Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of ZnO nanostructures

The paper reports on the use of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to determine the doping character and carrier density of freshly prepared and annealed ZnO nanostructures. The ZnO nanostructures were obtained by chemical oxidation of metallic Zn in a 5% N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) aqueous solution at 95 °C for 24 h. The as-grown nanostructured ZnO samples display a high donor density of 3.71 ± 0.88 × 10²¹ cm^?3. Annealing at 100 and 200 °C did not have any effect on the donor density while thermal annealing at 300 °C in air for 1 h induced a decrease in the doping concentration without affecting the surface morphology.     

Surfactant Effect on Kinetic of Reaction of Some Sulphonamides with p‐Dimethylaminobenzaldehyde: Surfactant‐Modified Determination of Sulphonamides in Aqueous Solution

Kinetics of condensation reactions of six sulpha drugs (I‐VI) with p‐dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (DAB) in a weakly acidic EthOH/H₂O solution have been studied spectrophotometrically. The reaction was found to be first order with respect to DAB and zero order with respect to sulphonamide. The rate constants, activation energies, and other related thermodynamic functions have been determined. The effect of the presence of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) on the kinetics of this reaction in aqueous solution has been investigated. The observed rate constants increase with increasing the amount of SDS except for those of sodium sulphacetamide (VI). The surfactant molecules enhance the reaction rates (14–113 times) in concentrations less than critical micellar concentration (cmc). A developed spectrophotometric method for determining sulphonamides in aqueous solution by their reactions with an excess of DAB in the presence of SDS and HCl (pH = 2) at a wavelength of 447 nm has been introduced. Microgram amounts of sulphonamides can be estimated with accuracy better than ± 1.5% and reproducibility less than ± 0.064%. The results of application to sulphonamides in pure form indicate that the presented method is simple, sensitive, precise, accurate, and comparable to the colorimetric Bratton‐Marshall standard procedure. The effect of interferences and application of the presented method to two pharmaceutical preparations have been investigated.     

Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy of heteronuclear cobalt(II)-copper(II) complex of 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone

A bright green CoCu(PMP)(OH)2(H2O)2 complex was synthesized. Its structure was elucidated and characterized by different spectroscopic techniques. Both cobalt and copper atoms attain tetrahedral geometry. The complex was investigated by the dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. The dielectric parameters are discussed in terms of temperature and frequency changes. The conductivity of the complex decreased as the temperature increased in the temperature range 30-100 degrees C, while above this temperature range stepwise increase in the conductivity was observed.     

The space of complete embedded maximal surfaces with isolated singularities in the 3-dimensional Lorentz-Minkowski space

We prove that a complete embedded maximal surface in = (³, dx₁² + dx₂²-dx₃²) with a finite number of singularities is an entire maximal graph with conelike singularities over any spacelike plane, and so, it is asymptotic to a spacelike plane or a half catenoid. We show that the moduli space of entire maximal graphs over {x₃=0} in with n+12 singular points and vertical limit normal vector at infinity is a 3n+4-dimensional differentiable manifold. The convergence in means the one of conformal structures and Weierstrass data, and it is equivalent to the uniform convergence of graphs on compact subsets of {x₃=0}. Moreover, the position of the singular points in ³ and the logarithmic growth at infinity can be used as global analytical coordinates with the same underlying topology. We also introduce the moduli space of marked graphs with n+1 singular points (a mark in a graph is an ordering of its singularities), which is a (n+1)-sheeted covering of . We prove that identifying marked graphs differing by translations, rotations about a vertical axis, homotheties or symmetries about a horizontal plane, the corresponding quotient space is an analytic manifold of dimension 3n–1. This manifold can be identified with a spinorial bundle associated to the moduli space of Weierstrass data of graphs in .Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 53C50, 58D10, 53C42First and second authors research partially supported by MEC-FEDER grant number MTM2004-00160Second and third authors research partially supported by Consejería de Educación y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucía and the European Union.     

