Dip coating fabrication process for micro-tubular SOFCs

This study investigates the dip coating fabrication process in detail. First the slurry formulation development is presented. This includes optimizing the concentration of slurry components. Controlling the coating thickness is then addressed. It is shown that a broad range of uniform thicknesses from a few microns up to a few hundreds of microns is achievable by adjusting the solid loading and/or the dip coating rate. This study reports that dip coating is a commercially reliable technique to fabricate micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cells not only because it is low cost but, more importantly, because it is fairly reproducible and highly controllable.     

Chemical effects during ripple formation with isobaric ion beams

The formation of nanostructures on SiGe surfaces by erosion using mixed beams of isobaric species (Cs/Xe) is shown to depend on the Cs/Xe ratio. The nanostructures exhibit different wavelengths (longer wavelengths for higher Cs concentrations) contrary to the present theoretical understanding. Moreover, experiments with pure Cs and Xe beams also demonstrate that such differences are enhanced at lower bombarding energies. Such effects are primarily due to the fact that the retentivity and mobility of cesium at the sample surface gets enhanced at lower bombarding energies. The phenomenon could be explained theoretically by including an additional diffusion term in the growth equation describing the mobility of the primary ions on the irradiated surface. Semi-empirical calculations done in this direction also confirm this phenomenon.     

Kinetics and mechanism of reaction between zirconium‐lactate and pentane‐2,4‐dione in excess lactate

The kinetics of the reaction of pentane‐2,4‐dione (HA) with Zr^IV has been studied at 25.0°C in an excess lactate (L^?) media. The equilibrium reaction was found to be: Zr₂L₆+HA?HL+Zr₂AL₅. The equilibrium was approached from either direction and a plausible mechanism has been proposed with kinetic constants, but individual reactivities of the keto and the enol tautomers of pentane‐2,4‐dione could not be apportioned. However, it was found that both the uncatalyzed and acid‐catalyzed paths contribute to the reverse reaction. But 2‐thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HT) forms a stronger chelate with Zr^IV, so its reaction with less reactive Zr₂L₅(OH₂) could not be detected; reactivity of the more reactive Zr₂L₅(OH₂)(OH) could be found. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 725–729, 2011     

Detection of a target protein (GroEl2) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using a derivative of 1,2,4-triazolethiols

Molecular Diversity - Herein, we identified a potent lead compound RRA2, within a series of 54 derivatives of 1,2,4-triazolethiols (exhibit good potency as an anti-mycobacterial agents) against...     

Information geometry,phase transitions,and the Widom line: Magnetic and liquid systems

We study information geometry of the thermodynamics of first and second order phase transitions, and beyond criticality, in magnetic and liquid systems. We establish a universal microscopic characterization of such phase transitions via a conjectured equality of the correlation lengths ξ$\xi$ in co-existing phases, where ξ$\xi$ is related to the scalar curvature of the equilibrium thermodynamic state space. The 1-D Ising model, and the mean-field Curie–Weiss model are discussed, and we show that information geometry correctly describes the phase behavior for the latter. The Widom lines for these systems are also established. We further study a toy model for the thermodynamics of liquid–liquid phase co-existence, and show that our method provides a simple and direct way to obtain its phase behavior and the location of the Widom line. Our analysis points towards the possibility of multiple Widom lines in liquid systems.     

Tandem C-3/C-2 annulation of indole,benzofuran, and benzothiophene with 2-alkynyl benzylalcohol: an efficient approach to the diverse tetracyclic heteroazulene ring systems

We demonstrate an efficient and flexible strategy toward the synthesis of a library of biologically and pharmaceutically important tetracyclic heteroazulene derivatives in the presence of inexpensive and less toxic molecular iodine. The present strategy involves a sequential alkylation and alkenylation of indole/benzofuran/benzothiophene with o-alkynyl benzyl alcohols derivatives to obtain tetracyclic heteroazulene derivatives in moderate to good yields. Compared to other methodologies, the present strategy is more general, versatile, and environmentally friendly.