Ultrasonic radiation to enable improvement of direct methanol fuel cell

To improve DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) performance, a new method using ultrasonic radiation is proposed and a novel DMFC structure is designed and fabricated in the present paper. Three ultrasonic transducers (piezoelectric transducer, PZT) are integrated in the flow field plate to form the ultrasonic field in the liquid fuel. Ultrasonic frequency, acoustic power, and methanol concentration have been considered as variables in the experiments. With the help of ultrasonic radiation, the maximum output power and limiting current of cell can be independently increased by 30.73% and 40.54%, respectively. The best performance of DMFC is obtained at the condition of ultrasonic radiation (30 kHz and 4 W) fed with 2 M methanol solution, because both its limiting current and output power reach their maximum value simultaneously (222 mA and 33.6 mW, respectively) under this condition. These results conclude that ultrasonic can be an alternative choice for improving the cell performance, and can facilitate a guideline for the optimization of DMFC.     

TiO2介孔薄膜的制备及紫外光电响应性质

采用蒸发诱导自组装法制备了高度有序的TiO2介孔薄膜. 利用X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)等分析手段对其进行了表征. 结果表明, 所得样品的孔径约为5 nm, 孔道规则, 且骨架为纯锐钛矿结构. 紫外-可见光谱(UV-Vis)的表征结果表明, 制备的TiO2介孔薄膜对波长小于380 nm的紫外线有很强的吸收. 对TiO2介孔薄膜的I-V(电流-电压)特性进行了表征, 发现加光后其I-V曲线由暗态时的肖特基特性转变为欧姆特性, 表明TiO2介孔薄膜对紫外光有很敏感的光电响应.     

UV degradation of deoxyribonucleic acid

The effects of UV synchrotron radiation on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) cast films have been systematically investigated by vacuum ultraviolet and infrared spectrophotometry as a function of irradiation time. Cast DNA films exposed at 140 nm (8.85 eV) for different irradiation times, revealed consistent changes in their VUV spectra which indicate a decrease of thymine groups and an increase of π → π* transition spectral signature associated with the CO group of the open sugar chain. This result was corroborated by a decrease in CO stretching vibration at 1061 cm⁻¹ observed in the infrared spectra. Both these results are consistent with the creation of single strand breaks in the deoxyribose component of DNA molecule and a decrease in the phosphate groups. It was also shown that UV radiation is effective in damaging the thymine groups involved in Hoogsteen base pairing with adenine. The analysis of the infrared data suggests that the usual spectroscopic fingerprints of DNA denaturation are not necessarily a reliable measure of DNA damage.     

氮化硅陶瓷烧结微结构演化的同步辐射CT实时研究

利用同步辐射CT (SR-CT)技术, 在氮化硅陶瓷样品烧结过程中对其进行实时投影成像, 并应用滤波反投影算法和数字图像处理技术, 得到了样品在整个烧结过程中内部微结构演化的二维和三维重建图像, 实现了对陶瓷固相烧结过程实时、无损的观测. 通过重建图像清晰观测到了陶瓷样品在烧结三个阶段中颗粒接触、烧结颈形成、晶粒和气孔长大、气孔球化并收缩等烧结现象; 统计了样品在不同烧结时刻的孔隙率, 得到了孔隙率随烧结时间对数的变化曲线, 并根据曲线分析了样品在不同烧结时刻致密化速率的变化, 得到了烧结中期孔隙率和时间对数的线性关系. 实验的结果和现有烧结理论相吻合, 并为进一步完善烧结理论提供了有效的实验数据.     

A photo-oxidation procedure using UV radiation/H2O2 for decomposition of wine samples — Determination of iron and manganese content by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

This paper proposes the use of photo-oxidation with UV radiation/H₂O₂ as sample pretreatment for the determination of iron and manganese in wines by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The optimization involved the study of the following variables: pH and concentration of buffer solution, concentrated hydrogen peroxide volume and irradiation time. The evaluation of sample degradation was monitored by measuring the absorbance at the maximum wavelength of red wine (530 nm). Using the experimental conditions established during the optimization (irradiation time of 30 min, oxidant volume of 2.5 mL, pH 10, and a buffer concentration of 0.15 mol L^− 1), this procedure allows the determination of iron and manganese with limits of detection of 30 and 22 μg L^− 1, respectively, for a 5 mL volume of digested sample. The precision levels, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), were 2.8% and 0.65% for iron and 2.7% and 0.54% for manganese for concentrations of 0.5 and 2.0 mg L^− 1, respectively. Addition/recovery tests for evaluation of the accuracy were in the ranges of 90%–111% and 95%–107% for iron and manganese, respectively. This digestion procedure has been applied for the determination of iron and manganese in six wine samples. The concentrations varied from 1.58 to 2.77 mg L^− 1 for iron and from 1.30 to 1.91 mg L^− 1 for manganese. The results were compared with those obtained by an acid digestion procedure and determination of the elements by FAAS. There was no significant difference between the results obtained by the two methods based on a paired t-test (at 95% confidence level).     

