Thermal properties of pressure sintered alumina–graphene composites

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The work concerns the alumina–graphene materials sintered by two different pressure methods. The different particle sizes of graphene were used....     

Investigation of the electrokinetic properties of paraffin suspension. 2. In cationic and anionic surfactant solutions

Electrical phenomena at nonionogenic hydrophobic surfaces (solid or liquid) in water, electrolyte, and/or surfactant solutions still attract research. In part 1 of this paper we described the electrokinetic behavior of paraffin wax suspension in water and electrolyte solutions (NaCl or LaCl3). On the basis of the latest data of water structure near hydrophobic surfaces it was concluded that immobilized water dipoles at the interface can play an essential role in the zeta potential formation. In this paper were investigated the zeta potentials of paraffin wax in cationic surfactants cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, C16H33(CH3)3NBr, and octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride, C18H37(CH3)3NCl, and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate, C12H25SO4Na. Also changes in wettability of the paraffin surface due to the surfactant's adsorption were studied via wetting contact angle measurements and calculation of the surface free energy. It was concluded that at a low surfactant concentration (10(-6) M) the water dipole structure still contributes to the zeta potential, but at a higher one the zeta potential is determined by the surfactant molecules' adsorption. A special role of OH- ions is also clearly seen. Moreover, a functional relationship was found between the surface free energy of the surfactant-covered paraffin surface and the zeta potential.     

Study of the winter and summer changes of the air composition in the church of Szalowa, Poland, related to conservation

The St. Michael Archangel’s Church in Szalowa, Poland, was selected for closer investigation with respect to the indoor/outdoor air exchange and its influence on the air quality and work arts preservation. Chemical composition, size and abundance of particulate matter and concentration of gases NO₂, SO₂, O₃ inside and outside the church were determined. To study seasonal variation of the weather condition (temperature, inversion level, wind direction) and the influence of seasonal sources of the air pollution (like heating of the nearby houses), samples were collected in winter and summer time. It was stated that suspended particulate matter inside the wooden church has in general an outdoor source. Several groups of particles were distinguished such as the organic ones, soil dust, nitrates and sulphates. In case of organic and soil dust particles, the concentration inside was higher than outside. From the results, in comparison to literature data, one can conclude that accumulation of particulate suspended matter in the church is more intense than in other types of buildings. Gaseous pollutants were detected but their concentration was negligible.     

The centralizer near-ring of an inverse semigroup of endomorphisms of a group

Let G be a group and S an inverse semigroup of endomorphisms of G. The simplicity of the centralizer near- ring MS(G) = {fε M(G)‖foα = αo f, ?αεS} is characterized. The necessary and sufficient conditions are given for simplicity of M_s(G) in terms of the structure of G and S.     

Low temperature ESR spectra of nickel — doped NaCl crystals

Paramagnetic resonance of Bridgman-grown NaCl crystals nominally doped with divalent nickel was studied over the temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. The broad isotropic EPR line with g = 2.12 ÷ 2.23 and ΔH _pp = 280 ÷ 780 G was detected at temperatures higher than 130 K for samples of various thermal history. The origin of these spectra was attributed to aggregated and precipitated Ni²⁺ ions. At temperatures lower than 40 K another ESR signal was registered. It was an anisotropic one, the intensity of which strongly depends upon the temperature. This spectrum results from substitutional Ni⁺ ions with tetragonally distorted surrounding along a S100T direction. The angular dependence of the ESR line positions was fitted to an appropriate spin-Hamiltonian with the g-factor components g _∥ and g _⊥ equal to 2.86 and 2.10, respectively. The temperature-dependence of the signal intensity at temperatures between 4 and 110 K has been interpreted in terms of a transition from the static to dynamic Jahn-Teller effect.     

