Ab initio study of sodium intercalation into metal oxides

Using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method, we have studied the effect of chemistry on the average intercalation voltage (AIV) caused by the Na ions intercalating into transition metal oxides. The effect of transition metal was systematically studied by varying M=Co, Ni and Mn in NaMO₂ and fixing the α-NaFeO₂ layered structure. The effect of the guest atoms into the host material is discussed in terms of the structural and electronic properties. Comparatively to Li intercalation, a significant electron transfer towards transition metal was found. This observation suggests that the transition metal contribute to the AIV determination and confirms the common assumption that intercalated electron reduces M⁴⁺ to M³⁺.     

Study of the inhibiting effect of a quaternary ammonium surfactants mixture synthesized from petroleum fraction (reformate) against the carbon steel corrosion in HCl 1 M

Quaternary ammonium cationic surfactants were synthesized from reformate, a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons (aromatics, naphthenes and paraffins), via chloromethylation/quaternization sequences. The petroleum surfactants thus obtained were evaluated as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel in 1 M HCl, by gravimetry, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The corrosion inhibiting efficiency was assessed as functions of surfactant concentration. The results showed that the inhibiting efficiency increased with surfactant concentration; its optimal value of 70 % was for a surfactant concentration of 320 mg/L at 25 °C. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements showed that the mixture acts as a mixed type inhibitor. The corrosion inhibiting mechanism is thought to proceed via an adsorption of the surfactant molecules on the steel surface, generating a film and hindering the active sites. Our experimental adsorption data were found to obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. SEM images of the treated specimens, revealing the likely formation of a protective film, demonstrated the inhibiting capacity of the petroleum quaternary ammonium surfactants against the carbon steel corrosion.     

Long-time stabilization of porous silicon photoluminescence by surface modification

We present results on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of porous silicon (PS) as a function of time. Stabilization of PL from PS has been achieved by replacing silicon-hydrogen bonds terminating the surface with more stable silicon-carbon bonds. The composition of the PS surface was monitored by transmission Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy at intervals of 1 month in ageing time up to 1 year. The position of the maximum PL peak wavelength oscillates between a blue-shift and a red-shift in the 615-660 nm range with time.     

Equational Compactness of G-sheaves

Purity and equational compactness play a role at least in the Theories of Modules, Acts, Model, and Category. Adámek and Rosický have studied them categorically, Rothmaler model-theoretically, and some authors, including Banaschewski, Gould, and Normak have studied these notions on G-acts. We take both the group G and the set A in the definition of a G-act to be sheaves and study equationally compact G-sheaves. We get different kinds of equationally compact G-sheaves, study them and their interrelations, give some conditions for their proper behavior, and generalize some of the existing results.     

Application of Monte Carlo simulation method to polymerization kinetics over Ziegler–Natta catalysts

In the current work, the Monte Carlo simulation method was applied to ethylene polymerization over Ziegler–Natta catalysts. As expected, polymerization over each center of a Ziegler–Natta catalyst leads to a polymer having a Schultz–Flory molecular weight distribution. Notwithstanding, the total molecular weight distribution obtained by all catalyst centers together is at least twice as broad as that of each center. As another interesting finding, the introduction of hydrogen to the reaction deactivates the catalyst active centers and thereby reduces the catalyst activity. Nevertheless, it does not mainly affect the polymerization kinetics. In addition, the polymer molecular weight falls as hydrogen is added to the reaction since it acts as a strong transfer agent. The same effect is seen when cocatalyst concentration increases. Hydrogen also widens the polymer molecular weight distribution. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 41: 45–56, 2009     

Best approximation in vector spaces

In this paper, we obtain some results on best f-approximation in quotient spaces of vector spaces and determine under what conditions f-proximinality can be transmitted to and from quotient spaces. Also, in conclusion, we consider the relationship between f-approximation subsets and linear functionals on X.     

Use of rigid-body motion for the investigation and estimation of the measurement errors related to digital image correlation technique

The aim of this work is to investigate the sources of errors related to digital image correlation (DIC) technique applied to strain measurements. The knowledge of such information is important before the measured kinematic fields can be exploited. After recalling the principle of DIC, some sources of errors related to this technique are listed. Both numerical and experimental tests, based on rigid-body motion, are proposed. These tests are simple and easy-to-implement. They permit to quickly assess the errors related to lighting, the optical lens (distortion), the CCD sensor, the out-of-plane displacement, the speckle pattern, the grid pitch, the size of the subset and the correlation algorithm. The errors sources that cannot be uncoupled were estimated by amplifying their contribution to the global error. The obtained results permit to address a classification of the error related to the used equipment. The paper ends by some suggestions proposed in order to minimize the errors.     

Cold fiber solid-phase microextraction device based on thermoelectric cooling of metal fiber

A new cold fiber solid-phase microextraction device was designed and constructed based on thermoelectric cooling. A three-stage thermoelectric cooler (TEC) was used for cooling a copper rod coated with a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) hollow fiber, which served as the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber. The copper rod was mounted on a commercial SPME plunger and exposed to the cold surface of the TEC, which was enclosed in a small aluminum box. A heat sink and a fan were used to dissipate the generated heat at the hot side of the TEC. By applying an appropriate dc voltage to the TEC, the upper part of the copper rod, which was in contact to the cold side of the TEC, was cooled and the hollow fiber reached a lower temperature through heat transfer. A thermocouple was embedded in the cold side of the TEC for indirect measurement of the fiber temperature. The device was applied in quantitative analysis of off-flavors in a rice sample. Hexanal, nonanal, and undecanal were chosen as three off-flavors in rice. They were identified according to their retention times and analyzed by GC-flame ionization detection instrument. Headspace extraction conditions (i.e., temperature and time) were optimized. Standard addition calibration graphs were obtained at the optimized conditions and the concentrations of the three analytes were calculated. The concentration of hexanal was also measured using a conventional solvent extraction method (697+/-143ng/g) which was comparable to that obtained from the cold fiber SPME method (644+/-8). Moreover, the cold fiber SPME resulted in better reproducibility and shorter analysis time. Cold fiber SPME with TEC device can also be used as a portable device for field sampling.