A convenient method for the synthesis of roflumilast

A convenient synthetic method has been developed for the synthesis of roflumilast from 4-difluoromethoxy-3-hydroxybenzaldehyde and bromomethyl cyclopropane via O-alkylation, oxidation and N-acylation. With sodium hydroxide as alkali in the last step, the total yield of roflumilast can be up to 68.3 % and the purity of the target product reached 99.2 %. It was obvious that sodium hydroxide showed more economic advantage for scale-up production than sodium hydride or potassium tert-butoxide.     

Scalable One‐Step Wet‐Spinning of Graphene Fibers and Yarns from Liquid Crystalline Dispersions of Graphene Oxide: Towards Multifunctional Textiles

Key points in the formation of liquid crystalline (LC) dispersions of graphene oxide (GO) and their processability via wet‐spinning to produce long lengths of micrometer‐dimensional fibers and yarns are addressed. Based on rheological and polarized optical microscopy investigations, a rational relation between GO sheet size and polydispersity, concentration, liquid crystallinity, and spinnability is proposed, leading to an understanding of lyotropic LC behavior and fiber spinnability. The knowledge gained from the straightforward formulation of LC GO “inks” in a range of processable concentrations enables the spinning of continuous conducting, strong, and robust fibers at concentrations as low as 0.075 wt%, eliminating the need for relatively concentrated spinning dope dispersions. The dilute LC GO dispersion is proven to be suitable for fiber spinning using a number of coagulation strategies, including non‐solvent precipitation, dispersion destabilization, ionic cross‐linking, and polyelectrolyte complexation. One‐step continuous spinning of graphene fibers and yarns is introduced for the first time by in situ spinning of LC GO in basic coagulation baths (i.e., NaOH or KOH), eliminating the need for post‐treatment processes. The thermal conductivity of these graphene fibers is found to be much higher than polycrystalline graphite and other types of 3D carbon based materials.     

Tribological properties of multilayer nanostructure TiO2 thin film doped by SiO2

Multilayer of TiO₂ and TiO₂:SiO₂ thin films were grown on a glass substrate by sol?Cgel processes, followed by high temperature treatment at 500?°C. The fine grained TiO₂ films controlled by SiO₂ dopant showed very good wear resistance and endurance life. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used to indicate the elements in the films. X-ray diffraction analyses indicated that TiO₂ and TiO₂:SiO₂ film contain only anatase phase. The morphologies of the original and worn surfaces of the samples were analyzed by means of scanning tunneling microscope and scanning electron microscopy. The tribological properties of TiO₂ and TiO₂:SiO₂ thin films sliding against AISI52100 steel pin were evaluated on a pin on disk friction and wear tester. The results showed that 25-layer TiO₂:SiO₂ films are superior in reducing friction and resisting wear compared with the glass substrate.     

He-O2高气压下电容耦合辉光放电数值分析

采用一维的等离子体流体力学模型研究了氦气-氧气高气压下电容耦合放电过程。分别给出了间隙为1.6,2.4和3.2 mm时外加电压的有效值与放电电流有效值特征曲线,并与已有的实验数据作对比,结果表明计算得到的电压-电流特征曲线与实验数据符合得很好。研究发现：氦气-氧气高气压下电容耦合放电过程中荷质比较大的离子在鞘层中的分布随着外电场的变化而变化,而荷质比较小的粒子在整个放电区域基本不随外电场变化而变化;同时杂质形成正负离子在主等离子体区域两端出现了峰值。     

Transition between amorphous and crystalline phases of SiC deposited on Si substrate using H3SiCH3

This paper presents a study of the transition between amorphous and crystalline phases of SiC films deposited on Si(1 0 0) substrate using H₃SiCH₃ as a single precursor by a conventional low-pressure chemical vapor deposition method in a hot-wall reactor. The microstructure of SiC, characterized by X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, is found to vary with substrate temperature and H₃SiCH₃ pressure. The grain size decreases with increasing MS pressure at a given temperature and also decreases with reducing temperature at a given MS pressure. The deposition rates are exponentially dependent on the substrate temperature with the activation energy of around 2.6 eV. The hydrogen compositional concentration in the deposited SiC films, determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling, is only 2.9% in the nanocrystalline SiC but more than 10% in the amorphous SiC, decreasing greatly with increasing deposition temperature. No hydride bonds are detected by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements. The chemical order of the deposited SiC films improves with increasing deposition temperature.     

