Crystal field in RPdIn (R=Ce, Pr, Nd) compounds

The RPdIn compounds (R = rare earth) crystallise in the hexagonal ZrNiAl-type crystal structure. The compounds from this family exhibit a great variety of interesting magnetic properties including heavy fermion behaviour. In order to get a deeper insight into nature of magnetism of RPdIn with light rare earths elements (La–Nd) an inelastic neutron scattering experiment was performed. For compounds with Pr and Nd excitations due to crystal field were clearly distinguished. On the other hand, interesting behaviour for the CePdIn sample was observed. The sample exhibits no signs of crystal field excitations, likely due to highly delocalised Ce 4f states leading to its heavy fermion behaviour.     

New ordered MAX phase Mo_2 TiAlC_2: Elastic and electronic properties from first-principles

First-principles computation on the basis of density functional theory(DFT) is executed with the CASTEP code to explore the structural, elastic, and electronic properties along with Debye temperature and theoretical Vickers' hardness of newly discovered ordered MAX phase carbide Mo_2TiAlC_2. The computed structural parameters are very reasonable compared with the experimental results. The mechanical stability is verified by using the computed elastic constants. The brittleness of the compound is indicated by both the Poisson's and Pugh's ratios. The new MAX phase is capable of resisting the pressure and tension and also has the clear directional bonding between atoms. The compound shows significant elastic anisotropy. The Debye temperature estimated from elastic moduli(B, G) is found to be 413.6 K. The electronic structure indicates that the bonding nature of Mo_2TiAlC_2 is a mixture of covalent and metallic with few ionic characters. The electron charge density map shows a strong directional Mo–C–Mo covalent bonding associated with a relatively weak Ti–C bond.The calculated Fermi surface is due to the low-dispersive Mo 4d-like bands, which makes the compound a conductive one.The hardness of the compound is also evaluated and a high value of 9.01 GPa is an indication of its strong covalent bonding.     

New Prospective Ni-catalytic Materials

IR spectroscopy was applied to investigate the non-isothermal redox processes in Ni/NiO-gas phase system involving the elimination of CO₂. At the Curie temperature (T _c=633 K for Ni), a change in the mechanism of CO catalytic oxidation on NiO was observed. It was established by means of temperature-programmed desorption with mass-spectroscopic registration that fluctuations in the oxygen density on the NiO surface are generated at this temperature. Under the given chemical reaction conditions, these fluctuations bring about the formation of Ni microheterogeneity on the NiO surface. X-ray diffraction, electronic and magnetometric measurements were employed to determine the dimensions of the Ni particles. It was shown that an increase in the Ni dispersity in Ni/NiO may be responsible for an increased number of active surface sites. This was verified for the NiO/thermo-exfoliated graphite system. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Role and effective treatment of dispersive forces in materials: Polyethylene and graphite crystals as test cases

A semiempirical addition of dispersive forces to conventional density functionals (DFT-D) has been implemented into a pseudopotential plane-wave code. Test calculations on the benzene dimer reproduced the results obtained by using localized basis set, provided that the latter are corrected for the basis set superposition error. By applying the DFT-D/plane-wave approach a substantial agreement with experiments is found for the structure and energetics of polyethylene and graphite, two typical solids that are badly described by standard local and semilocal density functionals.     

Monte Carlo模拟负载型Au团簇的熔化行为

采用Monte Carlo方法研究了石墨负载Au团簇的熔化行为,着重考察了载体对负载型团簇结构的影响。建立了一个正二十面体的Au团簇和AB堆积的石墨载体,通过记录每一个状态的结构来研究团簇的熔化过程。模拟结果表明,随着温度的升高,Au原子从外到内,逐层熔化,形成二维岛状结构。Au与石墨载体之间的相互作用使得Au原子单层分散在石墨表面,相互作用越强,金属原子越靠近载体。     

Studies on the Synthesis and Characterization of Pd?TiO2?SiO2 Nanocomposite for Electroanalytical Applications

A nanocomposite of Pd? TiO₂? SiO₂ is developed through a sol‐gel process from the reaction products of titanium isopropoxide followed by mixing the same with palladium linked 3‐glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane. The reaction product is sonicated and calcinated to obtain the nanocomposite of Pd? TiO₂? SiO₂. The calcination at 600 °C yielded an amorphous structure whereas at 900 °C it resulted into a nanocrystalline structure. The nanocomposite of palladium was further characterized by TEM, XRD, IR and EDS. The material acts as an efficient electrocatalyst. Electrocatalysis of ascorbic acid is observed at 0.1 V vs. Ag/AgCl, shows linearity between 1 µM and 1 mM in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0).     

Effectiveness of linearization of calibration curves in Zeeman graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A theoretical analysis is made of the effect of analytical line broadening and of non-absorbable radiation in the light source on the shape of concentration curves in Zeeman graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. These results have been used in a systematic study of the effect of spectrometer slit width and hollow-cathode lamp (HCL) current on linearization of calibration graphs for 11 elements: Ag, Au, Bi, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Sb. The effectiveness of linearization throughout the analytical range covered was estimated experimentally on series of 25–30 solutions. Three solutions in each series were used as standards for constructing the calibration graph, the others serving to evaluate the linearization effectiveness. Increasing the slit width and decreasing the HCL current compared to the standard measurement conditions have permitted us to reach a sufficiently high effectiveness of linearization for all the elements studied, with the exception of Ni. The maximum deviation of experimental points from the linear graph under optimum conditions does not exceed 6%. The effect of the Δ parameter used in the computational algorithm on linearization effectiveness is investigated.     

石墨与聚苯乙烯的纳米复合过程研究

石墨具有电导率高、化学稳定性好等优点 ,被广泛应用于聚合物 石墨复合导电材料[1～ 3] .石墨作为聚合物导电填料一般以粉末形态居多 .用粉末状石墨填料往往需要较高的填充量才能得到理想的导电性能 .石墨也可以制备成膨胀石墨 ,将它与聚合物复合 ,可以大幅度降低石墨的填充量 .如一般粉末状石墨填料与聚合物复合制备的导电材料其逾渗阀值为 1 5 %～ 2 0 % ,电导率达到 1 0 -4 ～1 0 -7Ｓ ｃｍ[4 ] ;而若采用膨胀石墨方法 ,逾渗阀值则低于 3% ,电导率可达到 1 0 -2 Ｓ ｃｍ以上[5～ 7] .Ｐａｎ等[7] 报道用膨胀石墨与聚合物复合得到纳米复合…     

蒙脱石-石墨-聚氯乙烯复合电极的研制

化学修饰电极自1975年正式问世以来^[1],经过多年的不断发展,现已出现了许多修饰方法^[2];如表面吸附法,聚合物薄膜法,共价键合法等。这些方法虽在一定程度上改善了修饰电极的表面结构,提高了电极的灵敏度和选择性,但由于此类修饰都是在电极表面附上一层修饰剂,容易因修饰层不牢而脱落,或修饰厚度不均匀而影响电极的性能,近年来出现了组合法制作碳糊电极^[3]及蒙脱石修饰碳糊电极^[4]的研究,但由于碳糊及其修饰电极存在电极表面柔软的缺点而使其生理性,稳定性欠佳,本文用聚氯乙烯作粘合剂,在其融状态下,将石墨和蒙脱石混合,加压,冷却制成复合电极,该复合电极用于苯酚测定时,表现出良好的稳定性,重现性和催化效果,并克服了蒙脱石修饰碳糊电极稳定性,重现性差的缺点。