A facile strategy to modify TiO2 nanoparticles via surface‐initiated ATRP of styrene

A core‐shell hybrid nanocomposites, possessing a hard core of nano titanium dioxide (n‐TiO₂) and a soft shell of brushlike polystyrene (PS), were successfully prepared by surface‐initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) at 90 °C in anisole solution using CuBr/PMDETA as the catalyst, in the presence of sacrificial initiator. FTIR, ¹H NMR, XPS, TEM, SEM, TGA, and DSC were used to determine the chemical structure, morphology, thermal properties, and the grafted PS quantities of the resulting products. TEM images of the samples provided direct evidence for the formation of a core‐shell structure. The thermal stabilities of the grafted polymers were dramatically elevated relative to that of pristine PS according to TGA results. DSC results demonstrated that the TiO₂‐PS nanocomposites exhibited higher glass transition temperature (T_g) compared with pristine PS. The molecular weights of the free polymers formed by sacrificial initiator, which were similar to that of surface‐attached polymers were measured by GPC instrument which showed that the molecular weights of PS were well controlled with a relatively narrow polydispersity index (PDI < 1.2). © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1782–1790, 2010     

Exact solutions to Landau-Zener problems by evolution operator method

Various analytic approaches have been developed to solve the famous Landau-Zener (LZ) problem. Here, we introduce a time-evolution operator method to investigate such a problem by numerically solving the induced algebraic equations (by Runge-Kutta method). Based on these calculations, transitions between two levels driven by various time-dependent external fields can be simulated in detail, typically near the so-called avoided crossing points. Far from these points, our results reduce to the original Landau-Zener transition (LZT).     

Influence of annealing process on conductive properties of Nb-doped TiO2 polycrystalline films prepared by sol-gel method

Nb-doped TiO₂ (TNO) thin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method with Nb content in a wide range of 0-20 at.%. The prepared films were preheated at 400 °C and then undertaken by two different post-annealing processes: (a) three times vacuum annealing and (b) multi-round annealing. The designed multi-round annealing was shown to be an effective way to improve the conductive properties of the films, compared to the traditional vacuum annealing process. The minimum resistivity reached approximately 0.5 Ω cm with Nb doping concentration around 12 at.%, and the carrier density increased with Nb-doping concentration until the critical point of 12 at.%, which might be the optimal doping content for our TNO films prepared by sol-gel method.     

Existence and uniqueness of solutions for singular integral equation

Using the mixed monotone method we establish existence and uniqueness results for a singular integral equation. The theorem obtained is very general and complements previous known results. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.10571021 and No.10701020) and Key Laboratory for Applied Statistics of MOE(KLAS) and Subject Foundation of Harbin University (No. HXK200714).     

A molecular dynamics simulation of the structure of ionic liquid (BMIM+/PF 6? )/rutile (110) interface

The interfacial structure between the room-temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIM+/PF6-) and rutile (110) surface is simulated by classical molecular dynam-ics simulation, aiming to model a crucial constituent of the electrolyte/semiconductor interface. The simulation results show several enhanced layers forming in the interfacial region, especially for the anions. A well ordered double layering structure of the ions is also observed in the interfacial region. The c...     

Use of stable isotopes as surrogates for radionuclides for security studies

During the past decade, interest has increased in qualifying and quantifying the threat posed to the public by the illegal use of radionuclides. In order to take investigations beyond the laboratory bench into more realistic scenarios, environmental and safety considerations dictate that these studies be performed on stable and benign surrogates. This paper discusses some of these studies, specifically the use of cerium dioxide for actinide ceramics and calcium and natural strontium ceramics for those based on ⁹⁰Sr.     

Molecular design of efficient white‐light‐emitting fluorene‐based copolymers by mixing singlet and triplet emission

A new strategy to realize efficient white‐light emission from a binary fluorene‐based copolymer (PF‐Phq) with the fluorene segment as a blue emitter and the iridium complex, 9‐iridium(III)bis(2‐(2‐phenyl‐quinoline‐N,C³′)(11,13‐tetradecanedionate))‐3,6‐carbazole (Phq), as a red emitter has been proposed and demonstrated. The photo‐ and electroluminescence properties of the PF‐Phq copolymers were investigated. White‐light emission with two bands of blue and red was achieved from the binary copolymers. The efficiency increased with increasing concentration of iridium complex, which resulted from its efficient phosphorescence emission and the weak phosphorescent quenching due to its lower triplet energy level than that of polyfluorene. In comparison with the binary copolymer, the efficiency and color purity of the ternary copolymers (PF‐Phq‐BT) were improved by introducing fluorescent green benzothiadiazole (BT) unit into polyfluorene backbone. This was ascribed to the exciton confinement of the benzothiadiazole unit, which allowed efficient singlet energy transfer from fluorene segment to BT unit and avoided the triplet quenching resulted from the higher triplet energy levels of phosphorescent green emitters than that of polyfluorene. The phosphorescence quenching is a key factor in the design of white light‐emitting polyfluorene with triplet emitter. It is shown that using singlet green and triplet red emitters is an efficient approach to reduce and even avoid the phosphorescence quenching in the fluorene‐based copolymers. The strategy to incorporate singlet green emitter to polyfluorene backbone and to attach triplet red species to the side chain is promising for white polymer light‐emitting diodes. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 453–463, 2008     

A grid‐like two‐dimensional AgI coordination polymer: poly[[[μ3‐N′‐(4‐cyanobenzylidene)isonicotinohydrazide]silver(I)] perchlorate]

This study presents new coordinating modes of a Schiff base with three coordinating groups and an interesting two‐dimensional framework based on two types of constructing units. In the title compound, {[Ag(C₁₄H₁₀N₄O)]ClO₄}_n, the Ag^I ion is coordinated by three N atoms and one O atom from three different N′‐(4‐cyanobenzylidene)isonicotinohydrazide (L) ligands, forming a primary distorted square‐planar coordination geometry. Two ligands each bridge two metal centres through one carbonitrile N atom in a monodentate mode and the hydrazide N and O atoms in a bidentate mode to form a small centrosymmetric (2+2)‐Ag₂L₂ ring as a principal constructing unit. The pyridyl N atoms from four ligands in four of these small rings coordinate to Ag atoms in adjacent rings to form a large hexanuclear silver grid. A two‐dimensional framework of rectangular grids is constructed from these small rings and large grids. Two perchlorate anions are located in each large grid and are bound to the grid by N—H...O hydrogen bonding. Crosslinking between the layers is achieved through long Ag...O interactions between the perchlorate anions and Ag atoms in adjacent layers.