Abstract: The feasibility of algae harvesting with submerged flat panel membranes was investigated as pre-concentration step prior to centrifugation. Polishing of the supernatant coming from the centrifuge was evaluated as well. The effect of membrane polymer (polyvinyl chloride [PVC], polyethersulfone polyvinyl-pyrollidone [PES-PVP], poly vinylidene fluoride [PVDF]), pore size (microfiltration [MF], ultrafiltration [UF]), algae cell concentrations and species were investigated at lab-scale. In addition, backwashing as fouling control was compared to standard relaxation. PVDF was the superior polymer, and UF showed better fouling resistance. Backwashing outperformed relaxation in fouling control. The backwashable membranes allowed up to 300% higher fluxes compared to commercial flat panel benchmark (PVC) membranes. Estimations on energy consumption for membrane filtration followed by centrifugation revealed relatively low values of 0.169 kW h/kg of dry weight of algae compared to 0.5 kW h/kg for algae harvesting via classical centrifuge alone. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the etch process of so-called low-k organic material by means of a N2/H2 capacitively coupled plasma, as applied in the micro-electronics industry for the manufacturing of computer chips. In recent years, such an organic material has emerged as a possible alternative for replacing bulk SiO2 as a dielectric material in the back-end-of-line, because of the smaller parasitic capacity between adjacent conducting lines, and thus a faster propagation of the electrical signals throughout the chip. Numerical simulations with a hybrid plasma model, using an extensive plasma and surface chemistry set, as well as experiments are performed, focusing on the plasma properties as well as the actual etching process, to obtain a better insight into the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, the effects of gas pressure, applied power and gas composition are investigated to try to optimize the etch process. In general, the plasma density reaches a maximum near the wafer edge due to the so-called 'edge effect'. As a result, the etch rate is not uniform but will also reach its maximum near the wafer edge. The pressure seems not to have a big effect. A higher power increases the etch rate, but the uniformity becomes (slightly) worse. The gas mixing ratio has no significant effect on the etch process, except when a pure H2 or N2 plasma is used, illustrating the synergistic effects of a N2/H2 plasma. In fact, our calculations reveal that the N2/H2 plasma entails an ion-enhanced etch process. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values. The microscopic etch profile shows the desired anisotropic shape under all conditions under study.

Abstract: In this work particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision simulations are performed to study the heating mechanism and plasma characteristics in direct current (dc) superposed radio-frequency (RF) capacitively coupled plasmas, operated both in single-frequency (SF) and dual-frequency (DF) regimes. An RF (60/2 MHz) source is applied on the bottom electrode to sustain the discharge, and a dc source is fixed on the top electrode. The heating mechanism appears to be very different in dc superposed SF and DF discharges. When only a single source of 60 MHz is applied, the plasma bulk region is reduced by the dc source, thus the ionization rate and hence the electron density decrease with rising dc voltage. However, when a DF source of 60 and 2 MHz is applied, the electron density can increase upon addition of a dc voltage, depending on the gap length and applied dc voltage. This is explained from the spatiotemporal ionization rates in the DF discharge. In fact, a completely different behavior is observed for the ionization rate in the two half-periods of the LF source. In the first LF half-period, the situation resembles the dc superposed SF discharge, and the reduced plasma bulk region due to the negative dc bias results in a very small effective discharge area and a low ionization rate. On the other hand, in the second half-period, the negative dc bias is to some extent counteracted by the LF voltage, and the sheath close to the dc electrode becomes particularly thin. Consequently, the amplitude of the high-frequency sheath oscillations at the top electrode is largely enhanced, while the LF sheath at the bottom electrode is in its expanding phase and can thus well confine the high-energy electrons. Therefore, the ionization rate increases considerably in this second LF half-period. Furthermore, in addition to the comparison between SF and DF discharges and the effect of gap length and dc voltage, the effect of secondary electrons is examined.

