UV spectral characterization of a smectic-C liquid crystal: Theoretical support to the experiment

In the present article, UV spectral characterization of a smectic-C liquid crystal 4,4′-bis(n-alkoxy)azoxybenzene (n = 14) (C₄₀H₆₆N₂O₃) has been carried out. Structure of the molecule has been optimized using the Density functional B3LYP with 6-31+G (d) basis set using crystallographic geometry as input. The absorption spectra have been estimated in the UV region by employing the DFT method, semiempirical CNDO/S and INDO/S parameterizations. The oscillator strength (f) and vertical transition energy (E_V) have been reported corresponding to absorption wavelength (λ_max). These values have been compared with the experimental value reported in the literature to offer theoretical support to the experimental value. Further, some electrochemical properties have been reported for the molecule.     

富锂层状正极材料Li2Mn1-xTixO3的合成及电化学性能

应用简单的高温固相烧结法合成了Ti掺杂改性的Li₂MnO₃材料。电子扫描显微镜、X射线衍射以及X射线光电子能谱分析表明Ti元素取代Mn离子掺入到Li₂MnO₃晶格中,且掺杂能有效地抑制一次颗粒的团聚。电化学阻抗和恒流充放电测试结果表明,在2.0~4.6 V的电压窗口下,掺杂改性的样品Li₂Mn_0.9Ti_0.03O₃的首圈放电比容量达到209 mAh·g^-1,库仑效率为99.5%,循环40圈后容量保持率为94%;当电流密度增大到400 mA·g^-1时,掺杂改性的样品仍然可以放出120 mAh·g^-1比容量,远高于同等电流密度下未掺杂的Li₂MnO₃原粉的比容量（52 mAh·g^-1）。Ti掺杂可有效地改善Li₂MnO₃的循环稳定性和倍率性能,有利于促进该材料的商业化应用。     

MoO42-取代对Nasicon型Li3Fe2(PO4)3正极材料电化学性能的影响

以MoO₄^2-部分取代Li₃Fe₂（PO₄）₃中的PO₄^3-,研究表明：加入的MoO₄^2-离子主要以固溶形式存在于Li₃Fe₂（PO₄）₃中,起到了显著改善其电化学性能的作用。其中,MoO₄^2-掺杂浓度为0.3的样品表现出最佳的电化学性能,其在0.5C倍率下的首次放电容量为113.7 mAh·g^-1,这一数值比未掺杂的提高了20.7%;经过60次循环充放电,容量保持率为94%。将放电倍率从0.5C逐步增大至5C,再降至初始的0.5C,并在每个倍率循环10次,这一材料的最终放电容量可达首次0.5C的95%。这些优异的性能应归因于MoO₄^2-掺杂使材料的氧化还原能力增强,氧化还原电对的电势差减小,电池内部的电荷转移电阻减小,以及Li⁺扩散系数增加。     

(Pr0.9La0.1)2(Ni0.74Cu0.21Ga0.05)O4+δ-Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-δ复合阴极的制备及电化学性质

采用EDTA-柠檬酸盐法制备了（Pr_0.9La_0.1）₂（Ni_0.74Cu_0.21Ga_0.05）O_4+δ（PLNCG）,并与Ce_0.9Gd_0.1O_2-δ（CGO）形成复合阴极PLNCG-CGO。XRD和SEM分析结果表明PLNCG与CGO在1 000℃具有较好的化学相容性。电化学阻抗测试结果表明PLNCG-30% CGO复合阴极在700℃的极化电阻为0.092 Ω·cm²;过电位为39.3 mV时,电流密度达到113.3 mA·cm^-2。氧分压分析表明电极反应的速率控制步骤为电荷转移过程。阳极支撑单电池（Ni-CGO/CGO/PLNCG-30% CGO）在700℃的最大输出功率密度达到569 mW·cm^-2,开路电压（OCV）为0.76 V。综上结果预示PLNCG-30% CGO复合阴极是一种有发展前景的电极材料。     

Porous V2O5-SnO2/CNTs composites as high performance cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) exhibits high theoretical capacities when used as a cathode in lithium ion batteries (LIBs), but its application is limited by its structural instability as well as its low lithium and electronic conductivities. A porous composite of V₂O₅-SnO₂/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was prepared by a hydrothermal method and followed by thermal treatment. The small particles of V₂O₅, their porous structure and the coexistence of SnO₂ and CNTs can all facilitate the diffusion rates of the electrons and lithium ions. Electrochemical impedance spectra indicated higher ionic and electric conductivities, as compared to commercial V₂O₅. The V₂O₅-SnO₂/CNTs composite gave a reversible discharge capacity of 198 mAh·g^?1 at the voltage range of 2.05–4.0 V, measured at a current rate of 200 mA·g^?1, while that of the commercial V₂O₅ was only 88 mAh·g^?1, demonstrating that the porous V₂O₅-SnO₂/CNTs composite is a promising candidate for high-performance lithium secondary batteries.     

Absolute configuration assignment made easier by the VCD of coupled oscillating carbonyls: the case of (−)-propanedioic acids, 2-(2,3)-dihydro-3-oxo-1H-isoindol-1-yl)-1,3-dimethyl ester

Depending on their relative orientation, coupled oscillating carbonyl groups provide a VCD spectrum with a characteristic CO bond stretching region showing a strong bisignate VCD feature, which can be readily predicted adopting long available semiempirical methods. The extended coupled oscillator (ECO) formalism has been used to assign the absolute configuration of a recently synthesized chiral 3-substituted isoindolinone. The prediction of (S) configuration for the (−) enantiomer has been confirmed by quantum mechanical calculations.     

Message passing interface and multithreading hybrid for parallel molecular docking of large databases on petascale high performance computing machines

A mixed parallel scheme that combines message passing interface (MPI) and multithreading was implemented in the AutoDock Vina molecular docking program. The resulting program, named VinaLC, was tested on the petascale high performance computing (HPC) machines at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. To exploit the typical cluster‐type supercomputers, thousands of docking calculations were dispatched by the master process to run simultaneously on thousands of slave processes, where each docking calculation takes one slave process on one node, and within the node each docking calculation runs via multithreading on multiple CPU cores and shared memory. Input and output of the program and the data handling within the program were carefully designed to deal with large databases and ultimately achieve HPC on a large number of CPU cores. Parallel performance analysis of the VinaLC program shows that the code scales up to more than 15K CPUs with a very low overhead cost of 3.94%. One million flexible compound docking calculations took only 1.4 h to finish on about 15K CPUs. The docking accuracy of VinaLC has been validated against the DUD data set by the re‐docking of X‐ray ligands and an enrichment study, 64.4% of the top scoring poses have RMSD values under 2.0 Å. The program has been demonstrated to have good enrichment performance on 70% of the targets in the DUD data set. An analysis of the enrichment factors calculated at various percentages of the screening database indicates VinaLC has very good early recovery of actives. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of Precursor Drying Process on the Properties of LiFePO4/C Composite with Low Carbon Content

<正>Properties of two LiFePO_4/C composites with low carbon content synthesized from precursors dried by spray drying and blast drying are investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements. The two samples have a different morphology and particle size, while the structure of LiFePO_4 is unaffected. The LiFePO_4/C composite prepared from the precursor dried by blast drying has a much lower surface resistance and a much better rate capability because the deposited carbon is more graphite-like and more conductive. The cycling performance is also much better for the LiFePO_4/C composite prepared from the precursor dried by blast drying because only a slight impedance growth is involved upon cycling. These results suggest that the precursor drying process has a significant impact on the properties of LiFePO_4/C composite, and its effect is highly dependent on the carbon content.     

Trace gas detection of benzene,toluene, p-, m- and o-xylene with a compact measurement system using cantilever enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy and optical parametric oscillator

A compact measurement system based on a novel combination of cantilever enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (CEPAS) and optical parametric oscillator (OPO) was applied to the gas phase measurement of benzene, toluene, and o-, m- and p-xylene (BTX) traces. The OPO had a band width (FWHM) of 1.3 nm, was tuned from 3237 to 3296 nm in steps of 0.1 nm and so spectra of BTX at different concentrations were recorded. The power emitted by the OPO increased from 88 mW at 3237 nm to 103 mW at 3296 nm. The univariate detection limits (3σ, 0.951 s) for benzene, toluene, p-, m- and o-xylene at 3288 nm were 12.0, 9.8, 13.2, 10.1 and 16.0 ppb, respectively. Multivariate data analysis using science-based calibration was used to resolve the interference of the analytes. The multivariate detection limits (3σ, 3237–3296 nm, 591 spectral points each 0.951 s) for benzene, toluene, p-, m- and o-xylene in the multi-compound sample, where all other analytes and water interfere were 4.3, 7.4, 11.0, 12.5 and 6.2 ppb, respectively. Without interferents, the multivariate detection limits varied between 0.5 and 0.6 ppb. The sum of the cross-selectivities (3237–3296 nm, 591 spectral points, each 0.951 s) per analyte were below 0.05 ppb/ppb, with an average of 0.038 ppb/ppb. The cross-selectivity of water to the analytes was on average 1.22 × 10⁻⁴ ppb/ppb. The OPO is small in size (L × W × H 125 × 70 × 45 mm), commercially available, and easy to operate and integrate to setups. The combination with sensitive CEPAS enables compact measurement systems for industrial as well as environmental trace gas monitoring.