Publications

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) at 676.44 nm and 1064 nm excitation wavelengths was used to investigate chemical transformation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) deposited on a gold support. Sulfuric acid was used as the chemical reagent. Special attention was paid to the changes in the Raman bands associated to radial and tangential vibration modes. Partial restoration of the Raman spectra by a Subsequent alkaline treatment indicates a transformation with a certain degree of reversibility. The recovery reaction achieved with a 0.5 M KOH solution showed that the variations of tangential and radial band groups are not correlated. The intensity changes of the radial bands is a principal indicator for the chemical transformation of the SWNTs. Particular attention was paid to radial bands at 164 and 176 cm(-1), observed with 1064 nm and 676.44 nm excitation wavelength, respectively, and their 14 cm(-1) up-shifted replicas i.e. the bands at 178 and 190 cm(-1). A different behavior of these bands in the anti-Stokes side was observed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

This work presents some results obtained by confining octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) to the pores of two SBA-15 type host materials: a silica SBA-15 (pores of 10.2 nm) and an aluminum containing AlSBA-15 (pores of 7.5 nm). The LC molecules were loaded inside the pores from a solution in acetone, in a percentage higher than 70% from the maximum possible loading. It was observed that the 8CB molecules confined to molecular sieves may preserve the phase transitions characteristic for the bulk LC provided that the confining pores are sufficiently large, as offered by SBA materials. However, present guest-host interactions play an important role in these phase transitions. Such a behavior is at variance with the 8CB confined to Controlled Porous Glass with the same pore dimensions, for which the bulk-like phase transitions can be always observed.

Molecular dynamics of a nematic liquid crystal, 4n-octylcyanobiphenyl, confined to two types of SBA-type nanoporous molecular sieves were studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy in order to obtain information about the liquid crystal-surface interactions. The temperature interval of the dielectric measurements was large, covering all the states of the bulk liquid crystal. It is found that there are several relaxation processes covering the large frequency range. A bulk-like relaxation comes from the liquid crystal molecules located in the center of the pores, which rather do not feel the effect of the pore walls. Another relaxation comes from the molecules located in the surface layer. The latter process is much slower than the bulk-like relaxation. The differences observed between the dynamic behavior of the liquid crystal confined to the two types of nanoporous materials are related to pore size, pore shape and liquid crystal-surface interactions.

The electropolymerizations of 2-aminohippuric acid methyl ester and 2-aminobenzoic acid methyl ester monomers in phosphate buffer (pH = 6.5) were studied. The formation of thin films at the platinum electrode surface is observed as main product and the electrosynthesis process of the two substituted polyanilines shows the voltammetric characteristics of the polyaniline film electrosynthesis. The necessary charge to deposit 0.05 mum poly(2-aminohippuric acid methyl ester) or poly(2-aminobenzoic acid methyl ester) films is about 60 mC/cm(2). The polymer films were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. On the basis of the obtained results we propose the equivalent circuit for these polymer films.

The paper presents a syntheses of the last data concerning the optimal parameters of the deposition process to obtain the best dynamic quality HTS thin films in connection with the most precise dynamic measurement method known to date. The paper makes a comparison between the performances achieved by the classical dynamical surface resistance nondestructive measurement techniques of the HTS laser ablated thin films and the quasi-optical high performances one.

Iron acetate of composition [Fe3O(H3COO)(6)(H2O3)][AuCl4].6H(2)O (1) was synthesized and investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The [Fe3O(CH3COO)(6)(H2O)(3)](+) complex cation has a structure typical for mu(3)-O bridged trinuclear ferric compounds with iron atoms lying at the vertices of a regular triangle with an oxygen atom at the center. The iron atoms are each coordinated by 4 oxygen atoms of the four bridging carboxylic groups, the mu(3)-O bridging atom, and the coordinated water molecule in the trans-position to the tatter. In the trinuclear cation, the Fe(Ill) ions are coupled by antiferromagnetic exchange interactions with the exchange parameter J = -29.0 cm(-1) (HDVV model for D-3h symmetry). The specific role of the solvate water molecules in structure formation is discussed.

Dendritic structures were grown inside the quartz crystal by electrodiffusion of sodium ions from a NaCl layer at the anode. The electric field was applied along the optical axis Z and the structures were grown in the xy plane. An experimental arrangement using a pointed cathode and a graphite plate anode was employed. X ray diffraction analysis shows that the structures' chemical composition is a mixture of sodium silicates. To explain the structures' growth a model is proposed. The model is a bidimensional one. The transport of the particles along the Z axis structural channels by the electric field was taken into account by introducing a probability of generating the particles in the growth plane as a function of the distance to the cathode. The computer generated results and the experimental ones were compared and a good correlation was found.

Pd-1wt% Eu/gammaAl(2)O(3) catalysts with different palladium loadings (0, 1, 03 and 0.5 wt%) were prepared by the wetness successive impregnation method. The state of the supported particles and their interaction with the support were evidenced by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron diffraction (SAED) measurements. The deposition of palladium and europium was found to result in a heterogeneous surface. These catalysts were tested in the hydrogenation of the unsaturated aromatic compounds (styrene, divinylbenzene, indene) and the catalytic results were correlated with the TEM and SAED data. On the basis of this. correlation it was concluded that the hydrogenation occurs on both metallic palladium particles and mixed aluminium-europium oxides. Onto metallic particles hydrogenation occurs with radicalic hydrogen atoms while on the oxidic sites with hydrogen spilled over from palladium.

Some Cr, Ni films have been deposited by RF (1.78 MHz) magnetron sputtering onto thermoelectric materials substrates at low temperatures (100 kgf/cm(2)) onto n and p type substrates. Peltier devices prepared from these wafers and tested using the standard procedure (Melcor Corp.) demonstrated good values of various electrical parameters, similar with those obtained using classical contacts. This research proved the possibility of producing good quality Peltier devices using Ni/Cr electrical contacts obtained by a large scale and versatile deposition method.