Morphology of the cross section of silica layer in rice husk

The physical adsorption of nitrogen and gas flow experiments on the silica layer in rice husk indicated that an existence of nano meter sized through holes. In this study, the external shape of the holes on the cross section of the layer was investigated with a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer, an atomic force microscope and scanning tunneling microscope. In the energy dispersive mapping image, 2-5 micron thick silica layer under outer cellulose layer, silica nano particles in the middle cellulose layer and sub micron silica layer in inner cellulose layer were observed. The cross section of the layer showed 20 nm building units with approximately 100 nm convexities. The atomic force microscopic image also showed the approximately 100 nm convexities as well as a roughness of approximately 20 nm. When osmium was coated on the silica layer, the wells with 2 approximately 5 nm horizontal and approximately 2 nm vertical lengths were observed on the plate surface in scanning tunneling microscopic image. From the results, it was suggested that the holes in the rice husk silica layer are almost straight and not zigzag spaces originated from the simple packing of nano particles.     

Catalytic pyrolysis of oilsand bitumen over nanoporous catalysts

The catalytic cracking of oilsand bitumen was performed over nanoporous materials at atmospheric conditions. The yield of gas increased with application of nanoporous catalysts, with the catalytic conversion to gas highest for Meso-MFI. The cracking activity seemed to correlate with pore size rather than weak acidity or surface area.     

Nitrogen-doped ZnO thin films grown on glass substrates by atomic layer deposition using NH3 as a doping source

Nitrogen-doped ZnO (ZnO:N) films were successfully grown on glass substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD). NH3 was used as a doping source, and the substrate temperature was relatively low (90 approximately 210 degrees C). The main focus of the study was to report on the effect of the temperature on the electrical properties (e.g., carrier concentration, mobility, etc.) of the grown ZnO:N films. At all temperatures, the carrier was found to be n-type, and its electron concentration did not show much variation within the values between 3 x 10(16) and 6 x 10(16) cm-3; the mobility increased with the temperature (1 cm2/Vs at 110 degrees C, 5 cm2/Vs at 190 degrees C); and the resistivity decreased with the temperature (203 omegacm at 110 degrees C, 21 omegacm at 190 degrees C). The electrical properties are discussed in relation with the nitrogen concentration, crystallinity, crystal orientation, grain size, and surface morphology. The nitrogen concentration in the ZnO:N films was constant at all temperatures (approximately 2.5 atomic percent); the crystallinity and crystal orientation improved with the temperature; and the mean grain size increased with the temperature (13.2 nm at 110 degrees C, 35.3 nm at 190 degrees C). The results for the ZnO:N films were also compared with the results for the undoped ZnO films.     

Controlled assembly of CdSe/MWNT hybrid material and its fast photoresponse with wavelength selectivity

We report the novel assembly method of CdSe quantum dot (QD)/pyridine/multi-walled carbon nanotube (CdSe-py-MWNT) hybrid material between electrodes using two-step dielectrophoresis (DEP). At the first step, we assembled the individual MWNT between electrodes by the DEP method. At the second step, the CdSe-py materials were assembled onto the MWNT by DEP method again, which enables site specific and density controlled assembly of QDs. As the photoresponse results, the recovery time of the device fabricated was about 250 times faster than that of a similar CdSe-py-SWNT device using a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) instead of a MWNT. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the optoelectronic property of the device could be modulated by the size of CdSe NQD assembled on a MWNT. We characterized the material and the device by using SEM, TEM, absorption spectroscopy, and optoelectronic instruments.     

