Abstract: Following extended use in organic chemistry, microwave-assisted synthesis is gaining more importance in the field of inorganic chemistry, especially for the synthesis of nanoporous materials. It offers some major advantages such as a significant shortening of the synthesis time and an improved promotion of nucleation. In the research here reported, microwave technology is applied for the synthesis of benzene bridged PMOs (periodic mesoporous organosilicas). PMOs are one of the latest innovations in the field of hybrid ordered mesoporous materials and have attracted much attention because of their feasibility in electronics, catalysis, separation and sorption applications. The different synthesis steps (stirring, aging and extraction) of the classical PMO synthesis are replaced by microwave-assisted synthesis steps. The characteristics of the as-synthesized materials are evaluated by X-ray diffraction, N2-sorption, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning- and transmission electron microscopy. The microwave-assisted synthesis drastically reduces the synthesis time by more than 40 hours without any loss in structural properties, such as mesoscale and molecular ordering. The porosity of the PMO materials has even been improved by more than 25%. Moreover, the number of handling/transfer steps and amounts of chemicals and waste are drastically reduced. The study also shows that there is a clear time (1 to 3 hours) and temperature frame (373 K to 403 K) wherein synthesis of benzene bridged PMO is optimal. In conclusion, the microwave-assisted synthesis pathway allows an improved material to be obtained in a more economical way i.e. a much shorter time with fewer chemicals and less waste.

Abstract: We investigate theoretically the ballistic transport in a two-dimensional electron gas, which is rolled up as a tube and is micro-structured into a Hall bar. A uniform magnetic field applied to such a curved surface results in a non-uniform perpendicular magnetic field. The bend resistances become asymmetric with respect to the orientation of the magnetic field due to the varying magnetic field along the junction. The resistance asymmetry is strongly affected by corrugation due to the varying mobility along different crystallographic directions. We compare our results with a recent transport measurement.

Abstract: We demonstrate a simple and robust method for inducing and detecting changes of magnetic flux quantization in the absence of an externally applied magnetic field. In our device, an isolated ring is interconnected with two access loops via permalloy cores, forming a superconducting transformer. By applying and tuning a direct current at the first access loop, the number of flux quanta trapped in the isolated ring is modified without the aid of an external field. The flux state of the isolated ring is simply detected by recording the evolution of the critical current of the second access loop.

Abstract: Expanded graphite decorated with nickel oxide particles (EGNiO) has been synthesized through electrochemical oxidation of natural graphite in an aqueous nickel nitrate solution followed by a heat treatment. EGNiO was used to prepare nickel/carbon composites using two techniques: (a) hydrogen reduction of nickel oxide particles loaded on the expanded graphite surface and (b) pyrolysis of coal tar pitch-impregnated EGNiO blocks. The EGNiO as well as the nickel/carbon composites have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction.

Abstract: A computer model is developed for describing argon/nitrogen glow discharges. The species taken into account in the model include electrons, Ar atoms in the ground state and in the 4s metastable levels, N2 molecules in the ground state and in six different electronically excited levels, N atoms, Ar+ ions, N+, N2+, N3+ and N4+ ions. The fast electrons are simulated with a Monte Carlo model, whereas all other species are treated in a fluid model. 74 different chemical reactions are considered in the model. The calculation results include the densities of all the different plasma species, as well as information on their production and loss processes. The effect of different N2 additions, in the range between 0.1 and 10%, is investigated.

Abstract: ZSM-48 and related zeolites are considered to be highly disordered structures. Different polytypes can be clearly distinguished by simulation of high-resolution electron microscopy images. Synthesis of phase-pure polytypes was attempted. One of the investigated samples crystallized via seeding designated as COK-8 consisted of nanoscopic, needlelike crystals with a very large length/width ratio, growing along the pore direction. These specimens are phase-pure polytype 6 (PT6, numbering according to Lobo and van Koningsveld). Aggregates of these nanoneedles occasionally contained a second polytype: PT1. The latter polytype occurred more abundantly in larger crystal rods in an IZM-1 sample crystallized in ethylene glycol. Here too, the isolated crystallites mainly consist of large, defect-free regions of PT6. A simulation of polytype lattice energies offers a rational explanation for the observed polytypical intergrowth formation.

Abstract: From a numerical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, we investigate an interplay of the transverse discrete modes with a longitudinal supercurrent in a metallic cylindrical superconducting nanowire. The superconductor-to-normal transition induced by a longitudinal superflow of electrons is found to occur as a cascade of jumps in the order parameter (supercurrent and superfluid density) as a function of the superfluid velocity for diameters d<1015 nm (for Al parameters) and sufficiently low temperatures T<0.30.4Tc, with Tc the critical temperature. When approaching Tc, the jumps are smoothed into steplike but continuous drops. A similar picture occurs for d>1520 nm. Only when the diameter exceeds 5070 nm the quantum-size cascades are fully washed out, and we arrive at the mesoscopic regime. Below this regime the critical current density jc exhibits the quantum-size oscillations with pronounced resonant enhancements: the smaller the diameter, the more significant is the enhancement. Thickness fluctuations of real samples will smooth out such oscillations into an overall growth of jc with decreasing nanowire diameter.

