Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of Pd–Pt/carbon nanotubes nanocomposites for enhanced electro-oxidation of ethanol and methanol in alkaline medium

Herein, a facile ultrasonic-assisted strategy was proposed to fabricate the Pd–Pt alloy/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Pd–Pt/CNTs) nanocomposites. A good number of Pd–Pt alloy nanoparticles with an average of 3.4 ± 0.5 nm were supported on sidewalls of CNTs with uniform distribution. The composition of the Pd–Pt/CNTs nanocomposites could also be easily controlled, which provided a possible approach for the preparation of other architectures with anticipated properties. The Pd–Pt/CNTs nanocomposites were extensively studied by electron microscopy, induced coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and applied for the ethanol and methanol electro-oxidation reaction in alkaline medium. The electrochemical results indicated that the nanocomposites had better electrocatalytic activities and stabilities, showing promising applications for fuel cells.     

Sonocatalytic injury of cancer cells attached on the surface of a nickel–titanium dioxide alloy plate

The present study demonstrates ultrasound-induced cell injury using a nickel–titanium dioxide (Ni–TiO₂) alloy plate as a sonocatalyst and a cell culture surface. Ultrasound irradiation of cell-free Ni–TiO₂ alloy plates with 1 MHz ultrasound at 0.5 W/cm² for 30 s led to an increased generation of hydroxyl (OH) radicals compared to nickel–titanium (Ni–Ti) control alloy plates with and without ultrasound irradiation. When human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 cells) cultured on the Ni–TiO₂ alloy plates were irradiated with 1 MHz ultrasound at 0.5 W/cm² for 30 s and then incubated for 48 h, cell density on the alloy plate was reduced to approximately 50% of the controls on the Ni–Ti alloy plates with and without ultrasound irradiation. These results indicate the injury of MCF-7 cells following sonocatalytic OH radical generation by Ni–TiO₂. Further experiments demonstrated cell shrinkage and chromatin condensation after ultrasound irradiation of MCF-7 cells attached on the Ni–TiO₂ alloy plates, indicating induction of apoptosis.     

Cooperative spectrum sharing MIMO systems with successive decoding

A spectrum sharing system with primary and secondary nodes, each equipped with an arbitrary number of antennas, is investigated. Particularly, the outage performance of an underlay cognitive system is analytically studied, in the case when the end-to-end ($e2e$) communication is established via an intermediate relay node. To better enhance the $e2e$ communication, successive interference cancellation (SIC) is adopted, which compensates for both the transmission power constraint and the presence of interference from primary nodes. Both the relay and secondary receiver perform unordered SIC to successively decode the multiple streams, whereas the decode-and-forward relaying protocol is used for the $e2e$ communication. New closed-form expressions for the $e2e$ outage performance of each transmitted stream are derived in terms of finite sum series of the Tricomi confluent hypergeometric function. In addition, simplified yet tight approximations for the asymptotic outage performance are obtained. Useful engineering insights are manifested, such as the diversity order of the considered system and the impact of interference from the primary nodes in conjunction with the constrained transmission power of the secondary nodes.     

ECM and SAGE based joint estimation of timing and frequency offset for DMIMO–OFDM system

Distributed multiple-input multiple-output (DMIMO) technology is a key enabler of coverage extension and enhancement of link reliability in wireless networks through distributed spatial diversity. DMIMO employs classic relay channels in between the source and the destination to opportunistically form a virtual antenna array (VAA) for emulating cooperative diversity. Use of multiple antennas at the relays further increases capacity and reliability of the relay–destination channel through multiplexing and diversity of MIMO antennas respectively. In such network, the signal received at the destination is characterized by multiple timing offsets (MTO) due to different propagation delay and multiple carrier frequency offsets (MCFO) due to independent oscillators of the relays. Hence, synchronization becomes a crucial issue in DMIMO in order to realize the distributed coherence. In this paper, we address joint estimation of MCFO and MTO in DMIMO orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with MIMO configuration at the relays for estimate-and-forward (EF) relaying protocol. Two iterative algorithms, based on expectation conditional maximization (ECM) and space alternating generalized expectation–maximization (SAGE) are proposed for joint estimation in presence of inter carrier interference (ICI). The robustness of both the estimators to ICI is evaluated by mathematical analysis and supported by extensive simulations. The performance of the proposed estimators is assessed in terms of mean square error (MSE) and bit error rate (BER). The theoretical Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB) of estimator error variance is also derived.     

