Conductivity and thermal stability of proton-conducting electrolytes at confined geometry of polymeric gel

The proton-conducting gel electrolytes based on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) doped by acid solutions in aprotic solvents were synthesized and discussed in this work. The gel conductivity as a function on concentrations of acid and polymer as well as of molecular mass of PMMA has been analyzed. The thermal stability of electrolytes was estimated and discussed. Extreme dependence of the conductivity on concentration is found to be for the gel (at a concentration of PMMA from 5 to 15 wt.%). The increase of electrical conductivity in the concentration range from 5 to 10 wt.% of PMMA with an increase in viscosity of the system is discussed as an indication of an involvement of the polymer matrix in increasing the mobility of the charge carriers in frame of Grotthuss mechanism.     

Scattering characteristics of structures of lossy metamaterial–semiconductor cylinders

Here, we present for the first time the rigorous boundary problem solution of the Maxwell’s equations for the determination of scattering characteristics of a structure. The structure consists of a finite set of infinite parallel circular cylinders that can be made of different lossy isotropic materials. We numerically analyzed two structures that differ only in the symmetrical arrangement of semiconductor cylinders in relation to a central metamaterial cylinder. The electrical radii of cylinders can be arbitrary. Both polarizations of the incident microwave are considered in this work. The Poynting vector of the plane microwave that reflected from and transmitted through the structures analyzed here. We investigated dependency on the radius of an arc where are placed the semiconductor cylinders, the semiconductor-specific resistivity, the operating frequency at two radii of the metamaterial cylinder. We discovered that the structure can have features of a band gap photonic crystal dependent on the topology and the polarization of the incident microwave. We have found that the structure can operate as a microwave reflector at the certain radius of the arc on which are located thirteen n-Si cylinders. The Poynting vector is very sensitive to the change of semiconductor-specific resistivity when the incident microwave has the parallel polarization.     

Water soluble chromone Schiff base derivatives as fluorescence receptor for aluminium(III)

A novel water-soluble chromone Schiff base derivatives bearing polyhydroxylated moiety were prepared and applied for specific recognition of metal ions in aqueous medium. Their selective fluorescence response to Al(III) over a variety of other biologically important metal ions were demonstrated. Electronic parameters of the sensors were also studied by quantum chemical computations.     

Design of energy band alignment at the Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 interface for Cd-free Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

The electronic band structure at the Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O/Cu(In(0.7)Ga(0.3))Se(2) interface was investigated for its potential application in Cd-free Cu(In,Ga)Se(2) thin film solar cells. Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O thin films with various Mg contents were grown by atomic layer deposition on Cu(In(0.7)Ga(0.3))Se(2) absorbers, which were deposited by the co-evaporation of Cu, In, Ga, and Se elemental sources. The electron emissions from the valence band and core levels were measured by a depth profile technique using X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. The valence band maximum positions are around 3.17 eV for both Zn(0.9)Mg(0.1)O and Zn(0.8)Mg(0.2)O films, while the valence band maximum value for CIGS is 0.48 eV. As a result, the valence band offset value between the bulk Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O (x = 0.1 and x = 0.2) region and the bulk CIGS region was 2.69 eV. The valence band offset value at the Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O/CIGS interface was found to be 2.55 eV after considering a small band bending in the interface region. The bandgap energy of Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O films increased from 3.25 to 3.76 eV as the Mg content increased from 0% to 25%. The combination of the valence band offset values and the bandgap energy of Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O films results in the flat (0 eV) and cliff (-0.23 eV) conduction band alignments at the Zn(0.8)Mg(0.2)O/Cu(In(0.7)Ga(0.3))Se(2) and Zn(0.9)Mg(0.1)O/Cu(In(0.7)Ga(0.3))Se(2) interfaces, respectively. The experimental results suggest that the bandgap energy of Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O films is the main factor that determines the conduction band offset at the Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O/Cu(In(0.7)Ga(0.3))Se(2) interface. Based on these results, we conclude that a Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O film with a relatively high bandgap energy is necessary to create a suitable conduction band offset at the Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O/CIGS interface to obtain a robust heterojunction. Also, ALD Zn(1-x)Mg(x)O films can be considered as a promising alternative buffer material to replace the toxic CdS for environmental safety.     

