Investigation on the dynamics of electron transport and recombination in TiO2 nanotube/nanoparticle composite electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

In this work, we report on fabrication and characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells based on TiO(2) nanotube/nanoparticle (NT/NP) composite electrodes. TiO(2) nanotubes were prepared by anodization of Ti foil in an organic electrolyte. The nanotubes were chemically separated from the foil, ground and added to a TiO(2) nanoparticle paste, from which composite NT/NP electrodes were fabricated. In the composite TiO(2) films the nanotubes existed in bundles with a length of a few micrometres. By optimizing the amount of NT in the paste, dye-sensitized solar cells with an efficiency of 5.6% were obtained, a 10% improvement in comparison to solar cells with pure NP electrodes. By increasing the fraction of NT in the electrode the current density increased by 20% (from 11.1 to 13.3 mA cm(-2)), but the open circuit voltage decreased from 0.78 to 0.73 V. Electron transport, lifetime and extraction studies were performed to investigate this behavior. A higher fraction of NT in the paste led to more and deeper traps in the resulting composite electrodes. Nevertheless, faster electron transport under short-circuit conditions was found with increased NT content, but the electron lifetime was not improved. The electron diffusion length calculated for short-circuit conditions was increased 3-fold in composite electrodes with an optimized NT fraction. The charge collection efficiency was more than 90% over a wide range of light intensities, leading to improved solar cell performance.     

Behavior at infinity of solutions of an equation of Osserman-Keller type

We study the behavior at infinity of solutions of equations of the form Δu=u^p, where p>1, in dimensions n?3. In particular we extend results proved by Loewner and Nirenberg in Contribution to Analysis, 1974, pp. 245-272 for the case p=(n+2)/(n−2), n?3, to values of p in the range p>n/(n−2), n?3.     

Analysis of artesunic acid and dihydroqinghaosu in blood by high-performance liquid chromatography with reductive electrochemical detection

A new high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using reductive electrochemical detection has been developed for the analysis of the antimalarial drugs artesunic acid (ARTS) and dihydroqinghaosu (DQHS) in blood. Presently, this method has been validated to 4 micrograms/ml for ARTS and 200 ng/ml for DQHS. Pharmacokinetic studies in the rabbit show that after intravenous administration (100 mg/kg) ARTS is metabolized rapidly to DQHS and has a t1/2 of 1.7 min in blood. DQHS data were fit to non-linear regression models consisting of the sum of two exponential terms. For phases 1 and 2, t1/2 values of 3.0 +/- 0.4 and 29 +/- 2 min were calculated, respectively. In vitro studies in which ARTS was incubated with blood from various species show that rabbit blood hydrolyzes ARTS at a much greater rate than rat or human blood. Incubation of ARTS with rabbit blood in the presence or absence of diisopropylfluorophosphate suggested that this hydrolysis reaction is catalyzed by plasma and red blood cell esterases. These results suggest that future pharmacokinetic studies in both animals and man should focus on the measurement of DQHS rather than ARTS.     

Reversal of Enantiomeric Retention Order by Using a Single N-Derivatized Dipeptide as Chiral Mobile Phase Additive and Porous Graphitised Carbon as Stationary Phase

In this work the three dipeptides, Z-l-alanyl-l-glutaric acid (Z-l-ala-l-glu), Z-l-phenylanyl-l-glutaric acid (Z-l-phe-l-glu) and Z-glycyl-l-glutaric acid (Z-gly-l-glu) were tested as chiral counter ions for enantiomeric resolution of amino alcohols. The influence of solute and counter ion structure upon retention and enantioselectivity was evaluated. The chiral counter ions were dissolved in a mixture of polar solvents, i.e., ethyl acetate, methanol and acetonitrile and the achiral solid phase used was porous graphitic carbon, marketed as Hypercarb. The enantioselectivities observed for the tested solutes were highly influenced by the used chiral counter ion structure. For example no enantioselectivity was observed for (R,S)-alprenolol using Z-l-ala-l-glu while a separation factor (α) of 1.59 was obtained using Z-l-phe-l-glu as chiral counter ion. High selectivity factors (α > 2.7) were observed between enantiomers of tertiary amines using Z-l-phe-l-glu as counter ion. Interestingly, the structure of the counter ion, as well as the charge on Z-l-phe-l-glu and the mobile phase solvent composition, influenced the retention order of the enantiomers.     

