Enhanced ordering in gold nanoparticles self-assembly through excess free ligands

Self-assembly of nanometer-sized particles is an elegant and economical approach to achieve dense patterns over large areas beyond the resolution and throughput capabilities of electron-beam lithography. In this paper, we present results of self-assembly of oleylamine-capped gold nanoparticles with 8.0 ± 0.3 nm diameter into densely packed and well-ordered monolayers with center-to-center distance of ～11 nm. Self-assembly was done in a Langmuir-Blodgett trough and picked up onto Si substrates. The nanoparticles undesirably assembled within micrometer-sized "droplets" that were organic in nature. However, within these droplets, we observed that the addition of the excess ligand, oleylamine, drastically enhanced the self-assembly of the nanoparticles into monolayers with near-perfect ordering. This approach has the potential use in templated self-assembly of nanoparticles for rearranging poorly ordered assembly into a commensurate prepatterned substrate.     

Molecular recognition probes of solvation thermodynamics in solvent mixtures

High-throughput UV-Vis experiments using four molecular recognition-based probes, made by the combination of two hydrogen bond acceptors, tri-n-butylphosphine oxide and N,N'-bis(2-ethylhexyl)acetamide, and two hydrogen bond donors, 4-phenylazophenol and 4-nitrophenol, were performed. The association constants for the 1 : 1 H-bond interaction involved in each probe system were measured in mixtures of a polar and non-polar solvent, di-n-hexyl ether and n-octane, respectively. Similar behaviour was observed for all four systems. When the concentration of the polar solvent was low, the association constant was identical to that observed in pure n-octane. However, once the concentration of the polar solvent exceeded a threshold, the association constant decreased linearly with the concentration of di-n-hexyl ether. Selective solvation in mixtures can be understood based on the competition between the multiple competing equilibria in the system. In this case, solvation thermodynamics are dominated by competition of the ether for solvation of H-bond donors. For the more polar solute, 4-nitrophenol, the selective solvation starts at lower concentrations of the polar solvent compared with the less polar solute, 4-phenylazophenol. Thus the speciation and hence the properties of systems containing multiple solutes and multiple solvents can be estimated from the H-bond properties and the concentrations of the individual functional groups.     

Minimizing the total completion time in a single-machine scheduling problem with a learning effect

This paper introduces a new time-dependent learning effect model into a single-machine scheduling problem. The time-dependent learning effect means that the processing time of a job is assumed to be a function of total normal processing time of jobs scheduled in front of it. In most related studies, the actual job processing time is assumed to be a function of its scheduled position when the learning effect is considered in the scheduling problem. In this paper, the actual processing time of a job is assumed to be proportionate to the length and position of the already scheduled jobs. It shows that the addressed problem remains polynomially solvable for the objectives, i.e., minimization of the total completion time and minimization of the total weighted completion time. It also shows that the shortest processing time (SPT) rule provides the optimum sequence for the addressed problem.     

The Assignment of the 1600 cm−1 Mystery Band of Carbons

Abstract

The assignment of a band near 1600 cm^?1 in IR spectra of carbons has been controversial for four decades. However, many different carbons have been studied: effectively, a single band assignment was sought for an absorption appearing with three different classes of carbon. As these differ in over-all structure, not one but three explanations are needed. These are discussed. However, undue emphasis has been placed on a single absorption; attention should also be paid to other absorptions accompanying the 1600 cm^?1 band.     

On exact equilibrium states in external gravitational fields of heated,self-gravitating gas clouds cooling by conducting and radiation

We present exact analytic solutions describing the equilibrium states available to a one-dimensional, self-gravitating cloud of gas subject to an external constant gravitational acceleration due to a plane of “stars”. The gas is taken to be heated at a rate proportional to the local gas density and is cooling by both radiation and conduction. The solutions are valid for a thermal conductivity which is an arbitrary function of gas temperature, T, and for radiative cooling which is proportional to the local gas density, ?, multiplied by an arbitrary function of gas pressure, ?. Illustrations of the general spatial dependence are given for the cases where the radiative cooling is proportional to ?²T, and in which the thermal conductivity is either constant, or proportional to T^a(a > 0) in the limits of T tending zero or infinity, respectively.We show that the phenomenon of density “inversion”, reported earlier, is indeed ameliorated by the radiative cooling term, as we had speculated it might be, but is not removed. This indicates that the phenomenon of density inversion is of rugged quality, persisting under a wide variety of conditions and, therefore, of general astrophysical import. We also show that, depending on the ratios of various parameters entering the problem, there is a new phenomenon possible in which the gas temperature has a local minimum at some non-central location so that a wedge of cool gas is in equilibrium surrounded by a hot medium.We have done these calculations as an aid to understanding the complicated behavior of interstellar gas clouds in particular, and the general physical interplay between force balance and energy balance in models of gas clouds more realistic than those heretofore available.