diamine, N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-benzidine, 4,4'-bis(dimethylamino)azobenzene and bis(4-dimethylaminophenylimino)sulfur (BAPIS) were examined electrochemically and spectroscopically. Each was shown to be a fairly good donor forming in its first oxidation state a radical-cation. The latter two materials surprisingly exhibited only single one-electron oxidations. Conformational flexibility about the -NSN- unit was studied by NMR spectroscopy and ab initio molecular orbital theory. The experimental ΔG* for a cis-trans to trans-cis interconversion in BAPIS was found to be 11.9 kcal/mole.

The four donors all form 1:1 adducts with TCNQ. The compaction resistances of the complexes have been measured as a function of temperature. Of the four, (BAPIS)(TCNQ) appears to be a one-dimensional material. The other three complexes behave as typical mixed stack organic semiconductors.     

Phases of supersymmetric gauge theories with flavors

We explore the phases of supersymmetric U(N) gauge theories with fundamental matter that arise as deformations of SQCD by the addition of a superpotential for the adjoint chiral multiplet. As the parameters in the superpotential are varied, the vacua of this theory sweep out various branches, which in some cases have multiple semiclassical limits. In such limits, we recover the vacua of various product gauge group theories, with flavors charged under some group factors. We describe in detail the structure of the vacua in both classical and quantum regimes, and develop general techniques such as an addition and a multiplication map which relate vacua of different gauge theories. We also consider possible indices characterizing different branches and potential relationships with matrix models.     

Rovibrational matrix elements of polarizability of HD, HT and DT molecules

Fresh computations of rovibrational matrix elements of the polarizability α[=(α_||+2α_⊥)/3] and the polarizability anisotropy γ(=α_||−α_⊥) of the heteronuclear isotopomers, HD, HT, and DT, of the hydrogen molecule are presented. The computations combine the most accurate polarizability functions α(R) and γ(R) (R being the bond distance) on the one hand and the most accurate adiabatic potential on the other. The calculations are extended to the product operators xα and xγ where x is the centre of mass to centre of charge separation in the heteronuclear species. The latter matrix elements are needed, additionally, for elucidating the absorption intensities of some of the zero-phonon rovibrational transitions peculiar to the heteronuclear species in the crystalline phase.     

Fully constrained Majorana neutrino mass matrices using $$\varvec{\varSigma (72\times 3)}$$

In 2002, two neutrino mixing ansatze having trimaximally mixed middle (\(\nu _2\)) columns, namely tri-chi-maximal mixing (\(\text {T}\chi \text {M}\)) and tri-phi-maximal mixing (\(\text {T}\phi \text {M}\)), were proposed. In 2012, it was shown that \(\text {T}\chi \text {M}\) with \(\chi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16}\) as well as \(\text {T}\phi \text {M}\) with \(\phi = \pm \,\frac{\pi }{16}\) leads to the solution, \(\sin ^2 \theta _{13} = \frac{2}{3} \sin ^2 \frac{\pi }{16}\), consistent with the latest measurements of the reactor mixing angle, \(\theta _{13}\). To obtain \(\text {T}\chi \text {M}_{(\chi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16})}\) and \(\text {T}\phi \text {M}_{(\phi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16})}\), the type I see-saw framework with fully constrained Majorana neutrino mass matrices was utilised. These mass matrices also resulted in the neutrino mass ratios, \(m_1:m_2:m_3=\frac{\left( 2+\sqrt{2}\right) }{1+\sqrt{2(2+\sqrt{2})}}:1:\frac{\left( 2+\sqrt{2}\right) }{-1+\sqrt{2(2+\sqrt{2})}}\). In this paper we construct a flavour model based on the discrete group \(\varSigma (72\times 3)\) and obtain the aforementioned results. A Majorana neutrino mass matrix (a symmetric \(3\times 3\) matrix with six complex degrees of freedom) is conveniently mapped into a flavon field transforming as the complex six-dimensional representation of \(\varSigma (72\times 3)\). Specific vacuum alignments of the flavons are used to arrive at the desired mass matrices.