Electrical conductivity and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured thin film

The electrical conductivity, structural and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured semiconductor thin film prepared by sol-gel spin coating method have been investigated. The X-ray diffraction result indicates that the ZnO film has the polycrystalline nature with average grain size of 28 nm. The optical transmittance spectrum indicates the average transmittance higher than 90% in visible region. The optical band gap, Urbach energy and optical constants (refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant) of the film were determined. The electrical conductivity of the film dependence of temperature was measured to identify the dominant conductivity mechanism. The conductivity mechanism of the film is the thermally activated band conduction. The electrical conductivity and optical results revealed that the ZnO film is an n-type nanostructured semiconductor with a direct band gap of about 3.30 eV at room temperature.     

Self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayered films on Nafion with lowered methanol cross-over for DMFC applications

The paper is concerned with the deposition of self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayer on Nafion membrane by layer-by-layer (LbL) technique with lowered methanol cross-over for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. The formation of self-assembled multilayered film on Nafion was characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy and it was found that the polyelectrolyte layers growth on the Nafion surface regularly. Furthermore, the proton conductivity and methanol cross-over measurements were carried out for characterization of the LbL self-assembled composite membranes. The results showed that the concentration and pH of the polyelectrolytes significantly affect the proton conductivity and methanol barrier properties of the composite membranes. 10⁻¹ monomol polyelectrolyte concentration and pH 1.8 was found to be optimum deposition conditions considering proton conductivity and methanol permeation properties of the LbL self-assembled composite membranes. The methanol permeability of the 10 bi-layers of PAH1.8/PSS1.8 deposited LbL self-assembly composite membrane was significantly suppressed and found to be 4.41 × 10⁻⁷ cm²/s while the proton conductivity value is in acceptable range for fuel cell applications.     

Energy Fluctuation of Ideal Fermi Gas Trapped under Generic Power Law Potential U=Σ_(i=1)~d c_i|x_i/a_i|~(n_i) in d Dimensions

Energy fluctuation of ideal Fermi gas trapped under generic power law potential U=Σ_(i=1)~d c_i|x_i/a_i|~(n_i) has been calculated in arbitrary dimensions.Energy fluctuation is scrutinized further in the degenerate limit μK_B T with the help of Sommerfeld expansion.The dependence of energy fluctuation on dimensionality and power law potential is studied in detail.Most importantly our general result can not only exactly reproduce the recently published result regarding free and harmonically trapped ideal Fermi gas in d =3 but also can describe the outcome for any power law potential in arbitrary dimension.     

Non-isothermal Permeability Impairment by Fines Migration and Deposition in Porous Media including Dispersive Transport

Particle migration and deposition, and resulting permeability impairment occurring in porous media are described by a practical phenomenological model considering temperature variation and particle transport by advection and dispersion. Variation of the filter coefficient and permeability of porous matrix by temperature and particle deposition, and other essential factors are considered by means of the special correlations of the relevant variables and dimensionless numbers. Comparison of the numerical results, obtained using a finite-difference numerical scheme with and without considering the dispersion mechanism and temperature variation, reveals the significance of such effects on fines migration and deposition, and consequent permeability impairment in porous media. Improved model presented in this article can be instrumental for scientifically guided experimentation, analysis, and optimal design of processes involving in transport of colloidal and fine particles through geological subsurface formations.     

Structural, morphological and optical properties of CuAlS2 films deposited by spray pyrolysis method

The structural, morphological and optical properties of CuAlS₂ films deposited by spray pyrolysis method have been investigated. CuAlS₂ in the form of films is prepared at different deposition conditions by a simple and economical spray pyrolysis method. The structural, surface morphology and optical properties of the films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and absorbance spectra, respectively. The films were polycrystalline, crystallized in a tetragonal structure, and are preferentially orientated along the (1 1 2) direction. Grain size values, dislocation density, and d% error of CuAlS₂ films were calculated. The optical band gap of the CuAlS₂ film was found to be 3.45 eV. The optical constants such as refractive index, extinction coefficient and dielectric constants of the CuAlS₂ film were determined. The refractive index dispersion curve of the film obeys the single oscillator model. Optical dispersion parameters E_o and E_d developed by Wemple-DiDomenico were calculated and found to be 3.562 and 12.590 eV.     

