Lactic acid aided electrochemical deposition of c-axis preferred orientation of zinc oxide thin films: Structural and morphological features

Compact and homogeneous c-axis preferred orientation of zinc oxide (ZnO) films on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass have been prepared electrochemically at −1.2 V vs. Ag|AgCl in a weak acidic condition from 0.06 M Zn(NO₃)₂ with 3 mM lactic acid (LA) added. LA was found having strong influence on the electrodeposition of c-axis preferred orientation of zinc oxide films. Other experimental variables such as deposition temperature, potential, and precursor concentration were also conducted in this article. Among these variables, it was found that precursor concentration of zinc nitrate influenced significantly on growth direction and crystal diameter of zinc oxide. Cyclic voltammetry was used to observe the electrochemistry of the deposition. Crystallinities of the films were examined by X-ray diffractometer. The morphologies of zinc oxide films were observed with a field emitting scanning electron microscope. Optical characteristics of zinc oxide layers were measured with UV-vis spectrophotometer. The band gap of the deposited zinc oxide thin films was evaluated from the Tauc relationship of (αhν)² vs. hν, which was found to be 3.31 eV.     

Time-resolved imaging of VUV emission from a He-Xe micro surfacedischarge

A direct observation of two-dimensional, time dependent behavior of 147 nm and 173 nm vacuum ultra violet emission from a single surface discharge type AC plasma display panel cell were obtained using a gated, image intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD). The images on the ICCD are formed by a pinhole. The two lines show similar spatial profile but quite different temporal behavior     

Unusual pi-donating effects of pi-accepting substituents on the stabilities of benzylic cations: a theoretical study

The pi-donating effects of pi-accepting X-substituents in substituted benzylic cations, X-C(6)H(5)-CHR(+) where R = CF(3), H and OCH(3), and X = p-NH(2), p-OCH(3), p-CH(3), H, p-F, p-Cl, p-CHO, m-CN, p-CN, m-NO(2) or p-NO(2), have been studied theoretically by using isodesmic hydride transfer reactions at various levels of theory. It might be difficult to determine the pi-donating effects of pi-acceptors using the simple Hammett-type linear equation, because it is not sensitive enough to include small pi-donating effects. Therefore, this effect was estimated using the NBO deletion energy (DeltaE(D)) of the second-order charge-transfer interaction (DeltaE(ct)) between the pi-orbitals (or lone pair orbitals) of the X-substituent and the pi-orbitals of phenyl ring. The extents of pi-donating effects increased in the order X = p-NO(2) < p-CHO < p-CN < p-Cl for both neutral and cationic species, and these effects were found to be more important for para- than for meta-substituents. Moreover, this could represent a general trend for pi-donation by pi-acceptors. On the other hand, the effects of R-substituents on this pi-donating effect were found to be in the order R = OCH(3) < H congruent with CF(3), as predicted by natural resonance theory (NRT) analyses.     

Non-enzymatic electrochemical CuO nanoflowers sensor for hydrogen peroxide detection

The electrocatalytic activity of a CuO flower-like nanostructured electrode was investigated in terms of its application to enzyme-less amperometric H₂O₂ sensors. The CuO nanoflowers film was directly formed by chemical oxidation of copper foil under hydrothermal condition and then used as active electrode material of non-enzymatic electrochemical sensors for H₂O₂ detection under alkaline conditions. The sensitivity of the sensor with CuO nanoflowers electrode was 88.4 μA/mM cm² with a linear response in the range from 4.25 × 10⁻⁵ to 4 × 10⁻² M and a detection limit of 0.167 μM (S/N = 3). Excellent electrocatalytic activity, large surface-to-volume ratio and efficient electron transport property of CuO nanoflowers electrode have enabled stable and highly sensitive performance for the non-enzymatic H₂O₂ sensor.     

Calculating specific absorbed fractions with standard Korean male adults

Based on data representing standard Korean male adults, a mathematical anthropomorphic phantom was developed to calculate the specific absorbed fraction for several organs. The results were then compared against values calculated with other phantoms (OTOKO of Japan, MIRD of the U.S. and GOLEM of Germany). We compared the specific absorbed fractions of six organs (the adrenals, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and spleen) for two cases: when the source and target organs are the same, and when they are different. When both the source and target organs are the same the organ with the highest specific absorbed fraction regardless of energy level was found to be the adrenals in all phantoms. In comparing phantoms, the phantom developed on the basis of standard Koreans produced the highest specific absorbed fraction. Also, as a result of conducting an assessment by separating source organs from target organs, the phantom developed on the basis of standard Koreans displayed relatively high specific absorbed fractions although there were slight differences per organ.     

