Doping in carbon nanotubes probed by Raman and transport measurements

In situ Raman experiments together with transport measurements have been carried out on carbon nanotubes as a function of gate voltage. In metallic tubes, a large increase in the Raman frequency of the G(-) band, accompanied by a substantial decrease of its linewidth, is observed with electron or hole doping. In addition, we see an increase in the Raman frequency of the G(+) band in semiconducting tubes. These results are quantitatively explained using ab initio calculations that take into account effects beyond the adiabatic approximation. Our results imply that Raman spectroscopy can be used as an accurate measure of the doping of both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes.     

Stereoselective synthesis of hydroxy stilbenoids and styrenes by atom-efficient olefination with thiophthalides

The synthesis of stilbenoids and styryl carboxylic acids is accomplished with high E-stereoselectivity by olefination of aldehydes with thiophthalides under basic conditions. The olefination is highly atom-efficient as it only loses elemental sulfur during the reaction. This olefination, in conjunction with retro Kolbe-Schmitt reaction, allows facile synthesis of E-hydroxystilbenoids with minimal employment of protecting groups. This study also discloses two important findings: formation of i) 4-methylsulfanyl isocoumarins and ii) an 2-arylindenone.     

On the stiffness-switching methods for generating self-excited oscillations in simple mechanical systems

The present article proposes stiffness-switching methods for generating artificial self-excited oscillation in simple mechanical and micromechanical systems and theoretically investigates the feasibility of the methods. The basic method proposed involves a stiffness reduction mechanism which operates in an on–off fashion depending on the measured states of the system. The efficacy of the method is first studied in case of a single-degree-of-freedom linear mechanical oscillator and then extended to an essentially nonlinear micromechanical resonator. Analytical and numerical investigations reveal that the stiffness-switching method can be effectively utilized for generating and controlling self-excited oscillations in simple mechanical structures. However, the amplitude of oscillation obtained by the basic method involving only the stiffness reduction mechanism is found to be extremely sensitive to the uncertainties in the inherent damping of the structure. An alternative switching scheme is also proposed to alleviate this shortcoming.     

Stability aspects of the Hayes delay differential equation with scalable hysteresis

Nonlinear Dynamics - Hysteresis models are strongly nonlinear, with slope discontinuities at every load reversal. Stability analysis of hysteretically damped systems is therefore challenging....     

Tetrahedral bonding in twisted bilayer graphene by carbon intercalation

Based on ab initio calculations, we study the effect of intercalating twisted bilayer graphene with carbon. Surprisingly, we find that the intercalant pulls the atoms in the two layers closer together locally when placed in certain regions in between the layers, and the process is energetically favorable as well. This arises because in these regions of the supercell, the local environment allows the intercalant to form tetrahedral bonding with nearest atoms in the layers. Intercalating AB- or AA-bilayer graphene with carbon does not produce this effect; therefore, the nontrivial effect owes its origin to both using carbon as an intercalant and using twisted bilayer graphene as the host. This opens new routes to manipulating bilayer and multilayer van der Waals heterostructures and tuning their properties in an unconventional way.     

Numerical Modeling of Thin Film Deposition in Expanding Thermal Plasma

Expanding thermal plasma (ETP) is a widely used technique for deposition of a thin layer of ceramic materials and metal oxide on a substrate for a wide range of applications including abrasion resistance, UV absorption, as well as conductive and optical coatings. The coating quality is found to be dependent on operating parameters as well as reactor designs. In this article, we have presented a CFD based model of the ETP process to simulate the deposition of silica-like coatings on a polycarbonate substrate. Along with the flow-thermal model of plasma jet expansion process, the study also reports the development of a simplified gas phase and surface reaction model to simulate the coating phenomena. The model has been used further to study the effect of various operating conditions on the coating thickness, viz. reactor pressure, reagent flow rate, distance of the substrate from the arc and substrate alignment.     

M-ideals and split faces of the quasi state space of a non-unital ordered Banach space

Positivity - We characterize M-ideals in order smooth $$\infty $$-normed spaces by extending the notion of split faces of the state space to those of the quasi-state space. We also characterize...     

Generating self-excited oscillation in a class of mechanical systems by relay-feedback

Recently, a few research efforts are made to utilize artificially generated self-excited vibration in several mechanical and micromechanical applications. The present paper considers some important theoretical aspects in connection with the efficacy of the relay-feedback in generating and controlling self-excited oscillation in a class of mechanical systems. The force applied by the relay-feedback is essentially constant and acts in the direction of the measured quantity. Mathematically, an ideal relay-feedback is represented by the signum function of the measured variable. Detailed theoretical analyses, both analytic and numerical, are presented for single, two, and three degrees-of-freedom spring–mass–damper systems under relay-feedback with underactuated, collocated, and noncollocated control configurations. It is shown that relay-feedback, if used in a suitable way, can be effective in selectively generating a particular mode of oscillation in a multi degrees-of-freedom mechanical system. It is also possible to change the mode of oscillation and its amplitude by suitably selecting the control gains.     

Regulation of the extent and dynamics of excited-state proton transfer in 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole in nafion membranes by cation exchange

The effect of the microenvironment of a Nafion membrane on the excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) of 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole (2PBI) has been investigated by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The mechanism of the ESPT is found to depend remarkably on the water content of the membrane. In the protonated form of the membrane, ESPT is found to involve the dicationic (D) form of the fluorophore, whereas in cation-exchanged membranes, it is found to involve the monocation (C). The change in the mechanism and extent of ESPT in cation-exchanged membranes can be explained by considering dehydration of the membrane as well as the less acidic environment around the 2PBI molecules. The slow dynamics is found to result from two factors, namely, slow and incomplete solvation of the transition state, leading to a slowing down of the proton-transfer process, and a slow solvation of the polar tautomeric excited state.