Dye-sensitized solar cells concocted with dyes extracted from fresh and dried leaves of Henna using different solvents

Optical and Quantum Electronics - Nowadays, world is moving from conventional energy sources to non-conventional energy sources like solar energy, wind power, hydropower and those energy sources...     

First principles lattice dynamical calculation of semiboride Be2B and its ternary alloys XBeB (X=Na, Mg, Al)

We present results of first principles total energy calculations of the structure, electronic and lattice dynamics for beryllium semiboride and its three ternary alloys using generalized gradient and local density approximations under the framework of density functional theory. The generalized gradient approximation is used for all compounds except MgBeB using the Perdew-Burke-Ernzehorf exchange correlation functional while local density approximations use the Perdew-Zunger ultrasoft exchange correlation functional. The calculated ground state structural parameters are in good agreement with those of experimental and previous theoretical studies. The electronic band structure calculations show that Be₂B may transform to a semiconductor after Al substitution. A linear response approach to density functional theory is used to calculate phonon dispersion curves and vibrational density of states. The phonon dispersion curves of Be₂B and AlBeB are positive indicating a dynamical stablility of the structure for these compounds. The phonon dispersion curves of NaBeB and MgBeB show the imaginary phonons throughout the Brillouin zone, which confirms dynamical instability as indicated in band structures for these alloys. We also present the partial phonon density of states for different species of Be₂B and AlBeB to bring out the details of the participation of different atoms in the total phonon density of state, particularly the role played by Al atom. The first time calculated phonon properties are clearly able to bring out the significant effect of isoelectronic substitution in Be₂B.     

Dielectric relaxation in polyvinylidenefluoride–polysulfone blends

Dielectric properties of polymer blend of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) and polysulfone (PSF) of different wt. % have been studied to understand the molecular motion and their relaxation behavior in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 10 kHz at different temperatures between 30 and 190 °C. The dielectric constant of the blend decreased with frequency and increased with the increasing temperature and PSF content in the blend. The magnitude of dielectric loss also increased with increase in temperature and PSF content. The observed characteristic has been consistently explained in terms of dipolar motions and the plasticization effect brought about by blending of PSF with PVDF. At constant frequency and temperature, the blend follows a linear relationship between logarithm of their dielectric constant and different ratios of blend. The appearance of a peak for each concentration in dielectric loss suggests the presence of relaxing dipoles in the blend. In addition of PSF with PVDF, the peak shifts toward higher frequency side suggesting the speed up the relaxation process. AC dielectric data is also combined with thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) data which is generally studied for low-frequency dielectric properties of polymers blends so as to produce the results in a wide frequency range. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of the blend was studied by differential scanning calorimetric technique (DSC), the T_g was compared and correlated with TSDC peak. The blend samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the formation of blend and micro structural properties of the materials. The shifting of peak toward lower diffraction angle side confirms the reduction in particle size with increasing amorphous content in the blend.     

Synthesis,spectral and structural studies of a Mn(II) complex of [N′-(pyridine-4-carbonyl)-hydrazine]-carbodithioic acid ethyl ester and Mn(II) and Ni(II) complexes of [N′-(pyridine-4-carbonyl)-hydrazine]-carbodithioic acid methyl ester

The new complexes [Mn(Hpchce)₂(o-phen)], {2[Mn(pchcm)(o-phen)₂]}·7H₂O and [Ni(Hpchcm)(o-phen)₂]Cl·CH₃OH with [N′-(pyridine-4-carbonyl)-hydrazine]-carbodithioic acid ethyl ester (H₂pchce) and [N′-(pyridine-4-carbonyl)-hydrazine]-carbodithioic acid methyl ester (H₂pchcm) have been synthesized, containing o-phenanthroline (o-phen) as a coligand. These ligands and their complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, IR, magnetic susceptibility and single crystal X-ray data. H₂pchce (2), [Mn(Hpchce)₂(o-phen)] (3) {2[Mn(pchcm)(o-phen)₂]}·7H₂O (4) and [Ni(Hpchcm)(o-phen)₂]Cl·CH₃OH (5) crystallized in the monoclinic system, space group Pc, C2/c, P21/n and P21/n, respectively. The (N, O) donor sites of the bidentate ligands chelate the Mn(II) and Ni(II) centers forming a five-membered CN₂OM ring. The resulting complexes are paramagnetic and have a distorted octahedral geometry.     

Supersymmetric classical mechanics

The purpose of the paper is to construct a supersymmetric Lagrangian within the framework of classical mechanics which would be regarded as a candidate for passage to supersymmetric quantum mechanics. The authors felicitate Prof. D S Kothari on his eightieth birthday and dedicate this paper to him on this occasion.     

Some characteristics of high multiplicity (≧45) proton-AgBr interactions at 800 GeV

Experimental results on some characteristics of high multiplicity (≧45) proton-AgBr interactions at 800 GeV are presented. The results are compared with those in lower multiplicity regions as well as for CNO target. The various parameters investigated here are pseudorapidity distribution, mean normalised multiplicity, mean number of intranuclear collisions and normalised pseudorapidity.     

Chiral Lagrangian and skyrmion from quark and parity-doublet determinants

We consider the effective action of the chiral quark model to leading order in the number of colors. A set of massive ghost-like Gervais-Lee fermion doublets is introduced which effectively simulate an asymptotically free behavior for the quarks at short distances. This suppresses the vacuum instability and leaves the Wess-Zumino sector unspoiled. At small momenta, we show that the action generated in this way compares well with experiment by performing a chiral expansion up to fourth order. It is found that this action supports stable soliton solutions with baryon number one. Masses, mass-splittings and the sigma-term are estimated in theSU(2) limit.Unité de Recherche des Universités Paris 11 et Paris 6 associée au CNRS     

Certain fractional derivative formulae involving the product of a general class of polynomials and the multivariableH-function

In the present paper, we obtain three unified fractional derivative formulae (FDF). The first involves the product of a general class of polynomials and the multivariableH-function. The second involves the product of a general class of polynomials and two multivariableH-functions and has been obtained with the help of the generalized Leibniz rule for fractional derivatives. The last FDF also involves the product of a general class of polynomials and the multivariableH-function but it is obtained by the application of the first FDF twice and it involves two independent variables instead of one. The polynomials and the functions involved in all our fractional derivative formulae as well as their arguments which are of the typex ^ρ Π _i=1 ^s (x ^t _i +α _i ) ^σ _i are quite general in nature. These formulae, besides being of very general character have been put in a compact form avoiding the occurrence of infinite series and thus making them useful in applications. Our findings provide interesting unifications and extensions of a number of (new and known) results. For the sake of illustration, we give here exact references to the results (in essence) of five research papers [2, 3,10, 12, 13] that follow as particular cases of our findings. In the end, we record a new fractional derivative formula involving the product of the Hermite polynomials, the Laguerre polynomials and the product ofr different Whittaker functions as a simple special case of our first formula.     

High pressure raman scattering in Pb5Ge3O11

The pressure dependence of various phonon modes has been investigated through the ferro-paraelectric phase transition. Most mode frequencies harden before levelling off above the phase transition. Mode Grüneisen parameters are estimated from the pressure dependence of phonon frequencies.