SPECT reconstruction with sub‐sinogram acquisitions

Described herein are the advantages of using sub‐sinograms for single photon emission computed tomography image reconstruction. A sub‐sinogram is a sinogram acquired with an entire data acquisition protocol, but in a fraction of the total acquisition time. A total‐sinogram is the summation of all sub‐sinograms. Images can be reconstructed from the total‐sinogram or from sub‐sinograms and then be summed to produce the final image. For a linear reconstruction method such as the filtered backprojection algorithm, there is no advantage of using sub‐sinograms. However, for nonlinear methods such as the maximum likelihood (ML) expectation maximization algorithm, the use of sub‐sinograms can produce better results. The ML estimator is a random variable, and one ML reconstruction is one realization of the random variable. The ML solution is better obtained via the mean value of the random variable of the ML estimator. Sub‐sinograms can provide many realizations of the ML estimator. We show that the use of sub‐sinograms can produce better estimations for the ML solution than can the total‐sinogram and can also reduce the statistical noise within iteratively reconstructed images. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 21, 247–252, 2011;     

Performance evaluation of the Golay code pulse compression technique

The Center for NDE, Iowa State University, has developed a laboratory prototype Golay code pulse compression system and tested it on a variety of materials. The performance of the system was evaluated in terms of signal-to-noise ratio enhancement (SNRE), resolution, and computation speed. The system's error sources also were discussed. The Golay code pulse compression was simulated on a computer and demonstrated the effective noise suppression. In addition, an equivalent pulse of the Golay code (delta-like pulse) was derived theoretically using a simple ultrasonic inspection model, which demonstrated its equivalence on the output correlated signal. Overall, the pulse compression technique extended the detection range for a given peak power and considerably reduced the system'swhite noise, hence providing enhanced signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). An average of 30 dB improvement in SNR was obtained from highly energy-absorbent materials such as rubber, plastics, corks (insulation materials), and thick composites using the Golay codes of up to 512 bits. However, the technique did not effectively reduce coherent scattering noises from the coarse grain boundaries in cast stainless steels, Inconel weld metal, and material lay-ups in thin composites. Furthermore, it was found that, depending upon the system's hardware capabilities, the overall performance could be degraded considerably.     

Approaching Ultrastable High‐Rate Li–S Batteries through Hierarchically Porous Titanium Nitride Synthesized by Multiscale Phase Separation

Porous architectures are important in determining the performance of lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). Among them, multiscale porous architecutures are highly desired to tackle the limitations of single‐sized porous architectures, and to combine the advantages of different pore scales. Although a few carbonaceous materials with multiscale porosity are employed in LSBs, their nonpolar surface properties cause the severe dissolution of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). In this context, multiscale porous structure design of noncarbonaceous materials is highly required, but has not been exploited in LSBs yet because of the absence of a facile method to control the multiscale porous inorganic materials. Here, a hierarchically porous titanium nitride (h‐TiN) is reported as a multifunctional sulfur host, integrating the advantages of multiscale porous architectures with intrinsic surface properties of TiN to achieve high‐rate and long‐life LSBs. The macropores accommodate the high amount of sulfur, facilitate the electrolyte penetration and transportation of Li⁺ ions, while the mesopores effectively prevent the LiPS dissolution. TiN strongly adsorbs LiPS, mitigates the shuttle effect, and promotes the redox kinetics. Therefore, h‐TiN/S shows a reversible capacity of 557 mA h g^?1 even after 1000 cycles at 5 C rate with only 0.016% of capacity decay per cycle.     

Effects of Polymeric Stabilizers on the Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles （AuNPs） stabilized with sodium alginate （SA）, glycol chitosan （GC）, polyvinyl alcohol （PVA）, and polyethyleneimine （PEI） were synthesized in aqueous solutions at room temperature. Different sizes and size distributions of AuNPs were obtained according to the polymeric stabilizers. The mean particle diameters of AuNPs synthesized with GC and PVA as stabilizers were about 5.1 and 5.3 nm, respectively, while those of AuNPs stabilized with SA and PEI were 8.4 and 10.8 nm, respectively. When SA was used, relatively large particles aggregated to form large clusters. In the case of GC, a number of small particles built up large clusters. When PVA was used, the size and the number of nanoperticles were estimated small with a low weight content of Au. For this reason, the PVA-stabilized AuNPs formed clusters with a small hydrodynamic size. The AuNPs synthesized in the aqueous solution of PEI without a reducing agent, sodium borohydride, were uniform in size and formed the smallest nanoclusters （67.4 nm）. In this case, the highest Au content was obtained. Sufficiently grown nanoparticles with a high Au content and a limited hydrodynamic size are considered to be suitable for a variety of applications.