ESR studies on the formation of p-benzosemiquinone anions over manganese dioxide

The reaction between a hydroquinone aqueous solution and manganese dioxide has been investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. A very stable p-benzosemiquinone anion is formed when an aqueous solution of hydroquinone is passed through a column of manganese dioxide. The kinetics for the reaction between hydroquinone and manganese dioxide follow the equation where A₀ is the initial concentration of hydroquinone, C is the concentration of p-benzosemiquinone anions, W is the amount of manganese dioxide, F is the feed rate of a hydroquinone aqueous solution, and k₁⁰ and k₂⁰ are constants; k₁⁰ = 3.1 × 10^?2 (cm³/g MnO₂· min), k₂⁰ = 3.2 (cm³/g MnO₂·min). A mechanism for the reaction is proposed such that Mn(IV) in manganese dioxide is reduced to Mn (II) with hydroquinone from which the semiquinone anion is formed via a neutral semiquinone. The formation of semiquinone anions from several substituted hydroquinones is also discussed.     

Effect of sonication on the photo-catalytic mineralization of some chlorinated organic compounds

Effects of the irradiation of ultrasound (US) on the photo-catalytic mineralization of some chlorinated organic compounds such as dichloroethane, tri- and tetrachloroethylenes, chloroacetic acids and chloromethanes were examined in oxygen saturated aqueous solutions suspended titanium dioxide (P25) particles. The yields of the sonochemical mineralization for these compounds were found to be extremely low compared to the photo-catalysis. However, the pre-sonication, US irradiation on the sample solution before the photo-irradiation, enhanced significantly the following photo-catalytic degradation to the complete oxidation. The effect was investigated in detail and it was found that the effect was mainly owing to the increase in the capability of the catalysis of which particles were sparsely dispersed by the sonication. The other contribution of the pre-sonication effect was found to be "pre-sonolysis", the initial formation of some intermediated products sonochemically, which are oxidizable more rapidly further to carbon dioxide than the original compound by the following photo-catalytic reactions. The pre-sonolysis effect was observed remarkably for trichloroacetic acid and tetrachloromethane, both of which are known to be hardly reactive to the photo-catalytic degradation. The photo-catalytic degradation with simultaneous sonication were also carried out for these compounds. The synergetic effect in the mineralization was observed both for carbontetrachloride and for trichloroacetic acid, the higher carbon dioxide yield being obtained in the simultaneous reaction than the sum of the yields in the photo-catalysis and the sonolysis each alone, while no significant synergetic effect was observed in the mineralization of other compounds.     

Novel soft chemical method for optically transparent Ru(bpy)3-K4Nb6O17 thin film

A unique guest-guest ion exchange method was developed for preparing a thin film of a nano-layered K(4)Nb(6)O(17).3H(2)O that possesses both (1) optical transparency and (2) ion-exchangeability under ambient conditions without calcination at high temperature. An optically transparent Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-K(4)Nb(6)O(17) hybrid thin film, a photoresponsive electrode, was successfully prepared by the guest-guest exchange method by use of the intercalation compound MV(2+)-K(4)Nb(6)O(17) as a precursor. The optically transparent Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-K(4)Nb(6)O(17) hybrid thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM, AFM, IR, and UV spectroscopies, as well as elemental analysis. The electrochemical behavior of the ITO/Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-K(4)Nb(6)O(17) hybrid thin film electrode was studied; it also exhibits swift photoresponse in the visible region.     

Subwavelength optical imaging through a metallic nanorod array

We propose a subwavelength imaging system without a lens or a mirror but with an array of metallic nanorods. The near-field components of dipole sources were plasmonically transferred through the rod array to reproduce the source distribution in the other side. We calculated the field distribution at the different planes of imaging process using the finite-difference time-domain algorithm and found that the spatial resolution was 40 nm given by the rod size and spacing. A typical configuration is a hexagonal arrangement of silver rods of 50 nm height and 20 nm diameter. We also show that the image formation highly depends on the coherence and the polarization of the source distribution and the source-array distance.     

