Non-aggregated Pd nanoparticles deposited onto catalytic supports

Nanostructured powders have shown great promise for a variety of applications including chemical gas sensors, high surface area supports for catalysis, tribology, chemical mechanical polishing, and optoelectronics. In this report, highly dispersed Pd nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution, and mean diameter of 2±0.2 nm, were deposited at room temperature onto amorphous carbon and oxide supports (TiO₂, Al₂O₃) by pulsed-laser ablation of a Pd sputtering target. Depositions were performed in Ar at a back-fill pressure of 3 mTorr after reaching a base pressure of 10^-7 Torr. Populations of uniformly dispersed particles with an interparticle spacing of 3 to 10 nm were observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy with little evidence of nanoparticle aggregation. The chemical compositions of individual nanoparticles were confirmed by high spatial resolution energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.     

Characterization of host-lattice emission and energy transfer in BaMgAl10O17:Eu

Host-lattice emission, energy transfer and degradation processes are characterized in undoped and Eu-doped BaMgAl₁₀O₁₇. Undoped BaMgAl₁₀O₁₇ exhibits a broad emission centered at 265 nm when excited at wavelengths shorter than 190 nm. This emission is assigned to exciton recombination at Ba-O groups in the cation layer of the lattice. The emission exhibits excellent overlap with the excitation band of Eu²⁺ in this host, providing a means of host-to-activator energy transfer in the doped phosphor. The exciton emission is relatively stable to thermal damage, but undergoes a peak shift and significant decrease in intensity after exposure to VUV radiation. Heating of VUV-damaged materials in air leads to some repair of the spectral properties.     

Crutch or Catalyst: Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Regarding Calculator use in Mathematics Instruction

This study investigated K‐12 teachers' beliefs and reported teaching practices regarding calculator use in their mathematics instruction. A survey was administered to more than 800 elementary, middle and high school teachers in a large metropolitan area to address the following questions: (a) what are the beliefs and practices of mathematics teachers regarding calculator use? and (b) how do these beliefs and practices differ among teachers in three grade bands? Factor analysis of 20 Likert scale items revealed four factors that accounted for 54% of the variance in the ratings. These factors were named Catalyst Beliefs, Teacher Knowledge, Crutch Beliefs, and Teacher Practices. Compared to elementary teachers, high school teachers were significantly higher in their perception of calculator use as a catalyst in mathematics instruction. However, the higher the grade level of the teacher, the higher the mean score on the perception that calculator use may be a way of getting answers without understanding mathematical processes. The mean scores for teachers in all three grade bands indicated agreement that students can learn mathematics through calculator use and using calculators in instruction will lead to better student understanding and make mathematics more interesting. The survey results shed light on teachers' self reported beliefs, knowledge, and practices in regard to consistency with elements of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000) technology principle and the NCTM use of technology position paper (2003). This study extended previous research on teachers' beliefs regarding calculator use in classrooms by examining and comparing the results of teacher surveys across three grade bands.     

Comparison of procedures for correction of matrix interferences in the multi-element analysis of soils by ICP-AES with a CCD detection system

Three procedures, matrix matching, plasma optimisation and single-point standard-addition, have been evaluated to ascertain the best procedure for simultaneous multi-element analysis of industrial soils by ICP-AES with CCD detection. A standard reference material, CRM143 from the Bureau Communautaire de Réference (BCR), has been analysed for Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni and Pb using the three different matrix interference correction procedures. All three procedures give comparable results which are in good agreement with the BCR values, except for Cr. The single-point standard addition procedure was chosen, on the basis of economy and ease of implementation, to correct for matrix interferences in the determination of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn and V in soil samples collected from an industrial site in England. Concentrations of some of the elements were found to vary greatly with sampling depth. For example, the concentration of Mn, determined using the atomic line at 279.920 nm, increased from 426 ± 3 g/g at a depth of 18–28 cm to 5996 ± 144 g/g at 60–85 cm.     