Intramolecular general acid catalysis of phosphate transfer. nucleophilic attack by oxyanions on the PO3 2- group

Phosphate transfer from the 8-dimethylammonium-naphthyl-1-phosphate monoanion 4m to water and to a range of nucleophiles shows general acid catalysis by the neighboring NH(+) group, through the strong intramolecular hydrogen bond. Reactivity is insensitive to the charge on the nucleophile, so that fluoride and oxyanions displace dimethylaminonaphthol from the PO3(2-) group as effectively as do amines of the same basicity. Reactivity is (predictably) relatively insensitive to the basicity of the nucleophile and to the alpha-effect. A strong intramolecular hydrogen bond is present in the product, but also in the reactant, as evidenced by major perturbations in the pK(a)'s of the phosphate and dimethylamino groups, to 3.94 and 9.31, respectively, and by ab initio calculations. Rate accelerations are of the order of 10(6)-fold despite this stabilization: the strength of the hydrogen bond is evidently significantly enhanced in the transition state. The evidence suggests that it also depends remarkably strongly on the degree of ionization of the reacting phosphate group and will be significantly reduced for the neutral PO(OH)2 group. Thus, the hydrolysis of the substrate cation 4+ shows a correspondingly greater, >10(8)-fold acceleration.     

Nucleophilic attack by oxyanions on a phosphate monoester dianion: the positive effect of a cationic general Acid

The two negative charges on a phosphate monoester RO-PO32- at neutral pH provide a considerable electrostatic barrier toward reactions with nucleophilic reagents with a negative charge on the attacking atom. Electrostatic repulsion disappears when the hydrolysis of an aryl phosphate monoester is catalyzed by a neighboring cationic general acid. The hydrolysis of 8-dimethylammonium-1-phosphate (1) is catalyzed by oxyanions, fluoride anion, and hydroxylamines at similar rates.     

Determination of environmentally important metal ions by fluorescence quenching in anionic micellar solution

This work describes the effect of a variety of metal ions as quenchers of the fluorescence of naphthalene, in aqueous micellar solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The quenching by the metal ions can be adequately described by the Stern-Volmer equation and the best signal to noise ratios are obtained with low micellized detergent concentrations. Apparent Stern-Volmer constants decrease in the order: Fe3+ > Cu2+ > Pb2+ > Cr3+ > Ni2+ and directly reflect the relative sensitivity of the method for these ions. Detection limits (defined as three times the standard deviation of the blank for n= 10) for the fluorescence quenching of naphthalene by the metal ions in aqueous micellar SDS are in the range of 1.0 x 10(-6) to 1.0 x 10(-5) mol dm(-3). The proposed fluorescence quenching method shows good repeatibility for a variety of added quencher metal ions, indicating that anionic micelle-enhanced fluorescence quenching by metal ions constitutes an analytical method of rather general application.     

Facile Synthesis and Characterization of 5-[(3-Methylthiophene-2-yl-methyleneamino)]-2-mercaptobenzimidazole and Its Potentiometric Sensor Application in a Polyvinyl Chloride Membrane for the Determination of Copper(II)

A novel Schiff base designated as 5-[(3-methylthiophene-2-yl-methyleneamino)]-2-mercaptobenzimidazole was synthesized and characterized. A polyvinyl chloride-membrane potentiometric copper(II)-selective sensor was prepared by using the synthesized 5-[(3-methylthiophene-2-yl-methyleneamino)]-2-mercaptobenzimidazole compound. The prepared polyvinyl chloride-membrane copper(II)-selective sensor exhibited very good selectivity and sensitive potentiometric response towards copper(II) ions compared to a wide variety of other cations. The sensor had a fast response time of <5?s, and showed a linear Nerstian behavior to copper(II) ions over a wide concentration range from 1.0?×?10^?5 to 1.0?×?10^?1 mol L^?1 with a slope of 29.2?±?0.7 and correlation coefficient of 0.9998. The prepared polyvinyl chloride-membrane copper(II)-selective sensor was used for 14 weeks without any significant change in its potentiometric response. The potentiometric response of the developed sensor was highly repeatable. Additionally, the developed sensor was used as an indicator electrode for the potentiometric titration of copper(II) ion with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The sensor was also successfully applied to the direct determination of copper(II) ions in tap water, river water, and dam water samples.     

Fixed-point analysis of a network of routers with persistent TCP/UDP flows and class-based weighted fair queuing

Fixed-point models have already been successfully used to analytically study networks consisting of persistent TCP flows only, or mixed TCP/UDP flows with a single queue per link and differentiated buffer management for these two types of flows. In the current study, we propose a nested fixed-point analytical method to obtain the throughput of persistent TCP and UDP flows in a network of routers supporting class-based weighted fair queuing allowing the use of separate queues for each class. In particular, we study the case of two classes where one of the classes uses drop-tail queue management and is intended for only UDP traffic. The other class targeting TCP, but also allowing UDP traffic for the purpose of generality, is assumed to employ active queue management. The effectiveness of the proposed analytical method is validated in terms of accuracy using ns-3 simulations and the required computational effort.