DNA-templated assembly of dyes and extended π-conjugated systems

This feature article reports on the use of DNA as a template to assemble dyes and π-conjugated systems with the aim to construct functional multicomponent nanostructures that have a well-defined size, shape and sequence.     

Influence of the alkyl and alkoxy side chains on the electronic structure and charge-transport properties of polythiophene derivatives

Density Functional Theory has been used to study the structural, electronic and charge-transport properties of two regio-regular head-to-tail polythiophene derivatives, i.e. poly(3-hexyl-thiophene), P3HT, and poly(3-oxyhexyl-thiophene), P3OHT. The effect of substituents on the electronic structure was analyzed by means of bandwidth, bandgap, effective mass, total and partial densities of states and crystal orbital overlap populations. Electronic couplings were estimated from band diagrams as the splitting of the valence band. The neutral and cationic states of isolated oligomers were optimized using the supercell approximation. The hole-transfer rates and mobilities were evaluated according to Marcus's theory. Results provide a compelling illustration of the effect of side chains on the crystal packing, electronic structure and charge-transport properties. Thus, the hole mobility calculated for the alkyl derivative was 0.15 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) (experimental mobility is 0.10 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)), while the alkoxy derivative has a theoretical mobility of 0.49 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). The obtained results hopefully could motivate experimentalists to try out P3OHT for an improved charge carrier mobility.     

FLAVIN-MEDIATED PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE IN PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS

A photoelectrochemical cell for hydrogen peroxide production using flavin photosystems is described. The anodic solution, which is kept free of oxygen by passing an Ar stream through it, contains the photoreceptor (flavin mononucleotide or lumiflavin) and the electron donor (EDTA, semicarbazide or hydroxylamine), while the peroxide is formed at the electrode of the cathodic solution, whose oxygen content is increased by bubbling with pure oxygen. Among several electrode metals that have been tested (Ag, Pt and Hg), Hg is the most efficient. The pH of the anodic and cathodic solutions should be adjusted to 14 and 1, respectively, for optimum results.     

The structure of the Newtonian limit

We consider a smooth one-parameter family of four-dimensional manifolds X,≥0, each one endowed with a covariant metric g. It is assumed that g is a Lorentz metric for each >0, i.e., the signature of g is (+,−,−,−) for >0, while the limit metric g₀ on X₀ is assumed to be degenerated of rank 1, i.e., the signature of g₀ is (+,0,0,0). We characterize when the limit manifold X₀ inherits the geometric structure of a Newtonian gravitation. The limit manifold X₀ is a Newtonian gravitation if and only if there exist the limits of the Levi-Civita connection , the curvature operator and the contravariant Einstein tensor G² as →0. Moreover, the existence of these limits is characterized in terms of the Taylor expansion of the family {g} with respect to the parameter .     

Conditions de Whitney et sections planes

Sans résumé     

A numerical model for the flooding and drying of irregular domains

A numerical technique for the modelling of shallow water flow in one and two dimensions is presented in this work along with the results obtained in different applications involving unsteady flows in complex geometries. A cell‐centred finite volume method based on Roe's approximate Riemann solver across the edges of both structured and unstructured cells is presented. The discretization of the bed slope source terms is done following an upwind approach. In some applications a problem arises when the flow propagates over adverse dry bed slopes, so a special procedure has been introduced to model the advancing front. It is shown that this modification reproduces exactly steady state of still water in configurations with strong variations in bed slope and contour. The applications presented are mainly related with unsteady flow problems. The scheme is capable of handling complex flow domains as will be shown in the simulations corresponding to the test cases that are going to be presented. Comparisons of experimental and numerical results are shown for some of the tests. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterization of complexes of PdII with 2-aminopyridine

Summary The synthesis and identification of the compoundstrans-bis(2-aminopyridine)dichloropalladium(II) and tetrakis(2-aminopyridine)palladium(II) chloride are described. The infrared spectra are discussed, particularly the metal-halogen and metal-ligand vibrations. Thermal decomposition was studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetry (TG).     

Study of the photoluminescence spectrum in high purity CdTe

In this work, a study of the photoluminescence produced by a high purity sample of n-type CdTe of $\text{?}\text{N}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>D</mtext>}}\text{?}\text{N}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>A</mtext>}}\text{? < 10}{}^{14}$ impurities per cm³ was done at several temperatures, varying from 10 to 35 K. Several sharp lines were observed in the spectral region between 1.5 to 1.6 eV, plus the well-known 1.4 eV band with several well-defined structures on it. The observed temperature behaviour of the line positions, linewidths and relative intensities allowed us to establish the presence of a new transition, located at 10 K 21.3 meV below in energy from the free exciton (FE) line, as well as its first phonon replica. Its nature seems to be transitions originating from the conduction band to an acceptor level, 32 meV above the valence band. These two lines appear at the same position where previous works had reported the first and second phonon replicas of the FE. A scheme of impurity level is proposed to explain the observed transitions in terms of previously established levels and this new acceptor level.