Shrinkage influenced by chain rupture during tensile deformation

Tests are described in which wet shrinkage is observed subsequent to strain annealing of nylon 6 fibers. The wet shrinkage studies demonstrated a large mobilizing effect by water present in the polymer structure even after very high temperature annealing treatments. Transitions in shrinkage behavior after strain-annealing treatments were experimentally observed at strains corresponding to the onset of chain rupture. The shrinkage might be attributed to chain refolding. The apparent activation energy for the processes was approximately 10 kcal/mole for the annealed nylon 6 samples, compared to published values of 14 kcal/mole for nylon 66 fibers.

An analysis of the tension required to maintain a fixed strain on the material indicates that an entropic rearrangement is predominent up to 5% strain. Above this strain, apparently, an enthalpic rearrangement takes over.     

Domain growth and aging scaling in coarsening disordered systems

We explore the electronic and transport properties out of a biased multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) by first-principles calculations. The band gaps of multilayer h-BN decrease almost linearly with increasing perpendicular electric field, irrespective of the layer number N and stacking manner. The critical electric filed (E ₀) required to close the band gap decreases with the increasing N and can be approximated by E ₀ = 3.2 / (N ? 1) (eV). We provide a quantum transport simulation of a dual-gated 4-layer h-BN with graphene electrodes. The transmission gap in this device can be effectively reduced by double gates, and a high on-off ratio of 3000 is obtained with relatively low voltage. This renders biased MLh-BN a promising channel in field effect transistor fabrication.     

Photovoltaic devices using semiconducting polymers containing head‐to‐tail‐structured bithiophene,pyrene, and benzothiadiazole derivatives

An alternating copolymer composed of heal‐to‐tail‐structured 3,4′‐dihexyl‐2,2′‐bithiophene (DHBT) and pyrene units [poly(DHBT‐alt‐PYR)] was synthesized using a Stille coupling reaction for use in photovoltaic devices as a p‐type donor. For the reduction of the bandgap energy of poly(DHBT‐alt‐PYR), 4,7‐bis(3′‐hexyl‐2,2′‐bithiophen‐5‐yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (BHBTBT) units were introduced into the polymer. Poly(DHBT‐co‐PYR‐co‐BHBTBT)s were synthesized using the same polymerization reaction. The synthesized polymers were soluble in common organic solvents and formed smooth thin films after spin casting. The optical bandgap energies of the polymers were obtained from the onset absorption wavelengths. The measured optical bandgap energy of poly(DHBT‐alt‐PYR) was 2.47 eV. As the BHBTBT content in the ter‐polymers increased, the optical bandgap energies of the resulting polymers decreased. The bandgap energies of poly(50DHBT‐co‐40PYR‐co‐10BHBTBT) and poly(50DHBT‐co‐20PYR‐co‐30BHBTBT) were 1.84 and 1.73 eV, respectively. Photovoltaic devices were fabricated with a typical sandwich structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/active layer/LiF/Al using the polymers as electron donors and [6,6]‐phenyl C₇₁‐butyric acid methyl ester as the electron acceptor. The device using poly(50DHBT‐co‐20PYR‐co‐30BHBTBT) showed the best performance among the fabricated devices, with an open‐circuit voltage, short‐circuit current, fill factor, and maximum power conversion efficiency of 0.68 V, 5.54 mA/cm², 0.35, and 1.31%, respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Molecular dynamics simulation study on graphene-nanoribbon-resonators tuned by adjusting axial strain

A tunable graphene-nanoribbon (GNR)-resonator was investigated via classical molecular dynamics simulations. Resonance frequencies increased with increasing externally applied gate-force and axial-strain, and could be tuned above several hundred GHz. Tunable resonance frequencies achieved from the gate force were higher than those achieved from the axial-strain. The operating frequencies of GNR-resonators without axial-strain or with small axial-strains were most widely tuned by the gate, and almost linearly increased with increasing mean deflection. As the axial strain increased, the tunable ranges of the GNR-resonators were exponentially decreased, although the operating frequencies increased. GNR-resonators without axial-strain could be applied to wide-range-tuners, whereas GNR-resonators with high axial-strain could be applied to high-frequency-fine-tuners.     

Comparative studies of bioactive organosulphur compounds and antioxidant activities in garlic (Allium sativum L.), elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.)

We evaluated organosulphur compounds in Allium vegetables, including garlic, elephant garlic and onion, using high-performance liquid chromatography. Among organosulphur compounds, elephant garlic had considerable γ-glutamyl peptides, and garlic had the highest alliin content. Onion had low level of organosulphur compounds than did elephant garlic and garlic. In addition, antioxidant capacities were evaluated by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assay. The results showed that garlic had the highest antioxidant capacity, followed by elephant garlic and onion. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between antioxidant activities and organosulphur compounds (R > 0.77). Therefore, our results indicate that there was a close relationship between antioxidant capacity and organosulphur compounds in Allium vegetables.     

Viscosity dependence of electrochemical etching for gold tip fabrication

We suggest an electrochemical etching method with viscous etchant to enhance the sharpness of tip of scanning probe microscope. The viscosity of the etchant mixed with HCl solution and glycerol was used as a control parameter in addition to the voltage applied to the tip. In order to improve the sharpness of the tip, a nano-scale meniscus formed between the end of the tip and the liquid level was used. The shapes, aspect ratios, and radii of tips were measured depending on the concentration of the etchant. It was found that the tip etched with the mixed liquid with glycerol was sharper than the tip with the pure HCl solution. This can be explained by the fact that the meniscus formed by viscous liquid is maintained with a thinner diameter and causes final etching until the meniscus bridge is ruptured.     

A Rat’s Image Using Multichannel Phase Array RF Coil Specifically Designed for Animals: Focused on a Pulse Sequence and Mediator Variable

The study focuses on finding the pulse sequences depicting a rat’s tumor when the size of the field of view was reduced, using coils specifically designed for rats, and obtaining an optimized image of a rat by transforming the parameters, according to each pulse sequence. The manufactured coil is 8-channel phased array coils, and the type is a receive-only coil. The diameter of the coil is 80 mm, and the length is 150 mm. The overlapped distance among each channel was 8 mm, and the lab rats used in the experiment were the commonly used Sprague–Dawley rats. The study used three types of pulse sequences, which are the diffusion weight imaging (DWI), three-dimensional dual echo steady state (3-D DESS), and three-dimensional volumetric interpolated breath-hold (3-D VIBE). Along with the DWI results, pulse sequences of 3-D DESS and 3-D VIBE enabled to distinguish the tumors from that of normal tissues in the brain by optimizing a mediator variable and to illustrate the whole body imaging of a rat.     

Structural and functional stabilities of artificially designed DNA ultra-thin films grown by silica Assistance

We report the structural and functional stabilities of artificially synthesized DNA ultra-thin films. Fully covered DNA ultra-thin films on a silica substrate were fabricated by the silica-assisted growth method and those samples were then incubated in various chemicals and physical conditions. The DNA ultra-thin films showed high maintainability under those harsh conditions and these results would aid to facilitate the use of artificial DNA ultra-thin films in advanced research areas such as biophotonics and bioelectronics.