Synthesis and characterization of wholly aromatic poly(azomethine)s containing donor–acceptor triphenylamine moieties

N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐4′,4″‐bisformyl‐diphenylamine was synthesized from N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐diphenylamine by the Vilsmeier‐Haack reaction. Soluble aromatic poly(azomethine)s (PAMs) were prepared by the solution polycondensation of N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐4′,4″‐bisformyl‐diphenylamine and aromatic diamine in N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (NMP) at room temperature under reduced pressure. All the PAMs are highly soluble in various organic solvents, such as N,N‐dimethylacetamide (DMAc), chloroform (CHCl₃), and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that these PAMs had glass‐transition temperatures (T_gs) in the range of 170–230 °C, and a 10% weight‐loss temperatures in excess of 490 °C with char yield at 800 °C in nitrogen higher than 60%. These PAMs in NMP solution showed UV‐Vis charge‐transfer (CT) absorption at 405–421 nm and photoluminescence peaks around 462–466 nm with fluorescence quantum efficiency (Φ_F) 0.10–0.99%. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of these PAMs can be determined from cyclic voltammograms as 4.86–5.43 and 3.31–3.34 eV, respectively. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 4921–4932, 2007     

Indentation responses of piezoelectric films

Frictionless indentation responses of transversely isotropic piezoelectric film/rigid substrate systems under circular cylindrical indenter (i.e., punch), conical indenter (i.e., cone), and spherical indenter (i.e., sphere) are investigated. Both insulating and conducting indenters are considered. The technique of Hankel transformation is employed to derive the corresponding dual integral equations for the mixed boundary value indentation problems. For the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and infinitely thin piezoelectric films, closed-form solutions are obtained. For piezoelectric films of finite thickness, a numerical method is constructed to solve the dual integral equations and semi-empirical models having only two unknown parameters are proposed for the responses of indentation force, electric charge and electric potential, and contact radius. With the two parameters inferred from the numerical results, the semi-empirical formulae are found to provide good estimates of the indentation responses for the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and thin piezoelectric films, as well as those in between. The inferred parameters in the proposed semi-empirical formulae for normalized indentation force and electric charge are checked against four different piezoelectric materials and are found to be insensitive to the selection of piezoelectric materials. It is believed that the proposed semi-empirical indentation formulae are useful in developing experimental indentation techniques to extract the material properties of piezoelectric films.     

DUAL RECIPROCITY HYBRID BOUNDARY NODE METHOD FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELASTICITY WITH BODY FORCE

Combining Dual Reciprocity Method （DRM） with Hybrid Boundary Node Method （HBNM）, the Dual Reciprocity Hybrid Boundary Node Method （DRHBNM） is developed for three-dimensional linear elasticity problems with body force. This method can be used to solve the elasticity problems with body force without domain integral, which is inevitable by HBNM. To demonstrate the versatility and the fast convergence of this method, some numerical examples of 3-D elasticity problems with body forces are examined. The computational results show that the present method is effective and can be widely applied in solving practical engineering problems.     

Axisymmetric frictionless contact of functionally graded materials

The main interest of this study is a new method to solve the axisymmetric frictionless contact problem of functionally graded materials (FGMs). Based on the fact that an arbitrary curve can be approached by a series of continuous but piecewise linear curves, the FGM is divided into a series of sub-layers with shear modulus varying linearly in each sub-layer and continuous at the sub-interfaces. With this model, the axisymmetric frictionless contact problem of a functionally graded coated half-space is investigated. By using the transfer matrix method and Hankel integral transform technique, the problem is reduced to a Cauchy singular integral equation. The contact pressure, contact region and indentation are calculated for various indenters by solving the equations numerically. An erratum to this article can be found at     

镧掺杂水滑石材料的热分解过程研究

采用共沉淀法制备了系列La掺杂改性的含Cu类水滑石,高温焙烧得到其衍生混合氧化物材料,并用XRD,TG-DSC,FT-IR等对材料进行表征.结果表明,前驱物XRD图谱呈典型的水滑石衍射特征且颗粒结晶良好;经800℃焙烧后,掺杂La2O3含量为5.1%的样品仅有Mg1-xFexO晶相出现,说明La的掺杂提高了材料的高温稳定性,混合氧化物中的Cu离子呈高分散状态.     

Terahertz wave tomographic imaging with a Fresnel lens

We demonstrate three-dimensional tomographic imaging using a Fresnel lens with broadband terahertzpulses.Objects at various locations along the beam propagation path are uniquely imaged on the sameimaging plane using a Fresnel lens with different frequencies of the imaging beam.This procedure allowsthe reconstruction of an object's tomographic contrast image by assembling the frequency-dependentimages.     

A Mossbauer study of the magnetic coupling in iron phosphorous trisulfides

The polycrystalline sample of layered compound FePS_3 has been investigated by using M?ssbauer spectroscopy (12K to 300K), magnetic susceptibility measurements, x-ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy. The antiferromagnetic order exists below T_N=120.5±1K. The M?ssbauer spectra below T_N indicate that the magnetization axis is perpendicular to the layer of FePS_3, and the divalent iron cations are in their high spin configurations. By fitting the hyperfine field parameters near the Néel temperature, we obtain information on the nature of magnetic interactions in the material. The results show that the magnetic coupling can be treated by the two-dimensional Ising model, and it can be interpreted on the basis of a crystal-field effect.     

Metallo‐supramolecular micelles: Studies by analytical ultracentrifugation and electron microscopy

In aqueous solutions, amphiphilic block copolymers in which a polystyrene (PS) segment is connected to a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) block via a bis(2,2′:6′,2″‐ terpyridine ruthenium) complex can form micelles. Such micelles of the protomer type PS₂₀‐[Ru]‐PEO₇₀, according to the preparation procedure representing frozen micelles, were studied by sedimentation velocity and sedimentation equilibrium analysis in an analytical ultracentrifuge and by transmission electron microscopy, with different techniques applied for the sample preparation. The particles obtained were surprisingly multifarious in size. In ultracentrifugation experiments performed at relatively low salt concentrations, the distributions of the sedimentation coefficient s_20,w showed a pronounced peak at 9.6 S and a broad, only partly separated second peak around 14 S. The molar mass of the particles at the peak was around 430,000 g/mol, corresponding to an aggregation number of approximately 85. The average hydrodynamic diameter of the particles in the peak fraction was approximately 13 nm. In electron micrographs of negatively stained samples, spheres of diameters between 10 and 25 nm were the most abundant particles, but larger ones with a wide size range were also visible. The latter particles apparently were composed of smaller ones. The data from both sedimentation analysis and electron microscopy showed that (1) the studied compound formed primary micelles of diameters around 20 nm and (2) the primary micelles had a tendency toward aggregation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3159–3168, 2003     

Direct, organocatalytic α-sulfenylation of aldehydes and ketones

A method for direct sulfenylation of aldehydes and ketones, catalyzed by a novel pyrrolidine trifluoromethanesulfonamide organocatalyst, has been developed. This process serves as an efficient and mild approach to the preparation of α-phenylthio-ketones and -aldehydes.