Abstract: The major threat to clean air in developed and industrializing countries is now posed by traffic emissions. The effects of traffic road modifications on the air quality are, however, rarely reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the modernization and renovation of a traffic artery in the region of Mortsel (Antwerp, Belgium) on the concentration of volatile organic compounds such as: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and m-, p-, o-xylenes (BTEX). The original goal of the reconstruction works was to reduce the traffic lanes of one of the busiest streets in Antwerp, in order to discourage the road traffic and in consequence also to improve the air quality in this region. The average concentrations of BTEX before these works in 2003 were: 1.6, 7.0, 0.9, 2.3, and 0.9 ìg/m3, for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m + p xylenes, and o-xylene, respectively. However, after the completion of the works, in 2005, they were slightly higher: 2.5, 9.5, 1.6, 3.4, and 1.3 ìg/m3, respectively. The scatter plots of benzene against toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes in 2003 and 2005 showed very good correlations. This fact indicated that all of the measured compounds originated from the same source, namely the road traffic. Moreover, the data obtained from an air-monitoring station at less than 6 km distance from the sampling site (operated by the Flemish Environment Agency, and located in Borgerhout, Antwerp), confirmed the lack of influence of background concentrations of BTEX. The obtained results led to the conclusion that the reduction of the number of traffic lanes had apparently increased the traffic jams and also increased the emission from cars. Therefore, these modernization works had even a negative impact on the local concentration of traffic-related pollutants as BTEX.

Abstract: High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) followed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) was used for detailed group-type characterization of hydrocarbons present in motor oils. With conventional GC, motor oil is not well separated due to its complexity, resulting in a hump in the chromatogram: the unresolved complex mixture (UCM). With HPLC-GC×GC, motor oil hydrocarbons can be quantitatively separated into four major groups: alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes and aromatics. Each group can be further separated and divided by ring number or carbon number. Three selected motor oil samples were characterized by HPLC-GC×GC including two conventional motor oils and a synthetic motor oil. Using a proprietary silver-modified HPLC column, the aromatic components in motor oils were baseline separated from the aliphatic UCM and were then further separated by GC×GC based on their aromatic ring numbers. Accordingly, the aliphatic components were separated by GC×GC based on their saturated ring numbers. This paper illustrates the capabilities of HPLC-GC×GC for reliable and detailed quantitative group-type characterization of hydrocarbons present in motor oils.

Abstract: The transmission T and conductance G through one or multiple one-dimensional, ä-function barriers of two-dimensional fermions with a linear energy spectrum are studied. T and G are periodic functions of the strength P of the ä-function barrier V(x,y)/ℏvF=Pä(x). The dispersion relation of a Kronig-Penney (KP) model of a superlattice is also a periodic function of P and causes collimation of an incident electron beam for P=2ðn and n integer. For a KP superlattice with alternating sign of the height of the barriers the Dirac point becomes a Dirac line for P=(n+1/2)ð.

Abstract: We study the effect of electron confinement on the superconducting-to-normal phase transition driven by a magnetic field and/or on the current-carrying state of the superconducting condensate in nanowires. Our investigation is based on a self-consistent numerical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We show that in a parallel magnetic field and/or in the presence of supercurrent the transition from superconducting to normal phase occurs as a cascade of discontinuous jumps in the superconducting order parameter for diameters D < 10 divided by 15 nm at T = 0. The critical magnetic field exhibits quantum-size oscillations with pronounced resonant enhancements.

Abstract: The main purpose of this research is to manage simultaneous measurement of velocity and concentration in large cross-sections by recording and processing images of cloud structures to provide more detailed information for e.g. validation of CFD simulations. Dispersion from an isolated stack in an Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) was chosen as the test case and investigated both experimentally and numerically in a wind tunnel. Large Scale-Particle Image Velocimetry (LS-PIV), which records cloud structures instead of individual particles, was used to obtain the velocity field in a vertical plane. The concentration field was determined by two methods: Aspiration Probe (AP) measurements and Light Scattering Technique (LST). In the latter approach, the same set of images used in the LS-PIV was employed. The test case was also simulated using the CFD solver FLUENT 6.3. Comparison between AP measurements and CFD revealed that there is good agreement when using a turbulent Schmidt number of 0.4. For the LST measurements, a non-linear relation between concentration and light intensity was observed and a hyperbolic-based function is proposed as correction function. After applying this correction function, a close agreement between CFD and LST measurements is obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Using numerical simulations, we study the dynamic properties of a superconducting stripe with a perpendicular magnetized ferromagnet on top in the presence of an applied dc current. In the resistive state conventional phase-slip lines are transformed into kinematic vortex-antivortex pairs with special dynamic behavior. In addition, the location of phase slippage in the sample is predetermined by the position of the magnetic dot. Both these effects directly influence the dynamics of the superconducting condensate and lead to periodic oscillations of the voltage across the sample with a frequency tunable both by the applied current and by the magnetization of the magnet. We found that the frequency of the voltage oscillations increases with increasing number of magnetic dots.

Abstract: Analysis of the structural parameters of phases that adopt brownmillerite-type structures suggests the distribution of the different complex ordering schemes adopted within this structure type can be rationalized by considering both the size of the separation between the tetrahedral layers and the tetrahedral chain distortion angle. A systematic study using structural data obtained from La1−xAxMnO2,5 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca,) phases, prepared by the topotactic reduction of the analogous La1−xAxMnO3 perovskite phases, was performed to investigate this relationship. By manipulating the A-cation composition, both the tetrahedral layer separation and tetrahedral chain distortion angle in the La1−xAxMnO2,5 phases were controlled and from the data obtained a ¡°structure map¡± of the different brownmillerite variants was plotted as a function of these structural parameters. This map has been extended to include a wide range of reported brownmillerite phases showing the structural ideas presented are widely applicable. The complete structural characterization of La1−xAxMnO2,5 0.1 ¡Ü x ¡Ü 0.33, A = Ba; 0.15 ¡Ü x ¡Ü 0.5 A = Sr, and 0.22 ¡Ü x ¡Ü 0.5 A = Ca is described and includes compositions which exhibit complex intralayer ordered structures and Mn2+/Mn3+ charge ordering.