Probing Single Nanometer-scale Particles with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopies

Scanning tunneling microscopy can be used to isolate single particles on surfaces for further study. Local optical and electronic properties coupled with topographic information collected by the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) give insight into the intrinsic properties of the species under study. Since each spectroscopic measurement is done on a single particle, each sample is monodisperse, regardless of the degree of heterogeneity of the original preparation. We illustrate this with three example systems – a metal cluster of known atomic structure, metal nanoparticles dispersed from colloid suspensions, and metallocarbohedrenes (Met-Cars) deposited with other reaction products. Au and Ag nanoparticles were imaged using a photon emission STM. The threshold voltage, the lowest bias voltage at which photons are produced, was determined for Au nanoparticles. Electronic spectra of small clusters of Ni atoms on MoS₂ were recorded. Preliminary images of Zr-based Met-Car-containing soot were obtained on Au and MoS₂ substrates and partial electronic spectra were recorded of these possible Met-Car particles.     

Emission spectrochemical determination of chromium in organic acids

An emission spectrochemical procedure is described which directly determines the chromium concentration in organic materials in the p.p.m. range. The only preparation of the sample which is necessary is dilution with a graphite matrix which contains the internal standard element and the spectral buffer, lithium carbonate. The effect of sodium on spectral line intensities of cobalt and chromium is shown. The effectiveness of lithium carbonate as a spectral buffer is illustrated. The precision of the technique is estimated to be ± 11.8% and the accuracy estimated to be 10.9%.     

Self-assembled via axial coordination magnesium porphyrin-imidazole appended fullerene dyad: spectroscopic, electrochemical, computational, and photochemical studies

Spectroscopic, redox, and electron transfer reactions of a self-assembled donor-acceptor dyad formed by axial coordination of magnesium meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (MgTPP) and fulleropyrrolidine appended with an imidazole coordinating ligand (C(60)Im) were investigated. Spectroscopic studies revealed the formation of a 1:1 C(60)Im:MgTPP supramolecular complex, and the anticipated 1:2 complex could not be observed because of the needed large amounts of the axial coordinating ligand. The formation constant, K(1), for the 1:1 complex was found to be (1.5 +/- 0.3) x 10(4) M(-1), suggesting fairly stable complex formation. The geometric and electronic structures of the dyads were probed by ab initio B3LYP/3-21G() methods. The majority of the highest occupied frontier molecular orbital (HOMO) was found to be located on the MgTPP entity, while the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) was on the fullerene entity, suggesting that the charge-separated state of the supramolecular complex is C(60)Im(*-):MgTPP(*+). Redox titrations involving MgTPP and C(60)Im allowed accurate determination of the oxidation and reduction potentials of the donor and acceptor entities in the supramolecular complex. These studies revealed more difficult oxidation, by about 100 mV, for MgTPP in the pentacoordinated C(60)Im:MgTPP compared to pristine MgTPP in o-dichlorobenzene. A total of six one-electron redox processes corresponding to the oxidation and reduction of the zinc porphyrin ring and the reduction of fullerene entities was observed within the accessible potential window of the solvent. The excited state events were monitored by both steady state and time-resolved emission as well as transient absorption techniques. In o-dichlorobenzene, upon coordination of C(60)Im to MgTPP, the main quenching pathway involved electron transfer from the singlet excited MgTPP to the C(60)Im moiety. The rate of forward electron transfer, k(CS), calculated from the picosecond time-resolved emission studies was found to be 1.1 x 10(10) s(-1) with a quantum yield, Phi(CS), of 0.99, indicating fast and efficient charge separation. The rate of charge recombination, k(CR), evaluated from nanosecond transient absorption studies, was found to be 8.3 x 10(7) s(-1). A comparison between k(CS) and k(CR) suggested an excellent opportunity to utilize the charge-separated state for further electron-mediating processes.     

