Electrocatalytic Reduction of Oxygen at Glassy Carbon Electrodes Coated with Diazonium‐derived Porphyrin/Metalloporphyrin Films

In this study, the influence of the film structure was investigated on the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction at GC electrodes covered with porphyrin and metalloporphyrin rings via the diazonium modification method. For that purpose, primarily, tetraphenylporphyrin (TPP) films on GC electrode surfaces were prepared by electroreduction of in situ generated diazonium salts of 5‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐10,15,20‐triphenylporphyrin (APP) and 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(4‐aminophenyl)porphyrin (TAPP) molecules. Next, the formation of metalloporphyrin films on the modified surfaces was accomplished through the complexation reactions of surface porphyrin rings with metal ions in the salt solutions containing Mn(II), Fe(III) and Co(II) ions. The resulting porphyrin and metalloporphyrin layers were identified with XPS and ICP‐MS. The electrochemical barrier properties of the films on GC surfaces were examined by cyclic voltammetry in K₃Fe(CN)₆ aqueous solution. The electrocatalytic abilities of the resulting films were also investigated for the oxygen electrochemical reduction by employing cyclic voltammetry in PBS solutions saturated with oxygen. The results showed that the oxygen reduction potentials on modified GC electrodes were shifted to less negative potentials compared to that of bare GC electrode. Also, it was obtained that the oxygen reduction reaction was more effective on the GC electrodes modified with TPP rings by using TAPP molecules than those prepared by using APP molecules.     

Defect-induced ferromagnetism in crystalline SrTiO3

In this work it is shown that ion irradiation of high-quality SrTiO₃ single crystals can lead to room-temperature ferromagnetism. Structural analysis revealed a polycrystalline SrTiO₃ layer, Sr₂Ti₆O₁₃, or Ruddlesden-Popper like secondary phase at the sample surface induced by the irradiation. The lack of any measurable ferromagnetic secondary phases suggests defects are the origin of the observed ferromagnetic signal.     

Thermal behaviour of metal films – a hyperbolic two-step model

A perturbation technique is proposed for solution of the generalized equations governing the thermal behaviour of thin metal films described by a hyperbolic two-step model. The generalized equations of this model contains diffusion terms in both the electron and lattice energy equations and assumes that incident laser radiation is absorbed by both the electron gas and solid lattice to account for the thermal behaviour of semiconducting and impure metals. A perturbation technique is utilized to eliminate the coupling between the electron and phonon energy equations when the normalized temperature difference between electrons and phonons is a small quantity, which is true in materials exhibit high coupling factors. Received on 6 January 1999     

Laser-Induced Interdigital Structured Graphene Electrodes Based Flexible Micro-Supercapacitor for Efficient Peak Energy Storage

The rapidly developing demand for lightweight portable electronics has accelerated advanced research on self-powered microsystems (SPMs) for peak power energy storage (ESs). In recent years, there has been, in this regard, a huge research interest in micro-supercapacitors for microelectronics application over micro-batteries due to their advantages of fast charge–discharge rate, high power density and long cycle-life. In this work, the optimization and fabrication of micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) by means of laser-induced interdigital structured graphene electrodes (LIG) has been reported. The flexible and scalable MSCs are fabricated by CO₂-laser structuring of polyimide-based Kapton ^® HN foils at ambient temperature yielding interdigital LIG-electrodes and using polymer gel electrolyte (PGE) produced by polypropylene carbonate (PPC) embedded ionic liquid of 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium-trifluoromethansulphonate [EMIM][OTf]. This MSC exhibits a wide stable potential window up to 2.0 V, offering an areal capacitance of 1.75 mF/cm² at a scan rate of 5.0 mV/s resulting in an energy density (E_a) of 0.256 µWh/cm² @ 0.03 mA/cm² and power density (P_a) of 0.11 mW/cm² @0.1 mA/cm². Overall electrochemical performance of this LIG/PGE-MSC is rounded with a good cyclic stability up to 10,000 cycles demonstrating its potential in terms of peak energy storage ability compared to the current thin film micro-supercapacitors.     

Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activity in Oat-Buckwheat Dough and Cookies with Added Spices or Herbs

The aim of this study was to determine the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity in oat-buckwheat doughs and cookies with the addition of ten selected spices or herbs (2 g/100 g flours weight basis). The used spices and herbs, as was expected, showed a wide range of bioactive molecules, namely phenolic acids and flavonoids, and they are a rich source of components with antioxidant potential. All analysed oat-buckwheat dough showed higher antioxidant activity potential and higher total phenolic content (TPC) compared to cookies. The highest TPC was found in clove, both dough and cookies, with its addition showing the highest ferric reducing antioxidant power. Generally, cookies with the addition of spice/herbs showed higher phytochemical contents and antioxidant activity compared to oat-buckwheat cookies without the condiment. The technology of obtaining confectionery products, like oat-buckwheat cookies, that will favor the protection of bioactive compounds should still be improved.     

Heat transfer mechanisms during short-pulse laser heating of two-layer composite thin films

 Using a simple perturbation technique, an analytical investigation is presented for the heat transfer mechanisms during ultrafast laser heating of two-layer composite thin slabs from a microscopic point of view. The composite slab consists of two thin metal films which are in perfect thermal contact. The microscopic parabolic two-step model is adopted to describe the behavior of the composite slab. In the microscopic two-step model, the heating process is modeled by the deposition of radiation energy on electrons, the transport of energy by electrons, and the heating of the material lattice through electron–phonon interactions. The proposed perturbation technique is used when the normalized temperature difference between the solid lattice and the electron gas is relatively a small perturbed quantity. Received on 20 September 2000 / Published online: 29 November 2001