Image guide couplers with isotropic and anisotropic coupling elements

Among other waveguide elements directional couplers are required in integrated millimeterwave circuits in image guide technique. Hereby an I-guide is used which consists of a dielectric slab between two conducting plates on which the electric field is perpendicularily. Flat coupling behaviour and better isolation can be reached by use of a dielectric coupling element and absorber materials. Thereby the frequency dependence is reduced significantly. Further the coupling can be steered by an additional premagnetized ferrite slab. In this way switched couplers can be realized.     

Synthesis of Microporous Carbon Nanofibers and Nanotubes from Conjugated Polymer Network and Evaluation in Electrochemical Capacitor

One‐dimensional fibers and tubes are constructed through the oriented carbon‐carbon cross‐linking reactions towards rigid conjugated polymer networks. As the result, a template‐free and one‐step synthesis of CNTs and CNFs is achieved through a simple carbonization of the as‐formed carbon‐rich tubular and fiberlike polyphenylene precursors under argon. Microporous CNTs and CNFs with a surface area up to 900 m² g^–1 are obtained, together with HR‐TEM characterizations indicating the formation of intrinsic microporous structure in these rigid carbon‐rich networks. The primary electrochemical experiments reveal their promising applications as advanced electrodes in electrochemical double‐layered capacitor (EDLC).     

Photo‐induced Charge Transfer and Relaxation of Persistent Charge Carriers in Polymer/Nanocrystal Composites for Applications in Hybrid Solar Cells

The photo‐induced charge transfer and the dynamics of persistent charge carriers in blends of semiconducting polymers and nanocrystals are investigated. Regioregular poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is used as the electron donor material, while the acceptor moiety is established by CdSe nanocrystals (nc‐CdSe) prepared via colloidal synthesis. As a reference system, organic blends of P3HT and [6,6]‐phenyl C₆₁‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) are studied as well. The light‐induced charge transfer between P3HT and the acceptor materials is studied by photoluminescence (PL), photo‐induced absorption (PIA) and light‐induced electron spin resonance spectroscopy (LESR). Compared to neat P3HT samples, both systems show an intensified formation of polarons in the polymer upon photo‐excitation, pointing out successful separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Additionally, relaxation of the persistent charge carriers is investigated, and significant differences are found between the hybrid composite and the purely organic system. While relaxation, reflected in the transient signal decay of the polaron signal, is fast in the organic system, the hybrid blends exhibit long‐term persistence. The appearance of a second, slow recombination channel indicates the existence of deep trap states in the hybrid system, which leads to the capture of a large fraction of charge carriers. A change of polymer conformation due to the presence of nc‐CdSe is revealed by low temperature LESR measurements and microwave saturation techniques. The impact of the different recombination behavior on the photovoltaic efficiency of both systems is discussed.     

Observing Proteins as Single Molecules Encapsulated in Surface‐Tethered Polymeric Nanocontainers

Protein unfolding inside immobilized polymerosomes : One of the most interesting properties of polymeric vesicles is their remarkable stability against extreme temperatures and osmotic stress, and their longevity even under harsh environmental conditions. We have demonstrated, in an application on protein folding, that surface‐tethered polymerosomes are suitable for performing time‐resolved single molecule studies with encapsulated proteins, as illustrated here.

     

Cytotoxic Rhodium(III) and Iridium(III) Polypyridyl Complexes: Structure–Activity Relationships,Antileukemic Activity,and Apoptosis Induction

Whereas the cytostatic agents mer‐[RhX₃(DMSO)(pp)] (X=Cl, Br; pp=phen, dpq) are considerably more potent than their facial isomers, this order is reversed for the analogous kinetically more inert Ir^III polypyridyl complexes. The complexes induce specific apoptotic cell death in leukemia and lymphoma cells via the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway and cause negligible necrotic damage.

     

Generation of Rho Zero Cells: Visualization and Quantification of the mtDNA Depletion Process

Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is located in discrete DNA-protein complexes, so called nucleoids. These structures can be easily visualized in living cells by utilizing the fluorescent stain PicoGreen^®. In contrary, cells devoid of endogenous mitochondrial genomes (ρ⁰ cells) display no mitochondrial staining in the cytoplasm. A modified restriction enzyme can be targeted to mitochondria to cleave the mtDNA molecules in more than two fragments, thereby activating endogenous nucleases. By applying this novel enzymatic approach to generate mtDNA-depleted cells the destruction of mitochondrial nucleoids in cultured cells could be detected in a time course. It is clear from these experiments that mtDNA-depleted cells can be seen as early as 48 h post-transfection using the depletion system. To prove that mtDNA is degraded during this process, mtDNA of transfected cells was quantified by real-time PCR. A significant decline could be observed 24 h post-transfection. Combination of both results showed that mtDNA of transfected cells is completely degraded and, therefore, ρ⁰ cells were generated within 48 h. Thus, the application of a mitochondrially-targeted restriction endonuclease proves to be a first and fast, but essential step towards a therapy for mtDNA disorders.     

Environmental stress cracking of polyethylene high density (PE‐HD) induced by liquid media – Validation and verification of the full‐notch creep test (FNCT)

The full‐notch creep test (FNCT) is widely used to characterize the slow crack growth (SCG) behavior of polyolefin materials in “inert” media as well as effects of environmental stress cracking (ESC) in which the medium has decisive influence on damage mechanism and time to failure. The test is of greatest importance for pipe and blow molding types of polyethylene, high density (PE‐HD). Usually the full‐notch creep test is applied as a standardized testing method (ISO 16770) using a few universal liquid media, such as solutions of Arkopal N 100. In our study, selected relevant polyethylene, high density materials are investigated also in real media – practical formulations as well as representative pure chemicals – and influences of temperature and geometry of specimen and notch are explicitly addressed. Furthermore, the investigations comprise also the environmental stress cracking behavior of polyethylene, high density in media that are sorbed to a significant extent – examples are diesel and biodiesel – based on comparison with samples previously saturated with those media. Thus, also the underlying diffusion controlled sorption process has to be assessed before. The investigations were performed using a full‐notch creep testing device with 12 individual sub‐stations, each equipped with individual electronic stress and temperature control and continuous online monitoring of the specimen elongation.