Synthesis and characterisation of coating polyurethane cationomers containing fluorine built-in hard urethane segments

Polyurethane cationomers were synthesised in the reaction of 4,4’-methylenebis(phenyl isocyanate) with polyoxyethylene glycol (M?= 2,000) or poly(tetrafluoroethyleneoxide-co-difluoromethylene oxide) α,ω-diisocyanate and N-methyl diethanolamine. Amine segments were built-in to the urethane-isocyanate prepolymer in the reaction with 1-bromobutane or formic acid, and then they were converted to alkylammonium cations. The obtained isocyanate prepolymers were then extended in the aqueous medium that yielded stable aqueous dispersions which were applied on the surfaces of test poly(tetrafluoroethylene) plates. After evaporation of water, the dispersions formed thin polymer coatings. ¹H, ¹³C NMR and IR spectral methods were employed to confirm chemical structures of synthesised cationomers. Based on ¹H NMR and IR spectra, the factors κ and α were calculated, which represented the polarity level of the obtained cationomers. The DSC, wide angle X-ray scattering and atom force microscopy methods were employed for the microstructural assessment of the obtained materials. Changes were discussed in the surface free energy and its components, as calculated independently according to the method suggested by van Oss–Good, in relation to chemical and physical structures of cationomers as well as morphology of coating surfaces obtained from those cationomers. Fluorine incorporated into cationomers (about 30%) contributed to lower surface free energy values, down to about 15 mJ/m². That was caused by gradual weakening of long-range interactions within which the highest share is taken by dispersion interactions.     

Homogeneity and the disjoint arcs property

Some previous results of the author towards a classification of homogeneous metric continua are improved. The disjoint arcs property is fully revealed in this context. In particular, closed -manifolds, , are characterized as those homogeneous continua which do not have the disjoint arcs property.

     

Symmetries of Cauchy-Riemann spaces

We simplify and generalize Cartan's results on Cauchy-Riemann spaces admitting continuous groups of automorphisms. We describe all such spaces in terms of local coordinates.     

Preparation and semiconducting properties of Th3As4

The resistivity, thermoelectric power and Hall constant in the temperature range of 78–830 K were determined for polycrystalline Th₃As₄ samples obtained by annealing thin thorium slabs in arsenic vapour. The samples examined were n-type semiconductors with a carrier concentration ranging from 1.0 × 10¹⁸cm^?3 to 2.8 × 10¹⁸ cm^?3 for which the effective mass was found to be equal to 0.55–0.76m₀. The Hall mobility, about 450cm²V^?1s^?1 at room temperature, obeys a $\text{T}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ law at high temperatures. On the basis of the electrical measurements the forbidden gap of Th₃As₄ was found to be equal to 0.43 eV.     

Probing interfacial organization in surface monolayers using tethered pyrene. 1. Structural mediation of electron and proton access to adsorbates

We have synthesized and characterized a family of self-assembled monolayers containing pyrene derivatives on gold and indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) substrates. The covalently bound pyrene functionalities serve as either spectroscopic or electrochemical probes of their immediate environment, and we explore their electrochemical response in this paper. When these compounds are the only constituents bound to the interfaces, the molecules enjoy significant structural freedom. The addition of aliphatic adsorbates to the interfaces serves to place the pyrene derivatives in a more restricted environment. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the organization of a monolayer with pyrene derivatives, and the position of the terminal pyrene within such monolayer, depend sensitively on the length of the pyrene tether and the presence or absence of aliphatic interfacial species, as well as the identity of the substrate.     

Locking entanglement with a single qubit

We study the loss of entanglement of a bipartite state subjected to discarding or measurement of one qubit. Examining behavior of different entanglement measures, we find that entanglement of formation, entanglement cost, logarithmic negativity, and one-way distillable entanglement are lockable measures in that they can decrease arbitrarily after measuring one qubit. We prove that any convex and asymptotically noncontinuous measure is lockable. As a consequence, all the convex-roof measures can be locked. The relative entropy of entanglement is shown to be a nonlockable measure.     

Secure key from bound entanglement

We characterize the set of shared quantum states which contain a cryptographically private key. This allows us to recast the theory of privacy as a paradigm closely related to that used in entanglement manipulation. It is shown that one can distill an arbitrarily secure key from bound entangled states. There are also states that have less distillable private keys than the entanglement cost of the state. In general, the amount of distillable key is bounded from above by the relative entropy of entanglement. Relationships between distillability and distinguishability are found for a class of states which have Bell states correlated to separable hiding states. We also describe a technique for finding states exhibiting irreversibility in entanglement distillation.     

Microchemical and Microstructural Characterization of the Early Stages of the Discontinuous Precipitation Reaction in Al-22 at.% Zn Alloy

High-spatial energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis has been applied in order to reveal changes of chemical composition accompanying the formation of the lamellar structure due to discontinuous precipitation reaction in Al-22at.% Zn alloy. The line-scans performed in the reaction zone have shown that the region left behind the grain boundary (GB) after its displacement from the original position is solute depleted, similar to the de-alloying case of diffusion induced grain boundary migration. This enables the allotriomorphs to be transformed into solute-rich lamellae and development of lamellar + structure, especially if the GB moves in the direction perpendicular to its original location. If the direction of movement is strongly inclined to the original location of the GB, the growth usually stops after a short period of time, mainly due to formation of the precipitation free zone (PFZ) ahead of the reaction front. The detailed EDX examination revealed that there is a sharp change in solute content at the lamella/PFZ and PFZ/matrix alloy interfaces. The solute content in the PFZ is lower than in the neighbouring lamella and it corresponds to the equilibrium state. Therefore, one can suppose that the PFZ is formed due to backward movement of the reaction front in order to consume the excess of solute atoms stored in the lamellae in comparison with the equilibrium state. As soon as the equilibrium state is attained within the PFZ, the growth of the colony is completed.