Polyaniline nanofibers: facile synthesis and chemical sensors

Polyaniline nanofibers with uniform diameters between 30 and 50 nm can be made in bulk quantities through a facile aqueous/organic interfacial polymerization method at ambient conditions. The nanofibers have lengths varying from 500 nm to several micrometers and form interconnected networks. Thin films made of the nanofibers have superior performance in both sensitivity and time response to vapors of acid (HCl) and base (NH3).     

Thermodynamic study of complex formation process of free base meso-tetraphenylporphyrins with dimethyl and dibutyltin(IV) dichloride: a new algorithm for a single thermometric titration

A novel, fast and easy single sample measurement has been developed based upon temperature dependence of equilibrium constant in order to determine the enthalpy and entropy changes of a complexation reaction using spectrophotometric temperature titration. The method can be used in determination of the formation constant and thermodynamic parameters of the solutions that there are difficulties in their titration where volatile compounds are studying. Knowledge of component spectra is not required for the analysis. The formation constants of the interactions of ß-di and tri-brominated meso-tetraphenylporphyrins, and meso-tetrakis(4-methylphenyl) and (4-methoxyphenyl) porphyrins with Me₂SnCl₂ and Bu₂SnCl₂, have been determined in range of 0–25 °C utilizing van’t Hoff relation, mass balance and equilibrium constant equations by an iterative least squares method with ΔH ⁰ as adjustable parameter. The outputs of analysis are the equilibrium constants, ligand and adduct spectral profiles, their concentrations as a function of temperature, the adjusted values of the standard enthalpy ΔH ⁰, and entropy ΔS ⁰ changes. The order of formation constants of the resulting 1:1 complexes decreased with increasing number of bromide substituents and increased with adding methyl and methoxy groups, and vary as H₂T(4-CH₃O)PP > H₂T(4-CH₃)PP > H₂TPP > H₂TPPBr₂ > H₂TPPBr₃ and Me₂SnCl₂ > Bu₂SnCl₂.     

Output-feedback lag-synchronization of time-delayed chaotic systems in the presence of external disturbances subjected to input nonlinearity

In this paper, an adaptive output error feedback control scheme is proposed for the lag-synchronization of two time-delayed chaotic systems in the presence of channel time-delay, external disturbances and input nonlinearity. Using the Lyapunov theory, stability of the proposed adaptive controller is proved. Lyapunov-Krasovskii approach is used to deal with the existence of time-delay in the system dynamics. Finally, two numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed method.     

Liquid-liquid extraction of palladium(II) from hydrobromic acid media by hexadecylpyridinium bromide.

A simple and rapid liquid-liquid extraction of palladium has been studied involving ion-pairing of bromocomplexes of palladium(II) with hexadecylpyridinium bromide (HDPB) dissolved in chloroform. The stoichiometry and distribution of (HDP)2PdBr4 between the aqueous and organic phase was investigated by spectrophotometric mole ratio method. The extraction efficiency of palladium(II) by HDPB was studied as a function of several variables: acid, salt, surfactant concentration and equilibrium time. The results showed that PdBr4(2-) extraction could be explained by assuming the formation of (HDP)2PdBr4 complexes in the aqueous solution and transfer to organic phase. The extraction was fast and the shaking time was only a few min. The average recovery of palladium(II) from an aqueous solution containing 10 microg/ml of analyte was 99% with an RSD% of 0.95. The percentage recovery of 0.2 microg/ml palladium(II) was 96%.     

Online thorium determination after preconcentration in a minicolumn having XAD-4 resin impregnated with N-benzoylphenylhydroxylamine by FI-spectrophotometry

A very sensitive and selective flow injection on-line determination method of thorium (IV) after preconcentration in a minicolumn having XAD-4 resin impregnated with N-benzoylphenylhydroxylamine is described. Thorium (IV) was selectively adsorbed from aqueous solution of pH 4.5 in a minicolumn at a flow rate of 13.6 mL min^?1, eluted with 3.6 mol dm^?3 HCl (5.6 mL min^?1), mixed with arsenazo-III (0.05% in 3.6 mol dm^?3 HCl stabilized with 1% Triton X-100, 5.6 mL min^?1) at confluence point and taken to the flow through cell of spectrophotometer where its absorbance was measured at 660 nm. Peak height was used for data analyses. The preconcentration factors obtained were 32 and 162, detection limits of 0.76 and 0.150 ??g L^?1, sample throughputs of 40 and 11 h^?1 for preconcentration times of 60 and 300 s, respectively. The tolerance levels for Zr(IV) and U(VI) metal ions is increased to 50-folds higher concentration to Th(IV). The proposed method was applied on different spiked tap water, sea water and biological sample and good recovery was obtained. The method was also applied on certified reference material IAEA-SL1 (Lake Sediment) for the determination of thorium and the results were in good agreement with the reported value.     

Efficient functionalization of aqueous CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals using small-molecule chemical activators

Small molecular reagents that can efficiently functionalize water soluble CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals (NCs) are reported. These reagents do not cause quenching or precipitation of NCs as seen with commercially available activators. The results demonstrate that controlling the electrostatic character of the materials is critical in the design of functionalization schemes.     

Quartic Thue equations

We will give upper bounds upon the number of integral solutions to binary quartic Thue equations. We will also study the geometric properties of a specific family of binary quartic Thue equations to establish sharper upper bounds.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Ligand-Linked Pt Nanoparticles: Tunable,Three-Dimensional,Porous Networks for Catalytic Hydrogen Sensing

Porous networks of Pt nanoparticles interlinked by bifunctional organic ligands have shown high potential as catalysts in micro-machined hydrogen gas sensors. By varying the ligand among p-phenylenediamine, benzidine, 4,4‘‘-diamino-p-terphenyl, 1,5-diaminonaphthalene, and trans-1,4-diaminocyclohexane, new variants of such networks were synthesized. Inter-particle distances within the networks, determined via transmission electron microscopy tomography, varied from 0.8 to 1.4 nm in accordance with the nominal length of the respective ligand. While stable structures with intact and coordinatively bonded diamines were formed with all ligands, aromatic diamines showed superior thermal stability. The networks exhibited mesoporous structures depending on ligand and synthesis strategy and performed well as catalysts in hydrogen gas microsensors. They demonstrate the possibility of deliberately tuning micro- and mesoporosity and thereby transport properties and steric demands by choice of the right ligand also for other applications in heterogeneous catalysis.