Energy transfer of highly vibrationally excited azulene. III. Collisions between azulene and argon

The energy transfer dynamics between highly vibrationally excited azulene molecules (37 582 cm(-1) internal energy) and Ar atoms in a series of collision energies (200, 492, 747, and 983 cm(-1)) was studied using a crossed-beam apparatus along with time-sliced velocity map ion imaging techniques. The angular resolved collisional energy-transfer probability distribution functions were measured directly from the scattering results of highly vibrationally excited azulene. Direct T-VR energy transfer was found to be quite efficient. In some instances, nearly all of the translational energy is transferred to vibrational/rotational energy. On the other hand, only a small fraction of vibrational energy is converted to translational energy (V-T). Significant amount of energy transfer from vibration to translation was observed at large collision energies in backward and sideway directions. The ratios of total cross sections between T-VR and V-T increases as collision energy increases. Formation of azulene-argon complexes during the collision was observed at low enough collision energies. The complexes make only minor contributions to the measured translational to vibrational/rotational (T-VR) energy transfer.     

细乳液聚合法制备有机/无机纳米复合材料

无机纳米粒子的引入可以使聚合物材料获得抗菌、导电和防紫外等诸多特性,但无机纳米粒子在聚合物基质中易团聚、引入量少,难以充分发挥其优点。细乳液聚合法基于其独特的成核方式--液滴成核,能够提高无机纳米粒子在聚合物基中的分散性和引入量,且复合材料的形貌易于控制,是目前制备特殊形貌有机/无机纳米复合材料的一种有效手段。本文介绍了有机/无机复合纳米材料的细乳液制备过程,综述了近年来不同无机纳米粒子与有机基质复合的研究进展,例如：纳米SiO₂、纳米ZnO、金属纳米粒子、纳米氧化石墨烯等。最后就其发展现状提出了几点建议。     

Reflection and Transmission of Plane Waves at a Water–Porous Sediment Interface with a Double-Porosity Substrate

This paper investigates the wave propagation at the interface between the ocean and the ocean floor. The ocean floor is assumed to be composed of covered porous sediment with an underlying double-porosity substrate. For this purpose, plane wave reflection and transmission in the coupled water–porous sediment–double-porosity substrate system are analytically solved in terms of displacement potentials. Using numerical examples, the effects of the material properties of the underlying double-porosity substrate on the reflection coefficients are discussed in detail. Variations in pore and fracture fluid, fracture volume fraction, and permeability coefficients are considered. In addition, two cases of boundary conditions at the porous sediment–double-porosity substrate interface, i.e., sealed-pore boundary and open-pore boundary, are compared in the numerical calculations. Results show that material property variations in the double-porosity substrate may significantly affect the reflected wave in the overlying water if the sandwiched sediment depth is less than the critical value.     

Molten-Salt-Mediated Synthesis of an Atomic Nickel Co-catalyst on TiO2 for Improved Photocatalytic H2 Evolution

Atomic co-catalysts offer high potential to improve the photocatalytic performance, of which the preparation with earth-abundant elements is challenging. Here, a new molten salt method (MSM) is designed to prepare atomic Ni co-catalyst on widely studied TiO₂ nanoparticles. The liquid environment and space confinement effect of the molten salt leads to atomic dispersion of Ni ions on TiO₂, while the strong polarizing force provided by the molten salt promotes formation of strong Ni−O bonds. Interestingly, Ni atoms are found to facilitate the formation of oxygen vacancies (OV) on TiO₂ during the MSM process, which benefits the charge transfer and hydrogen evolution reaction. The synergy of atomic Ni co-catalyst and OV results in 4-time increase in H₂ evolution rate compared to that of the Ni co-catalyst on TiO₂ prepared by an impregnation method. This work provides a new strategy of controlling atomic co-catalyst together with defects for efficient photocatalytic water splitting.     

Grain size engineering and growth mechanism in hydrothermal synthesis of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 thin films on Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrates

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Considering the full utilization of energy and pursuing thin-film capacitors with high energy-storage density, the grain size engineering is used to...     

