Graphene-Oxide-Based Fluoro- and Chromo-Genic Materials and Their Applications

Composite materials and their applications constitute a hot field of research nowadays due to the fact that they comprise a combination of the unique properties of each component of which they consist. Very often, they exhibit better performance and properties compared to their combined building blocks. Graphene oxide (GO), as the most widely used derivative of graphene, has attracted widespread attention because of its excellent properties. Abundant oxygen-containing functional groups on GO can provide various reactive sites for chemical modification or functionalization of GO, which in turn can be used to develop novel GO-based composites. This review outlines the most recent advances in the field of novel dyes and pigments encompassing GO as a key ingredient or as an important cofactor. The interactions of graphene with other materials/compounds are highlighted. The special structure and unique properties of GO have a great effect on the performance of fabricated hybrid dyes and pigments by enhancing the color performance of dyes, the anticorrosion properties of pigments, the viscosity and rheology of inks, etc., which further expands the applications of dyes and pigments in dyeing, optical elements, solar-thermal energy storage, sensing, coatings, and microelectronics devices. Finally, challenges in the current development as well as the future prospects of GO-based dyes and pigments are also discussed. This review provides a reference for the further exploration of novel dyes and pigments.     

Novel model of FM-noise conversion in a UMZI using RF external phase modulation of lasers: Theoretical and experimental results

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a new and original model for theoretical calculation and experimental measurement of the noise power spectral density (NPSD) in phase-modulated optical links. The phase modulation is operated in the RF frequency range by an external phase modulator. The NPSD is derived for the first time in interferometric systems, by considering all effects such as the 1/f FM noise of the laser and white noise applied to light from a 1550 nm DFB laser, with phase modulation. The results show for the first time the influence of the phase modulation index, modulation frequency and interferometric delay in the phase-to-intensity noise conversion. The experimental and simulation results of conversion of FM-noise to intensity noise in an optical link by considering the external RF phase modulation are shown with good agreement.     

Z-scan measurement for the nonlinear absorption and the nonlinear refraction of poly1,4-diazophenylene-bridged-tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (PDPAlq3)

The nonlinear optical properties of the poly1,4-diazophenylene-bridged-tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (PDPAlq₃) solution were studied using single beam Z-scan technique with a continuous-wave Diode laser radiation at 657.2 nm with 10 Hz repetition rate. The results show that the solution of PDPAlq₃ exhibits large nonlinear refractive index (n₂ = −1.7642 × 10⁻¹² m²/W) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (β = 1.12 × 10⁻⁶ m/W). The negative sign of the nonlinear refractive index n₂ indicates that the material exhibits self-defocusing optical nonlinearity. The evaluation of the figure of merit (W = 1.8) shows that the solution of PDPAlq₃ is sufficient for application in all-optical switching technology. These results show that the solution of PDPAlq₃ have potential application in nonlinear optics.     

Theoretical description of electron phonon Fock space for gapless and gapped nanowires

We study the effect of electron–phonon(e–ph) interaction on the elastic and inelastic electronic transport of a nanowire connected to two simple rigid leads within the tight-binding and harmonic approximations. The model is constructed using Green's function and multi-channel techniques, taking into account the local and nonlocal e–ph interactions. Then, we examine the model for the gapless(simple chain) and gapped(PA-like nanowire) systems. The results show that the tunneling conductance is improved by the e–ph interaction in both local and nonlocal regimes, while for the resonance conductance, the coherent part mainly decreases and the incoherent part increases. At the corresponding energies which depend on the phonon frequency, two dips in the elastic and two peaks in the inelastic conductance spectra appear. The reason is the absorption of the phonon by the electron in transition into inelastic channels.     

Interaction of longitudinal phonons with discrete breather in strained graphene

We numerically analyze the interaction of small-amplitude phonon waves with standing gap discrete breather (DB) in strained graphene. To make the system support gap DB, strain is applied to create a gap in the phonon spectrum. We only focus on the in-plane phonons and DB, so the issue is investigated under a quasi-one-dimensional setup. It is found that, for the longitudinal sound waves having frequencies below 6 THz, DB is transparent and thus no radiation of energy from DB takes place; whereas for those sound waves with higher frequencies within the acoustic (optical) phonon band, phonon is mainly transmitted (reflected) by DB, and concomitantly, DB radiates its energy when interacting with phonons. The latter case is supported by the fact that, the sum of the transmitted and reflected phonon energy densities is noticeably higher than that of the incident wave. Our results here may provide insight into energy transport in graphene when the spatially localized nonlinear vibration modes are presented.     

