Synthesis and Characterization of Bimetallic Nickel and Cobalt Carbonyl Complexes Containing Stannyl Groups

The bimetallic NiSn₂ complex Ni(SnBu₃^t)₂(CO)_3, 1, was obtained from the reaction of Ni(COD)₂ and Bu₃^tSnH and CO. The reaction of Co₂(CO)₈ and Bu₃^tSnH afforded the bimetallic Co–Sn complex Co(SnBu₃^t)(CO)₄, 3. Compound 3 was also obtained from the reaction of Co₄(CO)₁₂ and Bu₃^tSnH but in a lower yield. Both compounds 1 and 3 were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, and possess trigonal bipyramidal geometries around the transition metal centre with two and one stannyl ligands, respectively.     

Fine-tuning of catalytic tin nanoparticles by the reverse micelle method for direct deposition of silicon nanowires by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapour technique

The reverse micelle method was used for the reduction of a tin (Sn) salt solution to produce metallic Sn nanoparticles ranging from 85 nm to 140 nm in diameter. The reverse micellar system used in this process was hexane-butanol-cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The diameters of the Sn nanoparticles were proportional to the concentration of the aqueous Sn salt solution. Thus, the size of the Sn nanoparticles can easily be controlled, enabling a simple, reproducible mechanism for the growth of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). Both the Sn nanoparticles and silicon nanowires were characterised using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Further characterisations of the SiNW's were made using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to investigate particle size distributions. This procedure demonstrates an economical route for manufacturing reproducible silicon nanowires using fine-tuned Sn nanoparticles for possible solar cell applications.     

The redox chemistry of sulfenic acids

A persistent triptycenyl sulfenic acid is used as a model for cysteine-derived and other biologically relevant sulfenic acids in experiments which define their redox chemistry. EPR spectroscopy reveals that sulfinyl radicals are persistent and unreactive toward O(2), allowing the O-H bonding dissociation enthalpy (BDE) of the sulfenic acid to be readily determined by equilibration with TEMPO as 71.9 kcal/mol. The E° (RSO?/RSO(-)) and pK(a) of this sulfenic acid are also reported.     

Coulomb forces on DNA polymers in charged fluidic nanoslits

We investigate the repulsive electrostatic interactions between a DNA polyelectrolyte and the charged walls of a fluidic nanoslit. The scaling of the DNA coil size with the physical slit height revealed electrostatic depletion regions that reduced the effective slit height. These regions exceeded the Debye screening length of the buffer, λ(D)(buffer), and saturated at ≈ 50 nm when λ(D)(buffer) reached 10 nm. We explain these results by modeling a semiflexible charged rod near a charged wall and the electrostatic screening by the polyelectrolyte. These results demonstrate the surprisingly long range over which a nanofluidic device can exert field-effect control over confined molecules.     

Investigation on the flameholding mechanisms in supersonic flows: backward-facing step and cavity flameholder

Abstract  

As effective devices to extend the fuel residence time in supersonic flow and prolong the duration time for hypersonic vehicles cruising in the near-space with power, the backward-facing step and the cavity are widely employed in hypersonic airbreathing propulsive systems as flameholders. The two-dimensional coupled implicit RANS equations, the standard k-ε turbulence model, and the finite-rate/eddy-dissipation reaction model have been used to generate the flow field structures in the scramjet combustors with the backward-facing step and the cavity flameholders. The flameholding mechanism in the combustor has been investigated by comparing the flow field in the corner region of the backward-facing step with that around the cavity flameholder. The obtained results show that the numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data, and the different grid scales make only a slight difference to the numerical results. The vortices formed in the corner region of the backward-facing step, in the cavity and upstream of the fuel injector make a large difference to the enhancement of the mixing between the fuel and the free airstream, and they can prolong the residence time of the mixture and improve the combustion efficiency in the supersonic flow. The size of the recirculation zone in the scramjet combustor partially depends on the distance between the injection and the leading edge of the cavity. Further, the shock waves in the scramjet combustor with the cavity flameholder are much stronger than those that occur in the scramjet combustor with the backward-facing step, and this causes a large increase in the static pressure along the walls of the combustor.     

Peptide-induced patterning of gold nanoparticle thin films

In this work, the use of patterned proteins and peptides for the deposition of gold nanoparticles on several substrates with different surface chemistries is presented. The patterned biomolecule on the surface acts as a catalyst to precipitate gold nanoparticles from a precursor solution of HAuCl₄ onto the substrate. The peptide patterning on the surfaces was accomplished by physical adsorption or covalent attachment. It was shown that by using covalent attachment with a linker molecule, the influence of the surface properties from the different substrates on the biomolecule adsorption and subsequent nanoparticle deposition could be avoided. By adjusting the reaction conditions such as pH or HAuCl₄ concentration, the sizes and morphologies of deposited gold nanoparticle agglomerates could be controlled. Two biomolecules were used for this experiment, 3XFLAG peptide and bovine serum albumin (BSA). A micro-transfer molding technique was used to pattern the peptides on the substrates, in which a pre-patterned poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) mold was used to deposit a lift-off pattern of polypropylmethacrylate (PPMA) on the various substrates. The proteins were either physically adsorbed or covalently attached to the substrates, and an aqueous HAuCl₄ solution was applied on the substrates with the protein micropatterns, causing the precipitation of gold nanoparticles onto the patterns. SEM, AFM, and Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) were used for characterization.     

Sol-gel derived nanocrystalline and mesoporous barium strontium titanate prepared at room temperature

Perovskite-type barium strontium titanate(BST) thin films and powders with nanocrystalline and mesoporous structure were prepared by a straightforward particulate sol-gel route at room temperature. The prepared sol had a narrow particle size distribution of about 20 nm. X-ray diffraction(XRD) revealed that phase composition and preferable orientation growth of BST depended upon the annealing temperature. Transmission electron microscope(TEM) images showed that the crystallite size of the powders decreased w...