THEORY OF THE ELECTRONIC-STRUCTURE OF POROUS SI

A theoretical model for the electronic structure of porous Si is presented. Three geometries of porous Si (wire with square cross section, pore with square cross section, and pore with circular cross section) along both the [001] and [110] directions are considered. It is found that the confinement geometry affects decisively the ordering of conduction-band states. Due to the quantum confinement effect, there is a mixing between the bulk X and GAMMA states, resulting in finite optical transition matrix elements, but smaller than the usual direct transition matrix elements by a factor of 10(-3). We found that the strengths of optical transitions are sensitive to the geometry of the structure. For (001) porous Si the structure with circular pores has much stronger optical transitions compared to the other two structures and it may play an important role in the observed luminescence. For this structure the energy difference between the direct and the indirect conduction-band minima is very small. Thus it is possible to observe photoluminescence from the indirect minimum at room temperature. For (110) porous Si of similar size of cross section the energy gap is smaller than that of (001) porous Si. The optical transitions for all three structures of (110) porous Si tend to be much stronger along the axis than perpendicular to the axis.

Thermodynamic theory of the Tolman's length

There still exists controversy on the sign and magnitude of the Tolman's length and the Tolman's gap. Further experimental, computational and theoretical investigations on them are needed to solve this problem. In 2006, Blokhuis and Kuipers obtained a rigorous relationship between the Tolman's length and other thermodynamic quantities for the single-component liquid-vapour system. In the present paper, we derive two general relationships between the Tolman's length and other thermodynamic quantities for the single-component liquid vapour system. The relationship derived by Blokhuis and Kuipers and an earlier result turn out to be two special cases of our results.

BRST invariant theory of a generalized 1+1 Dimensional nonlinear sigma model with topological term

We give a generalized Lagrangian density of 1 + 1 Dimensional O( 3) nonlinear sigma model with subsidiary constraints, different Lagrange multiplier fields and topological term, find a lost intrinsic constraint condition, convert the subsidiary constraints into inner constraints in the nonlinear sigma model, give the example of not introducing the lost constraint. N = 0, by comparing the example with the case of introducing the lost constraint, we obtain that when not introducing the lost constraint, one has to obtain a lot of various non-intrinsic constraints. We further deduce the gauge generator, give general BRST transformation of the model under the general conditions. It is discovered that there exists a gauge parameter beta originating from the freedom degree of BRST transformation in a general O( 3) nonlinear sigma model, and we gain the general commutation relations of ghost field.

Observation of Nucleation and Growth of CdS Nanocrystals in a Two-phase System

The nucleation and growth kinetics of CdS nanocrystals in a two-phase synthesis system have been investigated. It was found that the nucleation process is quite lengthy and overlapped with the growth process; nevertheless, as formed nanocrystals show extremely narrow size distribution owing to the unique heterogeneous reacting environment and Ostwald ripening growth. The nucleation and growth kinetics of the nanocrystals were also influenced strongly by the monomer concentration, capping agent concentration, and solvent polarity. It was also found that a high monomer concentration, a low capping agent concentration, and low solvent polarity lead to a higher maximum nucleus concentration and nanocrystal concentration, while high polarity solvents are favorable for the formation of nanocrystals with narrower size distribution and higher photoluminescence quantum yield.

Controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals by a two-phase approach without the separation of nucleation and growth processes

The synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals is an important topic in the field of nanomaterials not only for practical applications, but also for scientific interest in fundamental research. In this feature article, we mainly focus on synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals by a two-phase approach without the separation of nucleation and growth processes, and report some progress made recently in the observation and understanding of nucleation and growth of semiconductor nanocrystals. Firstly, a novel two-phase approach to monodisperse nanocrystals, which is different from the well-established synthesis models, is discussed. We demonstrate that the two-phase approach has a quite lengthy nucleation process, and can be applied to the synthesis of many kinds of binary monodisperse nanocrystals.

THEORY OF STEADY-STATE CURRENT AT MULTIPLE MICROCYLINDER ELECTRODES COUPLED WITH A PARALLEL PLANAR ELECTRODE

A novel device of multiple cylinder microelectrodes coupled with a parallel planar electrode was proposed. The feedback diffusion current at this device was studied using bilinear transformation of coordinates in the diffusion space, where lines of mass flux and equiconcentration are represented by orthogonal circular functions. The derived expression for the steady-state current shows that as the gap between cylindrical microelectrodes and planar electrode diminishes, greatly enhanced currents can be obtained with high signal-to-noise ratio. Other important geometrical parameters such as distance between adjacent microcylinders, cylinder radius, and number of microcylinders were also discussed in detail.

APPLICATION OF ULTRAMICROELECTRODES IN STUDIES OF HOMOGENEOUS CATALYTIC REACTIONS .2. A THEORY OF QUASI-1ST AND 2ND-ORDER HOMOGENEOUS CATALYTIC REACTIONS

The analytical expressions of quasi-first and second order homogeneous catalytic reactions with different diffusion coefficients at ultramicrodisk electrodes under steady state conditions are obtained by using the reaction layer concept. The method of treatment is simple and its physical meaning is clear. The relationship between the diffusion layer, reaction layer, the electrode dimension and the kinetic rate constant at an ultramicroelectrode is discussed and the factor effect on the reaction order is described. The order of a catalytic reaction at an ultramicroelectrode under steady state conditions is related not only to C(Z)*/C(O)* but also to the kinetic rate constant and the dimension of the ultramicroelectrode; thus the order of reaction can be controlled by the dimension of the ultramicroelectrode. The steady state voltammetry of the ultramicroelectrode is one of the most simple methods available to study the kinetics of fast catalytic reactions.