First principles calculation of field emission from carbon nanotubes with nitrogen and boron doping

We investigate the field emission properties of nitrogenated and boronated carbon nanotubes using time-dependent density functional theory, where the wave function propagation is performed using the Crank–Nicholson algorithm. We extract the current–voltage characteristics of the emitted electrons from nanotubes with different doping configurations. We found that boron doping alone either impedes, or slightly enhances, field emission. Nitrogen generally enhances the emission current, and the current is sensitive to the location of the nitrogen dopant in the nanotube. Doping with both nitrogen and boron will generally enhance emission, and the closer the nitrogen dopant is to the tip, the higher is the emitted current. The emitted charge cloud from nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes, however, diffuse more than that from pristine ones, our simulations show the emergence of a branching structure from the charge cloud, which suggests that nitrogenated carbon nanotubes are less convenient for use in precision beam applications.     

Thermodynamics and morphology of the amorphization reaction during the rod-milling of Al-50 at.% Ta alloy powder

A report is presented on the crystalline to amorphous phase transition induced by the rod-milling of a mixture of Al and Ta powders using the mechanical alloying method. Based on the thermal and morphological analyses, it is shown that the mechanical alloying process is classified into three stages, i.e., the agglomeration, amorphization and homogenization stages. During the agglomeration and amorphization stages, a thermal-assisted amorphization leads to the formation of an amorphous phase by a solid-state amorphization reaction. At the homogenization stage, however, an amorphous phase with fine nanostructure is formed due to the mechanical driving force generated by the shear force of the rods.     

Coulomb dissociation of incident 16O at 4.5 GeV/c

Projectile multifragment breakup of ¹⁶O, ²C and ⁷Li at energies 3.0–4.5 A-GeV is studied by means of the Weizsäcker-Williams method. The fragmentation channels of the ¹⁶O projectile at 4.5 A-GeV are investigated and compared with that of ¹⁶O at 200 A-GeV. The events characterized by N _h=0 and the events due to both Coulomb and diffraction dissociation have been selected and analyzed as a function of impact parameter. Also, the dependence of the electromagnetic dissociation cross-section on incident energy and the charge of projectile and target is found.     

Facile synthesis of some condensed 1,3-thiazines and thiazoles under conventional conditions: antitumor activity

1,3-Thiazine 3 was obtained from cinnamoyl thiourea derivative 2 as the kinetic control product. Refluxing of 2 with sodium ethoxide afforded pyrimidine derivative 4. Moreover, stirring of 2 with bromine/acetic acid gave thiazole 5 that was condensed with o-phenylene diamine forming benzimidazole 6. Heating of arylthiourea 8 with maleic anhydride or phenacyl chloride afforded thiazole derivatives 9 and 10, respectively. Condensation of compound 10 with o-phenylene diamine gave benzimidazole 11. Reaction of p-amino benzoic acid with chloro acetyl isothiocyanate, acetylacetone and ethylacetoacetate produced imidazole 14, enaminone 15 and crotonate 16 derivatives, respectively. Stirring a mixture of benzoyl isothiocyanate with 15 and/or 16 resulted in pyridine-2-thione 17. The yields of the prepared compounds were 41–93%. The experimental section is simple and easy. The detailed synthesis, spectroscopic data, IC₅₀ and antitumor activity of the synthesized compounds were reported. The cytotoxicity of the newly synthesized products showed that compound 4 is the most active compound towards the cancer cell line at which its reactivity is higher than that of the standard doxorubicin (anticancer reference drug).     

Studies on the constituents of the green alga <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ulva lactuca</Emphasis>

Phytochemical investigations on a marine green alga Ulva lactuca led to the isolation of two new compounds (E)-6-heptacosen-5-one (1) and (E)-6-octadecen-5-ol (2), along with four known compounds, (Z)-10-hexacosene (3), docosanoic acid (4), palmitic acid (5), and isofucosterol (6). Compounds 3 and 4 were isolated for the first time from this species. The structures of the compounds were deduced with the help of modern spectroscopic techniques.     

An in situ STM/AFM and impedance spectroscopy study of the extremely pure 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate/Au(111) interface: potential dependent solvation layers and the herringbone reconstruction

The structure and dynamics of the interfacial layers between the extremely pure air- and water-stable ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate and Au(111) has been investigated using in situ scanning tunneling microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy measurements. The in situ scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements reveal that the Au(111) surface undergoes a reconstruction, and at -1.2 V versus Pt quasi-reference the famous (22 × √3) herringbone superstructure is probed. Atomic force microscopy measurements show that multiple ion pair layers are present at the ionic liquid/Au interface which are dependent on the electrode potential. Upon applying cathodic electrode potentials, stronger ionic liquid near surface structure is detected: both the number of near surface layers and the force required to rupture these layers increases. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results reveal that three distinct processes take place at the interface. The fastest process is capacitive in its low-frequency limit and is identified with electrochemical double layer formation. The differential electrochemical double layer capacitance exhibits a local maximum at -0.2 V versus Pt quasi-reference, which is most likely caused by changes in the orientation of cations in the innermost layer. In the potential range between -0.84 V and -1.04 V, a second capacitive process is observed which is slower than electrochemical double layer formation. This process seems to be related to the herringbone reconstruction. In the frequency range below 1 Hz, the onset of an ultraslow faradaic process is found. This process becomes faster when the electrode potential is shifted to more negative potentials.     

Polarization in the inelastic scattering of 185 MeV protons

The polarizations produced in the inelastic scattering of 185 MeV protons exciting the lowest octupole states in ¹²C and ²⁰⁸Pb are measured. The data together with earlier similar measurements for ⁴⁰Ca and ⁹⁰Zr are compared with existing theoretical models. The inclusion of a deformed spin-dependent interaction of the full Thomas form in the DWBA amplitude is found to considerably improve the theoretical fits to the data. For ¹²C, however, the DWBA fit is found to be inferior to that obtained using DWIA. The strong absorption model is found to give qualitatively good fits to the data for the heavier nuclei but again fails in the ¹²C case.     

Determination of trace elements of Egyptian crops by neutron activation analysis

Multielemental neutron activation analysis was used for the determination of Al, As, Au, Br, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, La, Mn, Mo, Sb, Se, W and Zn in African tea, and lady's fingers (Malvaceae Family), ginger (Zingiperaceae Family), canella bark (Laureceae Family), black pepper (Piperaceae Family), cucumber seeds and vegetable marrow seeds (Cucurbitaceae Family), tomatos seed (Solanaceae Family), safflower seeds (Compositae Family), jew's mallow seeds (Tiliaceae Family) and sesame (Pedaliaceae Family). Trace elements determination was made to the analysis of destructive (using super pure nitric acid and adsorbing the metal-APDC and metal-Dz complexes on activated charcoal) and nondestructive (dry seeds) samples. The method is simple, precise and sensitive for the determination of microamounts of the elements (ppm to ppb).     

Central collisions of24Mg nuclei with heavy emulsion group of nuclei (Br,Ag) at 4.5 AGeV/c momentum

Central collisions of²⁴Mg nuclei with the heavy (AgBr) group of emulsion nuclei are selected and analysed according to several selecting criteria. Theoretical calculations concerning cross sections for central events, average number of interacting protons from both projectile and target nuclei, multiplicity distributions of shower particles and dispersions, all based on the Glauber model, are performed to evaluate various criteria to select central events. The selection criterion based on the high multiplicity of total charged particles provides satisfactory agreement with the theoretical calculations.