Studies of layered uranium (VI) compounds. VI. Ionic conductivities and thermal stabilities of MUO2PO4 · nH2O,where M = H,Li,Na,K,NH4 or 12Ca, and where n is between 0 and 4

We have measured the ionic conductivities of pressed pellets of the layered compounds MUO₂PO₄ · nH₂O, and correlated the results with TGA data. The conductivities (in ohm^?1 m^?1), at temperatures increasing with decreasing water content over the range 20 to 200°C, were approximately as follows: Li⁺4H₂O, 10^?4; Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, and NH₄⁺3H₂O, 10^?4, 10^?2, 10^?4, and 10^?4; H⁺, Li⁺, and Na⁺1.5H₂O, 10^?2, 10^?4, and 10^?4; Na⁺1H₂O, 10^?5; H⁺, K⁺, and NH₄⁺0.5H₂O, all 10^?5; and H⁺, Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, NH⁺₄, and $\text{1}\text{2}\text{Ca}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{}\text{OH}{}_2\text{O}$, 10^?5, 10^?5, 10^?4, 10^?5, 10^?5, and 10^?6. A ring mechanism is proposed to account for the high conductivity found in NaUO₂PO₄ · 3.1H₂O. The accurate TGA data showed that most of the hydrates had water vacancies of the Schottky type, and should be represented as MUO₂PO₄(A ? x)H₂O, where x can be between 0 and 0.3.     

The role of cooling rate in crystallization-driven block copolymer self-assembly

Self-assembly of crystalline-coil block copolymers (BCPs) in selective solvents is often carried out by heating the mixture until the sample appears to dissolve and then allowing the solution to cool back to room temperature. In self-seeding experiments, some crystallites persist during sample annealing and nucleate the growth of core-crystalline micelles upon cooling. There is evidence in the literature that the nature of the self-assembled structures formed is independent of the annealing time at a particular temperature. There are, however, no systematic studies of how the rate of cooling affects self-assembly. We examine three systems based upon poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) BCPs that generated uniform micelles under typical conditions where cooling took pace on the 1–2 h time scale. For example, several of the systems generated elongated 1D micelles of uniform length under these slow cooling conditions. When subjected to rapid cooling (on the time scale of a few minutes or faster), branched structures were obtained. Variation of the cooling rate led to a variation in the size and degree of branching of some of the structures examined. These changes can be explained in terms of the high degree of supersaturation that occurs when unimer solutions at high temperature are suddenly cooled. Enhanced nucleation, seed aggregation, and selective growth of the species of lowest solubility contribute to branching. Cooling rate becomes another tool for manipulating crystallization-driven self-assembly and controlling micelle morphologies.

In the self-assembly of crystalline-coil block copolymers in solution, heating followed by different cooling rates can lead to different structures.     

Wetting, Bonding and Interfacial Energy of Nanocrystalline Metal Particles on Crystalline DCH Polymer and Amorphous Carbon Substrates

Experimental results concerning the interaction between a variety of nanocrystalline metals (gold, silver, nickel and chromium) and both crystalline polymer [poly-DCH (1,6-di (N-carbazolyl)-2,4-hexadiene)] and amorphous carbon substrates, are presented and analyzed. Attention is focused on aspects of the interaction that concern interfacial bonding, its correlation with the cohesive energies of the various metals and the energy of the interfaces. Experimental contributions include qualitative estimates of the magnitude of interfacial energies for the crystalline polymer/metal and amorphous carbon/metal interfaces and a direct measurement of the interfacial energies for gold and silver nanocrystals deposited on the amorphous carbon substrate. The sequence of interfacial energy values for the polymer/metal and amorphous carbon/metal systems is also determined. The interfacial energies for both the poly-DCH and amorphous carbon substrates decreases in the order silver, gold, nickel, and chromium, as expected from cohesive energy, melting point and surface energy data for these elements. The crystalline polymer/metal interfaces were examined for the presence of orientation relationships using selected area diffraction and optical diffractometry of high-resolution TEM images. No orientation relationships were found for any of the polymer/metal combinations spanning a large range of metal reactivities. Lack of atomic matching or some as yet unknown surface condition on the polymer may be responsible for this effect.