The structure and optical properties of AlN nanocrystals prepared by Schlenk techniques at atmospheric pressure and low temperature

AlN nanocrystals were prepared in organic solvent at atmospheric pressure and low temperature by the Schlenk technique. Both hexagonal and cubic AlN nanocrystals were obtained. The hexagonal nano-AlN powder possessed a wurtzite structure with a=3.124 Å, c=5.024 Å, the average grain size was about 2 nm. The lattice constant of the cubic nano-AlN was a=9.171 Å, the average grain size was about 4 nm. The structural and optical properties of the obtained AlN were analyzed. The emission related to deep-level defects was investigated by using temperature-dependent photoluminescence.     

Some new constructions of bivariate Weibull models

In this article, several approaches are advanced towards the construction of bivariate Weibull models from the consideration of failure behaviors of the components of a two-component system. First, a general method of construction of bivariate life models is developed in the setting of random environmental effects. Some new bivariate Weibull models are derived as special cases and added insights are provided for some of the existing ones. In the course of model formulation in terms of the dependence structure, a new bivariate family of life distributions is constructed so as to incorporate both positive and negative quadrant dependence in the same parametric setting, and a bivariate Weibull model is obtained as a special case. Finally, some distributional properties are presented for a bivariate Weibull model derived from the consideration of random hazards.     

Fe alloying effect on the performance of the Ni anode in hydrogen fuel

Composite materials of YSZ (yttria-stabilized zirconia) with various Ni–Fe alloys were synthesized and evaluated as the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode using a 200-µm thick YSZ electrolyte as support and YSZ +La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ (LSM) as cathode. The single cell with the YSZ + Ni_0.75Fe_0.25 anode exhibited the highest performance among all the investigated cells, e.g. a peak power density of 403, 337, 218 and 112 mW/cm² was achieved with H₂ fuel at 900, 850, 800 and 750 °C, respectively. The composite anode with the Ni_0.75Fe_0.25 alloy also had the lowest polarization resistance of 0.55 Ω·cm² at 800 °C among all the alloy compositions, indicating that this specific alloy offered a better anode composition than pure Ni. The possible mechanism for the improved performance of Ni with the Fe alloying addition towards H₂ oxidation was discussed.     

The unitary connections on the complex Grassmann manifold

In the complex Grassmann manifold ℱ(m,n), the space of complexn-planes passes through the origin of C^m+n; the local coordinate of the space can be arranged into anm ×n matrixZ. It is proved that

Existence and fractional regularity of solutions for a doubly nonlinear differential inclusion

This article considers the issues of existence and regularity of solutions to the following doubly nonlinear differential inclusion $$\omega_t+\alpha (\omega_t)-\Delta \omega-\Delta_p{\omega} \ni f$$ where α is a maximal monotone operator in ${\mathbb{R}^2}$ and Δ _p denotes the p-Laplacian with p > 2. The investigation on fractional regularity is based on the Galerkin method combined with a suitable basis for W ^1,p , which we exhibit as a preliminary result. This approach also allows the obtaining of estimates in the so-called Nikolskii spaces, since it balances the interplay between the maximal monotone operator with the appearing higher order nonlinear terms.     

Broadening of Cr nanostructures in laser-focused atomic deposition

This paper presents the experimental progress of laser-focused Cr atomic deposition and the experimental condition.The result is an accurate array of lines with a periodicity of 212.8±0.2 nm and mean full-width at half maximum as approximately 95 nm.Surface growth in laser-focused Cr atomic deposition is modeled and studied by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation including two events:the one is that atom trajectories in laser standing wave are simulated with the semiclassical equations of motion to obtain the deposition position;the other is that adatom diffuses by considering two major diffusion processes,namely,terrace diffusion and step-edge descending.Comparing with experimental results(Anderson W R,Bradley C C,McClelland J J and Celotta R J 1999 Phys.Rev.A 59 2476),it finds that the simulated trend of dependence on feature width is in agreement with the power of standing wave,the other two simulated trends are the same in the initial stage.These results demonstrate that some surface diffusion processes play important role in feature width broadening.Numerical result also shows that high incoming beam flux of atoms deposited redounds to decrease the distance between adatoms which can diffuse to minimize the feature width and enhance the contrast.     