Maximum-entropy TFμSR study of vortex states in 1/2/3 cuprates

A maximum-entropy (ME) method has been applied to TFSR vortex data of RBa₂Cu₃O₇ (R1237; R=Er, Gd and Eu). The obtained information on the field distribution is of much better quality than that resulting from Fourier transformation and curve-fitting of the same data. ME application to R1237 TFSR data taken below T_c at LAMPF show asymmetrical, nearly triangular, field distributions, which broaden with decreasing temperature. Significant deviations from Abrikosov predictions have been observed for the estimated R1237-vortex field distributions. Below 10 K, for Er1237 and Gd1237, the non-Abrikosov features appear to be influenced by the rare-earth magnetism. The low-field tail in the field distribution and the ME-intensity anomaly near T_c suggest glassy features in the 1/2/3 cuprate vortex states.     

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of aryl dithioacetates with pyridines in acetonitrile

Kinetic studies of the pyridinolysis (XC(5)H(4)N) of aryl dithioacetates (CH(3)C(=S)SC(6)H(4)Z) are carried out in acetonitrile at 60.0 degrees C. A biphasic Br?nsted plot is obtained with a change in slope from a large value (beta(X) congruent with 0.9) to a small value (beta(X) congruent with 0.4) at pK(a) degrees = 5.2, which is attributed to a change in the rate-limiting step from breakdown to formation of a zwitterionic tetrahedral intermediate, T(+/-), in the reaction path as the basicity of the pyridine nucleophile increases. A clear-cut change in the cross-interaction constants rho(XZ) from a large positive value (rho(XZ) = +1.34) to a small negative value (rho(XZ) = -0.15) supports the mechanistic change proposed.     

Effect of o-methyl group on rate, mechanism, and resonance contribution: aminolysis of Y-substituted phenyl X-substituted 2-methylbenzoates

Second-order rate constants have been determined spectrophotometrically for the reactions of 4-nitrophenyl X-substituted 2-methylbenzoates (2a-e) and Y-substituted phenyl 2-methylbenzoates (3a-e) with alicyclic secondary amines in 80 mol % H(2)O/20 mol % DMSO at 25.0 +/- 0.1 degrees C. The o-methyl group in the benzoyl moiety of 2a-e retards the reaction rate but does not influence the reaction mechanism. The Hammett plots for the reactions of 2a-e are nonlinear, while the corresponding Yukawa-Tsuno plots are linear with large r values (1.06-1.70). The linear Yukawa-Tsuno plots suggest that stabilization of the ground-state through resonance interaction between the electron donating substituent X and the carbonyl group is responsible for the nonlinear Hammett plots, while the large r values imply that the ground-state resonance interaction is significant. The reactions of 2a-e resulted in smaller rho(X) values but larger r values than the corresponding reactions of 4-nitrophenyl X-substituted benzoates (1a-e). The small rho(X) value for the reactions of 2a-e (e.g., rho(X) = 0.22) is suggested to be responsible for the large r value (e.g., r = 1.70). The reactions of 3a-e with piperidine are proposed to proceed in a stepwise manner with a change in the rate-determining step on the basis of the curved Br?nsted-type plot obtained. Microscopic rate constants associated with the reactions of 3a-e are also consistent with the proposed mechanism.     

Determination of Dialkyltin Compounds in Poly(Vinyl Chloride) by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed for the analysis of dialkyltin compounds in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials. The PVC sample was first dissolved in tetrahydrofuran. Concentrated hydrochloric acid was then added to convert the dissolved dialkyltin stabilizers into the chloride forms, followed by extraction with hexane. The extracted dialkyltin chlorides were preconcentrated and were finally separated by HPLC. Separation was performed using a C₁₈ column and an eluent of aqueous methanol containing 8-hydroxyquinoline (oxine) as the completing agent. Photometric detection of the dialkyltin-oxine complexes was carried out at 380 mm. Under optimum experimental conditions, the detection limits for dimethyltin, dibutyltin and dioctyltin are 1.7 ng, 2.1 ng and 2.9 ng (all as tin), respectively. Residual dialkyltin stabilizers in several commercially available PVC products were successfully analyzed via this method.