Thermoelectric power of mixed electronic-ionic conductors III. Case of calcium titanate

The primary purpose of the present work is the determination of the thermopower component related to electronic charge carriers for undoped calcium titanate. The second purpose of this work is establishment of the relationship between this thermopower component and the electronic component of electrical conductivity. An essential part of the present study includes the determination of the thermopower components corresponding to different charge carriers (electrons, electron holes and ions). The determination procedures are based on the following three models:

Symmetrical model. This model assumes consistency between thermopower and electrical conuctivity in terms of the n-p transition (this model assumes that minimum of electrical conductivity corresponds to the electronic component of the thermopower equal zero). It was shown that this model does not apply for CaTiO₃.

The Heikes model. This model is based on Heikes formula and also hopping mechanism of the transport of electrons. It was shown that thermopower of CaTiO₃ cannot be described by this model and, consequently, thermopower vs. electrical conductivity cannot be considered within the Jonker formalism.

General model. This model is based on a general thermopower equation for mixed conductors without any simplifying assumptions. Application of this model indicates that the electronic component of thermopower is not consistent with the minimum of electrical conductivity.

     

Solitons in the one-dimensional forest fire model

Fires in the one-dimensional Bak-Chen-Tang forest fire model propagate as solitons, resembling shocks in Burgers turbulence. The branching of solitons, creating new fires, is balanced by the pairwise annihilation of oppositely moving solitons. Two distinct, diverging length scales appear in the limit where the growth rate of trees, p, vanishes. The width of the solitons, w, diverges as a power law, 1/p, while the average distance between solitons diverges much faster as d approximately exp(pi2/12p).     

Indirect magnetic interaction in the “net fractal” systems

A localized spin system of fractal symmetry with indirect exchange between them is considered. We define a specific class of fractals as the “net fractals” which display multidimensional logarithmic periodicity. Basing on this property we model the effective indirect exchange interaction by the conventional RKKY exchange with the logarithmic coordinates playing role of the real space ones. Finally, we discuss the case of non-ideal “net fractals” in which fractional dynamics of the electrons is expected. In this case we show that RKKY exchange integrals are given by the formulas derived under assumption that a system has a fractional spectral dimension.     

Accurate,sensitive determination of omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in human plasma,urine samples

Quantitative determination of omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in human plasma and urine with high accuracy and precision provides significant information to monitor the underlying etiology of several diseases. In this regard, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry is a good choice owing to its great selectivity and sensitivity. Additionally, the hybrid quadrupole–time of flight–mass spectrometer systems provides easy identification of target compounds with superior mass measurements. In this study, an analytical method has been developed for simple, accurate and simultaneous determination of linoleic acid, arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid in a short chromatographic analysis period. The developed method is suitable for the quantitative detection of these four compounds with detection limits ranging between 1.1–3.0 ng ml⁻¹ and its applicability was assessed in human urine and plasma samples. As a result, acceptable accuracy (between 83 and 111%) and good precision (<6%) were obtained for target compounds using matrix matching calibration strategy.     

Design study and heat transfer analysis of a neutron converter target for medical radioisotope production

A worldwide challenge in the near future will be to find a way of producing radioisotopes in sufficient quantity without relying on research reactors. The motivation for this innovative work on targets lies in the accelerator-based production of radioisotopes using a neutron converter target as in the transmutation by adiabatic resonance crossing concept. Thermal analysis of a multi-channel helium cooled device is performed with the computational fluid dynamics code CFX. Different boundary conditions are taken into account in the simulation process and many important parameters such as maximum allowable solid target temperature as well as uniform inlet velocity and outlet pressure changes in the channels are investigated. The results confirm that the cooling configuration works well; hence such a solid target could be operated safely and may be considered for a prototype target.     

The complexing ability of crown ethers incorporating glucose

The complexing (in CHCl₃) and extracting abilities of 18-crown-6 type compounds (1–15) were measured with Li, Na, K and NH₄ cations. The substituents on the sugar part affected these properties significantly (K _a=10³–10⁷). Some substituents, like acetyloxy groups (3) decreased whereas others, like tosyloxy groups (10, 11) significantly increased the complexing ability and thus changed the selectivity. The compound with four tosyloxy groups (11) shows an excellent picrate salt extracting ability in a CH₂Cl₂-water system.     

Electrical properties of niobium-doped titanium dioxide. 1. Defect disorder

The present work reports the electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power for Nb-doped TiO(2) at elevated temperatures (1073-1298 K) in the gas phase of controlled oxygen activity, 10(-14) Pa < p(O(2)) < 75 kPa. It is shown that in reduced conditions the Nb-doped TiO(2) exhibits metallic-type conductivity. This finding paves the way for the development of high-performance photoelectrodes with substantially reduced internal energy losses during charge transport. The present work also determined the equilibrium constant for the formation of oxygen vacancies and titanium vacancies for Nb-doped TiO(2).     

Defect disorder of titanium dioxide

The present work derived defect disorder diagram representing the effect of oxygen activity on the concentration of both ionic and electronic defects for undoped TiO2. This diagram was determined using the equilibrium constants derived in the present work, including (i) the intrinsic electronic equilibrium constant, (ii) the equilibrium constant for the formation of oxygen vacancies, and (iii) equilibrium constant for the formation of titanium vacancies. These equilibrium constants are consistent with three properties determined independently, including: electrical conductivity, thermoelectric power and change of mass determined by thermogravimetry. The derived defect disorder diagram may be used for tailoring semiconducting properties of TiO2 that are desired for specific applications through the selection of optimized processing conditions.     

Asymmetric epoxidation of substituted chalcones and chalcone analogues catalyzed by α-d-glucose- and α-d-mannose-based crown ethers

The chiral monoaza-15-crown-5 lariat ethers annellated to methyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-α-d-glucopyranoside-1 or mannopyranoside 2 have been applied as phase-transfer catalysts in the epoxidation of substituted chalcones and chalcone analogues with tert-butylhydroperoxide resulting in significant asymmetric induction. It was found that the position of the substituents in the aromatic ring of the chalcone had an influence both on the chemical yields and enantiomeric excesses. The lowest enantioselectivities (62–83% ee) were found in the case of ortho-substituted model compounds. The highest ee values (ee of 83–97%) were obtained in the case of para-substituted models. From among the chalcone analogues, the maximum ee (90–92%) was detected for the model compound having α-tert-butyl- and β-aryl groups. Using glucose-based crown ether 1, formation of the (?)-enantiomer was preferred, while applying mannose-based 2 as the catalyst, the (+)-enantiomer was in excess.