Effects of neutron skin on the excitation of isovector modes of neutron-rich nuclei

The existence of a neutron skin in neutron-rich nuclei is discussed in connection with the excitation of isovector dipole and quadrupole giant modes via isoscalar nuclear probes. In the case of large neutron excess, important contributions are obtained from the nuclear excitation, which may even become predominant according to proper kinematical conditions. At variance with the usual situation encountered in inelastic processes, constructive interference can be found between nuclear and Coulomb contributions.     

Probing Structural Compositions of Porous Media with Two-dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Combination of two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2-D NMR) correlation maps and a simple three-component model are proposed here to identify the structural composition of porous media. Homogeneous magnetic field and field with constant gradient of a novel Halbach sensor are employed for respective relaxation and diffusion measurements. NMR results are compared and confirmed with independent measurements on a scanning electron microscope and by energy dispersive spectrometer methods.     

A New Nonconjugated Naphthalene Derivative of Meso-tetra-(3-hydroxy)-phenyl-porphyrin as a Potential Sensitizer for Photodynamic Therapy

A new 5,10,15,20-tetra-(phenoxy-3-carbonyl-1-amino-naphthyl)-porphyrin was prepared by an isocyanate condensation reaction and its photophysical properties fully evaluated, both in terms of photostability and singlet oxygen production. It shows considerably enhanced photostability when compared with the parent 5,10,15,20-tetra-(3-hydroxy-phenyl)-porphyrin, with the photodegradation quantum yields for T(NAF)PP and T(OH)PP being 4.65 × 10⁻⁴ and 5.19 × 10⁻³, respectively. Its photodynamic effect in human carcinoma HT-29 cells was evaluated. The new porphyrin showed good properties as a sensitizer in photodynamic therapy with an in vitro cytotoxicity IC₅₀ value of 6.80 μg mL⁻¹ for a 24 h incubation. In addition to the potential of this compound, the synthetic route used provides possibilities of extension to a wide range of new sensitizers.     

A rotating disc electrode study of oxygen reduction at platinised nickel and cobalt coatings

Platinized nickel and cobalt coatings, Pt(Ni) and Pt(Co), have been prepared on glassy carbon, GC, rotating disc electrode substrates by a two-step room temperature procedure that involved the electrodeposition of nickel and cobalt layers and their spontaneous partial replacement by platinum (“transmetalation”) when immersed into a chloroplatinic acid solution. By tuning the quantity of initially deposited nickel and cobalt, Pt(Ni) and Pt(Co) bimetallic coatings having a 26% atom Ni and 30% atom Co composition have been prepared. For both materials typical Pt surface electrochemistry was recorded during fast voltammetry in deaerated acid, pointing to the existence of a continuous Pt skin over a Pt–Ni and Pt–Co core. Oxygen reduction at the Pt(Ni)/GC and Pt(Co)/GC electrodes was studied by means of steady-state voltammetry at a rotating disc electrode and the construction of Tafel plots from corresponding voltammetric data. It was found that, when the initial potential of the voltammetric sweep allowed the formation of a complete Pt oxide monolayer, then oxygen reduction was hindered for low overpotentials at Pt(Ni) and Pt(Co), compared to pure bulk Pt. On the other hand, when the initial potential was less positive (thus leading to the formation of a fraction of surface oxide monolayer) the presence of Ni and Co enhanced the kinetics of oxygen reduction. The former behaviour is attributed to a decrease in oxide reduction ability of Pt in the presence of Ni and Co, while the latter to an increase in dissociative oxygen chemisorption due to Ni and Co.     

Ab initio many-body calculations of the (3)H(d,n)(4)He and (3)He(d,p)(4)He fusion reactions

We apply the ab initio no-core shell model combined with the resonating-group method approach to calculate the cross sections of the (3)H(d,n)(4)He and (3)He(d,p)(4)He fusion reactions. These are important reactions for the big bang nucleosynthesis and the future of energy generation on Earth. Starting from a selected similarity-transformed chiral nucleon-nucleon interaction that accurately describes two-nucleon data, we performed many-body calculations that predict the S factor of both reactions. Virtual three-body breakup effects are obtained by including excited pseudostates of the deuteron in the calculation. Our results are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data and pave the way for microscopic investigations of polarization and electron-screening effects, of the (3)H(d,γn)(4)He bremsstrahlung and other reactions relevant to fusion research.