Bubble velocity jump discontinuity in polyacrylamide solutions: a photographic study

 It has been established that in the presence of elastic as well as surface tension forces, a jump can occur in the bubble velocity-bubble volume plot. It was proposed that this phenomenon was the result of an elastic instability at the bubble interface, which drastically changes the local boundary conditions. The origin of this change was mainly attributed to the magnitude of the elastic forces, which can extract surface active impurities at the gas-liquid interface. The purpose of this paper is to present photographic evidence of this hypothesis and to confirm past results. Received: 4 December 1998 Accepted: 17 February 1999     

Chemical defects in the highly fluorescent conjugated polymer dots

We present strong evidence for the oxidation of conjugated polymers in the formation of conjugated polymer dots (CPdots) using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Although recent studies show that folding of the polymer chain into a compact 3D structure is involved in the formation of these nanoparticles, the process by which these intrinsically hydrophobic nanoscale particles circumvent aggregation in water is still not well understood. Zeta potential results show that these dots have a negatively charged surface at neutral pH, with a zeta potential and surface charge density of approximately -40 mV and (1.39 - 1.70) × 10(-2) C/m(2), respectively. In addition, quantitative elemental analysis of CPdots indicates that oxygen composes 7-13% of these nanoparticles. The overall results support the presence of chemical defects in forming a hydrophilic surface of CPdots. As a consequence, the charged surface contributes to inhibiting the aggregation of CPdots in water, leading to colloidal stability.     

Electrochemical performance of silicon thin film anodes covered by diamond-like carbon with various surface coating morphologies

Four different kinds of diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating morphologies on the surface of silicon films were prepared directly on a copper foil by using radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 200 °C. A thin double layer film consisting of DLC (60 nm) and silicon film (250 nm) was fabricated for use as the anode material of lithium secondary batteries, and its electrochemical performance was also examined with special attention being paid to the surface coverage of the DLC film. The full coverage of silicon by the DLC film resulted in poor capacity due to the ensuing low reactivity with the lithium ions. On the other hand, the partial coating of the DLC film on the silicon film not only reduced the capacity fading, but also increased the discharge capacity during the charge/discharge cycles. These results indicated that the good dispersion of the DLC coating, obtained by using a smaller coating sector on the silicon film, improved the integrity of the electrode structure, thus giving higher capacities and reduced capacity fading.     

Porphyrin profiles in blood, urine and faeces by HPLC/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A high-resolution high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry method is described for the analysis of porphyrins in blood, urine and faeces. The gradient elution reversed-phase HPLC system using acetonitrile-methanol-1 m ammonium acetate/acetic acid buffer (pH 5.16) as gradient solvent mixtures was able to separate all porphyrin metabolites, including the type I and type III isomers of uroporphyrin, hepta-, hexa- and penta-carboxylic acid porphyrins and coproporphyrin. The porphyrins were positively identified by the protonated molecules [M+H](+) and further characterized by tandem mass spectrometric analysis with each porphyrin giving a characteristic collisioninduced dissociation product ion spectrum. The mass chromatograms obtained by HPLC/ESI MS are useful for the differential diagnosis of the porphyrias, since each type of porphyria has a typical porphyrin excretion pattern.     

Demonstrating oxygen loss and associated structural reorganization in the lithium battery cathode Li[Ni0.2Li0.2Mn0.6]O2

The cathode in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries operates by conventional intercalation; Li+ is extracted from LiCoO2 on charging accompanied by oxidation of Co3+ to Co4+; the process is reversed on discharge. In contrast, Li+ may be extracted from Mn4+-based solids, e.g., Li2MnO3, without oxidation of Mn4+. A mechanism involving simultaneous Li and O removal is often proposed. Here, we demonstrate directly, by in situ differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS), that O2 is evolved from such Mn4+ -containing compounds, Li[Ni(0.2)Li(0.2)Mn(0.6)]O2, on charging and using powder neutron diffraction show that O loss from the surface is accompanied by diffusion of transition metal ions from surface to bulk where they occupy vacancies created by Li removal. The composition of the compound moves toward MO(2). Understanding such unconventional Li extraction is important because Li-Mn-Ni-O compounds, irrespective of whether they contain Co, can, after O loss, store 200 mAhg(-1) of charge compared with 140 mAhg(-1) for LiCoO(2).     

A relation between shear flow material functions for a single-integral constitutive equation

This contribution suggests some relations between normal-stress differences and shear stress, both in the steady state and in the transient regimes. It shows that the general form of the BKZ-type equation can be used for the discussion of the relations between several material functions. In addition, a geometric interpretation is offered and some examples are discussed.     

Evaluation of nucleation rate by in‐situ focused beam reflectance measurement in an unseeded batch cooling crystallization

Nucleation kinetics in the cooling crystallization of hexahydro‐1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazine (RDX) from γ‐butyrolactone was studied by converting total counts/s measured by in situ focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) into number of crystals. The classical nucleation rate model, which is derived exclusively from the thermodynamic state for the nucleation and molecular collision frequency, was found to be inadequate to describe the experimentally measured nucleation rates. However, the nucleation rates predicted by the modified classical nucleation rate model, inclusive of an additional temperature term, were found to be in good agreement with those measured in the present work. Furthermore, the metastable zone widths are also found to be more accurately predicted by the modified classical nucleation rate model than the classical approach, which assumes that the mass‐based nucleation rate is an exponential function of supersaturation and is equal to the supersaturation rate.     

On a Generalized Finite Intersection Property

We continue the study of the right finite intersection property under a weaker condition on annihilators, introducing the concept of generalized right finite intersection property (simply, generalized right FIP). We observe the structure of rings with the generalized right FIP and examine the generalized right FIP for various kinds of basic extensions of rings with the property. We show that the generalized right FIP does not go up to polynomial rings, and that the 2-by-2 full matrix ring over a domain has the generalized right FIP. In the process, we also obtain an equivalent condition for which a nonzero polynomial, over the ring of integers modulo n ≥ 2, is a non-zero-divisor.     

Crystal field effects on the photoluminescence properties of Y<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>La<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>VO<Subscript>4</Subscript>:Eu<Superscript>3+</Superscript> phosphors

Y_1−x La _x VO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors were synthesized using a solid-state reaction. The microstructure and surface morphology of the Y_1−x La _x VO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. PL measurements of these phosphors revealed the characteristic Eu³⁺ emissions due to ⁵D₀→⁷F₁ and ⁵D₀→⁷F₂ transitions. The Y_1−x La _x VO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors showed strong red emission at 619 nm, which radiated from the hypersensitive transition ⁵D₀–⁷F₂ of Eu³⁺ ions. In particular, the incorporation of La into the YVO₄ lattice could induce a remarkable increase in PL. The highest emission intensity was observed in Y_0.2La_0.8VO₄:Eu³⁺, whose brightness was increased by more than 100 fold compared to that of the LaVO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors. The Y_1−x La _x VO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors with highly enhanced luminescence are expected to have applications in display devices.