Synthesis of 1D β-MnO2 for high-performance supercapacitor application

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Electrochemical supercapacitors (ESs) still need to overcome development obstacles in order to realize their full potential while being acknowledged as a...     

Kinetics and mechanism of osmium(VIII)-catalysed and uncatalysed oxidation of aminoalcohols by chloramine-T in alkaline medium

Summary The kinetics of osmium(VIII)-catalysed oxidation of aminoalcohols,viz., 2-aminoethanol, 3-aminopropanol, diethanolamine and triethanolamine, by chloramine-T in alkaline medium have been investigated. The reactions follow a first-order-rate dependence with respect to oxidant. The order in [aminoalcohol] decreases from unity at higher concentrations of aminoalcohols while that in [OH^–] is nearly –1. The oxidation rate is directly proportional to [osmium(VIII)] in primary amino-alcohols, while that is proportional to {k+k [osmium(VIII)]} (where k and k are rate constants) in diethanolamine and triethanolamine. The uncatalysed oxidation of diethanolamine and triethanolamine follows a first-order-rate dependence in each of the oxidant and the sustrate. Suitable mechanisms consistent with the observed kinetic results are proposed.     

Unambiguous evidence for wurtzite phase in capped CdS quantum dots

The problem of identification of the correct crystalline structure of CdS nanoclusters below 2.5 nm in size is outlined. Structure of thiophenol capped CdS nanoclusters in the size range 1.2–4.3 nm, synthesized using cadmium acetate solution in methanol, is discussed using powder XRD and electron diffraction data. Unambiguous confirmation of the wurtzite phase in CdS nanoclusters below 2.5 nm size is reported. The observation of 102 wurtzite peak in the XRD patterns of such nanoclusters indicates low stacking fault concentration.     

Uncertainty quantification of a graphite nitridation experiment using a Bayesian approach

In this paper, a stochastic system based Bayesian approach is applied to estimate different model parameters and hence quantify the uncertainty of a graphite nitridation experiment. The Bayesian approach is robust due to its ability to characterize modeling uncertainties associated with the underlying system and is rigorous due to its exclusive foundation on the axioms of probability theory. We choose an experiment by Zhang et al. [1] whose main objective is to measure the reaction efficiency for the active nitridation of graphite by atomic nitrogen. To obtain the primary physical quantity of interest, we need to model and estimate the uncertainty of a number of other physical processes associated with the experimental setup. We use the Bayesian method to obtain posterior probability distributions of all the parameters relevant to the experiment while taking into account uncertainties in the inputs and the modeling errors. We use a recently developed stochastic simulation algorithm which allows for efficient sampling in the high-dimensional parameter space. We show that the predicted reaction efficiency of the graphite nitridation and its uncertainty is ∼3.1 ± 1.0 × 10⁻³ that is slightly larger than the ones deterministically obtained by Zhang et al. [1].     

Modeling the effect of mutual interference in a delay-induced predator-prey system

In this paper, we investigate the effect of mutual interference on the dynamics of a predator-prey system with gestation delay. It has been observed that there is stability switches and system becomes unstable due to the combine effect of mutual interference and time delay. We determine the conditions under which the model system becomes globally asymptotically stable around the non-zero equilibria. By applying the normal form theory and the center manifold theorem, the explicit formulae which determine the stability and direction of the bifurcating periodic solutions are determined. Computer simulations have been carried out to illustrate different analytical findings.     

Synthesis of Mo2C/MoC/C nanocomposite for hydrogen evolution reaction

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Our energy sources such as fossil fuels and coal are limited and cause air pollution. Hydrogen has been promoted as an alternative source of energy, which...     

Short-term recurrent chaos and role of Toxin Producing Phytoplankton (TPP) on chaotic dynamics in aquatic systems

We propose a new mathematical model for aquatic populations. This model incorporates mutual interference in all the three populations and an extra mortality term in zooplankton population and also taking into account the toxin liberation process of TPP population. The proposed model generalizes several other known models in the literature. The principal interest in this paper is in a numerical study of the model’s behaviour. It is observed that both types of food chains display same type of chaotic behaviour, short-term recurrent chaos, with different generating mechanisms. Toxin producing phytoplankton (TPP) reduces the grazing pressure of zooplankton. To observe the role of TPP, we consider Holling types I, II and III functional forms for this process. Our study suggests that toxic substances released by TPP population may act as bio-control by changing the state of chaos to order and extinction.     

Improved and rapid synthesis of new coumarinyl chalcone derivatives and their antiviral activity

Two closely structurally related coumarins, 4-hydroxy-8-isopropyl-5-methylcoumarin and 4-hydroxy-6-chloro-7-methylcoumarin were acylated at C-3 and further converted to the respective chalcones and two series of eighteen new compounds, which were evaluated for possible antiviral activity.