Characterization of CO2 plasma treated polymeric membranes and quantification of flux enhancement

Low-temperature CO₂ plasma is used for the treatment of poly-ethersulfone (PES), polyamide (PA) and poly-phenylene ethersulfone (PPE) ultrafiltration membranes. This has led to significant enhancement of the wetting characteristics of the membrane surface as is shown by contact angle measurements and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum analysis of the treated membranes. Changes in the physical characteristics of the surface, such as tensile property, surface roughness, etc. are quantified by tensile strength measurement and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. An increase in the measured values of the di-electric constants further highlights the hydrophilic modification of the surface. A series of ultrafiltration experiments using a BSA solution of known concentration under different operating conditions is performed and the deposition thicknesses over the membrane surface during ultrafiltration are measured directly using image analyzing microscopy. The results clearly demonstrate that a plasma treated PES membrane is more hydrophilic with smoother surface and resists fouling leading to significant enhancement of permeate flux.     

Pressure dependence of the morphology and size of cobalt (II,III) oxide nanoparticles prepared by pulsed-laser ablation

Received: 18 September 1998/Accepted: 22 September 1998     

Local entropic effects of polymers grafted to soft interfaces

In this paper, we study the equilibrium properties of polymer chains end-tethered to a fluid membrane. The loss of conformational entropy of the polymer results in an inhomogeneous pressure field that we calculate for Gaussian chains. We estimate the effects of excluded volume through a relation between pressure and concentration. Under the polymer pressure, a soft surface will deform. We calculate the deformation profile for a fluid membrane and show that close to the grafting point, this profile assumes a cone-like shape, independently of the boundary conditions. Interactions between different polymers are also mediated by the membrane deformation. This pair-additive potential is attractive for chains grafted on the same side of the membrane and repulsive otherwise. Received 20 April 2000     

Bulk and near-surface annealing behavior of the 0.8 eV luminescence in semi-insulating gallium arsenide

An annealing study of the 0.8 eV photoluminescence band in LEC GaAs has been performed, using a combination of 10 min annealing steps over a temperature range of 800–1100° C and one hour furnace annealing steps at 500–700° C. Results show that the defect responsible for the luminescence is stable in bulk material under all annealing conditions that have been investigated. In combination with earlier results, this demonstrates a stability of the defect to temperatures in excess of 900° C and indicates a parallel with the annealing behavior of the 0.67 eV band in semi-insulating GaAs. The observed annealing behavior is very different in the near-surface region, indicating an important role of As out-diffusion.     

A crystal field investigation of the properties of RCuAs2 (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Yb)

A crystal field (CF) investigation of the magnetic properties and heat capacities of RCuAs₂ (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er and Yb) has been carried out using the observed average magnetic susceptibilities (1.8-300 K) of the title compounds. The CF parameters proposed for the systems show a systematic variation throughout the rare-earth series. Other physical properties dependent on the CF are also computed and compared with available experimental data. The experimental heat capacity data reported for a limited range of temperature agree well with computed heat capacity for all the compounds (except SmCuAs₂ and YbCuAs₂). CF J mixing was found to be appreciable for all the samples except YbCuAs₂.     

Mediated Electron Transfer Across Supported Bilayer Lipid Membrane with TCNQ‐Based Organometallic Compounds

Supported bilayer lipid membrane (s‐BLM) containing one‐dimensional compound 1, TCNQ‐based (TCNQ=7,7,8,8‐tetracyanoquinodimethane) organometallic compound {(Cu₂(μ‐Cl)(μ‐dppm)₂)(μ₂‐TCNQ)}_∞, was prepared and characterized on the self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) of 1‐octadecylmercaptan (C₁₈H₃₇SH) deposited onto Au electrode. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results showed that the compound 1, dotted inside s‐BLM, can act as mediator for electron transfer across the membrane. Two redox peaks and the charge‐transfer resistance of 400 kΩ were observed for compound 1 inside s‐BLM. The mechanism of the electron transfer across s‐BLM by TCNQ is by electron hopping while TCNQ‐based organometallic compound is by conducting. Further conclusion drawn from this finding is that the TCNQ‐based organometallic compound embedded inside s‐BLM exhibits excellent electron transfer ability than that of free TCNQ. This opens a new path for the development of s‐BLM sensor and/or biosensor by incorporation with TCNQ‐based organometallic compounds.     

