Improvement of a Fission-Like Model for Nuclear alpha Decay

The alpha decay constant is the product of the penetrability P and assault frequency nu(0) in the fission-like model. An effective assault frequency P-nu replacing the previous assault frequency nu(0) is introduced for improvement of a fission-like model named the generalized liquid drop model (GLDM) to describe the nuclear alpha decay process more accurately. Two analytical formulae are proposed for the effective assault frequency due to experimental data within the GLDM. The improved model can be used to give accurate calculations for alpha decay half-lives.

Nucleon Superfluidity in Asymmetric Nuclear Matter and Neutron Star Matter

We have investigate the nucleon superfluidity in asymmetric nuclear matter and neutron star matter by using the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach and the BCS theory. We have predicted the isospin-asymmetry dependence of the nucleon superfluidity in asymmetric nuclear matter and discussed particularly the effect of microscopic three-body forces. It has been shown that the three-body force leads to a strong suppression of the proton S-1(0) superfluidity in beta -stable neutron star matter. Whereas the microscopic three-body force is found to enhance remarkably the (PF2)-P-3 neutron superfluidity in neutron star matter and neutron stars.

Nuclear physics program at HIRFL

With the commissioning of HIRFL-CSR, HIRFL can provide heavy ion beams with energy covering the range of several MeV/u to 1 GeV/u. In this talk, the experiments on nuclear physics at different energies to be carried out with different experimental setups at HIRFL will be introduced.

STATUS AND PROSPECTS OF HIRFL EXPERIMENTS ON NUCLEAR PHYSICS

HIRFL is an accelerator complex consisting of 3 accelerators, 2 radioactive beams lines, 1 storage rings and a number of experimental setups. The research activities at HIRFL cover the fields of radio-biology, material science, atomic physics, and nuclear physics. This report mainly concentrates on the experiments of nuclear physics with the existing and planned experimental setups such as SHANS, RIBLL1, ETF, CSRe, PISA and HPLUS at HIRFL.

NUCLEON-NUCLEON CROSS SECTIONS IN ISOSPIN ASYMMETRIC NUCLEAR MATTER

The in medium nucleon-nucleon (N N) cross sections in isospin asymmetric nuclear matter at various densities are investigated in the frame work of Brueckner-Hartree-Fock theory with the Bonn B two-body nucleon-nucleon inter action supplemented with a new version microscopic three-body force (TBF). The TBF depresses the amplitude of cross sections at high density region. At low densities, the proton-proton and neutron-neutron cross sections decrease while the proton-neutron one increases as the asymmetry increases. But the sensitivity of the N N cross sections to the isospin a symmetry are reduced with the increasing density.

TRITON-(HE)-H-3 RELATIVE AND DIFFERENTIAL FLOWS AND THE HIGH DENSITY BEHAVIOR OF NUCLEAR SYMMETRY ENERGY

Using a transport model coupled with a phase-space coalescence after-burner we study the triton-He-3 relative and differential transverse flows in semi-central Sn-132 + Sn-124 reactions at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. We find that the triton-He-3 pairs carry interesting information about the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. The t-He-3 relative flow can be used as a particularly powerful probe of the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy.

THE ISOSPIN DEPENDENCE OF THE NUCLEAR PHASE TRANSITION NEAR THE CRITICAL POINT

The experimental results reveal the isospin dependence of the nuclear phase transition in terms of the Landau Free Energy description of critical phenomena. Near the critical point, different ratios of the neutron to proton concentrations lead to different critical points for the phase transition which is analogous to the phase transitions in He-4-He-3 liquid mixtures. The antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) and GEMINI models calculations were also performed and the results will be discussed as well.

Performance comparison of low-temperature direct alcohol fuel cells with different anode catalysts

Low-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells directly fed by methanol and ethanol were investigated employing carbon supported Pt, PtSn and PtRu as anode catalysts, respectively. Employing Pt/C as anode catalyst, both direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) and direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) showed poor performances even in presence of high Pt loading on anode. It was found that the addition of Ru or Sn to the Pt dramatically enhances the electro-oxidation of both methanol and ethanol. It was also found that the single cell adopting PtRu/C as anode shows better DMFC performance, while PtSn/C catalyst shows better DEFC performance. The single fuel cell using PtSn/C as anode catalyst at 90degreesC shows similar power densities whenever fueled by methanol or ethanol. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and single fuel cell tests indicated that PtRu is more suitable for DMFC while PtSn is more suitable for DEFC. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CO selective oxidation in a microchannel reactor for PEM fuel cell

It is indispensable to remove CO at the level of less than 50ppm in H-2-rich feed gas for the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. In this paper, catalyst with high activity and selectivity, and a microchannel reactor for CO preferential oxidation (PROX) have been developed. The results indicated that potassium on supported Rh metal catalysts had a promoting effect in the CO selective catalytic oxidation under H-2-rich stream, and microchannel reactor has an excellent ability to use in on-board hydrogen generation system. CO conversion keeps at high levels even at a very high GHSV as 500 000 h(-1), so, miniaturization of hydrogen generation system can be achieved by using the microchannel reactor. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preparation and characterization of PtSn/C anode electrocatalysts for direct ethanol fuel cell

Highly active PtSn/C catalyst was prepared by a polyol method. The catalyst was reduced in H-2/Ar atmosphere at 600 degreesC for 2 h in order to obtain different metallic phase. TEM images show uniform dispersion of spherical metal nanoparticles with average diameters of 1.8 and 3.9 nm for the as-prepared and treated catalysts, respectively. UV-vis spectrophotometry is employed to monitor the preparation process and the results indicate that Pt-Sn complex formed once the precursors of Pt and Sn were mixed together. The structure properties of the samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction. The results show that after reduction, the catalyst tends to form PtSn alloy. TPR experiment results show that Sn exists in multivalent state in the as-prepared sample while only zero-valence Sn was detected in the treated sample, while it could not be excluded that the multivalent tin existed in the treated sample. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique and single direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) tests indicate that the as-prepared catalyst possesses superior catalytic activity for ethanol oxidation to the treated sample. The results suggest that Pt and multivalent Sn are the active species for ethanol oxidation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis and characterization of carbon black supported Pt-Ru alloy as a model catalyst for fuel cells

A set of bimetallic Pt-Ru catalysts prepared by co-impregnation of carbon black with ruthenium(III) chloride hydrate and hydrogen hexachloroplatinate(IV) hydrate were investigated by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), chemisorption of hydrogen, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), microcalorimetry of adsorbed CO and a structure-sensitive reaction (n-hexane conversion). The results showed that the volumetric capacities for CO and H-2 adsorption is influenced in the bimetallic Pt-Ru catalysts by the formation of a Pt-Ru alloy. The n-hexane reaction revealed that the reaction mechanism for the pure Pt catalyst mainly occurs via cyclic isomerization and aromatization due to the presence of bigger Pt surface ensembles, whereas the Pt-Ru catalysts exhibited predominantly bond-shift isomerization by the diluting effect of Ru metal addition. The differential heats of CO chemisorption on Pt-Ru catalysts fell between the two monometallic Pt and Ru catalysts extremes. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.