Finite particle number description of neutron matter using the unitary correlation operator and high-momentum pair methods

Using bare Argonne V4' (AV4'), V6' (AV6'), and V8' (AV8') nucleon–nucleon (\begin{document}$NN$\end{document}) interactions, the nuclear equations of state (EOSs) for neutron matter are calculated with the unitary correlation operator and high-momentum pair methods. Neutron matter is described using a finite particle number approach with magic number \begin{document}$N=66$\end{document} under a periodic boundary condition. The central short-range correlation originating from the short-range repulsion in the \begin{document}$NN$\end{document} interaction is treated by the unitary correlation operator method (UCOM), and the tensor correlation and spin-orbit effects are described by the two-particle two-hole (2p2h) excitations of nucleon pairs, where the two nucleons with a large relative momentum are regarded as a high-momentum (HM) pair. With increasing 2p2h configurations, the total energy per particle of the neutron matter is well-converged under this UCOM+HM framework. Comparing the results calculated with AV4', AV6', and AV8' \begin{document}$NN$\end{document} interactions, we demonstrate the effects of the short-range correlation, tensor correlation, and spin-orbit coupling on the density dependence of the total energy per particle of neutron matter. Moreover, the contribution of each Hamiltonian component to the total energy per particle is discussed. The EOSs of neutron matter calculated within the present UCOM+HM framework agree with the calculations of six microscopic many-body theories, especially the auxiliary field-diffusion Monte Carlo calculations.     

Strain-Enhanced Metallic Intermixing in Shape-Controlled Multilayered Core–Shell Nanostructures: Toward Shaped Intermetallics

Controlling the surface composition of shaped bimetallic nanoparticles could offer precise tunability of geometric and electronic surface structure for new nanocatalysts. To achieve this goal, a platform for studying the intermixing process in a shaped nanoparticle was designed, using multilayered Pd-Ni-Pt core–shell nanocubes as precursors. Under mild conditions, the intermixing between Ni and Pt could be tuned by changing layer thickness and number, triggering intermixing while preserving nanoparticle shape. Intermixing of the two metals is monitored using transmission electron microscopy. The surface structure evolution is characterized using electrochemical methanol oxidation. DFT calculations suggest that the low-temperature mixing is enhanced by shorter diffusion lengths and strain introduced by the layered structure. The platform and insights presented are an advance toward the realization of shape-controlled multimetallic nanoparticles tailored to each potential application.     

Head–Tail Asymmetry as the Determining Factor in the Formation of Polymer Cubosomes or Hexasomes in a Rod–Coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer

The self‐assembly of a rod–coil amphiphilic block copolymer (ABCP) led to Im m and Pn m polymer cubosomes and p6mm polymer hexasomes. This is the first time that these structures are observed in a rod–coil system. By varying the hydrophobic chain length, the initial concentration of the polymer solution, or the solubility parameter of the mixed solvent, head–tail asymmetry is adjusted to control the formation of polymer cubosomes or hexasomes. The formation mechanism of the polymer cubosomes was also studied. This research opens up a new way for further study of the bicontinuous and inverse phases in different ABCP systems.     

Coupling molecular rigidity and flexibility on fused backbones for NIR-II photothermal conversion

Great attention is being increasingly paid to photothermal conversion in the near-infrared (NIR)-II window (1000–1350 nm), where deeper tissue penetration is favored. To date, only a limited number of organic photothermal polymers and relevant theory have been exploited to direct the molecular design of polymers with highly efficient photothermal conversion, specifically in the NIR-II window. This work proposes a fused backbone structure locked via an intramolecular hydrogen bonding interaction and double bond, which favors molecular planarity and rigidity in the ground state and molecular flexibility in the excited state. Following this proposal, a particular class of NIR-II photothermal polymers are prepared. Their remarkable photothermal conversion efficiency is in good agreement with our strategy of coupling polymeric rigidity and flexibility, which accounts for the improved light absorption on going from the ground state to the excited state and nonradiative emission on going from the excited state to the ground state. It is envisioned that such a concept of coupling polymeric rigidity and flexibility will offer great inspiration for developing NIR-II photothermal polymers with the use of other chromophores.

Low bandgap and large deformation generally conflict each other. This work couples molecular rigidity and flexibility by intramolecular hydrogen bonds and double bonds to achieve NIR-II light absorption and reinforced internal conversion at the same time.     

Enhancement of frequency modulation response time for polymer-dispersed liquid crystal

Through the ferroelectric nanoparticles of BaTiO₃ (BTO) doping, the response time for the frequency modulation of the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) was improved. The BTO-doped PDLC cells were prepared by polymerisation induced phase separation (PIPS) process using UV light. The capacitance of the PDLC composites was measured with an impedance analyzer in the frequency range of 100 Hz–1 MHz at 1 V. The dynamic signal for the response time of the PDLC devices was monitored through a digital oscilloscope. The electro-optical properties of the PDLC were found to strongly depend on the doped BTO concentration. The BTO doping caused a large increase in the capacitance. The dielectric constants were drastically decreased in the samples with rather low BTO doping ratio at a high frequency. No outstanding difference in the rising time of the LC was observed in the BTO-doped PDLC device, but the falling time was significantly decreased from 0.334 to 0.094 s. The present results imply that the nanoparticle-doping technology could improve the electro-optical performance of the PDLC requiring fast response and frequency modulation, such as optical modulators and PDLC-hybrid electroluminescence device for flexible electronic devices.