Branched crystal morphology of linear polyethylene crystallized in a two-dimensional diffusion-controlled growth field

The branched crystal morphology of linear polyethylene formed at various temperatures from thin films has been studied by atomic-force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction (ED) pattern and polymer decoration technique. Two types of branched patterns, i.e. dendrite and seaweed patterns, have been visualized. The fractal dimension d(f) = 1.65 of both dendrite and some of seaweed patterns was obtained by using the box-counting method, although most of the seaweed patterns are compact. Selected-area ED patterns indicate that the fold stems tilt about 34.5degrees around the b-axis and polymer decoration patterns show that the chain folding direction and regularity in two (200). regions are quite different from each other. Because of chain tilting, branched crystals show three striking features: 1) the lamella-like branches show two (200) regions with different thickness; 2) the crystals usually bend towards the thin region; 3) the thick region grows faster by developing branches, thus branches usually occur outside the thick region. The branched patterns show a characteristic width w, which gives a linear relationship with the crystallization temperature on a semilogarithmic plot.

Fabrication, patterning, and optical properties of nanocrystalline YVO4 : A (A = Eu3+, Dy3+, Sm3+, Er3+) phosphor films via sol-gel soft lithography

Nanocrystalline YVO4:A (A = Eu3+, Dy3+, Sm3+, Er3+) phosphor films and their patterning were fabricated by a Pechini sol-gel process combined with soft lithography. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical microscopy, UV/vis transmission and absorption spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and lifetimes were used to characterize the resulting films. The results of XRD indicated that the films began to crystallize at 400 degreesC and the crystallinity increased with the increase of annealing temperatures. Transparent nonpatterned phosphor films were uniform and crack-free, which mainly consisted of grains with an average size of 90 nm. Patterned gel and crystalline phosphor film bands with different widths (5-60 mum) were obtained. Significant shrinkage and a few defects were observed in the patterned films during the heat treatment process. The doped rare earth ions (A) showed their characteristic emission in crystalline YVO4 phosphor films because of an efficient energy transfer from vanadate groups to them. The Sm3+ and Er3+ ions also showed upconversion luminescence in a YVO4 film host. Both the lifetimes and PL intensity of the rare earth ions increased with increasing annealing temperature from 400 to 800 degreesC, and the optimum concentration for Eu3+ was determined to be 7 mol % and those for Dy3+, Sm3-, and Er3+ were 2 Mol % of Y3- in YVO4 films, respectively.

Preparation, patterning and luminescence properties of rare earth-doped YVO4 nanocrystalline phosphor films via sol-gel soft lithography

In this presentation, nanocrystalline YVO4:A (A=Eu3+, Dy3+, SM3+, Er3+) phosphor films and their patterning were fabricated by a Pechini sol-gel process combined with a soft lithography (micro-molding in capillaries). XRD, FT-IR, AFM and optical microscope, absorption spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well as lifetimes were used to characterize the resulting films. The results of XRD indicated that the films began to crystallize at 400 degrees C and the crystallinity increased with the increase of annealing temperatures. Transparent nonpattemed phosphor films were uniform and crack free, which mainly consisted of grains with an average size of 90nm. Patterned crystalline phosphor film bands with different widths (5-30 mu m) were obtained. The doped rare earth ions (A) showed their characteristic emission in crystalline YVO4 phosphor films due to an efficient energy transfer from vanadate groups to them. The Sm3+ and Er3+ ions also showed upconversion luminescence in YVO4 film host. The optimum concentration for Eu3+ was determined to be 7 mol% and those for Dy3+, Sm3+, Er3+ were 2 Mol% of Y3+ in YVO4 films, respectively.

Electrochemical characteristic of LaNi-based hydrogen storage alloys

Effect of purity of alloy components on the electrode performance of LaNi2 alloys was investigated. The results showed the purity of components had less effect on discharge capacity and self-discharge of LaNi2 alloys. Partial substitution of Al or Mn for Ni greatly improved discharge properties of LaNi2-xAlx, or LaNi2-yMny alloys as negative electrodes in MFl-Ni battery, 0.15less than or equal toxless than or equal to0.25; 0.15less than or equal toyless than or equal to0.25. In addition, surface treatment of LaNi1.8Al0.2 alloy electrode was performed by polymerizing cis-butenedioate with Co-60- gamma -ray radiation, which. had better affect on self-discharge and cycle life of the alloy electrodes at low temperature(-28 C-degrees).

Crystal structure and variation in unit cell parameters with crystallization temperatures of poly (ether ketone ether ketone ketone)s containing meta-phenyl links (PEKEKmK)

The X-ray diffraction patterns of the crystalline aromatic ketone polymer PEKEKmK (aryl ether ketone ether ketone ketone polymer containing meta-phenyl links) have been investigated (for the chemical structure, see Formula). An orthorhombic unit cell is proposed to contain two chains with a = 0.772 nm, b = 0.604 nm and c = 2.572 nm. According to the orthorhombic system, the 11 reflections of this polymer were indexed. Meanwhile, variation in unit cell parameters with crystallization temperatures of PEKEKmK was also investigated. [GRAPHICS]

Influence of annealing on structure of Nylon 11

Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and density techniques have been used to investigate the structural parameters of the solid state of Nylon 11 annealed at different temperatures. The equilibrium heat of fusion Delta H-m(0) and equilibrium melting temperature T-m(0) were estimated to be 189.05 J g(-1) and 202.85 degrees C respectively by using the Hoffman-Weeks approach. The degree of crystallinity (W-c,W-x) ranged approximately 24-42% was calculated by WAXD and compared with those by calorimetry (W-c,W-h) and density (W-c,W-d) measurements. The radius of gyration R-g, crystalline thickness L-c, noncrystalline thickness L-a, long period L, semiaxes of the particles (a, b), electron-density difference between the crystalline and noncrystalline regions eta(c) - eta(a), and the invariant Q increased with increasing annealing temperature. The analysis of the SAXS data was based upon the particle characteristic function and the one-dimensional electron-density correlation function. An interphase region existed between the crystalline and noncrystalline region with a clear dimension of about 2 nm for semicrystalline Nylon 11. Instead of the traditional two-phase model, a three-phase model has been proposed to explain these results by means of SAXS.

Simulation of characteristic electrochemical behavior of azobenzene derivative self-assembled monolayers

The characteristic electrochemical mechanics of azobenzene derivative self-assembled monolayers is discussed in present paper. It is presented that the structure inhibition is one of the most important factors in the increase of electrochemical reactive energy. A corresponding mathematical model was established based on Levich and Marcus's theory. Moreover, computational program was written to simulate the decrease of apparent rate constant (k(app)) of electron transfer with increasing surface concentration.

The glass transition temperatures of PS/PPO blends: Couchman volume-based equation and its verification

The glass transition temperatures (T-g) of PS/PPO blends with different compositions were studied under various pressures by means of a PVT-100 analyzer. A general relation of T-g and pressure of the PS/PPO system was deduced by fitting the experimental T-g's. Couchman volume-based equation was testified with the aid of those data. It was found that the experimental T-g's do not obey the Couchman equation of glass transition temperature based on thermodynamic theory. According to our studies, the major reason of the deviation is caused by the neglect of DeltaV(mix). (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Phase structure and transitions in a poly(methyloctadecylsilane) oligomer

A poly(methyloctadecylsilane) oligomer was synthesized by a typical Wurtz coupling reaction. Upon cooling, three transitions were observed at temperatures of 39.9, 37.5 and 33.9 degreesC at a rate of 2.5 degreesC/min in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The first transition, with enthalpy change of 0.47 kT/mol and supercooling of 0.2 degreesC, was characteristic of the conformational change in the Si-Si backbone into an all-trans conformation, which was detected by temperature-dependent Fourier transform infrared (FT-FR) spectroscopy. The second and the third transitions with large supercooling were identified as the formation of two-dimensional hexagonal crystal packing and three-dimensional two-chain orthorhombic crystal packing, respectively. The crystal structure was determined by the combination of WAXD and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phase transition temperatures of side chain liquid crystal polymer from molecular dynamics simulation

In this paper, phase transition temperatures of side chain liquid crystal polymer were predicted by molecular dynamics simulation. We analyzed the change of energy and the degree of similarity(S) with the temperature varying. The simulated phase transition temperatures agree with the experimental values in a proper deviation.

Miscibility and crystallization of poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(p-vinylphenol) blends

The miscibility and crystallization behavior of poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(p-vinylphenol) (PVPh) blends were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy (OM). The blends exhibit a single composition-dependent glass transition temperature, characteristic of miscible systems, A depression of the equilibrium melting temperature of PHB is observed. The interaction parameter values obtained from analysis of the melting point depression are of large negative values, which suggests that PHB and PVPh blends are thermodynamically miscible in the melt. Isothermal crystallization kinetics in the miscible blend system PHB/PVPh was examined by OM. The presence of the amorphous PVPh component results in a reduction in the rate of spherulite growth of PHB. The spherulite growth rate is analyzed using the Lauritzen-Hoffman model, The isothermally crystallized blends of PHB/PVPh were examined by wide-angle X-ray diffraction and smell-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The long period obtained from SAXS increases with the increase in PVPh component, which implies that the amorphous PVPh is squeezed into the interlamallar region of PHB.

Study on the modified electrode of conducting polymers .3. Electron spin resonance characteristic of polypyrrole film electrode doped with heteropolyanions

The ESR of PPy films doped with Co (W2O7)(6)(10-) and CuW12O406- ions were reported and discussed. Results show that heteropolyanions not only play the role of neutralizing electricity in the PPy film, but also interact with the PPy molecular chain to form some adducts. The adducts affect the electronic structure of the PPy film and are unstable at more positive or more negative potentials. Dysonian ESR lineshape was recorded for the dry PPy film with CuW12O406- for the first time.

ESTIMATION OF THE RADIATION-INDUCED DAMAGE IN PTFE BY DEPRESSION OF THE MELTING AND CRYSTALLIZATION TEMPERATURES

The radiation induced depression of the melting and crystallization temperatures of PTFE irradiated at various temperatures followed by heat treatment at 380-degrees-C, and their relationship to structural changes, were investigated. The G(-units) values obtained in this work are different from those of samples which have not undergone heat treatment and seem to be more closely associated with radiation induced branched structures.

THE APPLICATION OF AN ULTRAMICROELECTRODE IN HOMOGENEOUS CATALYTIC REACTION .1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC OF A HOMOGENEOUS CATALYTIC REACTION AT AN ULTRAMICROELECTRODE WITH ARBITRARY GEOMETRY UNDER STEADY-STATE

A general characteristic of the electrochemical process coupling with a homogeneous catalytic reaction at an ultramicroelectrode under steady state is described. It was found that the electrochemical process coupling with homogeneous catalytic reaction has a similar steady state voltammetric wave at an ultramicroelectrode with arbitrary geometry. A method of determination for the kinetic constant of homogeneous catalytic reaction at an ultramicroelectrode with arbitrary geometry is proposed.