Electrochemical characterization of poly(vinylidenefluoride)-zinc triflate gel polymer electrolyte and its application in solid-state zinc batteries

Gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) films comprising of poly(vinylidenefluoride), propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate and zinc trifluoromethane sulfonate are prepared and characterized. The composition of GPE is optimized to contain minimum liquid components with a maximum specific conductivity of 3.94×10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at (25±1) °C. A detailed investigation on the properties such as ionic conductivity, transport number, electrochemical stability window, reversibility of Zn/Zn²⁺ couple and Zn/gel electrolyte interfacial stability have been carried out. The ionic conductivity follows a VTF behaviour with an activation energy of about 0.0014 eV. Cationic transport number varies from 0.51 at 25 °C to 0.18 at 70 °C. Several cells have been assembled with GPE as the electrolyte, zinc as the anode, γ-MnO₂ as the cathode and their charge–discharge behaviour followed. Capacity values of 105, 82, 64 and 37 mAh/g of MnO₂ have been achieved at 10, 50, 100 and 200 μA/cm² discharge current densities, respectively. The discharge capacity values are almost constant for about 55 cycles for all values of current densities. Cyclic voltammetric study of MnO₂ electrode in Zn/GPE/MnO₂ cell clearly shows intercalation/deintercalation of Zn²⁺.     

Luminescence enhancement by hydrogenation of Si:Er,O

Erbium (Er)- and oxygen (O)-doped Cz–Si was additionally doped with hydrogen, using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show a large enhancement especially for samples treated with solid phase epitaxy before hydrogenation and annealing at 900°C later. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements give evidence for an enhanced diffusion of O and Er at this temperature towards the surface. Etching shows that the PL does not stem from the heavily doped surface layer but from a deeper region with lower Er concentration. This conclusion is supported by the appearance of the so-called “cubic” centre with low solubility. Comparing the PL yield of the hydrogenated samples to that of samples with similar Er volume concentration but without hydrogenation still gives a large enhancement. We thus conclude that hydrogen can enhance the solubility of the cubic centre in Si:Er,O.     

Low noise double pass L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier

A new double pass long wavelength band erbium-doped fiber amplifier with enhanced noise figure characteristics is demonstrated. The noise figure is improved by about 2.6 dB with the incorporation of broadband conventional-band fiber Bragg grating (FBG) in between the two segments of erbium-doped fiber. By incorporating both the pre-amplifier and the FBG, the noise figure is further improved, which varies from 4.0 to 5.0 dB in the flat gain region from 1570 to 1600 nm. The gain varies from 32.0 to 33.4 dB within this region. The new amplifier with high gain and low noise figure can be useful as an inline amplifier in a wavelength division multiplexing transmission system.     

Evaluation of Polycation-Stabilized Lactate Oxidase in a Silica Sol–Gel as a Biosensor Platform

 Whereas glucose oxidase and related proteins are encapsulated readily in silica sol–gels, α-hydroxy enzymes such as lactate oxidase (LOx), are reported to be damaged by electrostatic interaction with these matrices. Based on a previous report, poly(ethyleneimine), PEI, was evaluated as a protecting compound under conditions suited to analytical measurements. With LOx and PEI co-encapsulated in a silica sol–gel, the enzyme retained 62% of its initial activity after 20 days. In the absence of PEI, activity was lost during the processing. Batch analytical measurements with enzyme-doped sol–gel yielded a linear response over the range 0.5–2.0 mM lactate and a detection limit of 0.03 mM lactate. Both simple incorporation of LOx in a silica sol–gel and an alternative protection method, blocking the ion-exchange sites on silica with La(III), failed. These negative results supported the hypothesis that the efficacy of PEI was related to its formation of a protective sheath around the enzyme. Author for correspondence. E-mail: coxja@muohio.edu Received July 29, 2002; accepted December 15, 2002 Published online May 19, 2003     

