Methane activation on Ni(1 1 1): Effects of poisons and step defects

We have, theoretically and experimentally, investigated the dissociation of methane on the terraces and steps of a Ni(1 1 1) surface. Using Density Functional Theory (DFT) total energy calculations combined with Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) experiments, we find that the steps exhibit a higher activity than the terraces. We have, furthermore, investigated how carbon and sulfur present on the surface will deactivate the steps, leaving only the terraces active. We find the intrinsic sticking probabilities of methane on the steps and terraces at 500 K to be 2.8 × 10⁻⁷ for the steps and 2.1 × 10⁻⁹ for the terraces, in complete agreement with our calculated difference in activation energy of 17 kJ/mol.     

Analysis of a Poisson system with boundary conditions

We consider a class of problems originating from a Raman laser amplification model, for which the equations can be written as a Poisson system with boundary conditions. Once reformulated, this system becomes an integro-differential equation that we study here in some detail. In particular, we show the existence of a smooth solution under general assumptions, and prove its uniqueness for boundary values that are not too far apart. Eventually, we completely solve the question of uniqueness for systems of dimensions one and two. To cite this article: F. Castella et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 336 (2003).     

Parametric Centers for Trigonometric Abel Equations

This article is devoted to one-dimensional perturbative theory on R × S ¹. There is a recursive formula for the successive obstructions to parametric center at any order of the perturbation parameter. The first obstruction is studied by means of complex analysis techniques. This extends to the trigonometric case what was done previously for the polynomial case (Israel J. Math. 142, 273–283, 2004). This article is dedicated to Professor Zhang Zhi-Fen on the occasion of her 80th Birthday     

Metallo‐supramolecular micelles: Studies by analytical ultracentrifugation and electron microscopy

In aqueous solutions, amphiphilic block copolymers in which a polystyrene (PS) segment is connected to a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) block via a bis(2,2′:6′,2″‐ terpyridine ruthenium) complex can form micelles. Such micelles of the protomer type PS₂₀‐[Ru]‐PEO₇₀, according to the preparation procedure representing frozen micelles, were studied by sedimentation velocity and sedimentation equilibrium analysis in an analytical ultracentrifuge and by transmission electron microscopy, with different techniques applied for the sample preparation. The particles obtained were surprisingly multifarious in size. In ultracentrifugation experiments performed at relatively low salt concentrations, the distributions of the sedimentation coefficient s_20,w showed a pronounced peak at 9.6 S and a broad, only partly separated second peak around 14 S. The molar mass of the particles at the peak was around 430,000 g/mol, corresponding to an aggregation number of approximately 85. The average hydrodynamic diameter of the particles in the peak fraction was approximately 13 nm. In electron micrographs of negatively stained samples, spheres of diameters between 10 and 25 nm were the most abundant particles, but larger ones with a wide size range were also visible. The latter particles apparently were composed of smaller ones. The data from both sedimentation analysis and electron microscopy showed that (1) the studied compound formed primary micelles of diameters around 20 nm and (2) the primary micelles had a tendency toward aggregation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3159–3168, 2003     

The calculation of neutron self-shielding factors of a group of isolated resonances

The resonance neutron self-shielding factor, G _res, is required in neutron metrology and activation data analysis. In a previous paper, the authors have shown that a dimensionless variable can be introduced which converts the dependence of G _res on the physical and nuclear properties of the material samples into an universal curve, valid for the isolated resonances of any nuclide. This work presents a methodology based on the universal curve, which enables to calculate G _res for a group of isolated resonances by weighting its individual contributions. A good agreement was reached with results calculated by the MCNP code and with experimental values for Mo foils and wires. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Structural characterization of nanopatterned surfaces

In this work, chemically and topographically nanopatterned surfaces were produced by a top-down processing approach for biosensing devices. The nanopatterning was the result of the combination of plasma polymerisation (pp) of biofunctional materials and colloidal lithography techniques. The morphological and chemical properties induced by the plasma deposition-etching treatment were characterised by optical method combining ellipsometry and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy studies. This method supported by atomic force microscopy measurements, allowed the full optical characterization of each step of the top-down process. The optical characterization of the end-up nanopatterned samples demonstrated that the chosen process is able to produce well-defined nanostructured surfaces with controlled chemical and morphological properties.     

Fixed mesh approximation of ordinary differential equations with impulses

When trains of impulse controls are present on the right-hand side of a system of ordinary differential equations, the solution is no longer smooth and contains jumps which can accumulate at several points in the time interval. In technological and physical systems the sum of the absolute value of all the impulses is finite and hence the total variation of the solution is finite. So the solution at best belongs to the space BV of vector functions with bounded variation. Unless variable node methods are used, the loss of smoothness of the solution would a priori make higher-order methods over a fixed mesh inactractive. Indeed in general the order of -convergence is and the nodal rate is . However in the linear case -convergence rate remains but the nodal rate can go up to by using one-step or multistep scheme with a nodal rate up to when the solution belongs to . Proofs are given of error estimates and several numerical experiments confirm the optimality of the estimates. Received March 15, 1996 / Revised version received January 3, 1997