Effect of calcination temperature on the morphology and surface properties of TiO2 nanotube arrays

Well-ordered TiO₂ nanotube arrays were prepared by electrochemical anodization of titanium in aqueous electrolyte solution of H₃PO₄ + NH₄F at a constant voltage of 20 V for 3 h, followed by calcined at various temperatures. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Photoluminescence (PL) were used to characterize the samples. The results showed that the as-prepared nanotube arrays before being calcined were amorphous and could transform to anatase phase at a heat treatment temperature higher than 400 °C. As the calcination temperatures increased, crystallization of anatase phase enhanced and rutile phase appeared at 600 °C. However, further increasing the calcination temperature would cause the collapse of nanotube arrays. PL intensity of the nanotube arrays annealed at 500 °C was the lowest, which was probably ascribed to better crystallization together with fewer surface defects of the nanotube arrays.     

Linearization relations for the generalized Bedient polynomials of the first and second kinds via their integral representations

The main object of this paper is to investigate several general families of hyper-geometric polynomials and their associated multiple integral representations. By suitably specializing our main results, the corresponding integral representations are deduced for such familiar classes of hypergeometric polynomials as (for example) the generalized Bedient polynomials of the first and second kinds. Each of the integral representations, which are derived in this paper, may be viewed also as a linearization relationship for the product of two different members of the associated family of hypergeometric polynomials.     

Cluster synchronization in networks of distinct groups of maps

In this paper, we study cluster synchronization in general bi-directed networks of nonidentical clusters, where all nodes in the same cluster share an identical map. Based on the transverse stability analysis, we present sufficient conditions for local cluster synchronization of networks. The conditions are composed of two factors: the common inter-cluster coupling, which ensures the existence of an invariant cluster synchronization manifold, and communication between each pair of nodes in the same cluster, which is necessary for chaos synchronization. Consequently, we propose a quantity to measure the cluster synchronizability for a network with respect to the given clusters via a function of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian corresponding to the generalized eigenspace transverse to the cluster synchronization manifold. Then, we discuss the clustering synchronous dynamics and cluster synchronizability for four artificial network models: (i) p-nearest-neighborhood graph; (ii) random clustering graph; (iii) bipartite random graph; (iv) degree-preferred growing clustering network. From these network models, we are to reveal how the intra-cluster and inter-cluster links affect the cluster synchronizability. By numerical examples, we find that for the first model, the cluster synchronizability regularly enhances with the increase of p, yet for the other three models, when the ratio of intra-cluster links and the inter-cluster links reaches certain quantity, the clustering synchronizability reaches maximal.     

Theoretical study on the phase stability,elasticity, hardness and electronic structures of Ni–P compounds

A systematic investigation concerned with phase stability, elastic properties, hardness and relevant electronic structure of Ni–P compounds (Ni₃P, Ni₁₂P₅, Ni₂P, Ni₅P₄, NiP, NiP₂ and NiP₃) was carried out using first principles calculations. The calculated results show that the Ni–P compounds have strong hardness, ranging from 7.80–14.54 GPa. Also, the hardness values gradually increase with the P content. Electronic structure analysis shows that the strong Ni–P and part of P–P hybrid orbitals play important roles in the hardness of these compounds. The calculated elastic constants indicated that the Ni₃P, Ni₁₂P₅ and NiP₂ phases are significantly anisotropic, the NiP and Ni₂P exhibit some anisotropy, while the Ni₅P₄ and NiP₃ show a relatively isotropic character. At last, the properties of these Ni–P compounds including lattice constants, thermodynamic stability, elastic constants C_ij, bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young's modulus E and Poisson's ratio ν have been calculated.