Studies on the effect of titanium addition on LiCoO2

The lithiated transition metal oxide has been used as the cathode materials for lithium ion rechargeable batteries. Among the various cathode materials, LiCoO₂ has been widely used. There are lot of reports on the substituted LiCoO₂ replacing small amount of Cobalt with other transition and nontransitional metals. Here, we focus on to a tetravalent transition metal atom such as titanium, as an addition in LiCoO₂ and studied its performance. The titled cathode material was synthesized by solid-state reaction method. Thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, and particle size analysis were carried out to assess the effect of addition of titanium on LiCoO₂. Electrochemical studies were carried out by cyclic voltammetry and life cycle analyzer.     

Magnetic behaviour of the orthochromite La0.5Gd0.5CrO3

Magnetic behaviour of the perovskite La_0.5Gd_0.5CrO₃ has been studied. The orthochromite orders canted antiferromagnetically below Neel temperature T_N of ～225 K. Reversal of magnetization is observed in temperature dependence of magnetization measured in field cooled mode under external fields upto 500 Oe. In the field dependence of magnetization below T_N, a small hysteresis is observed with the magnetic anisotropy continuously increasing with lowering of temperature. Estimated values of Cr³⁺ moments, internal field due to sub-lattice of canted ordered Cr³⁺ and the paramagnetic Curie temperature of Gd³⁺ sub-lattice are found to be smaller than reported for GdCrO₃. Compared with Pr substituted analogue La_0.5Pr_0.5CrO₃, Cr³⁺ moment is about the same but the internal field at the Gd³⁺ sub-lattice is much smaller.     

Lattice parameter and thermal expansion of CsCl and CsBr by x-ray powder diffraction. II. Thermal expansion of CsBr from room temperature to 78.2 °K

The lattice parameters of CsBr at eight different temperatures from room temperature to 78.2 °K were measured and the true lattice parameters were obtained by the least squares method using the Nelson-Riley extrapolation function. Using these parameters the thermal expansion coefficients of CsBr were estimated at each temperature by fitting them into a cubic polynomial involving temperatureT. Theα _T thus obtained were compared with the values of earlier workers who used an interferometric technique and the agreement was found to be good.     

Interactions between polymer-grafted particles and bare particles for biocompatibility applications

We use self-consistent field theory (SCFT) to study the interactions between a polymer-grafted spherical particle and a bare spherical particle and explore how these interaction energies depend on the radii of the two particles and the grafting density. We find that the magnitude of the interaction energies increases with the radii of both the grafted and bare particles and with increasing grafting density. We also find a universal scaling law for the interaction potential which exhibits a power-law dependence on both particle sizes, a linear dependence on grafting density, and a logarithmic dependence on interparticle distance with a range of interaction that scales with brush height. We compare our numerical results to those obtained using the Derjaguin approximation. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 2566–2577, 2009     

An accurate finite element scheme with moving meshes for computing 3D‐axisymmetric interface flows

An accurate finite element scheme for computing 3D‐axisymmetric incompressible free surface and interface flows is proposed. It is based on the arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) approach using free surface/interface‐resolved moving meshes. Key features like the surface force, consisting of surface tension and the local curvature, and jumps in the density and viscosity over different fluid phases are precisely incorporated in the finite element formulation. The local curvature is approximated by using the Laplace–Beltrami operator technique combined with a boundary approximation by isoparametric finite elements. A new approach is used to derive the 3D‐axisymmetric form from the variational form in 3D‐Cartesian coordinates. Several test examples show the high accuracy and the robustness of the proposed scheme. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extended metal-organic solids based on benzenepolycarboxylic and aminobenzoic acids

This article describes the recent results obtained in our laboratory on the interaction of polyfunctional ligands with divalent alkaline earth metal ions and a few divalent transition metal ions. Treatment of MC1₂·nH₂O (M = Mg, Ca, Sr or Ba) with 2-amino benzoic acid leads to the formation of complexes [Mg(2-aba)₂] (1), [Ca(2-aba)₂(OH₂)₃]∞ (2), [Sr(2-aba)₂(OH₂)_{2 2}·H₂O)]∞ (3), [Ba(2-aba)₂(OH₂)]∞ (4), respectively. While the calcium ions in2 are hepta-coordinated, the strontium and barium ions in3 and4 reveal a coordination number of nine apart from additional metal-metal interactions. Apart from the carboxylate functionality, the amino group also binds to the metal centres in the case of strontium and barium complexes3 and4. Complexes [Mg(H₂O)₆(4-aba)₂·2H₂O] (5), [Ca(4-aba)₂(H₂O)₂] (6) prepared from 4-aminobenzoic acid reveal more open or layered structures. Interaction of 2-mercaptobenzoic acid with MCl₂·6H₂O (M = Mg, Ca), however, leads to the oxidation of the thiol group resulting in the disulphide 2,2′ -dithiobis(benzoic acid). New metal-organic framework based hydrogen-bonded porous solids [M(btec) (OH₂)_{4 n}·n(C₄H₁₂N₂)·4nH₂O] (btec = 1,2,4,5-benzene tetracarboxylate) (M = Co9; Ni10; Zn11) have been synthesized from 1,2,4,5-benzene tetracarboxylic acid in the presence of piperazine. These compounds are made up of extensively hydrogen-bonded alternating layers of anionic M-btec co-ordination polymer and piperazinium cations. Compounds2- 11 described herein form polymeric networks in the solid-state with the aid of different coordinating capabilities of the carboxylate anions hydrogen bonding interactions.     

Optically transparent superhydrophobic TEOS-derived silica films by surface silylation method

Optically transparent silica films were prepared at room temperature (~27°C) by keeping the molar ratio of TEOS:MeOH:H₂O (0.001 M NH₄F) constant at 1:19.29:6.20, respectively. A surface chemical modification of the films was done with alkylchlorosilanes at different concentrations from 0 to 1 vol. % and aging times varied from half to 2 h. The DMCS and TMCS surface modified silica films showed the static water contact angle of 146° and 162°, respectively. When the DMCS and TMCS modified films were cured at temperatures higher than 240 and 275°C, respectively, the films became superhydrophilic. Further, the humidity study was carried out at a relative humidity of 90% at 30°C temperature over 60 days. We characterized the water repellent silica films by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, % of optical transmission, humidity tests and contact angle measurements.     

Standard molar Gibbs free energy of formation of Pb5CrO8(s), Pb2CrO5(s), and PbCrO4(s)

Standard molar Gibbs free energy of formation of ternary oxides Pb₅CrO₈(s), Pb₂CrO₅(s), and PbCrO₄(s) were determined by measuring equilibrium oxygen partial pressures over relevant phase fields using manometry and solid oxide electrolyte based emf methods and are given by: ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_f{G}_m^{°}{\text{Pb}}_5{\text{CrO}}_8(s)\pm 0.55/(\text{kJ}·{\text{mol}}^{-1})=-1809.4+0.6845(T/\text{K})(837\le T/\text{K}\le 1008)\text{,}$${\mathrm{\Delta }}_f{G}_m^{°}{\text{Pb}}_2{\text{CrO}}_5(\text{s})\pm 0.30/(\text{kJ}·{\text{mol}}^{-1})=-1161.3+0.4059(T/\text{K})(859\le T/\text{K}\le 1021)\text{,}$${\mathrm{\Delta }}_{\text{f}}{G}_m^{°}{\text{PbCrO}}_4(\text{s})\pm 0.17/(\text{kJ}·{\text{mol}}^{-1})=-909.8+0.3111(T/\text{K})(863\le T/\text{K}\le 1093)\text{,}$