Publications

A highly durable and versatile micro scale biocatalytic reactor has been designed and investigated in the heterogeneous enzyme-catalytic oxidation of phenols. It consisted of optical or electron beam lithographic gold deposited layer with different thickness from nano- to micro-scale on a semiconductor surface. Horseradish peroxidase (H RP) enzyme was immobilized on the gold-surface using two different approaches (i.e., physical adsorption and self-assembled monolayer). Characterization of those HRP-gold surfaces was made using AFM (atomic force microscopy) coupled with ellipsometry measurements, SEM (scanning electron microscopy), STM (scanning tunneling microscopy) and spectrophotometric technique. The catalytic performances of the developed structures were investigated after their incorporation in microreactors using a recycling-flow system dedicated to phenols oxidation. In order to optimize the efficiency of the oxidation process it was checked the effect of the successively addition of the reagent, the influence of the reaction time, the stability and the reuse of the biocatalytic micro-system. Maximum phenol conversion was of 35.1%. In addition to phenol the system has also been investigated in oxidation of other phenolic compounds such as cathecol, hydroquinone, rezorcine, beta-naphtol, o/p-aminophenol and 4-metoxyphenol. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The telomerization of 1,3-butadiene with homogeneous palladium/phosphine catalysts is an efficient method to transform biomass-based oxygenates into useful fine and bulk chemicals, e.g. surfaetants. Recovery and reuse of the expensive noble metal-based catalyst is highly desired for these systems and therefore a heterogeneous telomerization catalyst would be preferred. Layered double hydroxides (LDH) were investigated as supports for the heterogenization of the Pd/TPPTS (trisodium salt of 3, 3',3 ''-phosphanetriyl benzene sulfonic acid) telomerization catalyst. Turn over numbers (TONs) up to 1300 were obtained with heterogeneous (immobilized palladium and ligand) and pseudo-heterogeneous (immobilized ligand) catalysts in the telomerization of 1,3-butadiene with ethylene glycol (EG) and methanol (MeOH) under solvent- and base-free conditions; TONs are comparable to those obtained with the homogeneous catalysts under similar conditions. Importantly, the LDH support was found to induce a change in product selectivity. In addition to the expected C8 telomers, higher telomers with C16 or C24 chains were observed with rather high selectivities (up to 48% forEG and 77% for MeOH).

Clean Si(001) single crystal surfaces are obtained by cycles of long (30 mins.) annealings in ultrahigh vacuum (fairly below 1 x 10(-9) mbar). The surface reconstruction is investigated by low energy electron diffraction (LEED). This paper reports, in addition to the well-known p(2 x 1) reconstruction, the first observation of c(4 x 2) at room temperature and also the completely new c(6 x 2) reconstruction. The in situ oxidation of these surfaces was investigated by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that, in similar ultrahigh vacuum conditions (6 x 10(-10) mbar), much faster contamination (about 500 times) occurs when the samples are investigated by AES than by XPS, owing mainly to the interaction of the electron beam with the sample surface. Also, much gentler surface bombardment with electrons, such as in LEED, still enhances sample oxidation. Therefore, XPS proves to be a much more convenient technique for non-destructive assessment of the surface composition. When the surface is subjected to the AES investigation, we found that the contamination occurs by forming >Si2C=O complexes based on the Si dimers.

A numerical method to determine the cell parameters from the analysis of the J-V characteristics of a polymer solar cell is proposed. This method uses the equations given by the diode model, experimental data from the literature, and an adequate fitting procedure with seven fit parameters. Different aspects of the obtained results are discussed. Information concerning cell design optimization is also obtained. The method is of general application in the field of polymer solar cells, as well as to any kind of diode-like cell. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The martensitic transformation characteristics in two series of cobalt substituted Ni-Fe-Ga Ferromagnetic Shape Memory alloys have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity and thermomagnetic measurements. Co substitution for Fe or Ni promotes an increase of the Curie temperatures but the changes of the martensitic transformation temperatures are in agreement with the valence electron concentration and unit cell volume variations. A large hysteresis observed between cooling and heating curves as feature of a first order phase transition was evidenced by r(T) and thermomagnetic measurements.

Luminescent nanorods of potassium acid phthalate (KAP) doped with rhodamine 6G (Rh 6G) dye molecules were grown by template assisted crystallization. Pores with diameters ranging from tens of nanometers to few micrometers were obtained in polycarbonate foils after heavy-ion irradiation and subsequent chemical etching of the damage trails along the ion trajectories. Crystallization from solution was employed for filling of the pores with the dye-doped KAP rods. These nanostructures were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, optical absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence detection. X-ray diffraction was used for structural analysis. The luminescence of the dye-doped rods undergoes a redshift when the diameter of the structures decreases. This shift is probably caused by increasing dye concentration in the rods with decreasing pore diameter. The luminescence originating from the Rh 6G presence is up-converted due to the second-harmonic generation in KAP.

The extra reflection conditions as given in Volume A of International Tables for Crystallography may not be rigorously fulfilled if the thermal vibrations and positional or static disorder of the atoms are not isotropic. Although small in most cases, the intensities of reflections violating the extra reflection conditions can become measurable for large thermal and positional anisotropy. It would be useful to have an inventory of these `pseudo extra reflection conditions' for all space groups in the early stage of structure investigation. The subject is demonstrated with the aid of four significant examples and the possibility of predicting without calculation the status of the largest part of the extra reflection conditions is discussed.

A model for the detection of CO in the presence of humidity is proposed for thick porous film gas sensors based on p-type CuO. The sensing mechanism is investigated by means of simultaneous DC electrical resistance and work function changes measurements combined with appropriate modeling of the conduction in the polycrystalline sensing film. The experiments were performed at 150 degrees C in dry and humid air backgrounds. The conclusion is that, very similarly to the case of undoped SnO2, the explanation of the cross-interference of water in the CO detection is the fact that both react with pre-adsorbed oxygen ions. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We demonstrate the theoretical possibility of obtaining a pure spin current in a 1D ring with spin-orbit interaction by irradiation with a nonadiabatic, two-component terahertz laser pulse, whose spatial asymmetry is reflected by an internal phase difference phi. The solutions of the equation of motion for the density operator are obtained for a spin-orbit coupling linear in the electron momentum (Rashba) and they are used to calculate the time-dependent charge and spin currents. We find that there are critical values of phi at which the charge current disappears, while the spin current reaches a maximum or a minimum value.

A general method for mapping the equipotential profile surrounding a conductive cylindrically symmetric high aspect ratio structure, such as a carbon nanotube or a Spindt tip, is devised. The surface of the object is replaced by a discrete set of charges located on the symmetry axis. The overall electrostatic potential must satisfy a set of boundary conditions imposed on the original surface. The optimum number of charges is determined through an iterative self-validating process such that the obtained equipotential mimics the surface of the object. The method is exemplified by calculating the electric field enhancement factor for rounded cones and cylinders resembling Spindt tips and carbon nanotubes, respectively. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3582141]