Synthesis and characterization of a 1-D porous barium carboxylate coordination polymer, [Ba(HBTB)] (H3BTB = benzene-1,3,5-trisbenzoic acid)

The synthesis and characterization of [Ba(HBTB)] is reported. This is the first porous framework synthesized with barium using carboxylate ligands. The framework has robust microporous character (Langmuir surface area of 879 m(2) g(-1)) and possesses unsaturated metal sites when fully desolvated.     

Forced convective heat transfer enhancement with perforated pin fins

Increasing miniaturization of high speed multi-functional electronics demands ever more stringent thermal management. The present work investigates experimentally and numerically the use of staggered perforated pin fins to enhance the rate of heat transfer in these devices. In particular, the effects of the number of perforations and the diameter of perforation on each pin are studied. The results show that the Nusselt number for the perforated pins is 45 % higher than that for the conventional solid pins and it increases with the number of perforation. Pressure drop with perforated pins is also reduced by 18 % when compared with that for solid pins. Perforations produce recirculations in the x–y as well as the x–z planes downstream of the pins which effectively increase convective heat transfer. However, thermal dissipation decreases significantly when the ratio of pin diameter to perforation diameter exceeds 0.375. This is due to both a reduction in the number of perforation per pin and the decrease in the axial heat conduction along the pin.     

Parametric CR-umbilical locus of ellipsoids in C2

For every real numbers $a?1$, $b?1$ with $(a,b)\ne (1,1)$, the curve parametrized by $\theta \in \mathbb{R}$ valued in ${\mathbb{C}}^2?{\mathbb{R}}^4$

$\gamma :\theta ?(x(\theta )+\sqrt{?1}y(\theta ),u(\theta )+\sqrt{?1}v(\theta ))$

with components:

$\begin{array}{c}x(\theta ):=\sqrt{\frac{a?1}{a(ab?1)}}\cos ?\theta ,y(\theta ):=\sqrt{\frac{b(a?1)}{ab?1}}\sin ?\theta ,\hfill \\ u(\theta ):=\sqrt{\frac{b?1}{b(ab?1)}}\sin ?\theta ,v(\theta ):=?\sqrt{\frac{a(b?1)}{ab?1}}\cos ?\theta ,\hfill \end{array}$

has image contained in the CR-umbilical locus:

$\gamma (\mathbb{R})?\mathsf{UmbCR}\left({\mathsf{E}}_{a,b}\right)?{\mathsf{E}}_{a,b}$

of the ellipsoid ${\mathsf{E}}_{a,b}?{\mathbb{C}}^2$ of equation $a{x}^2+y^2+b{u}^2+v^2=1$, where the CR-umbilical locus of a Levi nondegenerate hypersurface $M^3?{\mathbb{C}}^2$ is the set of points at which the Cartan curvature of M vanishes.     

Mesomorphic behaviors of a series of heterocyclic benzothiazole-imine-ester-based liquid crystals

A series of new calamitic liquid crystals, 2-[4-(4-alkoxybenzoyloxy)benzylidenamino]benzothiazoles comprising a heterocyclic (benzothiazole) and two phenyl rings core system, terminal alkoxy chain, imine and ester linkers were prepared and characterized. This series comprises eight members wherein the members vary by the length of alkoxy chain (C_nH_2n+1O-, where n?=?4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18). Spectral analysis results were in conformity with the expected structure. Their thermotropic behaviors were studied by using differential scanning calorimetry, optical polarizing microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction techniques. A single mesophase (nematic) was observed for the first member of the series (n?=?4). As the alkoxy chain increased to n?=?6, 8, 10, 12, 14, the nematic phase appeared together with an additional SmA phase. When moving from n?=?16 until the highest member (n?=?18), the nematic phase disappeared and these compounds only exhibited a single mesophase (SmA).     

Effective surface potential method for calculating surface states

A novel formalism (the effective surface potential method) is developed for calculating surface states. Like the Green function method of Kalkstein and Soven and the transfer matrix method of Falicov and Yndurain, the technique is exact for simple tight binding Hamiltonians. As well as offering an alternative viewpoint, the present method provides a simple analytic expression describing the surface states. At each point k_s in the surface Brillouin zone the semi-infinite solid is viewed as an effective linear chain where each element of the chain is a planar layer. The solution to the linear chain problem can be expressed in terms of an effective potential h(k_s,E) at each energy E. A number of examples are presented in detail; “sp^d” Hamiltonians for a linear chain (d = 1), the honeycomb lattice (d = 2), the 111 surface of silicon (d = 3), and a dissected Bethe lattice. Various exact results are given, e.g. the extremities of surface state bands and the surface density of states of p-like (delta function) bands. The results of Kalkstein and Soven for the 100 surface of a simple cubic solid with a perturbation on the surface layer are rederived.     