Mechanism of adsorption in cylindrical nanopores: the roles of fluctuations and correlations in stabilizing the adsorbed phase

The mechanism of the adsorption in nanometric cylindrical pores has been studied using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The results have been analyzed from the point of view of microscopic correlations. It has been shown that the correlations between the energy components and between the energy and the number of adsorbed particles provide crucial information concerning the microscopic mechanism of the formation of adsorbed layers. Typical susceptibility functions have been calculated. They give the relations between the statistical correlations and the stability of the adsorbed system in different stages of adsorption. The numerical calculations have been carried out for Kr atoms adsorbed in an MCM-41 model porous material with pores of diameter d = 4 nm. The smooth-wall model as well as the model of a wall with micropores have been discussed.     

Optical Properties of Gamma Irradiated Soda-Lime Silicate Glasses Exchanged with Copper

The effect of copper ion exchange upon the optical absorption and room temperature gamma colouration of soda lime silicate glasses has been investigated. After ion exchange performed at 720 K, copper ions substitute mainly the alkali ions and do modify the optical absorption spectra of the specimens. It has been shown that gamma irradiation does not induce the formation of colloidal copper. Moreover, the colouration process itself is independent of the presence of copper ions. The generated colour centres are rather related to the presence of sodium and potassium ions. The optical bleaching by the UV light occurs in two stages. First disappear centres related to the Na-type defects and next those related to the K-type defects.     

Preparation and optical properties of soda-lime silicate glasses partially substituted by copper

The ion-exchange process was used to introduce copper ions into soda lime silicate glasses (SLS), the composition of which corresponds to the miscibility gape in the Na 2 O-SiO 2 system. The samples have been immersed either in a molten Cu 2 Cl 2 or CuCl 2 at various temperatures from the range 720-940 v K for different time. The observed green colour of glass is related with the 790-nm absorption band related to the cupric ions. The annealing either in air or in the hydrogen atmosphere was used for the reduction of copper. The effectiveness of these procedures was analysed on a basis of the penetration profiles monitored by roentgenographic methods (diffraction and EDAX). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations of the replicated surface and common optical absorption measurements have been used to study the morphology of the dopant ions.     

Preliminary thermal characterization of natural resins from different botanical sources and geological environments

The preliminary studies on thermal behavior of differently aged natural resins from Russia (Khatanga), Dominican Republic (El Valle), Colombia and Poland (Jantar) were performed. Thermal stability and behavior under elevated temperature were investigated by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), while the differences in the structure and composition by FT-IR spectroscopy. Analyzed resins show different thermal effects during heating suggesting that possible post-reactions and structural changes occurred. TG results indicated that Dominican, Russian and Colombian resins present relatively high thermal stability under air conditions in the range of 228–300 °C, whereas the mass loss of 5mass% at about 217 °C was observed for Baltic amber. During DSC experiments, the analyzed resins expose thermal events which make impossible determination of glass transition temperature in a raw sample. The results indicate that both TG and DSC cannot be considered as methods for age dating of natural resins and more advanced techniques should be applied. Careful analysis of FT-IR data in the carbonyl region may provide additional information about the composition and history of the natural resin.

     

Vibrational spectra,X‐ray and molecular structure of 1H‐ and 3H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine and their methyl derivatives: DFT quantum chemical calculations

Molecular structure, vibrational energy levels and potential energy distribution of 1H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine, 3H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine, 5‐methyl‐1H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine, 6‐methyl‐1H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine and 7‐methyl‐3H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine were determined using density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p) level. The optimised bond lengths and bond angles are in good agreement with the X‐ray data of 5‐methyl‐1H‐imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine obtained in the present work (Pbca space group; a = 8.660(2), b = 11.078(2), c = 11.078(3) Å, Z = 8). The N⁺H group plays the role of a proton donor in a medium strong hydrogen bond of the type N H…N, linking the N‐atom of the pyridine with the adjacent molecule related by the symmetry operation: 1/2 − x, y − 1/2, z(N…N = 2.869(25) Å). The presence of hydrogen bond is confirmed by appearance in the IR spectra of a very broad and strong contour in the 2000–3100 cm⁻¹ range. The place of substitution of the methyl group at the pyridine ring influences the proton position of the NH group at the imidazole unit. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.