Polynuclear manganese grids and clusters—A magnetic perspective

High nuclearity paramagnetic, spin-coupled transition metal clusters and grids are fascinating chemists and physicists partly because of their structural beauty, and the challenge of creating them, but also because of their novel physical properties. Magnetic interactions between the spin centers are a primary focus. This review will examine a selection of Mn(II) polynuclear grids and clusters, with nuclearities in the range Mn₄ to Mn₉. Theoretical treatments of the magnetic properties are discussed, and approaches to solving the exchange problem for ‘large’ spin systems related to computational difficulties. A freely available software package (MAGMUN4.1) is presented as a means of dealing simply with spin-coupled clusters in general, and symmetry reduction methods are discussed briefly as a means of dealing with ‘large’ spin systems.     

Effect of pressure on the thermal conductivity of polymers

The thermal conductivity of polyolefins and halogen-substituted polymers was studied in a broad temperature interval spanning both solid and melt states, in the range of pressures from 0.1 up to 100 MPa with the aid of a high-pressure-calorimeter in the continuous heating regime. Treatment of data on the pressure dependence of the thermal conductivity of melts in terms of Barker's equation yielded the values of quasilattice Grueneisen parameter _B which exhibited the same dependence on molecular structure of a polymer as the parameter 3C/p from the Simha-Somcynsky equation of state (number of external degress of freedom per chain repeat unit). Analysis of the dependence of the thermal conductivity of polyethylene on the degree of crystallinity revealed the inadequacy of the current two-phase model which does not account for the microheterogeneity of the amorphous phase. It was concluded that interchain heat transfer makes the dominant contribution to the thermal conductivity of polymers both in amorphous and in crystalline states.

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Zusammenfassung Mit Hilfe eines Hochdruck-- Kalorimeters mit kontinuierlicher Aufheizung wurde im Druckintervall 0,1 bis 100 MPa und in einem breiten Temperaturbereich, in den sowohl feste als auch flüssige Zustände gehören, die Wärmeleitfähigkeit von Polyolefinen und halogenierten Polymeren untersucht. Drückt man die Druckabhängigkeit der Wärmeleitfähigkeit der Schmelzen mit Hilfe der Barkerschen Gleichung aus, erhält man die Werte für den Quasigitter Grueneisen-Parameter_b, der die gleiche Abhängigkeit von der Molekular-struktur eines Polymers zeigt, wie der Parameter 3C/p aus der Gleichung von Simha-Somcynsky (Zahl der externen Freiheitsgrade geteilt durch Kettenstruktureinheit). Eine Untersuchung der Abhängigkeit der Wärmeleitfähigkeit von Polyethylen von Kristallinitäts-grad zeigt die Mängel dieses Zwei-Phasen-Modelles, was die Mikroheterogenität der amorph-en Phase nicht erklärt. Man zog die Schlußfolgerung, daß ein Wärmetransport zwischen den Ketten sowohl im amorphen als auch im kristallinen Zustand den entscheidenden Beitrag zur Wärmeleitfähigkeit von Polymeren liefert.

     

Chemically Sensitive Field‐Effect Transistors and Chemiresistors: New Materials and Device Structures

Electronic sensor technology remains of widespread and intense interest. There are compelling needs to detect chemical species ranging from small molecules dispersed in the gas phase to complex biopolymers in aqueous solution. This review describes some recent advances in three main areas: chemically sensitive resistors (chemiresistors, CRs) including inorganic and organic based devices, field effect transistors (FETs) with semiconducting layers and/or gates with chemical sensitivity, and sensors based on the differential conductivity of nanotubes and nanowires. Results reported in the last two to three years are emphasized, highlighting some current trends in the development of sensors for applications such as diagnostics, process monitoring, and security.     

Thermal techniques to study complex elastomer/filler systems

The transfer of heat through an elastomeric matrix is important for both the processing of the material and its subsequent lifetime. Thermal conductivity can be used to evaluate the influence of different polymers and fillers on heat transfer. Additionally, the dispersion of the filler has an effect on heat transfer and thermal conductivity measurements can be used to provide semi-quantitative estimations of filler dispersion. The degradation of sulfur-crosslinked elastomer systems has been studied for many years. The degradation of the crosslinks (changes in sulfur rank) and degradation of the polymer backbone by thermal and/or oxidative processes have been studied extensively using many techniques including thermal analysis (references). However, the degradation of the crosslinked-polymer 'network' is less well understood. The relationship of the crosslink network to this degradation process is a key to both the long term and higher temperature performance of the sulfur-crosslinked elastomer. The changes in physical properties observed upon exposure of sulfur-crosslinked elastomers can be monitored using dynamic mechanical analysis. Subsequently, other thermal techniques can be used to monitor the chemistry that is occurring during these degradations. Thermal desorption/mass spectroscopy and dynamic scanning calorimetry are used to complete the picture of the degradation processes taking place. Examples of these techniques will be provided to illustrate the utility of the analytical approach, the chemistry involved in these degradation processes and the effect of changes in the polymer, cure package and other ingredients. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ce0.8Y0.2O1.9-Ca3(PO4)2-K3PO4复合电解质在中温区的质子导电性及在常压合成氨中的应用

