Electrodeposition of copper on a Pt(111) electrode in sulfuric acid containing poly(ethylene glycol) and chloride ions as probed by in situ STM

This study employed real-time in situ STM imaging to examine the adsorption of PEG molecules on Pt(111) modified by a monolayer of copper adatoms and the subsequent bulk Cu deposition in 1 M H(2)SO(4) + 1 mM CuSO(4)+ 1 mM KCl + 88 μM PEG. At the end of Cu underpotential deposition (~0.35 V vs Ag/AgCl), a highly ordered Pt(111)-(√3 × √7)-Cu + HSO(4)(-) structure was observed in 1 M H(2)SO(4) + 1 mM CuSO(4). This adlattice restructured upon the introduction of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG, molecular weight 200) and chloride anions. At the onset potential for bulk Cu deposition (~0 V), a Pt(111)-(√3 × √3)R30°-Cu + Cl(-) structure was imaged with a tunneling current of 0.5 nA and a bias voltage of 100 mV. Lowering the tunneling current to 0.2 nA yielded a (4 × 4) structure, presumably because of adsorbed PEG200 molecules. The subsequent nucleation and deposition processes of Cu in solution containing PEG and Cl(-) were examined, revealing the nucleation of 2- to 3-nm-wide CuCl clusters on an atomically smooth Pt(111) surface at overpotentials of less than 50 mV. With larger overpotential (η > 150 mV), Cu deposition seemed to bypass the production of CuCl species, leading to layered Cu deposition, starting preferentially at step defects, followed by lateral growth to cover the entire Pt electrode surface. These processes were observed with both PEG200 and 4000, although the former tended to produce more CuCl nanoclusters. Raising [H(2)SO(4)] to 1 M substantiates the suppressing effect of PEG on Cu deposition. This STM study provided atomic- or molecular-level insight into the effect of PEG additives on the deposition of Cu.     

Towards the systematic exploration of chemical space

The discovery of biologically active small molecules is shaped, in large part, by their synthetic (or biosynthetic accessibility). However, chemists' historical exploration of chemical space has been highly uneven and unsystematic. This article describes synthetic strategies that have emerged that may allow chemical space to be explored more systematically. Particular emphasis is placed on approaches that allow the scaffolds of small molecules to be varied combinatorially. In addition, some examples of bioactive small molecules that have been discovered by screening diverse small molecule libraries are highlighted. The authors comment on the likely scope of each of the strategies to deliver skeletally-diverse libraries. In addition, the authors highlight some key challenges for the future: the extension to libraries based on hundreds of distinct scaffolds; and the development of approaches that focus overtly on drug-relevant chemical space.     

Electron–hole superlattices in GaAs/Al x Ga1− x As multiple quantum wells

A GaAs/Al _x Ga_{1? x} As semiconductor structure is proposed, which is predicted to superconduct at T _c?≈?2?K. Formation of an alternating sequence of electron- and hole-populated quantum wells (an electron–hole superlattice) in a modulation-doped GaAs/Al _x Ga_{1? x} As superlattice is considered. This superlattice may be analogous to the layered electronic structure of high-T _c superconductors. In the structures of interest, the mean spacing between nearest electron (or hole) wells is the same as the mean distance between the electrons (or holes) in any given well. This geometrical relationship mimics a prominent property of optimally doped high-T _c superconductors. Band bending by built-in electric fields from ionized donors and acceptors induces electron and heavy-hole bound states in alternate GaAs quantum wells. A proposed superlattice structure meeting this criterion for superconductivity is studied by self-consistent numerical simulation.     

Chain conditions and weak topologies

We study conditions on Banach spaces close to separability. We say that a topological space is pcc if every point-finite family of open subsets of the space is countable. For a Banach space E, we say that E is weakly pcc if E, equipped with the weak topology, is pcc, and we also consider a weaker property: we say that E is half-pcc if every point-finite family consisting of half-spaces of E is countable. We show that E is half-pcc if, and only if, every bounded linear map E→c₀(ω₁) has separable range. We exhibit a variety of mild conditions which imply separability of a half-pcc Banach space. For a Banach space C(K), we also consider the pcc-property of the topology of pointwise convergence, and we note that the space Cp(K) may be pcc even when C(K) fails to be weakly pcc. We note that this does not happen when K is scattered, and we provide the following example:

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There exists a non-metrizable scattered compact Hausdorff space K with C(K) weakly pcc.

     

Cozero-accessible points

We define a point x to be cozero-accessible if for each dense open set U, there is a cozero-set CU such that . It is shown to be independent of Martin's Axiom that there are cozero-accessible points in .     

Surface states of metastable (GaAs)1−xGe2x alloys

The proposed order-disorder transition as x varies in metastable (GaAs)_1?xGe_2x alloys should be observable in photoemission experiments. There should be large “kinks” in the (100) surface state energies as functions of x near the critical composition x_c.     

Effects on the x-ray spectra of metals due to final-state interactions with effective barriers and shape resonances

Model calculations of X-ray absorption, emission, and photoemission spectral lineshapes are reported for intrinsic and extrinsic core excitations in metals with final-state interactions that can be represented by a central attractive potential surrounded by an effective barrier on its periphery. Some of the calculated spectra exhibit novel features: XPS lineshapes with multi-electron shake-off sidebands and features characteristic of resonances and anti-resonances, and X-ray absorption and emission spectra with (i) edges that are apparently peaked (on a moderate energy scale) when the X-ray edge singularity causes them to be, in fact, suppressed on a fine scale, (ii) edges that are markedly rounded, and (iii) gross spectral features that are influenced greatly by the electronic structure of the iniial state of the Fermi sea, and only weakly by the final-state.     

Isochrone convergence imaging of pulse echoes

We describe a method for the real-time conversion of echo information to image plane luminosity, in a wide aperture, pulsed, sonic imaging system using a single transmitter and multiple point-receivers. Resolution is a function of the number of receivers and the object complexity. The image is focussed at a given range which may be easily controlled by a scaling parameter. A 64-receiver prototype confirmed theoretical predictions. This principle may also be applied to radar displays.