Swelling assisted photografting of itaconic acid onto sodium alginate membranes

Grafting of itaconic acid (IA) was achieved onto sodium alginate (NaAlg) membranes by using UV-radiation. Process was performed under nitrogen atmosphere and benzophenone (BP) was used as a photoinitiator. Membranes were preswelled before the polymerization process and ethanol was determined as the best swelling agent among the studied solvents. The effect of polymerization time, initiator and monomer concentrations on the grafting efficiency were investigated. The best conditions for optimum grafting were obtained with IA concentration of 1.0 M, a BP concentration of 0.1 M and a reaction time of 4 h at 25 °C. Under these conditions grafting efficiency for NaAlg-g-IA membranes was found to be 14% (w/w). To obtain further increase in grafting efficiency membranes were also preswelled in IA and BP solutions and polymerization was carried out at different temperatures after UV polymerization. Grafted membranes were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Effect of grafting on membrane properties such as intrinsic viscosity and swelling percentage were also determined.     

Fano-like coupling of collective and particle-hole excitations in Li metal

The dynamic structure factor of Li with [110] and 0.88 a.u. <q< 1.03 a.u., as measured with 1 eV resolution by means of synchrotron radiation based inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy (IXSS), exhibits, in the energy loss range between 3 and 12 eV, a fine structure, which appears as a resonance around 4 eV and an antiresonance around 8 eV, when the difference between the experimental -spectra with [110] and [111] is considered. In order to find out the origin of this fine structure we have interpreted recent TLDA (time dependent local density approximation) calculations of the Li- [#!ref12!#], which were based on the inversion of the full dielectric matrix, by utilizing a simple two-plasmon-band model. In this way the fine structure can be traced back to a Fano-like coupling of the discrete collective excitations (both the regular plasmon and the so-called zone-boundary collective states (ZBCS's)) and the particle-hole excitation continuum, mediated by the off-diagonal elements of the dielectric matrix, , where (1,1,0). Received: 29 December 1998 / Accepted: 16 March 1998     

Interferometry with entangled atoms

A quantum gravity-gradiometer consists of two spatially separated ensembles of atoms interrogated by pulses of a common laser beam. The laser pulses cause the probability amplitudes of atomic ground-state hyperfine levels to interfere, producing two, motion-sensitive, phase shifts, which allow the measurement of the average acceleration of each ensemble, and, via simple differencing, of the acceleration gradient. Here we propose entangling the quantum states of atoms from the two ensembles prior to the pulse sequence, and show that entanglement encodes their relative acceleration in a single interference phase which can be measured directly, with no need for differencing. Received 6 June 2002 / Received in final form 25 October 2002 Published online 28 January 2003     

Critical behaviors of bond and crystal field dilution Blume–Emery–Griffiths model

The critical behavior of the spin-1 bond and crystal field dilution Blume–Emery–Griffiths model have been investigated on simple-cubic lattice within the framework of the effective field theory. In particular, both bond dilution and random crystal field are considered at the same time. The interplay between bond and crystal field dilution constructs rich and interesting phase diagrams. Significant distinctions are exhibited. When positive ratio α changes in a certain range, there exist double tricritical points in phase-transition lines in T–D plane. Moreover, this first-order phase transition is enlarged with increasing of ratio α at a fixed crystal field dilution concentration, while this first-order phase transition will shrink when bond dilution concentration is fixed. In addition, we observe that there exist two bond percolation thresholds for negative crystal field and α>0 in T–P plane.