Abstract: The article describes the use of a fullerene (C60)-β-cyclodextrin conjugate, synthesized via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, for the ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of p-nitrophenol. This conjugate was successfully immobilized on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode and the developed device showed high activity towards p-nitrophenol due to the synergetic effect of C60, the latter becoming highly conductive upon reduction. The determination of p-nitrophenol was performed by using square wave voltammetry over a concentration range from 2.8×10−9 mol L−1 to 4.2×10−7 mol L−1 and the detection limit was calculated to be 1.2×10−9 mol L−1.

Abstract: We investigate topological aspects of subnanometer electron vortex beams upon elastic propagation through atomic scattering potentials. Two main aspects can be distinguished: (i) significantly reduced delocalization compared to a similar nonvortex beam if the beam centers on an atomic column and (ii) site symmetry dependent splitting of higher-order vortex beams. Furthermore, the results provide insight into the complex vortex line fabric within the elastically scattered wave containing characteristic vortex loops predominantly attached to atomic columns and characteristic twists of vortex lines around atomic columns. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.87.033834

Abstract: In this paper, we consider the bulky knots and bulky links, which appear after cutting of a Generalized MöbiusListing GMLn2 body (with the radial cross section a convex plane 2-symmetric figure with two vertices) along a different Generalized MöbiusListing surfaces GMLn2 situated in it. The aim of this report is to investigate the number and geometric structure of the independent objects that appear after such a cutting process of GMLn2 bodies. In most cases we are able to count the indices of the resulting mathematical objects according to the known classification for the standard knots and links.

Abstract: We modeled the electron and hole states in Si/SiO2 quantum wells within a basis of standing waves using the 30-band k . p theory. The hard-wall confinement potential is assumed, and the influence of the peculiar band structure of bulk silicon on the quantum-well sub-bands is explored. Numerous spurious solutions in the conduction-band and valence-band energy spectra are found and are identified to be of two types: (1) spurious states which have large contributions of the bulk solutions with large wave vectors (the high-k spurious solutions) and (2) states which originate mainly from the spurious valley outside the Brillouin zone (the extravalley spurious solutions). An algorithm to remove all those nonphysical solutions from the electron and hole energy spectra is proposed. Furthermore, slow and oscillatory convergence of the hole energy levels with the number of basis functions is found and is explained by the peculiar band mixing and the confinement in the considered quantum well. We discovered that assuming the hard-wall potential leads to numerical instability of the hole states computation. Nonetheless, allowing the envelope functions to exponentially decay in a barrier of finite height is found to improve the accuracy of the computed hole states.

Abstract: The adsorption characteristics of alkali, alkaline-earth, and transition metal adatoms on silicene, a graphene-like monolayer structure of silicon are analyzed by means of first-principles calculations. In contrast to graphene, interaction between the metal atoms and the silicene surface is quite strong due to its highly reactive buckled hexagonal structure. In addition to structural properties, we also calculate the electronic band dispersion, net magnetic moment, charge transfer, work function, and dipole moment of the metal adsorbed silicene sheets. Alkali metals, Li, Na, and K, adsorb to hollow sites without any lattice distortion. As a consequence of the significant charge transfer from alkalis to silicene, metalization of silicene takes place. Trends directly related to atomic size, adsorption height, work function, and dipole moment of the silicene/alkali adatom system are also revealed. We found that the adsorption of alkaline-earth metals on silicene is entirely different from their adsorption on graphene. The adsorption of Be, Mg, and Ca turns silicene into a narrow gap semiconductor. Adsorption characteristics of eight transition metals Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Mo, and W are also investigated. As a result of their partially occupied d orbital, transition metals show diverse structural, electronic, and magnetic properties. Upon the adsorption of transition metals, depending on the adatom type and atomic radius, the system can exhibit metal, half-metal, and semiconducting behavior. For all metal adsorbates, the direction of the charge transfer is from adsorbate to silicene, because of its high surface reactivity. Our results indicate that the reactive crystal structure of silicene provides a rich playground for functionalization at nanoscale. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.085423

