In search of ionic liquids incorporating azolate anions

Twenty-eight novel salts with tetramethyl-, tetraethyl-, and tetrabutylammonium and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cations paired with 3,5-dinitro-1,2,4-triazolate, 4-nitro-1,2,3-triazolate, 2,4-dinitroimidazolate, 4,5-dinitroimidazolate, 4,5-dicyanoimidazolate, 4-nitroimidazolate, and tetrazolate anions have been prepared and characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The effects of cation and anion type and structure on the physicochemical properties of the resulting salts, including several ionic liquids, have been examined and discussed. Ionic liquids (defined as having m.p.<100 degrees C) were obtained with all combinations of the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation ([C(4)mim](+)) and the heterocyclic azolate anions studied, and with several combinations of tetraethyl or tetrabutylammonium cations and the azolate anions. The [C(4)mim](+) azolates were liquid at room temperature exhibiting large liquid ranges and forming glasses on cooling with glass-transition temperatures in the range of -53 to -82 degrees C (except for the 3,5-dinitro-1,2,4-triazolate salt with m.p. 33 degrees C). Six crystal structures of the corresponding tetraalkylammonium salts were determined and the effects of changes to the cations and anions on the packing of the structure have been investigated.     

Doped amorphous semiconductors

The article reviews the advances that have been made during the past two years in the new field of substitutionally doped a-semiconductors, particularly a-Si. After introducing some of the basic concepts used in the treatment of a-materials, the preparation and doping of a-semiconductors from the gas phase and the role of hydrogen are discussed in some detail. Recent results on doping by ion implantation have also been included. The following sections are concerned with the effect of n and p-type impurities on the electronic transport properties of a-Si and a-Ge. The discussion is based on results from conductivity, drift mobility, Hall effect and thermoelectric power measurements and leads to the main conclusion that the donors introduce a new hopping path through the system which begins to dominate over tail-state hopping when their density exceeds about 10¹⁸ cm^-3. Recent photo-conductivity and luminescence results on doped a-Si are then discussed; they give information on recombination and also demonstrate the pronounced effect of doping on these properties. In the final section amorphous p-n junctions are considered as well as their possible applications in photovoltaic solar energy conversion.     

Retrospective analysis of an experimental high-throughput screening data set by recursive partitioning

With the emergence of combinatorial chemistry, whether based on parallel, mixture, solution, or solid phase chemistry, it is now possible to generate large numbers of diverse or focused compound libraries. In this paper we aim to demonstrate that it is possible to design targeted libraries by applying nonparametric statistical methods, recursive partitioning in particular, to large data sets containing thousands of compounds and their associated biological data. Moreover, when applied to an experimental high-throughput screening (HTS) data set, our data strongly suggest that this method can improve the hit rate of our primary screens (about 4- to 5-fold) while increasing screening efficiency: less than one-fifth of the complete selection needs to be screened in order to identify about 75% of all actives present.     

The temperature dependence f photoconductivity in a-Si

The photoconductivity and its dependence on light intensity have been investigated in a-Si as a function of temperature between 100 and 500 K. In most experiments a photon energy of 2 eV was used. Specimens were deposited on to a substrate held at a temperature between 300 and 600 K by the r.f. decomposition of silane. Graphs of the photocurrent versus 1/T show a photoconductive maximum and the general features of the curves are similar to those found for the chalcogenide glasses. The main emphasis of the paper lies in the interpretation of the results in the light of the information on transport properties and the density of state distribution obtained from drift mobility and field effect experiments. It is shown that recombination takes place predominantly between two groups of localized states, which have been identified in the previous work. The initial state at ?_A is situated about 0.18 eV below ge_C in the electron tail states, the final state lies in a density of state maximum, 0.4 eV above ?_V. Above about 250 K, the photocurrent is carried by electrons in extended states, but below this temperature transport is by phonon assisted hopping through states near ?_A. A recombination process involving two states of a structural defect centre is discussed on the basis of the results and appears to be a feasible interpretation.     

A measurement of B(E3;0+ → 31−) and some E2 transition probabilities in 132, 134, 136, 138Ba using Coulomb excitation

Reduced transition probabilities, B(E2) and B(E3), have been measured for low-lying 2⁺ and 3^? states in ^{132, 134, 136, 138}Ba using Coulomb excitation by 40 MeV ¹²C ions. The B(E2) values are in general consistent with previous measurements and the B(E3;0⁺ → 3₁^?) values are 0.176 ± 0.022, 0.148 ± 0.018, 0.155 ± 0.018 and 0.133 ± 0.013 e² · b³ for ^{132, 134, 136, 138}Ba respectively. These B(E3) values correspond to about 24 to 17 W.u. and such enhancements suggest that these 3^? states have an essentially collective character which may be attributed to octupole vibrations.     

Evidence for the quantum birth of our universe

We present evidence for a nonsingular origin of the Universe with intial conditions determined by quantum physics and relativistic gravity. In particular, we establish that the present temperature of the microwave background and the present density of the Universe agree well with our predictions from these intial conditions, after evolution to the present age using the Einstein-Friedmann equation. Remarkably, the quantum origin for the Universe naturally allows its evolution at exactly the critical density. We also discuss the consequences of these results to some fundamental aspects of quantum physics in the early Universe.     

Low-temperature growth of epitaxial ZnO films on (001) sapphire by ultraviolet- assisted pulsed laser deposition

ZnO thin films have been grown on thin Si₃N₄ membranes and (001) sapphire substrates by an ultraviolet-assisted pulsed laser deposition (UVPLD) technique. The microstructure of the films grown on Si₃N₄ membranes, investigated by transmission electron microscopy, showed that crystalline and textured films can be grown by UVPLD at a substrate temperature of only 100 °C. For deposition temperatures higher than 400 °C, ZnO films grown on sapphire substrates were found to be epitaxial by Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and X-ray diffraction measurements. The minimum yield of channeling RBS spectra recorded from films deposited at 550 °C was around 2% and the FWHM of the rocking curve for the (002) diffraction peak was 0.17°; these values are similar to those recorded from ZnO layers grown by conventional PLD at 750 °C.     

The characteristics of high current amorphous silicon diodes

Amorphous siliconp−n junctions with various doping profiles have been prepared by the glow discharge technique and the effect of the barrier profile on electrical properties investigated. Current densities of up to 40 A cm⁻² with rectification ratios of 10⁴–10⁵ were obtained withn ⁺−ν−p ⁺ structures. The diode quality factor has also been investigated, both in the dark and under illumination.     

Sensor technologies based on a cellulose supported platform

A simple approach to sensor development based on encapsulating a probe molecule in a cellulose support followed by regeneration from an ionic liquid solution is demonstrated here by the codissolution of cellulose and 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride followed by regeneration with water to form strips which exhibit a proportionate (1 : 1) response to Hg(II) in aqueous solution.