Hidden electrochemistry in the thermal grafting of silicon surfaces from grignard reagents

Covalent grafting of alkyl chains on silicon can be obtained by thermal treatment in Grignard reagents. Alkyl halide present in the Grignard solution as an impurity appears to play a key role in the grafting process. Grafting efficiency is improved when the alkyl halide concentration is increased. It is also enhanced on n-type substrates as compared to p-type substrates and when alkyl bromides are present in solution rather than alkyl chlorides. The grafting reaction involves a zero-current electrochemical step. A reaction model in which simultaneous Grignard oxidation and alkyl halide reduction take place at the silicon surface accounts for all these observations. Alkyl halide reduction is the rate-determining step. Negative charging of the silicon surface lowers the energetic barrier for this reaction, allowing for efficient grafting on n-Si.     

Raman spectral signatures of mouse mammary tissue and associated lymph nodes: normal,tumor and mastitis

Raman spectroscopy involves the interaction of light with the molecular vibrations and therefore can provide information about molecular structure, tissue composition and changes in its environment. We explored whether Raman spectroscopy can reliably distinguish mammary tumors from normal mammary tissues and other pathological states in mice. We analyzed a large number of Raman spectra from the tumor and normal mammary glands of mice injected with 4T1 tumor cells, which were collected using a high‐resolution (less than 4 cm⁻¹) Raman spectrometer at a fixed (785 nm) laser excitation wavelength and with 60 mW of laser power. The spectra of normal and tumor mammary glands showed consistent differences in the intensity of certain Raman bands and loss of some bands in the tumor spectra. Multivariate statistical methods—principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant functional analysis (DFA)—were used to separate the data into different groups of mammary tumors, mastitis, lymph nodes contralateral and tumor‐cell‐injected sides, and normal contralateral and tumor‐cell‐injected sides. We demonstrate that this spectroscopic technique has the feasibility of discriminating tumor and mastitis from normal tissues and other pathological states in a short period of time and may detect tumor transformation earlier than the standard histological examination stage. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A robust method for automated background subtraction of tissue fluorescence

This paper introduces a new robust method for the removal of background tissue fluorescence from Raman spectra. Raman spectra consist of noise, fluorescence and Raman scattering. In order to extract the Raman scattering, both noise and background fluorescence must be removed, ideally without human intervention and preserving the original data. We describe the rationale behind our robust background subtraction method, determine the parameters of the method and validate it using a Raman phantom against other methods currently used. We also statistically compare the methods using the residual mean square (RMS) with a fluorescence‐to‐signal (F/S) ratio ranging from 0.1 to 1000. The method, ‘adaptive minmax’, chooses the subtraction method based on the F/S ratio. It uses multiple fits of different orders to maximize each polynomial fit. The results show that the adaptive minmax method was significantly better than any single polynomial fit across all F/S ratios. This method can be implemented as part of a modular automated real‐time diagnostic in vivo Raman system. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plasmonic properties of silver nanostructures coated with an amorphous silicon-carbon alloy and their applications for sensitive sensing of DNA hybridization

The use of an amorphous silicon-carbon alloy overcoating on silver nanostructures in a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing platform allows for decreasing the detection limit by an order of magnitude as compared to sensors based on gold nanostructures deposited on glass. In addition, silver based multilayer structures show a distinct plasmonic behaviour as compared to gold based nanostructures, which provides the sensor with an increased short-range sensitivity and a decreased long-range sensitivity.     

Optimization of Oil-in-Water Emulsion Stability: Experimental Design,Multiple Light Scattering,and Acoustic Attenuation Spectroscopy

To find an optimal formulation of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions (φ_o = 0.05), the effect of emulsifier nature and concentration, agitation speed, emulsifying time, storage temperature and their mutual interactions on the properties and behavior of these dispersions is evaluated by means of an experimental design (Nemrodw software). Long-term emulsion stability is monitored by multiple light scattering (Turbiscan ags) and acoustic attenuation spectroscopy (Ultrasizer). After matching surfactant HLB and oil required HLB, a model giving the Sauter diameter as a function of emulsifier concentration, agitation speed and emulsification time is proposed. The highest stability of C₁₂E₄-stabilized O/W emulsions is observed with 1% emulsifier.