Self-organized superlattice formation during crystal growth from continuous beam fluxes

Alloy superlattice structures consisting of alternating Si-rich and C-rich layers form spontaneously during gas-source molecular beam epitaxy of Si(1-y)C(y) on Si(001) from constant Si2H6 and CH3SiH3 precursor fluxes at T(s)=725-750 degrees C. The self-organized patterning is due to a complex interaction among competing surface reactions. During growth of the initial Si-rich layer, strain-driven C segregation to the subsurface results in charge transfer from surface Si atom dangling bonds to C backbonds. This decreases the Si2H6 sticking probability, and, hence, the instantaneous deposition rate, thereby enhancing C segregation. The Si-rich layer continues until a critical C coverage is reached allowing nucleation of a C-rich layer which grows until the excess subsurface C is depleted. The process then repeats with periods tunable through the choice of T(s) and y(avg).     

Fermi surface and quasiparticle dynamics of Na0.7CoO2 investigated by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We present the first angle-resolved photoemission study of Na0.7CoO2, the host material of the superconducting NaxCoO2.nH(2)O series. Our results show a hole-type Fermi surface, a strongly renormalized quasiparticle band, a small Fermi velocity, and a large Hubbard U. The quasiparticle band crosses the Fermi level from M toward Gamma suggesting a negative sign of effective single-particle hopping t(eff) (about 10 meV) which is on the order of magnetic exchange coupling J in this system. Quasiparticles are well defined only in the T-linear resistivity (non-Fermi-liquid) regime. Unusually small single-particle hopping and unconventional quasiparticle dynamics may have implications for understanding the phase of matter realized in this new class of a strongly interacting quantum system.     

Experimental and modeling study of the high-temperature combustion chemistry of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

Lignocellulosic tetrahydrofuranic (THF) biofuels have been identified as promising fuel candidates for spark-ignition (SI) engines. To support the potential use as transportation biofuels, fundamental studies of their combustion and emission behavior are highly important. In the present study, the high-temperature (HT) combustion chemistry of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA), a THF based biofuel, was investigated using a comprehensive experimental and numerical approach.Representative chemical species profiles in a stoichiometric premixed methane flame doped with ～20% (molar) THFA at 5.3 kPa were measured using online gas chromatography. The flame temperature was obtained by NO laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) thermometry. More than 40 chemical products were identified and quantified. Many of them such as ethylene, formaldehyde, acrolein, allyl alcohol, 2,3-dihydrofuran, 3,4-dihydropyran, 4-pentenal, and tetrahydrofuran-2-carbaldehyde are fuel-specific decomposition products formed in rather high concentrations. In the numerical part, as a complement to kinetic modeling, high-level theoretical calculations were performed to identify plausible reaction pathways that lead to the observed products. Furthermore, the rate coefficients of important reactions and the thermochemical properties of the related species were calculated. A detailed kinetic model for high-temperature combustion of THFA was developed, which reasonably predicts the experimental data. Subsequent rate analysis showed that THFA is mainly consumed by H-abstraction reactions yielding several fuel radicals that in turn undergo either β-scission reactions or intramolecular radical addition that effectively leads to ring enlargement. The importance of specific reaction channels generally correlates with bond dissociation energies. Along THFA reaction routes, the derived species with cis configuration were found to be thermodynamically more stable than their corresponding trans configuration, which differs from usual observations for hydrocarbons.     

Electrophoretic flow of interacting polymer chains: Effects of temperature,polymer concentration,and porosity

Using a Monte Carlo simulation in three dimensions, we studied the variation of the root-meansquare (rms) displacement (R_rms) of polymer chains with time and the rates of their mass transfer (j) as a function of biased field (B), polymer concentration (p), chain length (L_c), porosity (p_s), and temperature (T). In homogeneous/annealed system, the rms displacement of the chains shows a drift-like behavior, R_rms ∼ t, in the asymptotic time regime preceded by a subdiffusive power-law (R_rms ∼ t^k, with k < 1/2) at high p. The subdiffusive regime expands on increasing L_c and p but reduces on increasing T or B. In quenched porous media, the drift-like behavior of R_rms persists at low barrier concentration (p_b) and high T. However, at high p_b and/or low T, chains relax into a subdrift and/or subdiffusive behavior especially with high p or long L_c. Flow of chains is measured via an effective permeability (σ) using a linear response assumption. In annealed system, σ increases monotonically with B at high T and low p but varies nonmonotonically at low T, high p and high L_c. We find that σ decays with L_c, σ ∼ L, where α depends on B, p and T with a typical value a α ∼ 0.43−0.64 for p = 0.1-0.3 at B = 0.5. Further, σ decays with p, σ ∼ − Cp with a decay rate C sensitive to T and B. In quenched porous media, even at low pb and high T, σ varies nonmonotonically with bias, i.e., the increase of σ is followed by decay on increasing the bias beyond a characteristic value (B_c). This characteristic bias seems to decrease logarithmically with barrier concentration, B_c ∼ −klnp_b. The prefactor k depends on the chain length, k ≈ 0.35 for shorter chains (L_c = 20, 40) and ≈ 0.15 for longer chains (L_c = 60). Scaling dependence of σ on L_c similar to that in annealed system is also observed in porous media with different values of exponent α. The current density shows a nonlinear power-law response, j ∼ B^σ, with a nonuniversal exponent δ ≈ 1.10−1.39 at high temperatures and low barrier concentrations.