A waveguide high-pass filter system for measuring the spectrum of pulsed terahertz sources

We propose a system for measuring spectra of terahertz (THz) pulses, including single pulses, which is based on high-pass filters (HPFs). The system consists of channels for measuring amplitudes of pulses (initial pulses and those transmitted via HPFs with different cutoff frequencies) and an algorithm for processing of the obtained data. The pulse spectrum is restored by using the iteration method or the amplitude–frequency method. The iteration method of spectrum restoration is applicable in the range of THz pulse durations from 10⁻⁹ s to 10⁻⁷ s. The amplitude–frequency method is applicable to THz pulses with durations exceeding 10⁻⁸ s. The system for measuring of THz pulse spectra was simulated by using the characteristics of specially developed waveguide HPFs. The relative simulation error of determining the central frequency by the amplitude–frequency method is equal to 2 · 10⁻⁶ for THz pulse durations of 10⁻⁵ s and longer.     

InGaAsP/InP photodetectors targeting on 1.06 μm wavelength detection

InP-based InGaAsP photodetectors targeting on 1.06 μm wavelength detection have been grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy and demonstrated. For the detector with 200 μm mesa diameter, the dark current at 10 mV reverse bias and R₀A are 8.89 pA (2.2 × 10⁻⁸ A/cm²) and 3.9 × 10⁵ Ω cm² at room temperature. The responsivity and detectivity of the InGaAsP detector are 0.30 A/W and 1.45 × 10¹² cm Hz^1/2 W⁻¹ at 1.06 μm wavelength. Comparing to the reference In_0.53Ga_0.47As detector, the dark current of this InGaAsP detector is about 570 times lower and the detectivity is more than ten times higher, which agrees well with the theoretical estimation.     

An ignition-temperature model with two free interfaces in premixed flames†

In this paper we consider an ignition-temperature zero-order reaction model of thermo-diffusive combustion. This model describes the dynamics of thick flames, which have recently received considerable attention in the physical and engineering literature. The model admits a unique (up to translations) planar travelling wave solution. This travelling wave solution is quite different from those usually studied in combustion theory. The main qualitative feature of this travelling wave is that it has two interfaces: the ignition interface where the ignition temperature is attained and the trailing interface where the concentration of deficient reactants reaches zero. We give a new mathematical framework for studying the cellular instability of such travelling front solutions. Our approach allows the analysis of a free boundary problem to be converted into the analysis of a boundary value problem having a fully nonlinear system of parabolic equations. The latter is very suitable for both mathematical and numerical analysis. We prove the existence of a critical Lewis number such that the travelling wave solution is stable for values of Lewis number below the critical one and is unstable for Lewis numbers that exceed this critical value. Finally, we discuss the results of numerical simulations of a fully nonlinear system that describes the perturbation dynamics of planar fronts. These simulations reveal, in particular, some very interesting ‘two-cell’ steady patterns of curved combustion fronts.     

Synthesis of tunable core–shell nanostructures based on TiO2-graphene architectures and their application in the photodegradation of rhodamine dyes

We present the synthesis of core–shell nanostructural materials with multi-component architectures based on TiO₂ and graphitic layers. The composites have been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition with methane as the carbon source, for 5, 10, 30 and 45 min. The final products were characterized by a combination of analytical approaches which include: electron microscopy, Raman, FT-IR and UV–vis spectroscopy as well as thermogravimetric analysis. The amount of graphene shells covering the TiO₂ surfaces was found to vary linearly with the reaction time. Furthermore, the compounds were shown to have excellent stability and photocatalytic activity towards the UV degradation of rhodamine (RhB) dye solution at room temperature. These composites could have major applications in the area of environmental cleaning of various pollutants, electrochemistry or nanomedicine.     

Multiple mobility edges in a 1D Aubry chain with Hubbard interaction in presence of electric field: Controlled electron transport

Electronic behavior of a 1D Aubry chain with Hubbard interaction is critically analyzed in presence of electric field. Multiple energy bands are generated as a result of Hubbard correlation and Aubry potential, and, within these bands localized states are developed under the application of electric field. Within a tight-binding framework we compute electronic transmission probability and average density of states using Green's function approach where the interaction parameter is treated under Hartree–Fock mean field scheme. From our analysis we find that selective transmission can be obtained by tuning injecting electron energy, and thus, the present model can be utilized as a controlled switching device.     

Waiting times of entangled electrons in normal–superconducting junctions

We consider a normal–superconducting junction in order to investigate the effect of new physical ingredients on waiting times. First, we study the interplay between Andreev and specular scattering at the interface on the distribution of waiting times of electrons or holes separately. In that case the distribution is not altered dramatically compared to the case of a single quantum channel with a quantum point contact since the interface acts as an Andreev mirror for holes. We then consider a fully entangled state originating from splitting of Cooper pairs at the interface and demonstrate a significant enhancement of the probability to detect two consecutive electrons in a short time interval. Finally, we discuss the electronic waiting time distribution in the more realistic situation of partial entanglement.