New high-pressures vapor-liquid equilibrium data for the carbon dioxide + 2-methyl-1-propanol (isobutanol) binary system

New vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) data at 333.15, 343.15, and 353.15 K and pressures up to 130.0 bar are reported for the carbon dioxide + 2-methyl-1-propanol (isobutanol) system. The experimental method used in this work was a static analytical method with liquid and vapor phases sampling using a rapid online sampler injector (ROLSITM) coupled to a gas chromatograph (GC) for analysis. Measured VLE data and literature data for carbon dioxide + 2-methyl-1-propanol system were modeled with the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) cubic equation of state with classical van der Waals (two-parameter conventional mixing rule, 2PCMR) mixing rules. A single set of interaction parameters that lead to a correct phase behavior was used in this work to model the new VLE data and critical points of the mixtures in a wide range of temperature and pressure. The SRK prediction results were compared to the new data measured in this study and to available literature data.

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Y2O3 Nanoparticles and X-ray Radiation-Induced Effects in Melanoma Cells

The innovative strategy of using nanoparticles in radiotherapy has become an exciting topic due to the possibility of simultaneously improving local efficiency of radiation in tumors and real-time monitoring of the delivered doses. Yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃) nanoparticles (NPs) are used in material science to prepare phosphors for various applications including X-ray induced photodynamic therapy and in situ nano-dosimetry, but few available reports only addressed the effect induced in cells by combined exposure to different doses of superficial X-ray radiation and nanoparticles. Herein, we analyzed changes induced in melanoma cells by exposure to different doses of X-ray radiation and various concentrations of Y₂O₃ NPs. By evaluation of cell mitochondrial activity and production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), we estimated that 2, 4, and 6 Gy X-ray radiation doses are visibly altering the cells by inducing ROS production with increasing the dose while at 6 Gy the mitochondrial activity is also affected. Separately, high-concentrated solutions of 25, 50, and 100 µg/mL Y₂O₃ NPs were also found to affect the cells by inducing ROS production with the increase of concentration. Additionally, the colony-forming units assay evidenced a rather synergic effect of NPs and radiation. By adding the NPs to cells before irradiation, a decrease of the number of proliferating cell colonies was observed with increase of X-ray dose. DNA damage was evidenced by quantifying the γ-H2AX foci for cells treated with Y₂O₃ NPs and exposed to superficial X-ray radiation. Proteomic profile confirmed that a combined effect of 50 µg/mL Y₂O₃ NPs and 6 Gy X-ray dose induced mitochondria alterations and DNA changes in melanoma cells.     

Rational Chebyshev collocation method for the similarity solution of two dimensional stagnation point flow

In this study, we propose an efficient and accurate numerical technique that is called the rational Chebyshev collocation (RCC) method to solve the two dimensional flow of a viscous fluid in the vicinity of a stagnation point named Hiemenz flow. The Navier-Stokes equations governing the flow, are reduced to a third-order ordinary differential equation of a boundary value problem with a semi-infinite domain by using similarity transformation. The rational Chebyshev method reduces this nonlinear ordinary differential equation to a system of algebraic equations. This technique is a powerful type of the collocation methods for solving the boundary value problems over a semi-infinite interval without truncating it to a finite domain. We also present the comparison of this work with others and show that the present method is more accurate and efficient.     

Engineering Route for Stretchable, 3D Microarchitectures of Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Biomedical Applications

Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have attracted significant research interest for the development of a broad range of flexible electronic applications, including wearable sensors, soft logical circuits, and long-term implanted neuromodulators. Conventionally, these materials are grown on standard silicon substrates, and then transferred onto soft polymers using mechanical stamping processes. This technique can retain the excellent electrical properties of wide bandgap materials after transfer and enables flexibility; however, most devices are constrained by 2D configurations that exhibit limited mechanical stretchability and morphologies compared with 3D biological systems. Herein, a stamping-free micromachining process is presented to realize, for the first time, 3D flexible and stretchable wide bandgap electronics. The approach applies photolithography on both sides of free-standing nanomembranes, which enables the formation of flexible architectures directly on standard silicon wafers to tailor the optical transparency and mechanical properties of the material. Subsequent detachment of the flexible devices from the support substrate and controlled mechanical buckling transforms the 2D precursors of wide band gap semiconductors into complex 3D mesoscale structures. The ability to fabricate wide band gap materials with 3D architectures that offer device-level stretchability combined with their multi-modal sensing capability will greatly facilitate the establishment of advanced 3D bio-electronics interfaces.     

Natural convection of a non-Newtonian ferrofluid in a porous elliptical enclosure in the presence of a non-uniform magnetic field

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In the present study, laminar natural convection of a non-Newtonian ferrofluid inside an elliptical porous cavity was numerically simulated in the...