Recent progress in NMR spectroscopy of polymer electrolytes for lithium batteries

Recent progress on the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to investigate structure and dynamics of polymer electrolytes for advanced lithium batteries is reviewed in this article. The survey includes a list of both standard and relatively novel techniques, with many examples of their applications drawn from the literature.     

Simultaneous Identification and Quantitative Analysis of Eight Cephalosporins in Pharmaceutical Formulations by TLC-Densitometry

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A rapid, accurate, and sensitive densitometric TLC method has been established and validated for simultaneous analysis of eight...     

Adsorption and inactivation behavior of horseradish peroxidase on cellulosic fiber surfaces

The physical immobilization behavior of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) on cellulosic fiber surfaces was characterized using adsorption and inactivation isotherms measured by the depletion method followed by fitting of Langmuir’s and Freundlich’s models to the experimental data. The adsorption and inactivation behavior of simpler and relatively non-porous high and low crystalline cellulosic substrates (microcrystalline cellulose and regenerated cellulose) as well as more complex and porous cellulosic pulp fibers (bleached kraft softwood fibers) were investigated. The effect of the sorbent surface energy on HRP adsorption was demonstrated by increasing the hydrophobicity of the cellulosic fibers using an internal sizing agent. The influence of the fiber surface charge density on HRP adsorption was studied via modification of the cellulosic fibers using TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidiniloxy radical)-mediated oxidation methods. Results showed that hydrophobic interactions had a much larger effect on HRP adsorption than electrostatic interactions. More hydrophobic fiber surfaces (lower polar surface energy) result in larger enzyme-fiber binding affinity constants and higher binding heterogeneity. It was also found that oxidation of the cellulosic fiber substrate reduces enzyme adsorption affinity but significantly increases the loading capacity per unit weight of the surface.     

Large solutions for the Laplacian with a power nonlinearity given by a variable exponent

In this paper we consider positive boundary blow-up solutions to the problem Δu=uq(x)$\mathrm{\Delta }u=u^{q(x)}$ in a smooth bounded domain Ω⊂Rn$\Omega \subset {\mathbb{R}}^n$. The exponent q(x)$q(x)$ is allowed to be a variable positive Hölder continuous function. The issues of existence, asymptotic behavior near the boundary and uniqueness of positive solutions are considered. Furthermore, since q(x)$q(x)$ is also allowed to take values less than one, it is shown that the blow up of solutions on ∂Ω is compatible with the occurrence of dead cores, i.e., nonempty interior regions where solutions vanish.     

Production of vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules by atom recombination on Cu and W materials

We have measured vibrational population of H(2) and D(2) molecules produced by atom (H or D) recombination on tungsten and copper material. The vibrational spectroscopy, based on the properties of dissociative electron attachment to hydrogen molecule, was used. The vibrationally excited molecules were produced by atom recombination in a cell where the studied sample is exposed to hydrogen atoms, from hot tungsten filament. Vibrational populations were obtained for the studied materials, which can be well described by the Boltzmann distribution, with specific vibrational temperatures for each material. The experimentally obtained vibrational populations for copper approximately agree with the theoretical predictions, whereas the experimentally obtained vibrational temperature for tungsten is higher and thus showing a considerable overpopulation of highly excited vibrational states than predicted. We propose that the origin of this higher excitation is related to the existence of high hydrogen surface coverage on tungsten, where hydrogen is occupying binding sites with different desorption energies. In order to obtain an insight into the recombination mechanism with more than one binding site per unit cell, a Monte Carlo simulation was performed, where it was assumed that the main production of molecules proceeds through the hot-atom recombination with an adsorbed atom. The results show that the recombination proceeds mainly through the weak binding sites, once they are occupied.     

Supramolecular networks through second-sphere coordination based on 1D metal-4,4′-dipyridyldisulfide coordination polymers and hydrogenfumarate or sulfonate anions

Four hydrogen-bonded assemblies of formula [M(dpds)₂(OH₂)₂]A₂·nH₂O (A = anion) are described. These assemblies result from the second-sphere coordination interactions between the 1D coordination polymers [M(dpds)₂(OH₂)₂]²⁺, M = Zn(II) and Cu(II), dpds = 4,4′-dipyridyldisulfide, and the pyridine-3-sulfonate (3pySO₃⁻) or hydrogenfumarate (Hfum⁻) anions. Significantly, supramolecular structural variations are observed depending on the presence of water lattice molecules, which formed discrete aggregates when the Hfum⁻ anion was used. The effects of geometrical variations in the building blocks are also evident on using Jahn-Teller-distorted divalent Cu(II) ions or regular octahedral species based on Zn(II) ions. The second-sphere effects on the stabilization of the compounds are illustrated by TGA experiments.     