Transition‐metal‐catalyzed reactions of 5‐methylene‐2‐oxazolidinone and 5‐methylene‐1,3‐thiazolidine‐2‐thione with isocyanates

5‐Methylene‐2‐oxazolidinone (1) and 5‐methylene‐1,3‐thiazolidine‐2‐thione (4) react with various isocyanates to give the corresponding urethanes 3 and 5 in high yields in the presence of palladium(0) or palladium(II) catalyst under mild reaction conditions. A mechanism is proposed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wave function mapping of self-assembled quantum dots by capacitance spectroscopy

We use frequency-dependent capacitance–voltage spectroscopy to study the dynamic charging of self-assembled InAs quantum dots. With increasing frequency, the AC charging becomes suppressed, beginning with the low-energy states. By applying an in-plane magnetic field, we generate an additional magnetic confinement that alters the tunneling barrier and hence the charging dynamics. In traveling through the potential barrier, the electrons acquire an additional momentum k₀, proportional to the magnetic field B. As the tunneling is enhanced, when k₀ matches the maximum of the electronic wave function Ψ (in momentum representation), we are able to map out the shape of Ψ by varying B.     

Optical spectroscopy of single InAs/InP quantum dots around λ=1.55 μm

We discuss the preparation and spectroscopic characterisation of a single InAs/InP quantum dot suitable for long-distance quantum key distribution applications around λ=1.55 μm. The dot is prepared using a site-selective growth technique which allows a single dot to be deposited in isolation at a controlled spatial location. Micro-photoluminescence measurements as a function of exciton occupation are used to determine the electronic structure of the dot. Biexciton emission, shell filling and many-body re-normalization effects are observed for the first time in single InAs/InP quantum dots.     

Metallization of U3O8via catalytic electrochemical reduction with Li2O in LiCl molten salt

The concept of a novel electrochemical reduction process for the treatment of spent nuclear fuels in Li₂O-LiCl molten salt was proposed and fresh tests using U₃O₈ powder were carried out to elucidate the reaction mechanism and verify the feasibility of the process. Electrolysis of Li₂O and reduction of U₃O₈ powder took place simultaneously at the cathode part of the electrolysis cell via a catalytic EC mechanism and the conversion of U₃O₈ to U metal was more than 99%. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

质子化丙酮分子团簇的结构和振动光谱

用密度泛函B3LYP/ 6 3 1G(d)方法 ,对质子化丙酮分子团簇 (CH3COCH3) nH+ (n =1～ 7)弱相互作用体系进行了全自由度能量梯度优化 ,得到了该系列团簇的稳定结构及其对应的体系能量 .通过对构型的分析得出了质子化丙酮分子团簇 (CH3COCH3) nH+ (n =1～ 7)的生长规律 .计算了中性丙酮分子团簇体系的质子亲合能并总结出其变化趋势 .分析讨论了质子化团簇的红外振动光谱 ,发现质子化团簇的振动光谱普遍较中性环型团簇的振动光谱复杂 ,最强的振动峰来源于质子在溶剂壳中两个氧原子之间的振动 ,而且随着团簇尺寸的增加羰基的伸缩振动峰的数目也随之增多     

Inner Radius of Univalence for a Strongly Starlike Domain

 The inner radius of univalence of a domain D with Poincaré density ρ _D is the possible largest number σ such that the condition ∥ S _f ∥ _D  = sup _{w∈ D} ρ _D (w) ⁻²∥ S _f (z) ∥ ≤ σ implies univalence of f for a nonconstant meromorphic function f on D, where S _f is the Schwarzian derivative of f. In this note, we give a lower bound of the inner radius of univalence for strongly starlike domains of order α in terms of the order α. The author was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists, 11740088. A part of this work was carried out during his visit to the University of Helsinki under the exchange programme of scientists between the Academy of Finland and the JSPS. Received November 26, 2001; in revised form September 24, 2002 Published online May 9, 2003