Excluded volume driven counterion condensation inside nanotubes in a concave electrical double layer model

The physical properties of organic nanotubes attract increasing attention due to their potential benefit in technology, biology and medicine. We study the effect of ion size on the electrical properties of cylindrical nanotubes filled with electrolyte solution within a modified Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) approach. For comparison purposes, small hollow nanospheres filled with electrolyte solution are considered. The finite size of the particles in the inner electrolyte solution is described by the excluded volume effect within a lattice statistics approach. We found that an increased ion size reduces the number of counterions near the charged inner surface of the nanotube, leading to an enlarged electrostatic surface potential. The concentration of counterions close to the inner surface saturates for higher surface charge densities and larger ions. In the case of saturation, the closest counterion packing is achieved, all lattice sites near the surface are occupied and an actual counterion condensation is observed. By contrast, the counterion concentration at the axis of the nanotube steadily increases with increasing surface charge density. This growth is more pronounced for smaller nanotube radii and larger ions. At larger nanotube radii for small ion size counterion condensation may also be observed according to the Tsao criterion, i.e. the counterion concentration at the centre is independent of the number of counterions in the system. With decreasing radius the Tsao condensation effect is shifted towards physiologically unrealistic surface charge densities.     

Differential scanning calorimetry study of the solidification sequence of austenitic stainless steel

The solidification sequence of austenitic stainless steels can be predicted with thermodynamic calculations. Another way is to use models where the value of the Cr_eq./Ni_eq. ratio determines the relationship between the solidification mode and the composition factor. In this study the solidification of AISI 304LN stainless steel at different cooling rates was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The samples were linearly heated above the liquidus temperature to 1550 °C at heating rates of 5, 10, and 25 K/min. The solidification (cooling) scans from 1550 °C involved the same selected ramps. After the DSC measurements the samples were metallographically analyzed to reveal the variations in the solidification microstructures. The microhardness of the solidified samples was also measured. It was found that the cooling rate critically influenced the solidification. The solidification behavior, which depends on the cooling rate, determines the evolution of the microstructure. At the slowest cooling rates a relief-cell morphology was observed, and at the fastest cooling rate the formation of dendrites was evident. With an increasing cooling rate the liquidus temperature decreased and the reaction enthalpy increased.     

A study of continuous-wave two-frequency NQR

A simple continuous-wave parallel to pulse version of a multifrequency nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) device was constructed and tested: two orthogonal radio-frequency (RF) fields were applied simultaneously at two suitable frequencies to a multilevel quadrupole probe (I⋝1). A modified superregenerative NQR oscillator-detector (SRO) was utilized. An additional coil and RF source were used to irradiate the sample at the second frequency. After tuning the SRO to a chosen NQR line, the signal proportional to the population difference of the corresponding pair of energy levels was monitored. When another suitable transition was saturated simultaneously, sharing one level with the monitored line, the corresponding population change was also reflected in the first signal intensity change. The phenomenon was examined for Sb nuclei in Sb₂S₃ powder at room temperature.     

Antimicrobial cotton fibres prepared by in situ synthesis of AgCl into a silica matrix

Functional antimicrobial cotton fibres were prepared in a novel two-step procedure utilising the pad-dry-cure method to apply an inorganic–organic hybrid sol–gel precursor (reactive binder, RB) followed by the in situ synthesis of AgCl particles on the RB-treated fibres. The morphology and surface composition of the modified cotton fibres were investigated by scanning electron microscopy imaging and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy spectral analyses. The bulk concentration of Ag on the cotton fibres was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, and the antimicrobial activity against the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was estimated according to the ISO 20645:2004 (E) and AATCC 100-1999 methods. The results showed that this application process yields the following important benefits: (1) the presence of the RB silica matrix increased the fibres’ capacity for adsorbing AgCl particles compared with the same fibres without RB; (2) the in situ synthesis enabled a simple and environmentally friendly preparation of AgCl particles from AgNO₃ and their embedment into the fibres; (3) the AgCl particles were bound to the RB silica matrix by physical forces, which allowed for their controlled release from the fibres; (4) the capacity of the RB-modified cotton samples to hold embedded AgCl particles was sufficient to provide a 100 % bacterial reduction even after 10 repeated washing cycles; and (5) the chemical modification of the cotton fibres did not significantly change their whiteness, wettability or softness.     

Effect of control rod insertion on the TRIGA neutron spectrum and the determination of elemental concentrations with k0-INAA

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - We suspected that changes in the neutron spectrum, caused by varying control rod positions in routine steady state operation of our TRIGA nuclear...     

Structural–acoustic model of a rectangular plate–cavity system with an attached distributed mass and internal sound source: Theory and experiment

In this paper three approaches are combined to develop a structural–acoustic model of a rectangular plate–cavity system with an attached distributed mass and internal sound source. The first approach results from a recently presented analysis based on the Rayleigh–Ritz method and is used to circumvent the difficulties in obtaining the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a plate with an attached, distributed mass. Furthermore, different plate boundary conditions can be accommodated. The resulting mode shapes are defined as continuous functions; this is advantageous as they can be directly used in the second approach, i.e., the classic modal-interaction approach in order to obtain the coupled equations of the system. Finally, in the third approach a group of point sources emitting a pressure pulse in the time domain is used to model an internal sound source. For the validation of the developed model an experiment was conducted in two configurations using a simply supported aluminium plate and a clamped plate coupled with a plexiglas box containing a loudspeaker. Good agreement was found between the analytical and experimental data.