Three anilides of 2,2′‐thiodibenzoic acid

The structures of N,N′‐bis(2‐methylphenyl)‐2,2′‐thiodibenzamide, C₂₈H₂₄N₂O₂S, (Ia), N,N′‐bis(2‐ethylphenyl)‐2,2′‐thiodibenzamide, C₃₀H₂₈N₂O₂S, (Ib), and N,N′‐bis(2‐bromophenyl)‐2,2′‐thiodibenzamide, C₂₆H₁₈Br₂N₂O₂S, (Ic), are compared with each other. For the 19 atoms of the consistent thiodibenzamide core, the r.m.s. deviations of the molecules in pairs are 0.29, 0.90 and 0.80 Å for (Ia)/(Ib), (Ia)/(Ic) and (Ib)/(Ic), respectively. The conformations of the central parts of molecules (Ia) and (Ib) are similar due to an intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen‐bonding interaction. The molecules of (Ia) are further linked into infinite chains along the c axis by intermolecular N—H...O interactions, whereas the molecules of (Ib) are linked into chains along b by an intermolecular N—H...π contact. The conformation of (Ic) is quite different from those of (Ia) and (Ib), since there is no intramolecular N—H...O hydrogen bond, but instead there is a possible intramolecular N—H...Br hydrogen bond. The molecules are linked into chains along c by intermolecular N—H...O hydrogen bonds.     

Synthesis, structure, and properties of the new mixed-valent dodecahalogenotrimetallate in(4)ti(3)br(12) and its relation to compounds a(3)ti(2)x(9) (a = k, in; x = cl, br)

Black single crystals of the new dodecahalogenotrimetallate In(4)Ti(3)Br(12) were obtained by reacting InBr(3) with Ti-wire at 450 °C in a silica tube sealed under vacuum. In(4)Ti(3)Br(12) (Pearson symbol hR57, space group R3?m, Z = 3, a = 7.3992(8) ?, c = 36.673(6) ?, 643 refl., 25 param., R(1)(F) = 0.025; wR(2)(F(2)) = 0.046) is a defect variant of a 12 L-perovskite. In(+) cations are 12-fold coordinated in two different ways: In1 as an anticuboctahedron and In2 as a cuboctahedron. In both cases the 5s(2) configuration results in 3 short, 6 medium, and 3 long In-Br distances which might be explained as lone pair effect or second order Jahn-Teller instability. Furthermore there are isolated linear trimers [Ti(3)Br(12)](4-) consisting of facesharing octahedra similar to [Ru(3)Cl(12)](4-). The [Ti(3)Br(12)](4-)-unit has to be described as a mixed-valent d(1)-d(2)-d(1) system. According to magnetic measurements, the Ti-atoms in In(4)Ti(3)Br(12) show strong antiferromagnetic interactions (Θ = -1216(6) K) which might be addressed as weak Ti(3+)-Ti(2+)-Ti(3+) bonds. For comparison, single crystals of K(3)Ti(2)X(9) (X = Cl, Br) were synthesized and their structures refined. The rotation of the Ti(2)X(9)(3-) dimers reduced the symmetry of the well-known Cs(3)Cr(2)Cl(9) type from P6(3)/mmc to P6(3)/m and resulted in the formation of merohedral twins. According to the unit cell volumes In(+) is smaller than K(+) in all cases.     

Artificial neural networks for modeling electrophoretic mobilities of inorganic cations and organic cationic oximes used as antidote contra nerve paralytic chemical weapons

Electrophoretic mobility of various analytes can be modeled and thus also predicted using artificial neural networks (ANNs) evaluating experiments done according to a suitable experimental design. In contrast to response surfaces modeling which can be used to predict optimal separation conditions, ANNs combined with experimental design were shown to be efficient for modeling and prediction of optimal separation conditions, while no explicit model and any knowledge of the physicochemical constants is needed. Methodology has been developed and demonstrated on separation of inorganic cations and organic oximes while various additives (methanol, complexation agent), pH or buffer concentration were followed. In our approach proposed the number of experiments necessary to find optimal separation conditions can be reduced significantly.