Alkane lengths determine encapsulation rates and equilibria

A cylindrical capsule provides an environment for straight-chain alkanes that can properly fill the space through extended or compressed conformations. The encapsulation rates of a series of alkanes were examined and found to be dependent on guest length: the rates of uptake are C(9) > C(10) > C(11), while complex stability is in the reverse order, C(11) > C(10) > C(9). Direct competition experiments, pairwise or between all 3 alkanes, maintain this order as the longer alkanes sequentially displace the shorter ones. The distribution of species with time provides a clock for this complex system, which combines elements of self-sorting phenomena and dynamic combinatorial chemistry. The clock can be stopped by replacing the alkanes with the superior guest 4,4'-dimethylazobenzene, then restarted by irradiation.     

Encapsulation of ion pairs in extended, self-assembled structures

Encapsulation of ion pairs in small spaces that are isolated from the medium is expected to result in amplified interactions between the ions. Yet, sequestration of ion pairs in self-assembled capsules is complicated by competition of the acids and bases for binding directly to the assembly components. We describe here a hydrogen-bonded capsule 1.2(8).1 that accommodates two γ-picolines and two acids as ion pairs. The supramolecular structure of the discrete 14-component assembly is characterized by NMR spectroscopy. The structure reveals the acids in the tapered ends of the capsule and γ-picoliniums near the glycoluril spacers in the capsule's center. Similar acid-base ion pairs are also obtained with 4-ethylpyridine, γ-picoline with difluoroacetic acid, and γ-picoline with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. The (1)H NMR spectrum of the γ-picoline/trifluoroacetic acid ion pair shows a signal at δ = 18.7 ppm, indicating the acidic proton is in contact with both the picoline nitrogen and the trifluoroacetate oxygen. Further details about the unusual structures of ion pairs in small spaces are reported.     

Numerical solutions to heat transfer of nanofluid flow over stretching sheet subjected to variations of nanoparticle volume fraction and wall temperature

The numerical analysis of heat transfer of laminar nanofluid flow over a fiat stretching sheet is presented. Two sets of boundary conditions （BCs） axe analyzed, i.e., a constant （Case 1） and a linear streamwise variation of nanopaxticle volume fraction and wall temperature （Case 2）. The governing equations and BCs axe reduced to a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations （ODEs） and the corresponding BCs, respectively. The dependencies of solutions on Prandtl number Pr, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion number Nb, and thermophoresis number Nt are studied in detail. The results show that the reduced Nusselt number and the reduced Sherwood number increase for the BCs of Case 2 compared with Case 1. The increases of Nb, Nt, and Le numbers cause a decrease of the reduced Nusselt number, while the reduced Sherwood number increases with the increase of Nb and Le numbers. For low Prandtl numbers, an increase of Nt number can cause to decrease in the reduced Sherwood number, while it increases for high Prandtl numbers.     

Prediction of temperature performance of a two-phase closed thermosyphon using Artificial Neural Network

Here, the temperature performance of a two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) was investigated using two synthesized nanofluids, including carbon nano-tube (CNT)/water and CNT-Ag/water. In order to determine the temperature performance of a TPCT, the experiments were performed for various values of weight fraction and input power. To predict the other experimental conditions, a reliable and accurate tool should be applied. Therefore Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was applied to predict the process performance. Using ANN, the operating parameters, including distribution of wall temperature (T) and the temperature difference between the input and the output water streams of condenser section (?T) were determined. To achieve this goal, the multi-layer perceptron network was employed. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm was chosen as learning algorithm of this network. The results of simulation showed an excellent agreement with the data resulted from the experiments. Therefore it is possible to say that ANN is a powerful tool to predict the performance of different processes.     

Translational motion inside self-assembled encapsulation complexes

The motion of guests inside a cylindrical self-assembled host is studied through NMR techniques. Small molecules encapsulated alone, such as the gas molecules cyclopropane and butane, are found to exchange locations slowly but measurably on the NMR time scale using 2D techniques. These molecules can move past one another while still inside the capsule. When gases are coencapsulated with longer flexible molecules such as alkanes, less motion is apparent yet these can still slip by one another and folding of the alkanes also can be detected. Activation barriers for these processes are in the range of 15-17 kcal/mol.     

On incidence energy of a graph

The Laplacian-energy like invariant LEL(G) and the incidence energy IE(G) of a graph are recently proposed quantities, equal, respectively, to the sum of the square roots of the Laplacian eigenvalues, and the sum of the singular values of the incidence matrix of the graph G. However, IE(G) is closely related with the eigenvalues of the Laplacian and signless Laplacian matrices of G. For bipartite graphs, IE=LEL. We now point out some further relations for IE and LEL: IE can be expressed in terms of eigenvalues of the line graph, whereas LEL in terms of singular values of the incidence matrix of a directed graph. Several lower and upper bounds for IE are obtained, including those that pertain to the line graph of G. In addition, Nordhaus-Gaddum-type results for IE are established.     

Effect of electron radiation on electrical parameters of Zn/n-Si/Au–Sb and Zn/ZnO/n-Si/Au–Sb diodes

In this study, RF-magnetron sputtered ZnO thin film as an interlayer was used to improve radiation tolerance of the Schottky diodes. The structural and optical measurements showed that the ZnO thin films have hexagonal crystal structure with preferential c-axis orientation, 20.39 nm grain sizes and 3.15 eV bandgap. The electrical parameters such as ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance of Zn/n-Si/Au–Sb and Zn/ZnO/n-Si/Au–Sb diodes were calculated before and after electron radiation at 25, 50 and 75 gray doses. Deviation values of the parameters showed that the ZnO as an interlayer caused to improved radiation tolerance of the diodes.

     

Effect of Nickel Distributions Embedded in Amorphous Carbon Films on Transport Properties

Electrical properties of C/Ni films are studied using four mosaic targets made of pure graphite and stripes of nickel with the surface areas of 1.78,3.21,3.92 and 4.64%.The conductivity data in the temperature range of400–500 K shows the extended state conduction.The conductivity data in the temperature range of 150–300 K shows the multi-phonon hopping conduction.The Berthelot-type conduction dominates in the temperature range of 50–150 K.The conductivity of the films in the temperature range about 50 K is described in terms of variable-range hopping conduction.In low temperatures,the localized density of state around Fermi level(F)for the film deposition with 3.92% nickel has a maximum value of about 56.2×10~(17)cm~(-3)eV~(-1) with the minimum average hopping distance of about 3.43 × 10~(-6) cm.     

Gap States of ZnO Thin Films by New Methods:Optical Spectroscopy,Optical Conductivity and Optical Dispersion Energy

The optical reflectance and transmittance spectra in the wavelength range of 300–2500 nm are used to compute the absorption coefficient of zinc oxide films annealed at different post-annealing temperatures 400, 500 and 600°C.The values of the cross point between the curves of the real and imaginary parts of the optical conductivity ɑ_1 and ɑ_1 with energy axis of films exhibit values that correspond to optical gaps and are about 3.25–3.3 eV. The maxima of peaks in plots dR/dλ and dT/dλ versus wavelength of films exhibit optical gaps at about 3.12–3.25 eV.The values of the fundamental indirect band gap obtained from the Tauc model are at about 3.14–3.2 eV. It can be seen that films annealed at 600°C have the minimum indirect optical band gap at about 3.15 eV. The films annealed at 600°C have Urbach's energy minimum of 1.38 eV and hence have minimum disorder. The dispersion energy d of films annealed at 500°C has the minimum value of 43 eV.