Study on the Interaction of the CpG Alternating DNA with CdTe Quantum Dots

A novel sensitive method for detection of DNA methylation was developed with thioglycollic acid (TGA)-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) as fluorescence probes. Recognition of methylated DNA sites would be useful strategy due to the important roles of methylation in disease occurrence and developmental processes. DNA methylation occurs most often at cytosine-guanine sites (CpG dinucleotides) of gene promoters. The QDs significantly interacted with hybridized unmethylated and methylated DNA. The interaction of CpG rich methylated and unmethylated DNA hybrid with quantum dots as an optical probe has been investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and electrophoresis assay. The fluorescence intensity of QDs was highly dependent to unmethylated and methylated DNA. Specific site of CpG islands of Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), a well-studied tumor suppressor gene, was used as the detection target. Under optimum conditions, upon the addition of unmethylated dsDNA, the fluorescence intensity increased in linear range from 1.0?×?10^??10 to 1.0?×?10^??6M with detection limit of 6.2?×?10^??11 M and on the other hand, the intensity of QDs showed no changes with addition of methylated dsDNA. We also demonstrated that the unmethylated and methylated DNA and QDs complexes showed different mobility in electrophoresis assay. This easy and reliable method could distinguish between methylated and unmethylated DNA sequences.     

Pyrophosphate Selective Recognition in Aqueous Solution Based on Fluorescence Enhancement of a New Aluminium Complex

A novel and simple fluorescence enhancement method for selective pyrophosphate(PPi) sensing was proposed based on a 1:1 metal complex formation between bis(8-hydroxy quinoline-5-solphonat) chloride aluminum(III) (Al(QS)₂Cl), (L) and PPi in aqueous solution. The linear response range covers a concentration range of 1.6 × 10⁻⁷ to 1.0 × 10⁻⁵ mol/L of PPi and the detection limit of 2.3 × 10⁻⁸ mol/L. The association constant of L-PPi complex was calculated 2.6 × 10⁵ L/mol. L was found to show selectively and sensitively fluorescence enhancement toward PPi over than I₃^-, NO₃^-, CN⁻, CO₃²⁻, Br⁻, Cl⁻, F⁻, H₂PO4⁻ and SO₄²⁻, which was attributed to higher stability of inorganic complex between pyrophosphate and L.     

An arithmetical view to first-order logic

A value space is a topological algebra B equipped with a non-empty family of continuous quantifiers :B^∗→B. We will describe first-order logic on the basis of B. Operations of B are used as connectives and its relations are used to define statements. We prove under some normality conditions on the value space that any theory in the new setting can be represented by a classical first-order theory.     

The Spectra of Two-Electron Quantum Dot: Shifted 1/N Method

The spectra of two-electron quantum dot in a magnetic field of arbitrary strength is studied by using the shifted 1/N expansion method. The comparisons show that our results are in good agreement with the results of fixed-phase quantum Monte Carlo method and exact ones [Bolton, Phys. Rev. B54 (1996) 47801.     

Effect of frequency on sonochemical reactions. I: Oxidation of iodide

The effect of continuous sonication on the kinetics of iodine formation in aqueous iodide solutions was studied in the presence of air and argon at two frequencies, 20 and 900 kHz. Most workers in this area assume that frequency has a negligible effect on sonochemical reactions. The present results indicate, however, that there is a significant effect in the above solutions. The rate of sonochemical oxidation of iodide in aqueous solution is 3.1 times greater in presence of air than argon at 900 kHz, in contrast to the situation at 20 kHz, where the ratio is 0.9 A 900 kHz apparatus was specially designed to make it possible to measure the absolute acoustic power delivered into the solution. The rate of oxidation per unit power in this new 900 kHz apparatus can be more than 30 times greater than that at 20 kHz for the oxidation of iodide in the presence of air.