A precursor of Ce_0.8Y_0.2O_1.9(YDC) solid electrolyte was synthesized by the gol-gel method. YDC and phosphates powders were prepared by mixing the YDC and phosphates according to different weight ratios. The mixtures of the YDC and binary phosphates were ground and sintered at 1 400 ℃. The proton conductivity in solid electrolyte of the sintered samples was examined using electrochemical methods at 400～800 ℃. Ammonia was synthesized from nitrogen and hydrogen at atmospheric pressure in the solid state proton conducting cell reactor. The optimal condition for the ammonia production was determined. The result indicated that composite electrolyte of 80wt% YDC: 20wt% binary phosphates as proton conductor could obtain the highest ionic conductivity and ammonia production rate among the four samples, the rate of evolution of ammonia was up to 9.5 × 10^-9 mol·s^-1·cm^-2.     

TiO2/P(VdF-HFP)杂化纤维微孔膜的制备及其电化学性能

用电纺法制备了TiO₂/P(VdF-HFP)(聚偏氟乙烯-六氟丙烯共聚物)杂化纤维微孔膜, 用SEM观察了杂化纤维微孔膜的形貌, 并测算了这类由超细纤维相互搭接而形成的微孔膜的孔隙率. 这种微孔膜吸附LiPF₆/EC-DMC-EMC(碳酸乙烯酯-二甲基碳酸酯-碳酸甲乙酯)电解质溶液后得到凝胶聚合物电解质膜. 用电化学方法测试了聚合物电解质膜的离子电导率、锂离子迁移数等参数, 并研究了TiO₂纳米晶的掺入对聚合物电解质电化学性能的影响. 结果表明, TiO₂的掺入降低了P(VdF-HFP)聚合物基体的结晶度, 改善了凝胶聚合物电解质的低温电化学性能.     

利用天然生物分子合成导电聚苯胺的研究

本文综述了利用多种不同的天然生物分子如蛋白质(包括酶和氨基酸)、糖类、核酸、多巴胺和柠檬汁等为模板合成导电聚苯胺的研究进展。本文首先介绍了这些天然生物分子对产物聚苯胺的手性、导电率、形态以及其它方面性质的影响,归纳了利用天然生物分子合成导电聚苯胺的研究进展,然后分析了导电聚苯胺合成过程中面临的问题并对该领域的未来发展进行了展望,以期为制备性质优良和环境友好的新型导电聚苯胺材料提供有益的参考。     

Uniqueness and clustering properties of Gibbs states for classical and quantum unbounded spin systems

We consider quantum unbounded spin systems (lattice boson systems) in -dimensional lattice space Z. Under appropriate conditions on the interactions we prove that in a region of high temperatures the Gibbs state is unique, is translationally invariant, and has clustering properties. The main methods we use are the Wiener integral representation, the cluster expansions for zero boundary conditions and for general Gibbs state, and explicitly -dependent probability estimates. For one-dimensional systems we show the uniqueness of Gibbs states for any value of temperature by using the method of perturbed states. We also consider classical unbounded spin systems. We derive necessary estimates so that all of the results for the quantum systems hold for the classical systems by straightforward applications of the methods used in the quantum case.     

Ground-state energy of a quantum chain with competing interactions

We show rigorously that the ground state of a quantum chain with competing ferromagnetic nearest and antiferromagnetic next nearest interactions undergoes a transition from ferromagnetic to helical type, in the isotropic case, for a certain value of the relevant ratio of coupling constants. Boundaries of the phase diagram are also determined in the anisotropic case. The stability of a special quantum state (corresponding to a classical modulated phase of =/3) is analyzed by an extension of Holstein-Primakoff arguments, along a line of constant ratio of couplings, showing in particular a sequence of (instability) gaps. Finally, a natural adaptation of a variational wave function due to Huse and Elser is used to study several portions of the phase diagram, with very good agreement with previous theoretical results.     

Gibbs states of the Hopfield model with extensively many patterns

We consider the Hopfield model withM(N)=N patterns, whereN is the number of neurons. We show that if is sufficiently small and the temperature sufficiently low, then there exist disjoint Gibbs states for each of the stored patterns, almost surely with respect to the distribution of the random patterns. This solves a provlem left open in previous work. The key new ingredient is a self-averaging result on the free energy functional. This result has considerable additional interest and some consequences are discussed. A similar result for the free energy of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model is also given.