Evidence of Organic Luminescent Centers in Sol–Gel‐Synthesized Yttrium Aluminum Borate Matrix Leading to Bright Visible Emission

Yttrium aluminum borate (YAB) powders prepared by sol–gel process have been investigated to understand their photoluminescence (PL) mechanism. The amorphous YAB powders exhibit bright visible PL from blue emission for powders calcined at 450 °C to broad white PL for higher calcination temperature. Thanks to ¹³C labelling, NMR and EPR studies show that propionic acid initially used to solubilize the yttrium nitrate is decomposed into aromatic molecules confined within the inorganic matrix. DTA‐TG‐MS analyses show around 2 wt % of carbogenic species. The PL broadening corresponds to the apparition of a new band at 550 nm, associated with the formation of aromatic species. Furthermore, pulsed ENDOR spectroscopy combined with DFT calculations enables us to ascribe EPR spectra to free radicals derived from small (2 to 3 rings) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). PAH molecules are thus at the origin of the PL as corroborated by slow afterglow decay and thermoluminescence experiments.     

Application of parameter differentiation for flow of a third grade fluid past an infinite porous plate

This article investigates the analytic solution for the flow of a third grade fluid past an infinite porous plate. The method of parameter differentiation is used to linearized the governing flow equation. The solution of the obtained linear equation is developed by differential transform method in combination with the method of superposition. The obtained results are compared with existing results in the literature and an excellent agreement is found. This shows that the parameter differentiation is a powerful technique for solving nonlinear problems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2010