Direct observation of excitons and a continuum of one-dimensional Mott insulators: a reflection-type third-harmonic-generation study of Ni-halogen chain compounds

The third-harmonic-generation (THG) spectrum was measured for a NiBr-chain compound, which is a one-dimensional Mott insulator, in a reflection configuration. A sharp peak and a shoulder structure in the THG spectrum are attributed to three-photon resonance to an exciton and a continuum, respectively. The band-edge energy, the exciton binding energy, and the spectral weights for the exciton and the continuum were determined from comparative studies of linear absorption, THG, and electroreflectance spectra. The excitonic effect is more pronounced in the NiCl chain than in the NiBr chain.     

Evolution of the Hall coefficient and the peculiar electronic structure of the cuprate superconductors

Although the Hall coefficient R(H) is an informative transport property of metals and semiconductors, its meaning in the cuprate superconductors has been ambiguous because of its unusual characteristics. Here we show that a systematic study of R(H) in La2-xSrxCuO4 single crystals over a wide doping range establishes a qualitative understanding of its peculiar evolution, which turns out to reflect a two-component nature of the electronic structure caused by an unusual development of the Fermi surface recently uncovered by photoemission experiments.     

Aroma chemical emitted from Gerris paludum insularis

An aroma chemical emitted from Gerris paludum insularis was analyzed by means of GC and GC-MS. The main constituent was identified as iso amyl alcohol (3-methyl-1-butanol). The chemical showed a characteristic aroma of Gerris paludum insularis.     

Elastic friction drive of surface acoustic wave motor

Importance of elastic deformation control to obtain large output force with a surface acoustic wave (SAW) motor is discussed in this paper. By adding pre-load to slider, stator and slider surfaces are deformed in a few tens nanometer. Appropriate deformation in normal direction against normal vibration displacement amplitude of SAW existed. By moderate deformation, the output force of the SAW motor was enlarged up to about 10 N and no-load speed was 0.7 m/s. To produce this performance, the transducer weight and slider size were only 4.2 g and 4 x 4 mm(2).By traveling wave propagation, surface particles of the SAW device move in elliptical motion. Due to the amplitude of the elliptical motion is 10 or 20 nm order, the contact condition of the slider is very critical. To control the contact condition, namely, the elastic deformation of the slider and stator surface in nanometer order, a lot of projections were fabricated on the slider surface. The projection diameter was 20 micro m. In static condition, the elastic deformation and stress were evaluated with the FEM analysis. From this calculation and the simulation result, it is consider that the wave crest is distorted, hence the elasticity has influence on the friction drive condition.Elastic deformation of the stator surface beneath the projection from the initial position were evaluated. In 4 x 4 mm(2) square area, the sliders had from 1089 to 23,409 projections. Depression was independent to the contact pressure. However, the output force depended on the depression although the projection density were different. From the view point of the output power of the motor, the proper depression was independent to the projection density. Around 25 nm depression, the output force and output power were maximized. This depression value was almost same as the vibration displacement amplitude of the stator transducer.     

Photorefractive effect in the relaxor ferroelectric material 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.09PbTiO3

The photorefractive effect in a nominally undoped 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.09PbTiO3 single crystal is measured. We report what is, to our knowledge, the first observation of the photorefractive effect in Pb-based relaxor ferroelectric crystals. The crystal is grown by the flux solution method. Then it is cut into a 2 mm x 4 mm x 8 mm piece and electrically poled along the [111] direction. The coupling constant of the two-wave mixing is 17 cm(-1), and the normalized time constant under 1-W/cm(2) illumination is 12 s at a wave-length of 476 nm. The effective trap density is calculated as 5 x 10(16) cm(-3) from the Debye screening length under the assumption of Kukhtarev's band-transport model. The dominant carrier is identified to be holes from the direction of two-wave mixing energy transfer.