Ion charge state distributions of pulsed vacuum arcs-interpretationof their temporal development

Ion charge states of vacuum arcs are enhanced at the beginning of each arc pulse. The ion charge states drop with time and become steady-state after about 100 μs, with some dependence on the cathode material. A reduction of ion charge states has been observed at the end of each are pulse. In this note it is shown that the charge-state-dependent ion drift velocity in the plasma expansion zone contributes to the effect measured by the time-of-flight method, although it is not solely responsible for it. A quantitative evaluation as well as literature data of other measuring methods prove the physical significance of the effects observed     

Prediction of temperature-insensitive molecular absorption lines in laser-assisted combustion diagnostics

In laser-assisted combustion diagnostics it is a recurring task to predict molecular transitions whose signal strength depends only weakly on variations in temperature. The signal strength is proportional to the Boltzmann fraction of the level probed and the amplitude of the absorption line profile. In the past investigations have been presented in which this task was attack by detailed numerical calculations of the temperature dependence of pertinent physical properties of the molecule. Another widely applied approach relies on an analytical formula for the Boltzmann fraction of hetero-nuclear diatomic molecules and the neglect of line shape effects. The analytical approach experiences a continuing popularity in laser-assisted combustion diagnostics, which is why we compared both approaches with each other. The objective of this comparison was to assess the accuracy of the analytical approach and to reveal its potential pitfalls. Our comparison revealed that the analytical approach suffers from mediocre accuracy, which makes it unfit for practical applications. One cause is the neglect of higher lying vibrational levels, which show a non-negligible population for typical flame temperatures. Another reason is the neglect of fine structure splitting in molecules with non-zero orbit angular momentum in the ground state. Another reason for the observed inaccuracy is the neglect of line shape effects quenching, which were found to have a significant effect on the temperature sensitivity of a line. Because of its insufficient accuracy due to both oversimplified models of the molecular energy levels and the neglect of line shape effects and quenching we discourage from applying the analytical approach and recommend the use of detailed numerical approaches that are free of the above limitations.     

Moser iteration for (quasi)minimizers on metric spaces

We study regularity properties of quasiminimizers of the p-Dirichlet integral on metric measure spaces. We adapt the Moser iteration technique to this setting and show that it can be applied without an underlying differential equation. However, we have been able to run the Moser iteration fully only for minimizers. We prove Caccioppoli inequalities and local boundedness properties for quasisub- and quasisuperminimizers. This is done in metric spaces equipped with a doubling measure and supporting a weak (1, p)-Poincaré inequality. The metric space is not required to be complete. We also provide an example which shows that the dilation constant from the weak Poincaré inequality is essential in the condition on the balls in the Harnack inequality. This fact seems to have been overlooked in the earlier literature on nonlinear potential theory on metric spaces.     

Long-term results of recurrent laryngeal nerve resection for adductor spasmodic dysphonia

From a total of 43 adductor spasmodic patients over a 10-year period, 11 underwent resection of a portion of the recurrent laryngeal nerve on one side. The initial results were excellent but a varying degree of recurrence took place in 8 patients. In 4, a reoperation was done. At the final follow-up, 2–8 years after the primary operation, 4 patients were no longer suffering from spasmodic dysphonia, another 5 were better off than before surgery, and 1 remained unchanged. Only 1 was worse off. Electromyographic findings indicated that the recurrence of symptoms was due to regeneration of the nerve fibers.