Post-blast detection of traces of explosives by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Samples obtained from debris after explosions of about 30 g of energetic materials were analyzed by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy using both, Globar and synchrotron infrared radiation at the ISMI beamline of the Singapore synchrotron light source (SSLS). Low- and high-strength-of-explosion blasts were performed during each test run with the same explosive material. From the spectroscopic measurements, traces of unreacted explosives were found on more than 200 different materials that served as sample catchers in the explosions.The integrality of the experiments done confirmed that FTIR spectroscopy is a sufficiently sensitive method to detect traces of explosives in post-blast residues even of high-strength explosions. The method requires only a minimal amount of sample and enables accurate and very fast identification of the presence of explosive material. Finally, the synchrotron radiation infrared source provided one order of magnitude higher sensitivity compared to the conventional Globar source.     

微波辅助有机过氧化物功能化修饰单壁碳纳米管

本文报道了微波辅助下,利用过氧化月桂酰分解得到的十一烷基,化学功能化修饰单壁碳纳米管。这种快速、高效的方法将反应时间缩短至10分钟,并得到了比传统回流方法具有更高接枝率的产物。利用傅立叶变换红外光谱(FT-IR),热失重分析(TGA),拉曼光谱,探究了不同的反应时间和微波功率对单壁碳纳米管的接枝率的影响。结果表明：过长的反应时间会导致部分的去功能化的发生,而过高的微波功率(大于900瓦),则会将单壁碳纳米管上起初键连上的十一烷基剥落下来。分散性照片和高分辨率透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)照片显示出,功能化后的单壁碳纳米管与原始的碳管相比,在有机溶剂中的分散性有了明显的提高。     

Advanced combined application of μ-X-ray diffraction/μ-X-ray fluorescence with conventional techniques for the identification of pictorial materials from Baroque Andalusia paintings

The process of investigating paintings includes the identification of materials to solve technical and historical art questions, to aid in the deduction of the original appearance, and in the establishment of the chemical and physical conditions for adequate restoration and conservation. In particular, we have focused on the identification of several samples taken from six famous canvases painted by Pedro Atanasio Bocanegra, who created a very special collection depicting the life of San Ignacio, which is located in the church of San Justo y Pastor of Granada, Spain. The characterization of the inorganic and organic compounds of the textiles, preparation layers, and pictorial layers have been carried out using an XRD diffractometer, SEM observations, EDX spectrometry, FT-IR spectrometry (both in reflection and transmission mode), pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and synchrotron-based μ-X-ray techniques. In this work, the advantages over conventional X-ray diffraction of using combined synchrotron-based μ-X-ray diffraction and μ-X-ray fluorescence in the identification of multi-layer paintings is demonstrated.     

优氯净的分析测定新方法研究

本文利用优氯净对紫外光有吸收的特性,采用紫外分光光度法对优氯净的含量进行测定.实验考察了测定过程中可能存在的各种影响因素,证明此方法是一种简便的、高效可行的优氯净的分析方法.     

UV radiation and skin cancer in Norway

A distinct increase in skin cancer incidences is observed since the registration started in Norway in the 1950s. As UV radiation is assumed to be the main risk factor for skin cancer, hourly values of the UV irradiance were reconstructed for the period 1957–2005 for 17 of the Norwegian counties (58–70°N). For reconstruction, a radiation transfer model is run with total ozone amount and cloud information as meteorological input. Reconstructed hourly erythemally weighted UV irradiances for about 5 years are compared to measurements at four stations, two stations representing the north–south extension of Norway, and two stations at about 60°N representing the eastern inland – Western coastal contrasts. The agreement between reconstructed and measured UV varies between 0% for the northernmost site to 10–15% overestimation for the other locations. For clear sky, a reasonable agreement between reconstructed and measured data was found for all stations, while for overcast, an overestimation of 10–20% was found for all but the northernmost station. Both the cancer incidences and the reconstructed UV values have a distinct north–south increase. The UV increase towards south is mostly due to increasing solar elevation. The west to east increase is much smaller, and differences in UV are due to differences in both cloud optical thickness and total cloud amount. One additional outcome from this work is that long-term UV-data are reconstructed for Norway, data that can be used in further biological and medical studies related to UV effects.