Ionic electrets: electrostatic charging of surfaces by transferring mobile ions upon contact

This paper describes the fabrication and characterization of ionic electrets-materials that bear a long-lived electrostatic charge because of an imbalance between the number of cationic and anionic charges in the material. Crosslinked polystyrene microspheres that contain covalently bound ions and mobile counterions transfer some of their mobile ions in air, in the absence of bulk liquid, to another material upon contact. According to the ion-transfer model of contact electrification, this selective transfer of mobile ions yields microspheres that have a net electrostatic charge. A tool that operates on the principle of electrostatic induction measures the charge on individual microspheres (50-450 microm in diameter). Microspheres with a variety of covalently bound ionic functional groups (tetraalkylammonium, alkyltriphenylphosphonium, alkylsulfonate, and arylsulfonate) acquire charges consistent with this ion-transfer mechanism. The charge on a microsphere is proportional to its surface area (ca. 1 elementary charge per 2000 nm2) and close to the theoretical limit imposed by the dielectric breakdown of air. The charge density in an atmosphere of SF6 is more than twice that in an atmosphere of N2. These observations suggest that the charge density of these ionic electret microspheres is limited by the dielectric breakdown of the surrounding gas. Functionalizing the surfaces of glass or silicon with covalently bound ions and mobile counterions generates ionic electrets from these inorganic substrates. Soft lithography can pattern charge on a planar silicon surface (with oxide) and on the surface of 250-mum glass microspheres.     

Entrainer effect on photochirogenesis in near- and supercritical carbon dioxide: dramatic enhancement of enantioselectivity

Diethyl ether added as an entrainer (cosolvent) to near- and supercritical CO2 significantly enhanced the enantioselectivity of photocyclization of 5,5-diphenyl-4-penten-1-ol sensitized by saccharide naphthalenedicarboxylate to give a cyclization product in enantiomeric excesses much larger than those obtained in conventional organic solvents, revealing the unique features of nc- and sc-CO2 as well as the critical role of entrainer clustering to the intervening diastereomeric exciplex pair.     

The local microenvironment surrounding dansyl molecules attached to controlled pore glass in pure and alcohol-modified supercritical carbon dioxide

We report on the local microenvironment surrounding a free dansyl probe, dansyl attached to controlled pore glass (D-CPG), and dansyl molecules attached to trimethylsilyl-capped CPG (capped D-CPG) in pure and alcohol-modified supercritical CO2. These systems were selected to provide insights into the local microenvironment surrounding a reactive agent immobilized at a silica surface in contact with pure and cosolvent-modified supercritical CO2. Local surface-bound dansyl molecule solvation on the CPG surface depends on the dansyl molecule surface loading, the surface chemistry (uncapped versus capped), the bulk fluid density, and the alcohol gas phase absolute acidity. At high dansyl loadings, the surface-bound dansyl molecules are largely "solvated" by other dansyl molecules and these molecules are not affected significantly by the fluid phase. When the dansyl surface loading decreases, dansyl molecules can be accessed/solvated/wetted by the fluid phase. However, at the lowest dansyl loadings studied, the dansyl molecules are in a fluid inaccessible/restrictive environment and do not sense the fluid phase to any significant degree. In uncapped D-CPG, one can poise the system such that the local concentration of an environmentally less responsible cosolvent (alcohol) in the immediate vicinity of surface-immobilized dansyl molecules can approach 100% even though the bulk solution contains orders of magnitude less of this less environmentally responsible cosolvent. In capped C-CPG, the surface excess is attenuated in comparison to that of uncapped D-CPG. The extent of this cosolvent surface excess is discussed in terms of the dansyl surface loading, the local density fluctuations, the cosolvent and surface silanol gas phase acidities, and the silica surface chemistry. These results also have implications for cleanings, extractions, heterogeneous reactions, separations, and nanomaterial fabrication using supercritical fluids.     

158 A Ge V p-Pb Pb-Pb碰撞中的单奇异和多奇异粒子产生

用描写相对论性核 核碰撞的LUCIAE模型及相应的MonteCarlo事例产生器分析了WA97最近发表的 1 5 8AGeVp Pb和Pb Pb碰撞中单奇异粒子 (Λ ,Λ)和多奇异粒子 (Ξ-,Ξ-,Ω-,Ω-)的多重数和横质量分布 .由于LUCIAE模型包含了弦碎裂微观过程中奇异夸克压低因子随碰撞体系的能量、中心度和质量的增大而增大 ,以及由它导致的相对论性核 核碰撞宏观过程中奇异粒子产额随上述三因素之增而增的物理机制 ;LUCIAE模型计算结果能较好描写WA97实验所揭示的相对论性核 核碰撞中奇异粒子产额随中心度之增而增和奇异粒子增强随奇异夸克数之增而增的实验事实 ,以及单奇异和多奇异粒子的横质量分布 .