Rechargeable Fe(III/VI) super-iron cathodes

This study addresses a fundamental challenge posed by hexavalent iron electrochemical irreversibility, which had slowed practical development of reversible Fe(VI) cathodes; nanolayers circumvent fundamental passivation challenges, and are electrodeposited from solution phase FeO(4)(2-), forming 601 mAh g(-1) Li, and 485 mAh g(-1) Na, Fe(III/VI) alkaline cathodes, the latter exhibiting 100-200 storage cycles at 80% depth of discharge, providing pathways towards metal hydride batteries with twice the cathode capacity.     

A New Inertia Theorem for Stein Equations,Inertia of Invertible Hermitian Block Toeplitz Matrices and Matrix Orthogonal Polynomials

In this paper we present an inertia result for Stein equations with an indefinite right hand side. This result is applied to establish connnections between the inertia of invertible hermitian block Toeplitz matrices and associated orthogonal polynomials.     

Optical image encryption based on multifractional Fourier transforms

We propose a new image encryption algorithm based on a generalized fractional Fourier transform, to which we refer as a multifractional Fourier transform. We encrypt the input image simply by performing the multifractional Fourier transform with two keys. Numerical simulation results are given to verify the algorithm, and an optical implementation setup is also suggested.     

Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Based on Coupled Dielectric Pillars

We propose a Mach-Zehnder interferometer （MZI） based on coupled dielectric pillars. It is composed of single-row pillar coupled waveguide modulating arms and three-row pillar waveguide 3 dB couplers. The slow light property and transmission loss of the single-row pillar modulating arm are optimized by the plane wave expansion method. A short 3dB coupler is designed based on the modes transformation in three-row pillar waveguide. Finite difference time domain simulations prove the validity of this MZI and show that it has low insertion loss of 1.1 dB and high extinction ratio of 〉 12 dB.     

Nonclassical state via superposition of two coherent states (π/2 out of phase) and related entangled states

Nonclassical features of the superposition of two coherent states which are π/2 out of phase are discussed, such as sub-Poissonian photon statistics and quadrature squeezing, as well as negativity of the Wigner function. Special nonclassicality is found in the special state where the relative phase of superposition has relationship with the average photon number. The analysis of the amount of entanglement is also presented for the related two-mode entangled coherent states.     

Effect of Pretreatment of TaN Substrates on Atomic Layer Deposition Growth of Ru Thin Films

The polycrystalline ruthenium films are grown on TaN substrates by atomic layer deposition （ALD） using bis（cyclopentadienyl） ruthenium [RuCp2] and oxygen as ruthenium precursor and reactant respectively at a deposition temperature of 330℃. The low-energy Ar ion bombardment and Ru pre-deposition are performed to the underlying TaN substrates before ALD process in order to improve the Ru nucleation. X-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy are carried out to characterize the properties of ALD Ru films. The results show that the nucleation density of Ru films with Ar^＋ bombardment to the underlying TaN substrates is much higher than that of the ones without any pretreatment. The possible reasons are discussed.     

Electrical Characterization of Metal-Insulator-Metal Capacitors with Atomic-Layer-Deposited HfO2 Dielectrics for Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Application

Metal-insulator-metal （MIM） capacitors with atomic-layer-deposited HfO2 dielectric and TaN electrodes are investigated for rf integrated circuit applications. For 12nm HfO2, the fabricated capacitor exhibits a high capacitance density of 15.5fF/μm2 at 100kHz, a small leakage current density of 6.4 × 10^-9 A/cm^2 at 1.8V and 125℃, a breakdown electric field of 2.6 MV//cm as well as voltage coefficients of capacitance （VCCs） of 2110ppm/V^2 and -824 ppm/V at 100kHz. Further, it is deduced that the conduction mechanism in the high field range is dominated by the Poole-Frenkel emission, and the conduction mechanism in the low field range is possibly related to trap-assisted tunnelling. Finally, comparison of various HfO2 MIM capacitors is present, suggesting that the present MIM capacitor is a promising candidate for future rf integrated circuit application.     

A computational approach for eliminating error in the solution of the location set covering problem

The location set covering problem continues to be an important and challenging spatial optimization problem. The range of practical planning applications underscores its importance, spanning fire station siting, warning siren positioning, security monitoring and nature reserve design, to name but a few. It is challenging on a number of fronts. First, it can be difficult to solve for medium to large size problem instances, which are often encountered in combination with geographic information systems (GIS) based analysis. Second, the need to cover a region efficiently often brings about complications associated with the abstraction of geographic space. Representation as points can lead to significant gaps in actual coverage, whereas representation as polygons can result in a substantial overestimate of facilities needed. Computational complexity along with spatial abstraction sensitivity combine to make advances in solving this problem much needed. To this end, a solution framework for ensuring complete coverage of a region with a minimum number of facilities is proposed that eliminates potential error. Applications to emergency warning siren and fire station siting are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed approach. The approach can be applied to convex, non-convex and non-contiguous regions and is unaffected by arbitrary initial spatial representations of space.     

Smoke suppression of graphene platelets fabricated by Friedel–Crafts reaction in brominated flame-retarded PS

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were introduced into polystyrene (PS)/brominated polystyrene (BPS) blends to suppress the large amounts of smoke...