Protection of carbon steel with superhydrophobic coating against corrosion in NaCl solution

Corrosion and kinetics of partial electrode reactions on carbon steel St3 with superhydrophobic coatings of three types were studied in 0.5 M NaCl and 50 g/L NaCl +400 mg/L H₂S solutions. The investigations were carried out on electrodes made of carbon steel St3 with a chemical composition, wt. %: C – 0.20; Mn – 0.50; Si – 0.15; P – 0.04; S – 0.05; Cr – 0.30; Ni – 0.20; Cu – 0.20, and Fe – 98.36. To obtain the type I coating, the metal surface was textured by an IR laser radiation of nanosecond duration followed by chemisorption of fluorobutylsilane out of a solution in n-decane. To obtain a coating of type II, a nanoscale composite layer consisting of aggregates of aerosil nanoparticles was applied additionally to the outcome of type I method. To obtain a coating of type III, the metal surface after being textured by the infrared (IR) laser radiation of nanosecond duration was followed by chemisorption of fluoroxy silane. The influence of duration τ of the medium corrosive impact on protective effect of the superhydrophobic coating is considered. It was shown that upon reaching a steady state (after 72 h), the corrosion rate of steel with a superhydrophobic coating of I and II types in a 0.5 M NaCl solution is reduced by 23 ± 3 times compared with unprotected samples. Approximately the same picture is characteristic of electrodes with a coating of type III in a solution of 50 g/L NaCl +400 mg/L H₂S.     

Zeta potential of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria and Ca adsorption at the cell surface: possible implications for cell protection from CaCO3 precipitation in alkaline solutions

Electrophoretic mobility measurements and surface adsorption of Ca on living, inactivated, and heat-killed haloalkaliphilic Rhodovulum steppense, A-20s, and halophilic Rhodovulum sp., S-17-65 anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (APB) cell surfaces were performed to determine the degree to which these bacteria metabolically control their surface potential equilibria. Zeta potential of both species was measured as a function of pH and ionic strength, calcium and bicarbonate concentrations. For both live APB in 0.1M NaCl, the zeta potential is close to zero at pH from 2.5 to 3 and decreases to -30 to -40 mV at pH of 5-8. In alkaline solutions, there is an unusual increase of zeta potential with a maximum value of -10 to -20 mV at a pH of 9-10.5. This increase of zeta potential in alkaline solutions is reduced by the presence of NaHCO(3) (up to 10 mM) and only slightly affected by the addition of equivalent amount of Ca. At the same time, for inactivated (exposure to NaN(3), a metabolic inhibitor) and heat-killed bacteria cells, the zeta potential was found to be stable (-30 to -60 mV, depending upon the ionic strength) between pH 5 and 11 without any increase in alkaline solutions. Adsorption of Ca ions on A-20s cells surface was more significant than that on S-17-65 cells and started at more acidic pHs, consistent with zeta potential measurements in the presence of 0.001-0.01 mol/L CaCl(2). Overall, these results indicate that APB can metabolically control their surface potential to electrostatically attract nutrients at alkaline pH, while rejecting/avoiding Ca ions to prevent CaCO(3) precipitation in the vicinity of cell surface and thus, cell incrustation.     

Electromagnetic field and dispersion characteristic analysis of absorbing onion-like carbon tube waveguides

Here, we present our calculation results of the electromagnetic field distributions and the dispersion characteristics of open cylindrical tube waveguides. The analyzed waveguides are made of the onion-like carbon (OLC) material. The solution of the boundary problem was fulfilled by the partial area method (Nickelson et al. in electrodynamical analysis of open lossy metamaterial waveguide and scattering structures. InTech, UK, pp 27–58 [1]). We have determined the complex roots of the dispersion equation using of the Muller method. It discovered the very complicated dependencies of the phase and attenuation constants on the waveguide radii. Such dependencies arise because the OLC material is the highly dispersive and absorbing one. We have investigated the high-frequency cutoff frequency of the propagating hybrid modes HE₁₁ and HE₁₂ dependent on the tube waveguide external and internal radii. We found that it is possible to reach the one-mode regime of OLC tube waveguide.     

High-efficiency deflection of high-energy protons through axial channeling in a bent crystal

Beam deflection due to axial channeling in a silicon crystal bent along the 111 axis was observed with 400 GeV/c protons at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The condition for doughnut scattering of protons by the atomic strings of the crystal was attained. Such a condition allowed one to observe a beam deflection of 50 murad with about 30% efficiency. The contribution of hyperchanneled states of protons to the observed beam deflection was less than 2% according to simulation results.