Abstract: Typical Raman spectra of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) display two prominent peaks, E-2g and A(1g), that are well separated from each other. We find that these modes are degenerate in bulk WSe2 yielding one single Raman peak in contrast to other TMDs. As the dimensionality is lowered, the observed peak splits in two. In contrast, our ab initio calculations predict that the degeneracy is retained even for WSe2 monolayers. Interestingly, for minuscule biaxial strain, the degeneracy is preserved, but once the crystal symmetry is broken by a small uniaxial strain, the degeneracy is lifted. Our calculated phonon dispersion for uniaxially strained WSe2 shows a good match to the measured Raman spectrum, which suggests that uniaxial strain exists in WSe2 flakes, possibly induced during the sample preparation and/or as a result of the interaction between WSe2 and the substrate. Furthermore, we find that WSe2 undergoes an indirect-to-direct band-gap transition from bulk to monolayers, which is ubiquitous for semiconducting TMDs. These results not only allow us to understand the vibrational and electronic properties of WSe2, but also point to effects of the interaction between the monolayer TMDs and the substrate on the vibrational and electronic properties. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.165409

Abstract: We theoretically demonstrate that the transport inefficiency recently found experimentally for branched-out mesoscopic networks can also be observed in a quantum ring of finite width with an attached central horizontal branch. This is done by investigating the time evolution of an electron wave packet in such a system. Our numerical results show that the conductivity of the ring does not necessary improve if one adds an extra channel. This ensures that there exists a quantum analog of the Braess paradox, originating from quantum scattering and interference.

Abstract: Vortex loops are generated by the inhomogeneous stray field of a magnetic dipole on top of a current-carrying mesoscopic superconductor. Cutting and recombination processes unfold under the applied drive, resulting in periodic voltage oscillations across the sample. We show that a direct and detectable consequence of the cutting and recombination of these vortex loops in the present setup is the onset of vortices at surfaces where they were absent prior to the application of the external current. The nonlinear dynamics of vortex loops is studied within the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory to describe the profound three-dimensional features of their time evolution.

Abstract: We investigate the effect of Rashba and intrinsic spin-orbit couplings on the electronic properties and spin configurations of Dirac fermions confined in: (i) a flat graphene sheet, (ii) a graphene wire with p-n-p structure, and (iii) a superlattice of graphene wires. The interplay between the spin-orbit interaction mechanisms breaks the electron-hole symmetry and the spin configuration induced by Rashba spin-orbit coupling lacks inversion symmetry in k space. We show that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction doubles the Fabry-Perot resonant modes in the transmission spectrum of a graphene wire and opens new channels for the electron transmission. Moreover, it leads to the appearance of spin split extra Dirac cones in the energy spectrum of a graphene superlattice. It is shown that the spin of the electrons and holes confined in a flat graphene sheet is always perpendicular to their motion while this is not the case for the other nanostructures.

Abstract: The effect of strain in graphene is usually modeled by a pseudomagnetic vector potential which is, however, derived in the limit of small strain. In realistic cases deviations are expected in view of graphene's very high strain tolerance, which can be up to 25%. Here we investigate the pseudomagnetic field generated by a Gaussian bump and we show that it exhibits significant differences with numerical tight-binding results. Furthermore, we calculate the electronic states in the strained region for a hexagon shaped flake with armchair edges. We find that the sixfold symmetry of the wave functions inside the Gaussian bump is directly related to the different effects of strain along the fundamental directions of graphene: zigzag and armchair. Low energy electrons are strongly confined in the armchair directions and are localized on the carbon atoms of a single sublattice.

Abstract: The relation between the energy and momentum of plasmarons in bilayer graphene is investigated within the Overhauser approach, where the electron-plasmon interaction is described as a field theoretical problem. We find that the Dirac-like spectrum is shifted by Delta E(k) similar to 100 divided by 150 meV depending on the electron concentration n(e) and electron momentum. The shift increases with electron concentration as the energy of plasmons becomes larger. The dispersion of plasmarons is more pronounced than in the case of single layer graphene, which is explained by the fact that the energy dispersion of electrons is quadratic and not linear. We expect that these predictions can be verified using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES).