Effect of V2O5 on the Surface and Structural Characteristics of Potassium Lithium Niobate

It has been suggested that materials with interesting and useful bulk non-linear optical properties might result by substituting vanadium, the lightest element in the group V of periodic table, for Nb or Ta atoms along with Li and three oxygens. It is with this motivation that we have been making attempts to grow single crystals of LiNbO3 doped with various concentrations of V2O5. Unfortunately the results obtained on the ceramic samples of this material have not been very encouraging, owing to their hygroscopic nature. However, our attempts to prepare both ceramic and single-crystalline samples of potassium lithium niobate (K3Li2Nb5O15; KLN) doped V2O5 were successful. In this letter we report the preliminary results concerning our studies on the effect of V2O5 doping on the structural as well as topographic features of both ceramic and single-crystalline samples of KLN.

Effect of HCl on the adsorption of oxygen on Cu(110) surface: An eels study

Oxygen is shown to adsorb molecularly on a clean Cu(110) surface at 80 K and dissociate around 150 K forming atomic oxygen. Adsorption of oxygen on an HCl covered surface at low temperatures results in the formation of adsorbed hydroxyl groups and water in addition to adsorbed molecular oxygen. The molecular oxygen species is stable up to 190 K on the HCl covered surface.

Effect of surface roughness on diffusion-limited charge transfer

A theory is developed for diffusion-limited charge transfer on a non-fractally rough electrode. The perturbation expressions are obtained for concentration, current density and measured diffusion-limited current for arbitrary one- and two-dimensional surface profiles. The random surface model is employed for a rough electrode\electrolyte interface. In this model the gross geometrical property of an electrochemically active rough surface - the surface structure factor-is related to the average electrode current, current density and concentration. Under short and long time regimes, various morphological features of the rough electrodes, i.e. excess area (related to roughness slope), curvature, correlation length, etc. are related to the (average) current transients. A two-point Pade approximant is used to develop an all time average current expression in terms of partial morphological features of the rough surface. The inverse problem of predicting the surface structure factor from the observed transients is also described. Finally, the effect of surface roughness is studied for specific surface statistics, namely a Gaussian correlation function. It is shown how the surface roughness enhances the overall diffusion-limited charge transfer current.

The effect of surface mass transfer on buoyancy induced flow in a variable porosity medium adjacent to a vertical heated plate

The effect of surface mass transfer on buoyancy induced flow in a variable porosity medium adjacent to a heated vertical plate is studied for high Rayleigh numbers. Similarity solutions are obtained within the frame work of boundary layer theory for a power law variation in surface temperature,T Wpropx lambda and surface injectionv Wpropx(lambda–1/2). The analysis incorporates the expression connecting porosity and permeability and also the expression connecting porosity and effective thermal diffusivity. The influence of thermal dispersion on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are also analysed in detail. The results of the present analysis document the fact that variable porosity enhances heat transfer rate and the magnitude of velocity near the wall. The governing equations are solved using an implicit finite difference scheme for both the Darcy flow model and Forchheimer flow model, the latter analysis being confined to an isothermal surface and an impermeable vertical plate. The influence of the intertial terms in the Forchheimer model is to decrease the heat transfer and flow rates and the influence of thermal dispersion is to increase the heat transfer rate.

Retarding effect of surface hydroxylation on titanium(IV) oxide photocatalyst in the degradation of phenol

Nanosized powders of TiO2 (anatase) were prepared by the hydrothermal method, acid-medium hydrolysis or by vacuum freeze-drying of sols, and annealing at temperatures <700-degrees-C. Photocatalytic activities of these powders in the mineralization of phenol, were evaluated in comparison to that of Degussa P25. Kinetic data indicated that surface hydroxylation had a retarding effect on the degradation of phenol. Formation of stable peroxotitanium species were observed on hydroxylated powders, whereas only V(Ti)-O- hole trap centres were detected by EPR on the heat treated samples. The data supports direct hole oxidation of the substrate preadsorbed on the photocatalyst, which is otherwise blocked by surface hydroxyls.

Role of hydrophobic effect and surface charge in surfactant-DNA association

Ethidium bromide is one of the best known DNA intercalator. Upon intercalation inside DNA, the fluorescence due to ethidium bromide gets enhanced by many orders of magnitude. In this paper, we employed ethidium bromide as a probe for studying surfactant-DNA complexation using fluorescence spectroscopy and agarose gel electrophoresis. Surfactants of different charge types and chain lengths were used and the results were compared with that of the related small organic cations or salts under comparable conditions. The cationic surfactants induced destabilization of the ethidium bromide-DNA complex at concentrations in orders of magnitude lower than that of the small organic cations or salts. In contrast however, the anionic surfactants failed to promote any such destabilization of probe-DNA complex. DNA loses its ethidium bromide stainability in the presence of high concentration of cationic surfactant aggregates as revealed from agarose gel electrophoresis experiments. Inclusion of surfactants and other additives into the DNA generally enhanced the DNA double-strand to single strand transition melting temperatures by a few degrees, in a concentration-dependent manner and at high surfactant concentration melting profiles got broadened.

The effect of temperature on the surface tension and adsorption functions of the Fe-S-O melts - an analysis based on interaction parameters

The present investigation analyses the thermodynamic behaviour of the surfaces and adsorption as a function of temperature and composition in the Fe-S-O melts based on the Butler's equations. The calculated-values of the surface tensions exhibit an elevation or depression depending on the type of the added solute at a concentration which coincides with that already present in the system. Generally, the desorption of the solutes as a function of temperature results in an initial increase followed by a decrease in the values of the surface tension. The observations are analyzed based on the surface interaction parameters which are derived in the present research.

Aerosol radiative forcing over land: effect of surface and cloud reflection

It is now clearly understood that atmospheric aerosols have a significant impact on climate due to their important role in modifying the incoming solar and outgoing infrared radiation. The question of whether aerosol cools (negative forcing) or warms (positive forcing) the planet depends on the relative dominance of absorbing aerosols. Recent investigations over the tropical Indian Ocean have shown that, irrespective of the comparatively small percentage contribution in optical depth (similar to11%), soot has an important role in the overall radiative forcing. However, when the amount of absorbing aerosols such as soot are significant, aerosol optical depth and chemical composition are not the only determinants of aerosol climate effects, but the altitude of the aerosol layer and the altitude and type of clouds are also important. In this paper, the aerosol forcing in the presence of clouds and the effect of different surface types (ocean, soil, vegetation, and different combinations of soil and vegetation) are examined based on model simulations, demonstrating that aerosol forcing changes sign from negative (cooling) to positive (warming) when reflection from below (either due to land or clouds) is high.

Effect of longitudinal surface curvature on boundary layers

We consider here the higher order effect of moderate longitudinal surface curvature on steady, two-dimensional, incompressible laminar boundary layers. The basic partial differential equations for the problem, derived by the method of matched asymptotic expansions, are found to possess similarity solutions for a family of surface curvatures and pressure gradients. The similarity equations obtained by this anaylsis have been solved numerically on a computer, and show a definite decrease in skin friction when the surface has convex curvature in all cases including zero pressure gradient. Typical velocity profiles and some relevant boundary-layer characteristics are tabulated, and a critical comparison with previous work is given.

The effect of nature of raw coal on the adhesion of bacteria to coal surface

The surface properties of coal and solution pH play a major role in determining the adhesion of microorganisms. In this study, three Indian coal samples with different compositions have been used and the adhesion of the bacterium Bacillus polymyxa to these coals has been investigated. It was found that due to the high ash content of coal, the zeta-potential was negative over most of the pH range which is close to the values exhibited by pure quartz as well as B. polymyxa. Similarly, the surface free energy components of coal (derived from contact angle measurements) showed that the electron-donor component increased with ash content. Adhesion experiments revealed that maximum adhesion of the bacterium B. polymyxa occurred on to the coal samples around the point-of-zero-charge of the coal and the bacterium i.e. about pH 2. Further, adhesion was found to be dependent on the ash content and the surface free energy of the coals. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Effect of surface on the conductance characteristics of Au‐Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (single crystal) point contact junctions

We report the effect of surface treatments on the dynamic conductance curves (G=dI/dV‐V) of Au‐Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (single crystal) point contact junctions of variable junction conductances (100 mS≳G≳100 μS). We find that if the crystal surface is cleaved freshly just prior to making contacts, all irreproducible sharp multiple features often observed in tunneling data of Bi(2212) oxide superconductors disappear. If the cleaved crystal surfaces are left under ambient conditions for a few days and the tunneling experiments are repeated, these multiple features reappear. We also find that if the current in the junction is made to pass predominantly through the bulk (and not along the surface), gap features are sharper. The observed conductance curves are fitted to a modified model [G. E. Blonder et al., Phys. Rev. B 25, 4515 (1982)] and estimated gap values are Δ≂28 to 30 meV corresponding to the ratio 2Δ/kBTc ≂ 7.5 with lifetime broadening Γ/Δ≂0.2. We conclude that the sharp multiple features observed in Bi(2212) tunneling curves has no intrinsic origin in the bulk and they arise from the surface only.