Ionic liquid behavior and high thermal stability of silver chloride nanoparticles: Synthesis and characterization

Silver chloride was found to be stable even after calcination at 650 °C for 10 h. SEM studies revealed the morphology of silver chloride as hexagonal particles. TEM studies show the size of silver chloride particles to have an average size of 6–7 nm. Thermal studies suggest that silver chloride nanoparticles behave like ionic liquid or molten salt in the range of 455–650 °C.     

Compact passively q-switched Nd:YAG laser for 2D micromachining

We present a compact passively q-switched diode end pumped Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm for 2D micromachining. It consists of a 5.5 cm long plano-concave end pumped resonator carrying a Cr:YAG passive q-switch inside the cavity. With an optical conversion efficiency of 46 and 33% the laser emits 1.4 W in CW and 986 mW in q-switched mode at a current of 2.5 A. After using a 2 mm circular aperture the output is seen in TEM₀₀ mode with a single pulse energy of 5 mJ. The laser produced circular holes of diameter 75 μm in 25 μm thick Tantalum foils. Actual results of 1D and 2D machining are shown along with the diffraction patters of the samples.     

Radiation-induced synthesis of RuO2 nanoparticles by thermal decomposition of Ru-tris-acetylacetonate

Pure-phase RuO₂ nanoparticles were obtained by thermal decomposition of unirradiated and γ-irradiated Ru-tris-acetylacetonate precursors. Several influencing factors including absorbed dose, calcination times and temperatures and addition of surfactants were thoroughly investigated. The newly synthesized RuO₂ nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The results showed that the best conditions for the preparation of mono-dispersed RuO₂ nanoparticles were achieved by calcinations of unirradiated Ru-tris-acetylacetonate for 6 h at 600°C. For γ-irradiated Ru-tris-acetylacetonate with 10² Gy total γ-ray doses, the optimal conditions for RuO₂ preparation were calcination for 2 h at 200°C. Thermal stability of RuO₂ nanoparticles was studied using thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques, and the results were evaluated and discussed.     

Synthesis, characterization, and biological activities of homo- and heterobimetallic complexes of Sn(IV) and Pd(II) with 2-mercapto-5-methyl benzimidazole

Organotin complexes have been synthesized by refluxing 2-mercapto-5-methyl benzimidazole with R₂SnCl₂/R₃SnCl (R = Me, n-Bu, Ph) in 1:1 molar ratio in the first step. In the second step, synthesized organotin(IV) complexes were treated with CS₂ and R₂SnCl₂/R₃SnCl/PdCl₂ to yield homo- and heterobimetallic complexes. The composition of the synthesized complexes, the bonding behavior of the donor groups, and structural assignments were studied by elemental analysis and different spectral techniques, including IR and multinuclear NMR (¹H, ¹³C). The IR data shows bidentate nature of the ligand which is also confirmed by semiempirical study, while NMR data confirms the four-coordinated geometry in solution. The free ligand and its respective homo- and heterobimetallic complexes were screened in vitro against a number of microorganisms to assess their biocidal properties. The biological activity data show that complexes exhibits significant antibacterial and antifungal activities as compared to ligand with few exceptions.     

Femtosecond excited-state dynamics of 4-nitrophenyl pyrrolidinemethanol: evidence of twisted intramolecular charge transfer and intersystem crossing involving the nitro group

Ultrafast excited-state relaxation dynamics of a nonlinear optical (NLO) dye, (S)-(-)-1-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-pyrrolidinemethanol (NPP), was carried out under the regime of femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion measurements in augmentation with quantum chemical calculations. The primary concern was to trace the relaxation pathways which guide the depletion of the first singlet excited state upon photoexcitation, in such a way that it is virtually nonfluorescent. Ground- and excited-state (singlet and triplet) potential energy surfaces were calculated as a function of the -NO(2) torsional coordinate, which revealed the perpendicular orientation of -NO(2) in the excited state relative to the planar ground-state conformation. The fluorescence transients in the femtosecond regime show biexponential decay behavior. The first time component of a few hundred femtoseconds was ascribed to the ultrafast twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT). The occurrence of charge transfer (CT) is substantiated by the large dipole moment change during excitation. The construction of intensity- and area-normalized time-resolved emission spectra (TRES and TRANES) of NPP in acetonitrile exhibited a two-state emission on behalf of decay of the locally excited (LE) state and rise of the CT state with a Stokes shift of 2000 cm(-1) over a time scale of 1 ps. The second time component of a few picoseconds is attributed to the intersystem crossing (isc). In highly polar solvents both the processes occur on a much faster time scale compared to that in nonpolar solvents, credited to the differential stability of energy states in different polarity solvents. The shape of frontier molecular orbitals in the excited state dictates the shift of electron density from the phenyl ring to the -NO(2) group and is attributed to the charge-transfer process taking place in the molecule. The viscosity dependence of relaxation dynamics augments the proposition of considering the -NO(2) group torsional motion as the main excited-state relaxation coordinate.     

Impedance spectroscopy and investigation of conduction mechanism in BaMnO3 nanorods

BaMnO₃ nanorods were synthesized at 200 °C and atmospheric pressure using the composite-hydroxide mediated method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to investigate the structure, size, morphology, phase purity and elemental composition of BaMnO₃ nanorods. Electrical characterization of BaMnO₃ pellet was performed at 300-400 K and in the frequency range 200 Hz-2 MHz. Temperature dependence of AC conductivity suggests that the BaMnO₃ pellet behaves as a semiconducting material and conduction across the pellet can be explained by the correlated barrier hopping model. Impedance analysis was performed using the equivalent circuit model (R₁Q₁C₁)(R₂C₂) and it suggests a single relaxation process in the BaMnO₃ pellet at a particular temperature. The analysis reveals that the BaMnO₃ pellet behaves like an n-type semiconductor material due to the presence of oxygen vacancies and some disorder. Modulus spectroscopy also supports the impedance results.     

Measurements of electron density, temperature and photoionization cross sections of the excited states of neon in a discharge plasma

In the present work emission and absorption spectroscopy have been used to determine the plasma parameters of neon in a hollow cathode discharge lamp. The excitation temperature is determined using the intensity ratio method and Boltzmann's plot method whereas the electron density is determined from the Stark broadening of the spectral lines. The behavior of the optogalvanic signal as a function of laser energy has been studied for three transitions from the 2p⁵3s [1/2]₂ metastable state following ΔJ=ΔK=0, ±1 dipole selection rules. The saturation technique has been used to measure the photoionization cross section from three intermediate states 2p⁵3p′ [1/2]_1, 2p⁵3p′ [3/2]₂ and 2p⁵3p [5/2]₃ up to the 2p^{5 2}P_1/2 ionization threshold.     

On Picard iterations for strongly accretive and strongly pseudo-contractive Lipschitz mappings

In this note, we speed up the convergence of the Picard sequence of iterations for strongly accretive and strongly pseudo-contractive mappings. Our results improve the results of Chidume [C.E. Chidume, Picard iteration for strongly accretive and strongly pseudo-contractive Lipschitz maps, ICTP Preprint no. IC2000098; C.E. Chidume, Iterative Algorithms for Non-expansive Mappings and Some of Their Generalizations, in: Nonlinear Analysis and Applications: To V. Lakshmikantham on his 80th Birthday, vol. 1, 2, Kluwer Acad. Publ, Dordrecht, 2003, pp. 383–429], and Liu [L. Liu, Approximation of fixed points of a strictly pseudo-contractive mapping, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 125 (2) (1997) 1363–1366], and some other known results. The technique of the proof, presented in this paper, is different from the technique used by Chidume.