Mitochondrial biofuel cells: expanding fuel diversity to amino acids

Although mitochondria have long been considered the powerhouse of the living cell, it is only recently that we have been able to employ these organelles for electrocatalysis in electrochemical energy conversion devices. The concept of using biological entities for energy conversion, commonly referred to as a biofuel cell, has been researched for nearly a century, but until recently the biological entities were limited to microbes or isolated enzymes. However, from the perspectives of efficient energy conversion and high volumetric catalytic activity, mitochondria may be a possible compromise between the efficiency of microbial biofuel cells and the high volumetric catalytic activity of enzymatic biofuel cells. This perspective focuses on comparing mitochondrial biofuel cells to other types of biofuel cells, as well as studying the fuel diversity that can be employed with mitochondrial biofuel cells. Pyruvate and fatty acids have previously been studied as fuels, but this perspective shows evidence that amino acids can be employed as fuels as well.     

Nanoparticle-assembled capsule synthesis: formation of colloidal polyamine-salt intermediates

There is current interest in developing new synthesis strategies for multifunctional hollow spheres with tunable structural properties that would be useful in encapsulation and controlled release applications. A new route was reported recently, in which the sequential reaction of polyamines, multivalent anions, and charged nanoparticles leads to the formation of polymer-filled and water-filled organic/inorganic micron-sized structures known as nanoparticle-assembled capsules. This technique is unique among other capsule preparation routes, as it allows the rapid and scalable formation of robust shells at room temperature, in near-neutral water, and with readily available precursors. This nanoparticle assembly synthesis route involves two steps: the formation of polymer aggregates and the subsequent deposition of particles around the aggregates. The purpose of this paper is to understand in greater detail the noncovalent chemistry of the polymer-salt aggregation step. With poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) as the model polymer, aggregate formation was investigated as a function of charge ratio, pH, and time through dynamic light scattering, electrophoretic mobility measurements, chloride ion measurements, and optical microscopy. PAH formed aggregates by the cross-linking action of divalent and higher-valent anions above a critical charge ratio and in a pH range defined by the pKa values of PAH and the anion. The aggregates grew in size through coalescence and with growth rates that depended on their surface charge. Controlling polymer aggregate growth provided a direct and simple means to adjust the size of the resultant capsule materials.     

ESR and photoacoustic spectra of V2O5−MO2 (M = Se, Te, Ge) glasses

ESR spectra of V₂O₅?MO₂ (M = Ge, Se, Te) glasses are investigated in the range 298–498 K. The spectra at 298 K are characteristic of V⁴⁺ with the 3d¹ electron localized on a single ${}^{51}\text{V}\text{(I =}\text{7}\text{2}$) in the glass network. At higher temperature, the hyperfine structure progressively broadens, leading eventually to a broad, single ESR peak. These results are consistent with thermally-induced electron hopping from V⁴⁺ to V⁵⁺. Photoacoustic spectra of the glass at 298 K are characteristic of V⁴⁺ in a distorted octa environment. A correlation of ESR and PAS data suggests that covalency increased as M is charged from Ge through Te to Se.     

Models for cellular manufacturing systems design: matching processing requirements and operator capabilities

Cellular manufacturing systems comprise categorizing machines used in the firm's production system into cells dedicated to part families that have similar requirements in terms of tooling, setups and operations sequences. Although worker assignment to cells has a significant impact on cell effectiveness, scant attention has been paid to this issue in previous research. We present two models—sequential and concurrent—for cell formation. The sequential model uses a machine–part incidence matrix (MPIM)-based similarity coefficient while the concurrent model uses a similarity coefficient based on both MPIM and machine–operator incidence matrix (MOIM). Our results show that for 50 problem sets widely reported in literature, the concurrent model outperformed the sequential model in most cases. A measure quantifying the difference in MPIM and MOIM was developed and the relative out-performance of the concurrent model was shown to depend on the value of this measure.     

Ammonia gas sensor based on SnO2 nanostructure with the enhanced sensing capability at low temperatures

ABSTRACT

We investigated the gas-sensing performance of tin oxide nanowires for ammonia gas at low temperature (～ 50°C). Tin oxide nanostructures were deposited at 1000°C and 1100°C on gold-coated silicon substrates using the physical vapor deposition method. Gas-sensing measurements were made for ammonia gas at various strengths (i.e. 50, 100 and 200?ppm) and the sensing performance was compared at low temperature for both the samples e.g. nanostructures deposited at 1000°C and 1100°C. Due to the highly oriented structure, the sample deposited at 1000°C shows high sensing capability at low temperature as compared to the regular tetragonal phase observed at 1100°C. The morphological and structural properties of nanowires were systematically examined using the scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.