New protonic solid electrolyte with tetragonal tungsten bronze structure obtained through ionic exchange

Proton exchange reactions have been performed on tetragonal tungsten bronze-like NaNbWO₆ by using nitric acid as an exchanging agent. The characterization of the exchange reaction products has been made by means of chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and IR spectroscopy. The exchange reaction takes place topotactically and the following formula is proposed for the obtained phase of variable composition: Na_1−xH_xNbWO₆·yH₂O (0<x?0.46 and 0?y?0.12). Impedance spectroscopy on the present proton exchanged samples indicated that these samples behaved as solid electrolytes under high humidity. As an example, the compound with the composition Na_0.68H_0.32NbWO₆·0.1 H₂O exhibits ionic conductivity of 8×10⁻³ and 1×10⁻² S cm⁻¹ at 70°C and 90°C, respectively.     

Banach空间非线性混合型微分-积分方程整体解的存在性和唯一解

研究了Banach空间中非线性混合型微分-积分方程初值问题u′=f(t,u,Tu,Su),u(0)=x0的整体解,完全没有要求f的任何增性,利用Mnch不动点定理和比较结果得到了初值问题整体解的存在性和唯一解,并且给出了一致收敛于唯一解的迭代序列,改进推广和统一了已有的许多结果.     

多维Lotka-Uolterra周期系统周期解的存在性及其全局吸引性

研究了m-维离散Lotka-Volterra竞争系统，并获得了该系统周期解的存在性及其全局吸引性.     

High‐order accurate numerical solutions of incompressible flows with the artificial compressibility method

A high‐order accurate, finite‐difference method for the numerical solution of incompressible flows is presented. This method is based on the artificial compressibility formulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Fourth‐ or sixth‐order accurate discretizations of the metric terms and the convective fluxes are obtained using compact, centred schemes. The viscous terms are also discretized using fourth‐order accurate, centred finite differences. Implicit time marching is performed for both steady‐state and time‐accurate numerical solutions. High‐order, spectral‐type, low‐pass, compact filters are used to regularize the numerical solution and remove spurious modes arising from unresolved scales, non‐linearities, and inaccuracies in the application of boundary conditions. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated for test problems. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust handling of non‐linear constraints for GA optimization of aerodynamic shapes

A new approach to the robust handling of non‐linear constraints for GAs (genetic algorithms) optimization is proposed. A specific feature of the approach consists of the change in the conventional search strategy by employing search paths which pass through both feasible and infeasible points (contrary to the traditional approach where only feasible points may be included in a path). The method (driven by full Navier–Stokes computations) was applied to the problem of multiobjective optimization of aerodynamic shapes subject to various geometrical and aerodynamic constraints. The results demonstrated that the method retains high robustness of conventional GAs while keeping CFD computational volume to an acceptable level, which allowed the algorithm to be used in a demanding engineering environment. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ionic conductivity of multiarm star polymer/LiClO4 electrolytes

A series of polymer electrolytes based on multiarm polymers and lithium salt complexes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and impedance measurement. The relationships of conductivity with salt concentration, temperature, and arm numbers are discussed. It is suggested that the star polymer has a higher solvency and ion transfer ability on lithium salts than on linear polymers. The conductivity maximum appeared at a higher salt concentration ([EO]/[Li] = 4). Impedance measurement suggested that the optimum conductivity was 2 × 10^?4 s · cm^?1. The conductivity increased with temperature and the dependence of ionic conductivity on temperature fits the Arrhenius equation. Among the studied systems, the star polymer with a five arm number performs better than other structures. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4195–4198, 2004     

Dynamic surface tension measurements of surfactant solutions using the maximum bubble pressure method – limits of applicability

One of the essential differences in the design of bubble pressure tensiometers consists in the geometry of the measuring capillaries. To reach extremely short adsorption times of milliseconds and below, the so-called deadtime of the capillaries must be of the order of some 10 ms. In particular, for concentrated surfactant solutions, such as micellar solutions, short deadtimes are needed to minimize the initial surfactant load of the generated bubbles. A theoretical model is derived and confirmed by experiments performed for a wide range of experimental conditions, mainly in respect to variations in deadtime and bubble volume.     

On the influence of the surfactant''s polar group on the local and terminal velocities of bubbles

The local and the terminal velocities, the size and the degree of bubbles’ shape deformations were determined as a function of distance from the position of the bubble formation (capillary orifice) in solutions of n-octyltrimethylammonium bromide, n-octyldimethylphosphine oxide, n-octyl-β-D-glucopyranoside and n-octanoic acid.

These surface-active compounds have different polar groups but an identical hydrocarbon chain (C8) in the molecule. The motion of the bubbles was monitored and recorded using a stroboscopic illumination, a CCD camera, and a JVC professional video. The recorded bubble images were analyzed by the image analysis software. The bubbles accelerated rapidly and their shape was deformed immediately after detachment from the capillary. The extent of the bubbles’ shape deformation (ratio of horizontal and vertical diameters) was 1.5 in distilled water and dropped rapidly down to a level of ca. 1.05–1.03 with increasing surfactant concentration. After the acceleration period the bubbles either attained a constant value of the terminal velocity (distilled water and high concentrations of the solutions), or a maximum in the velocity profiles was observed (low concentrations). The values of the terminal velocity diminished drastically with increasing concentration, from the value of 35 cm/s in water down to about 15 cm/s, while the bubble diameter decreased by ca. 10% only. The surfactant adsorption at the surface of the bubbles was evaluated and the minimum adsorption coverages required to immobilize the bubbles’ surface were determined. It was found that this minimum adsorption coverage was ca. 4% for n-octyldimethylphosphine oxide, n-octyl-β-D-glucopyranoside, n-octanoic acid and 25% for n-octyltrimethylammonium bromide. The difference in the adsorption coverage together with the surfactants’ surface activities indicate that it is mainly the adsorption kinetics of the surfactants that governs the fluidity of interfaces of the rising bubbles.     

Optimization of Mass Transfer Processes in the Zone of the Air Electrode of a Fuel Cell with a Solid Polymer Electrolyte

A two-dimensional mathematical model for the transport of reactants in a fuel cell with a solid polymer electrolyte is developed. The model is used for analyzing spatial distributions of the concentration of reactants and current density over the cell. The effect of the catalytic-layer activity, reactant speed, bipolar-plate geometry, thickness and porosity of current collector and/or gas-diffusion sublayer, and the reaction mixture composition on the fuel cell efficiency is estimated theoretically and experimentally.     

Elliptic and parabolic problems in unbounded domains

We consider elliptic and parabolic problems in unbounded domains. We give general existence and regularity results in Besov spaces and semi‐explicit representation formulas via operator‐valued fundamental solutions which turn out to be a powerful tool to derive a series of qualitative results about the solutions. We give a sample of possible applications including asymptotic behavior in the large, singular perturbations, exact boundary conditions on artificial boundaries and validity of maximum principles. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)