Structural control of mesoporous silica nanoparticles in a binary surfactant system

The grain size and regularity of the hexagonal array of mesoporous silica nanoparticles were investigated in a binary surfactant system composed of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride and triblock copolymer EO106PO60EO106. Structural control was achieved by varying the parameters for the prior hydrolysis of silicon alkoxide under an acidic condition and the subsequent assembly of silicates and surfactants under a basic condition. The formation of the mesoscale architectures was based on the balance between the ordered assembly of anionic silicates and the cationic surfactant through electrostatic interaction and the inhibition of grain growth with a nonionic amphiphilic agent through hydrogen bonds.     

Effect of solvent on the reactivity of functional groups in polycondensation reactions

The effect of solvent on solution or interfacial polycondensations was investigated in terms of selectivity and control of functional groups such as amine or hydroxyl groups toward polycondensation reactions. Solution polycondensation of a mixture of resorcinol (RL) and m-xylyenediamine (m-XD) with isophthaloyl chloride was affected by solvents to such extent as to change the course of the polycondensation reaction, and hexamethylenephosphoramide (HMPA) caused the formation of amide-rich polymer, while tetrahydrofuran (THF) was a solvent favoring formation of a polyamide ester with a regular structure. Polycondensation of 3,3′-dihydroxybenzidine (DHB) with isophthaloyl chloride yielded exclusively a linear polyamide in HMPA solution, while with aldehyde as a solvent polyester was obtained owing to the preservation of the amine group. Thus, it was found that the course of polycondensation reactions of monomers having different functional groups could be controlled by selection of a suitable solvent.     

Synthetic studies of potential antimetabolites. XIII. Synthesis of 7-amino-3-β-d-ribofuranosyl-3H-imidazo[4,5-b] pyridine (1-deazaadenosine) and related nucleosides

7-Amino-3-β-D-ribofuranosyl-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (III, 1-deazaadenosine) was synthesized in 32% yield from the diacetyl derivative prepared from 7-aminoimidazo[4,5-b ]pyridine (1-deazaadenine) and 1,2,3,5-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-ribose by the fusion method. A synthesis of 7-amino-4-b?-D-ribofuranosyl-4H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (IV) was also achieved.     

Optical Computed Tomography Based on Extraction of Quasi-Straight forward Propagating Photons Using Sum-Frequency Generation Technique

Aiming at the realization of optical computed tomography (optical CT), a compact system comprised of two cw-lasers and a detector was proposed for the extraction of quasi-straightforward propagating photons from scattered light transmitting through a scattering medium. The extraction ability of the system based on the sum-frequency generation technique was investigated using a standard scattering medium of Intralipid-10% aqueous solution and was found to be 78 dB in dynamic range. The optical CT image of absorbers placed in the scattering medium was successfully obtained with high contrast using the proposed system.     

Changes of the near-surface chemical composition of the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide room temperature ionic liquid under the influence of irradiation

Radiation induced degradation effects are studied for a model ionic liquid (IL)--[EMIm]Tf(2)N--in order to distinguish in which way the results of X-ray based material analysis methods can be falsified by the radiation supplied by typical X-ray sources itself. Photoelectron spectroscopy is commonly used for determining the electronic structure of ionic liquids. Degradation effects, which often occur e.g. in organic materials during X-ray or electron irradiation, are potentially critical for the interpretation of data obtained from ionic liquids. The changes of the chemical composition as well as the radiation-induced desorption of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([EMIm]Tf(2)N) fragments are analysed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as well as quadrupole mass spectroscopy (QMS) upon exposure to monochromated or non-monochromated AlKα X-rays from typical laboratory sources. During the irradiation of [EMIm]Tf(2)N, an increasing carbon concentration is observed in both cases and especially the [Tf(2)N](-) ion is strongly altered. This observation is supported by the results from the QMS analysis which revealed a variety of different IL fragments that are desorbed during X-ray irradiation. It is shown that the decomposition rate is directly linked to the photon flux on the sample and hence has to be considered when planning an XPS experiment. However, for typical experiments on this particular IL the measurements suggest that the changes are on a larger time scale as typically required for spectra acquisition, in particular if monochromated X-ray sources are used.     

Investigation of the photovoltaic performance of the polycrystalline silicon p–n junction by a photothermal measurement

For establishing a new methodology for evaluating an effect of the grain boundaries, both the piezoelectric photo-thermal (PPT) and the surface photo-voltage (SPV) measurements of polycrystalline Si p–n junction samples with different volume fractions of grain boundaries were carried out. We could define the signal intensity ratio of SPV/PPT as the key indicator of photovoltaic performance. This is because the PPT signal implies the phonon emitting carrier loss, whereas the SPV denotes the photo-excited carrier accumulation at the surface and the junction interface. It was found that the SPV/PPT ratio and solar cell efficiency decreased with increasing volume fraction of the grain boundaries. Present experimental results demonstrated that one can directly estimate the photovoltaic performance of in-process polycrystalline Si p–n junction wafer by adopting the combination of the PPT and the SPV methodologies without electrodes. Since the PPT detects the non-radiative recombination process, present methodology and the laser-beam-induced current and the photoluminescence imaging methods are complementary. By complementary use of these methods, it becomes possible to investigate the characteristic of grain boundary.