Synthesis of Small‐Sized,Porous, and Low‐Toxic Magnetite Nanoparticles by Thin POSS Silica Coating

In this communication, we report the synthesis of small‐sized (<10 nm), water‐soluble, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS), which contain either polyethylene glycol (PEG) or octa(tetramethylammonium) (OctaTMA) as functional groups. The POSS‐coated MNPs exhibit superparamagnetic behavior with saturation magnetic moments (51–53 emu g^?1) comparable to silica‐coated MNPs. They also provide good colloidal stability at different pH and salt concentrations, and low cytotoxicity to MCF‐7 human breast epithelial cells. The relaxivity data and magnetic resonance (MR) phantom images demonstrate the potential application of these MNPs in bioimaging.     

Evidence for internal resistive barriers in a crystal of the giant dielectric constant material: CaCu3Ti4O12

Complex impedance spectra were obtained on a crystal of CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) from 289 to 456 K. As in the case of ceramic CCTO, these spectra can be interpreted as arising from a conducting material containing insulating barriers. This is then further evidence for the existence of planar defects within crystals of CCTO that act as insulating barriers and produce the large dielectric constant through a space charge mechanism.     

Complexation of Macrocyclic Compounds with Silver Ions in Surfactant Media

This paper is a report on the complexation studies of silverions with certain water soluble crown ethers viz., 15-crown-5,18-crown-6, cyclam, diaza 15-crown-5 and certain water insolublecrown ethers viz., benzo 15-crown-5, dibenzodiaza 15-crown-4,dibenzyldiaza 18-crown-6 in some nonionic surfactants viz.,polyoxyethylated alkyl phenol (TX 100), polyoxyethylene (20)sorbiton monolaurate (Tween 20), polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitonmonoleate (Tween 80) and polyoxyethylated glyco monolaurylether (Brij 35) by potentiometry. In addition, conductometry wasalso used to study the complexation of oxa crown ethers to comparethe results obtained by potentiometry, which were found to be ingood agreement with each other. The complexation studies indicate1:1 complex formation between the silver ion and macrocycle, thelog_ML ⁿ⁺ values being in the range 1 to 9.     

Extractive spectrophotometric determination of Cobalt(II) in synthetic and pharmaceutical samples using Cyanex 923.

Cyanex 923 has been proposed as a sensitive analytical reagent for the direct extractive spectrophotometric determination of cobalt(II). Cobalt(II) forms a blue-colored complex with Cyanex 923 in the organic phase. The maximum absorbance of the complex is measured at 635 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the range 58.9 - 589.0 microg of cobalt. The molar absorptivitiy and Sandell's sensitivity of the complex was calculated to be 6.79 x 10920 l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.088 microg cm(-2), respectively. The nature of the extracted species was found to be Co(SCN)2 x 2S. An excellent linearity with a correlation coefficient value of 0.999 was obtained for the Co(II)-Cyanex 923 complex. Stability and regeneration of the reagent (Cyanex 923) for reuse is the main advantage of the present method. The method was successfully applied to the determination of cobalt in synthetic mixtures and pharmaceutical samples was found to give values close to the actual ones. Standard alloy samples, such as high-speed tool BCS 484 and 485, have been tested for the determination of cobalt for the purpose of validating the present method. The results of the proposed method are comparable with atomic absorption spectrometry and were found to be in good agreement.     

Total electron scattering cross sections for carbon dioxide at low electron energies

Absolute total electron scattering cross sections for carbon dioxide have been measured at low electron energies using a photoelectron source. The measurements have been carried out at 27 electron energies varying from 0.91–9.14 eV with an accuracy of ±3%. The cross sections obtained in the present experiment have been compared with other measurements and theoretical computations.     

Local control of electric current driven shell etching of multiwalled carbon nanotubes

We report on a novel method for local control of shell engineering in multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) using Joule-heating induced electric breakdown. By modulating the heat dissipation along a nanotube, we can confine its thinning and shell breakdown to occur within localized regions of peak temperatures, which are distributed over one-half of the NT length. The modulation is achieved by using suitably designed nanomachined heat sinks with different degrees of thermal coupling at different parts of a current-carrying nanotube. The location of electric breakdown occurs precisely at the regions of high temperatures predicted by the classical finite-element model of Joule heating in the MWNT. The experiments herein provide new insight into the electric breakdown mechanism and prove unambiguously that shell removal occurs due to thermal stress, underpinning the diffusive nature of MWNTs. The method demonstrated here has the potential to be a powerful tool in realizing MWNT bearings with complex architectures for use in integrated nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). In addition, the breakdown current and power in the nanotubes are significantly higher than those observed in nanotubes without heat removal via additional heat sinks. This indicates future avenues for enhancing the performance of MWNTs in electrical interconnect and nanoelectronic applications. PACS  73.63.Fg; 65.80.+n     

A fourth order method for a singular two-point boundary value problem

Recently, Chawla et al. described a second order finite difference method for the class of singular two-point boundary value problems: