Nematic Phases in 1,2,4‐Oxadiazole‐Based Bent‐Core Liquid Crystals: Is There a Ferroelectric Switching?

Four series of new 1,2,4‐oxadiazole derived bent‐core liquid crystals incorporating one or two cyclohexane rings are synthesized and investigated by optical polarizing microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), electro‐optical, and dielectric investigations. All the compounds exhibit wide ranges of nematic phases composed of tilted smectic (SmC‐type) cybotactic clusters with strongly tilted aromatic cores (40–57°) and show a distinct peak in the current curves observed under a triangular wave field. Dielectric spectroscopy of aligned samples corroborates the previously proposed polar structure of the cybotactic clusters and the ferroelectric‐like polar switching of these nematic phases. Hence, it is shown that this is a general feature of the nematic phases of structurally different 3,5‐diphenyl‐1,2,4‐oxadiazole derivatives. In these uniaxial nematic phases there is appreciable local biaxiality and polar order in the cybotactic clusters. As a second point it is shown that electric field induced fan‐like textures, as often observed for the nematic phases of bent‐core liquid crystals, do not indicate the formation of a smectic phase, rather they represent special electro‐convection patterns due to hydrodynamic instabilities.     

Metal Ion‐Terpyridine‐Functionalized L‐Tyrosinamide Aptamers: Nucleoapzymes for Oxygen Insertion into C?H Bonds and the Transformation of L‐Tyrosinamide into Amidodopachrome

A series of metal ion‐terpyridine‐modified L‐tyrosinamide aptamers (M^{n +} = Cu²⁺ or Fe³⁺) act as enzyme‐mimicking catalysts (nucleoapzymes) for oxygen‐insertion into C? H bonds and the transformation of L‐tyrosinamide into amidodopachrome. The reaction proceeds in the presence of H₂O₂ and coadded L‐ascorbic acid. In one series of experiments, the catalyzed oxidation of L‐tyrosinamide to amidodopachrome by a set of nucleoapzymes consisting of Fe³⁺‐ or Cu²⁺‐terpyridine complexes tethered directly or through a 4 × thymidine (4 × T) bridge, to the 5′‐ or 3′‐end of the 49‐mer L‐tyrosinamide aptamer or to a shorter 23‐mer L‐tyrosinamide aptamer is examined. All nucleoapzymes reveal catalytic Michaelis–Menten enzyme‐like activities and the separated Fe³⁺‐ or Cu²⁺‐terpyridine and L‐tyrosinamide aptamer units show only minute catalytic properties. The catalytic activities of the nucleoapzymes are attributed to the concentration of the L‐tyrosinamide substrate by the aptamer units in proximity to the catalytic sites (K_d = (14 ± 0.1) × 10^?6 m for all 49‐mer catalysts and K_d = (2.5 ± 0.1) × 10^?6 m and K_d = (0.8 ± 0.04) × 10^?6 m for the 23‐mer catalysts). Electron spin resonance experiments reveal that ?OH radicals and ascorbate radicals participate in the transformation of tyrosine derivatives to catechol products. An autocatalytic feedback mechanism for the amplified generation of the two radicals is suggested.     

The impurity photovoltaic (IPV) effect in wide‐bandgap semiconductors: an opportunity for very‐high‐efficiency solar cells?

Following recent progress in the study of limiting efficiencies of photovoltaic devices with multiple energy levels, we suggest using the impurity photovoltaic (IPV) effect in wide‐bandgap semiconductors as a means to achieve very‐high‐efficiency solar cells. We discuss the requirements for a high‐efficiency IPV device and review some of the material systems that could be used. As a case study, we investigate theoretically β‐SiC IPV solar cells with a model based on a modified Shockley–Read–Hall theory. The high‐efficiency potential is confirmed and the important issues for implementation are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley &; Sons, Ltd.     

Design of Hierarchical Ni?Co@Ni?Co Layered Double Hydroxide Core–Shell Structured Nanotube Array for High‐Performance Flexible All‐Solid‐State Battery‐Type Supercapacitors

A novel hierarchical nanotube array (NTA) with a massive layered top and discretely separated nanotubes in a core–shell structure, that is, nickel–cobalt metallic core and nickel–cobalt layered double hydroxide shell (Ni? Co@Ni? Co LDH), is grown on carbon fiber cloth (CFC) by template‐assisted electrodeposition for high‐performance supercapacitor application. The synthesized Ni? Co@Ni? Co LDH NTAs/CFC shows high capacitance of 2200 F g^?1 at a current density of 5 A g^?1, while 98.8% of its initial capacitance is retained after 5000 cycles. When the current density is increased from 1 to 20 A g^?1, the capacitance loss is less than 20%, demonstrating excellent rate capability. A highly flexible all‐solid‐state battery‐type supercapacitor is successfully fabricated with Ni? Co LDH NTAs/CFC as the positive electrode and electrospun carbon fibers/CFC as the negative electrode, showing a maximum specific capacitance of 319 F g^?1, a high energy density of 100 W h kg^?1 at 1.5 kW kg^?1, and good cycling stability (98.6% after 3000 cycles). These fascinating electrochemical properties are resulted from the novel structure of electrode materials and synergistic contributions from the two electrodes, showing great potential for energy storage applications.     

“中国·南京·2010扩声技术学术研讨会”即将举行

“中国·南京·2010扩声技术学术研讨会”将于2010年5月24日在南京金丝利喜来登酒店举行。本此会议由江苏省声学学会主办、南京百音高科技有限公司承办。南京大学音频声学研究室主任、南大声学深圳研发中心主任、中国声学学会秘书长沈勇教授担任会议主席。     

Plasmonic Enhancement or Energy Transfer? On the Luminescence of Gold‐, Silver‐, and Lanthanide‐Doped Silicate Glasses and Its Potential for Light‐Emitting Devices

With the technique of synchrotron X‐ray activation, molecule‐like, non‐plasmonic gold and silver particles in soda‐lime silicate glasses can be generated. The luminescence energy transfer between these species and lanthanide(III) ions is studied. As a result, a significant lanthanide luminescence enhancement by a factor of up to 250 under non‐resonant UV excitation is observed. The absence of a distinct gold and silver plasmon resonance absorption, respectively, the missing nanoparticle signals in previous SAXS and TEM experiments, the unaltered luminescence lifetime of the lanthanide ions compared to the non‐enhanced case, and an excitation maximum at 300–350 nm (equivalent to the absorption range of small noble metal particles) indicate unambiguously that the observed enhancement is due to a classical energy transfer between small noble metal particles and lanthanide ions, and not to a plasmonic field enhancement effect. It is proposed that very small, molecule‐like noble metal particles (such as dimers, trimers, and tetramers) first absorb the excitation light, undergo a singlet‐triplet intersystem crossing, and finally transfer the energy to an excited multiplet state of adjacent lanthanide(III) ions. X‐ray lithographic microstructuring and excitation with a commercial UV LED show the potential of the activated glass samples as bright light‐emitting devices with tunable emission colors.     

Blind channel estimation for single‐input multiple‐output OFDM systems: zero padding based or cyclic prefix based?

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission equipped with multiple receive antennas constitutes a single‐input multiple‐output (SIMO) OFDM system. SIMO‐OFDM systems have been widely used in wireless communications. Compared to those approaches using training sequences, blind channel estimation methods for SIMO‐OFDM systems have the advantage of saving bandwidth and improving energy efficiency and system throughput. As far as blind channel identification is concerned, it is known that zero padding (ZP)‐based single‐input single‐output (SISO)‐OFDM systems have desirable features compared to conventional cyclic prefix (CP)‐based SISO‐OFDM systems. However, it is yet unknown whether ZP‐ or CP‐based SIMO‐OFDM systems are favourable for blind channel estimation. To investigate this problem, we first propose a short‐data effective method for blind channel estimation for ZP‐based SIMO‐OFDM systems. Then we analyse a number of issues surrounding blind channel estimation for ZP‐ and CP‐based SIMO‐OFDM systems. The issues brought up in the paper have not been discussed in the existing research. The significance of our investigation is that it provides a deep insight into blind channel estimation for ZP‐ and CP‐based SIMO‐OFDM systems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do built‐in fields improve solar cell performance?

Intrinsic fields can be built into solar cells by varying the doping level and/or the cell bandgap with potential benefits long recognised. A counteracting effect is that varying the doping or bandgap from the optimum for a particular material system will result in poorer material quality. New solutions are described to the standard semiconductor transport and recombination equations that allow such effects to be incorporated and the impact of these fields on device current and voltage to be assessed. Clear boundaries are found between when built‐in fields are beneficial or deleterious. For the case of doping gradients, built‐in fields decrease both cell current and voltage if carrier lifetime decrease more quickly than as the inverse square of doping; decrease current but can increase voltage if the inverse variation is between linear and square; can improve both if less than linear but only significantly if lifetime varies less than the inverse square root of doping. In the case of a graded bandgap, an optimal field exists as a trade‐off between decreased absorption and increased carrier collection. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why web‐based network monitoring? Leveraging the platform

The increasing use of network monitoring and the growth of the Internet and intranets are converging trends that make IP network infrastructures the logical means of delivering network monitoring, using browser ‐bused clients. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Brookite Formation in TiO2?Ag Nanocomposites and Visible‐Light‐Induced Templated Growth of Ag Nanostructures in TiO2

TiO₂? Ag‐nanocomposites exhibit various desirable properties that make them suitable for a variety of applications, for example in photocatalysis and as bactericidal coatings. In this work, a new method for processing TiO₂? Ag nanocomposites is presented. The nanocomposite films are fabricated from one precursor solution with high silver loading of up to 50%. The resulting films exhibit a microstructure consisting of TiO₂? Ag_xO nanocomposites with a largely XRD‐amorphous TiO₂ matrix containing brookite nanocrystals. This specific microstructure absorbs in the visible range so that photoreduction of Ag ions can be accomplished by using visible light. The thin films can be patterned using simple shadow masks. The illuminated areas show a high density of self‐organized nanoparticles (SNPs) and nanorods (SNRs), which are templated by the TiO₂ porous network. The particle size can be tuned by varying the irradiation time. Most of the SNPs and SNRs form faceted crystals, which are mostly a combination of {111} and {110}. The application of these films as substrates for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering is shown. Enhancement factors as high as 4.6 × 10⁶ could be obtained using rhodamine 6G dye molecules. More applications should involve photocatalytic water purification using visible light.     

Light Out‐Coupling Management in Perovskite LEDs—What Can We Learn from the Past?

The research on perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) has experienced an exponential growth in the past six years. The highest external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) have surpassed 20%, 20%, and 10% for red, green, and blue colored LEDs, respectively. Considering the internal quantum efficiency is already approaching unity owing to the high material quality, the limiting factor for further improving the EQE is mainly the poor light out‐coupling efficiencies. Here, by reviewing the progress on the light out‐coupling studies for PeLEDs, organic LEDs (OLEDs), conventional semiconductor LEDs, and other special LEDs, the rational design guidelines are summarized for enhancing PeLED out‐coupling. Briefly, these design guidelines include: 1) introducing nanostructures into the active layer or tuning the thickness of it to couple out the waveguide modes, 2) adding nanostructures between the active layer and transparent electrodes to couple the waveguide modes to substrate modes, 3) adding nanostructures such as nanowires to the glass substrate to couple the substrate mode to air. Essentially, these guidelines indicate that implementing nanophotonic engineering on PeLEDs is a highly promising direction to explore, so as to substantially enhance the device performance.     

放进口袋的世博会——2010年·我们能看到一个什么样的世博会？

或许对于之前在中国举办的其他大型活动来说,2010年上海世博会最大的特点就是充分地利用了互联网和移动互联网的技术,为能到现场或者不能到现场的参观者提供了全新的参观体验。     

Attitude Change in Competitive Framing Environments? Open‐/Closed‐Mindedness,Framing Effects,and Climate Change

Framing scholarship on policy issues has primarily focused on how competitive message environments alter framing effects or how individual differences moderate the impact of frames. This study combines both of these focal areas by examining how individual open‐/closed‐mindedness moderates framing effects about climate change within competitive and noncompetitive framing contexts. Contrary to previous scholarship, our experimental study finds effects on attitudes in the competitive framing condition, but not the noncompetitive framing condition. The framing effects found in the competitive condition were contingent upon individual differences in open‐/closed‐mindedness. Analysis shows that individual open‐/closed‐mindedness influences framing effects in part by altering the effects of frame exposure on the perceived costs and benefits of government climate policies.     

平衡中找寻突破：2010年富士“芯·眼非凡”春季新品发布会侧记

点与线，构图中最原始、最基本的个体元素。当他们有机地结合在—起时，会因为方位的不同、数量的多少而呈现出完全不—样的视觉效果，这就是点与线的奇妙之处，也是他们的魅力所在。     

Advanced AAO Templating of Nanostructured Stimuli‐Responsive Polymers: Hype or Hope?

Nanostructures play a significant role in introducing distinctive functionality to materials. A synergistic combination of nanofabrication techniques with material properties holds great promise in creating smart biomimetic structures. An advanced preparation technique to fabricate complex and sophisticated hierarchical polymeric nanostructure templates via anodized alumina oxide membranes is highlighted. Moreover, nanostructures made of responsive polymers activated by environmental stimuli offer a huge potential in a wide range of applications by enhancing their responsiveness. The current state of research on novel nanostructures fabrication by integrating anodic aluminum oxide with stimuli‐responsive polymers is presented, with an emphasis on the underlying actuation mechanism in terms of application. Furthermore, the potential direction for future research is discussed.     

Does Excess Energy Assist Photogeneration in an Organic Low‐Bandgap Solar Cell?

The field dependence of the photocurrent in a bilayer assembly is measured with the aim to clarify the role of excess photon energy in an organic solar cell comprising a polymeric donor and an acceptor. Upon optical excitation of the donor an electron is transferred to the acceptor forming a Coulomb‐bound electron–hole pair. Since the subsequent escape is a field assisted process it follows that photogeneration saturates at higher electric fields, the saturation field being a measure of the separation of the electron–hole pair. Using the low bandgap polymers, PCDTBT and PCPDTBT, as donors and C₆₀ as acceptor in a bilayer assembly it is found that the saturation field decreases when the photon energy is roughly 0.5 eV above the S₁–S₀ 0–0 transition of the donor. This translates into an increase of the size of the electron‐hole‐pair up to about 13 nm which is close to the Coulomb capture radius. This increase correlates with the onset of higher electronic states that have a highly delocalized character, as confirmed by quantum‐chemical calculations. This demonstrates that accessing higher electronic states does favor photogeneration yet excess vibrational energy plays no role. Experiments on intrinsic photogeneration in donor photodiodes without acceptors support this reasoning.