First-principle investigation of XSrH3 (X = K and Rb) perovskite-type hydrides for hydrogen storage

Hydrogen can be utilized as an energy source; therefore, hydrogen storage has received the most appealing examination interest in recent years. The investigations of hydrogen storage applications center fundamentally around the examination of hydrogen capacity abilities of recently presented compounds. XSrH₃ (X = K and Rb) compounds have been examined by density functional theory (DFT) calculations to uncover their different characteristics, as well as hydrogen capacity properties, for the first time. Studied compounds are optimized in the cubic phase, and optimized lattice constants are obtained as 4.77 and 4.99 Å for KSrH₃ and RbSrH₃, respectively. These hydrides have shown negative values of formation enthalpies as they are stable thermodynamically. XSrH₃ might be used in hydrogen storage applications because of high gravimetric hydrogen storage densities, which are 2.33 and 1.71 wt% for KSrH₃ and RbSrH₃, respectively. Moreover, electronic properties confirm the semiconductor nature of these compounds having indirect band gaps of values 1.41 and 1.23 eV for KSrH₃ and RbSrH₃, respectively. In addition, mechanical properties from elastic constants such as Young modulus and Pugh's ratio, also have been investigated, and these compounds were found to satisfy born stability conditions. Furthermore, Pugh's ratio and Cauchy pressure show that these hydrides have a brittle nature. Furthermore, thermodynamic properties such as entropy and Debye temperature have been examined using the quasiharmonic Debye model for different temperatures and pressures.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Antimony(III) Complexes of Thioamides,and Crystal Structure of {[Sb(Imt)2Cl2]2((2‐Imt)}Cl2(Imt=Imidazolidine‐2‐thione)

Antimony(III) complexes of thioamides [thioamides=thiourea (Tu), N,N′‐dimethylthiourea (Dmtu), tetramethylthiourea (Tmtu), imidazolidine‐2‐thione (Imt) and diazinane‐2‐thione (Diaz)] with the general formulae, Sb(thione)_nCl₃ (n=1, 2, 2.5, 3) were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and NMR (¹H, ¹³C) spectroscopic methods. The spectral data of the complexes are consistent with the coordination of the thiones to antimony(III). The crystal structure of one of them, {[Sb(Imt)₂Cl₂]₂(μ₂‐Imt)}Cl₂ ( 1 ), was determined by X‐ray crystallography, which shows that the complex is dinuclear consisting of two [Sb(Imt)₂Cl₂] units bridged by an Imt molecule. In 1 , the antimony atom is bonded to two chlorine atoms, two sulfur atoms of coordinated Imt molecules and one sulfur atom of a bridging Imt molecule. The antimony environment can be considered to be distorted octahedral with one Cl^? ion weakly bound to antimony.     

Capillary gas chromatographic analysis of pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate metal chelates

Pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) chelates of Zn(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(III), Fe(III), Mn(II), Cr(III), and VO(II) were analysed by capillary GC on a DB-1701 column (30 m x 0.25 mm id) with flame ionisation detection (FID). Linear calibrations were attained within "1-30 microg/mL" for Ni(II), Fe(III), Mn(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), and VO(II), and within "2-50 microg/mL" for Co(III) and Zn(II). The limits of detection were in the "150-500 ng/mL" range, corresponding to 15-50 pg amounts reaching the FID system. The optimised method was applied to the determination of Cu(II) and Ni(II) in coins, and that of Zn(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Fe(III), Mn(II), Cr(III), and VO(II) in pharmaceutical preparations with relative standard deviations within 1.1-5.2%. The results obtained are in good agreement with sewage water samples and the declared values for the pharmaceutical formulations, or with the results of AAS of metal contents in coins, pharmaceutical preparations, and sewage water samples.     

α-MoO3 nanowire-based amperometric biosensor for l-lactate detection

Large-scale orthorhombic single-crystalline molybdenum trioxide nanowires were synthesized using a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. Lactate oxidase enzyme was immobilized on the nanowires to produce a highly sensitive electrochemical biosensor for l-lactate detection. At an applied potential of 0.5 V, the sensor exhibited a high sensitivity of 0.87 μA/mM with a fast response to l-lactate (90% of response times within 10 s). A linear response was obtained over a concentration range from 0.5 to 8 mM with a detection limit of 0.15 mM (S/N?=?3). The developed biosensor showed excellent reproducibility and operational stability, as well as the ability to be stored long term.     

Comparative study of spectroscopic techniques for the estimation of iron in apple and vegetables

Iron has been determined in apple and vegetables spectrophotometrically, by complexing it with xylenol orange. 1:1 complex formed in a highly acidic medium is measured for its absorbance at its λ_max of 585 nm. The results have been compared by employing atomic absorption technique. Apples and vegetable samples were collected from local markets of Pakistan. Statistical manipulations, t-test and F-test, were performed and it was found that the results from the two techniques have an excellent agreement.     

Harmonic and intermodulation performance of hearing aids under large sound pressure levels

A mathematical model for the input-output functions of the hearing aids is presented. The model, basically a sine-series function, can easily yield closed-form expressions for the amplitudes of the harmonic and intermodulation components of the output when the input is formed of multitone large sound pressure levels. The special case of two-tone equal-amplitude incident pressure level is considered in detail. The results show that the third-order intermodulation component is always higher than the third-harmonic component. The results also show that the input-output functions exhibiting peak clipping exhibit the worst harmonic and intermodulation performance for large sound pressure levels. The simple wide-dynamic range compression (WDRC) input-output function exhibits the best harmonic and intermodulation distortion performance under large sound pressure levels. These results are consistent with the previously reported observations and reveal that there is a correlation between intelligibility of high-level speech and the harmonic and intermodulation performance of the hearing aid under large sound pressure levels.     

Coupled nonlinear waves in a composite magnetic-semiconducting medium

In this Letter we investigate the propagation of coupled nonlinear Alfven-spin and helicon-spin waves in a composite medium having the properties of both magnetic and semiconducting materials. We arrive at the nonlinear evolution equations for these coupled waves using the reductive perturbation method for which we obtain soliton solutions. We also discuss the limiting cases for the two materials separately.