Special Important Aspects of the Thomson Effect

A comprehensive study of the mechanisms of heating and cooling originating from an electrical current in semiconductor devices is reported. The variation in temperature associated with the Peltier effect is not related to the presence of heat sources and sinks if the heat flux is correctly determined. The Thomson effect is commonly regarded as a heat source/sink proportional to the Thomson coefficient, which is added to the Joule heating. In the present work, we will show that this formulation of the Thomson effect is not sufficiently clear. When the heat flux is correctly defined, the Thomson heat source/sink is proportional to the Seebeck coefficient. In the conditions in which the Peltier effect takes place, the temperature gradient is created, and, consequently, the Thomson effect will occur naturally.     

Charge Migration in Organic Materials: Can Propagating Charges Affect the Key Physical Quantities Controlling Their Motion?

Charge migration is a ubiquitous phenomenon with profound implications throughout many areas of chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science. The long-term vision of designing functional materials with tailored molecular-scale properties has triggered an increasing quest to identify prototypical systems where truly molecular conduction pathways play a fundamental role. Such pathways can be formed due to the molecular organization of various organic materials and are widely used to discuss electronic properties at the nanometer scale. Here, we present a computational methodology to study charge propagation in organic molecular stacks at nano and sub-nanoscales and exploit this methodology to demonstrate that moving charge carriers strongly affect the values of the physical quantities controlling their motion. The approach is also expected to find broad application in the field of charge migration in soft matter systems.     

Constitutive Modeling of the Stacking Fault Energy-Dependent Deformation Behavior of Fe-Mn-C-(Al) TWIP Steels

The present article proposes a constitutive model that includes the stacking fault energy (SFE)-dependence of the deformation behavior of Fe-Mn-C-(Al) TWIP steels. The different kinetics of the SFE-dependent strain hardening of twinned and twin-free grains are accounted for. The high flow stress of TWIP steels investigated is attributed to the combined effect of a large fraction of twinned grains and a low dynamic recovery rate—both effects being associated with its lowest SFE.     

Sources of Fluxes of Energy, Heat, and Diffusion Heat in a Bipolar Semiconductor: Influence of Nonequilibrium Charge Carriers

The equations of energy balance, heat balance, and diffusion heat balance are obtained for a bipolar semiconductor. The roles of nonequilibrium charge carriers and the recombination in the heat transport are established. The expressions for the sources of energy fluxes, heat fluxes, and diffusion heat fluxes are discussed. Both radiative and nonradiative recombinations are studied.     

Photochemical Decomposition of Pesticide Chemicals in Aerosol Particles and Thin Films Relevant to Environmental Conditions

Contamination of the environment by pesticides is the inevitable aftermath of plant protection, and a substantial portion of pesticide pollutants exists in the form of aerosol particles levitated in the air and deposited on plants, and as the pesticide residues （thin films） on the surface of plant leaves. The sunlight photolysis could be the resource for the accelerated photochemical decomposition of pesticide compounds to minimize the long-term environmental contamination. The rates of photochemical decomposition of pesticide chemicals propiconazole （commercial formulation Tilt） and haloxyfop-ethoxyethyl （Zellek） were measured in particles of 0.12-1.3 μm in diameter and in films 0.04-0.2 μm thick. A specific polyaromatic sensitizer Shirvanol was used to induce accelerated decomposition of the above pesticide particulates under both the solar radiation and the artificial UV light. It was established that propiconazole decomposes by the sensitized photo-oxidation only, but haloxyfop-ethoxyethyl reacts in both the oxygen （air） and oxygen-free mediums via both the direct and sensitized reactions. The photochemical mechanisms are hypothesized and argued for the oxidative and non-oxidative decompositions. The haloxyfop-ethoxyethyl （Zellek） residues lbrmed on foliage upon pesticide treatments of agricultural fields would essentially decompose under sunlight via a direct photoreaction in 4-6 weeks, but the propiconazole （Tilt） contaminants probably need more time.     

Electrostatic Control of Structure in Self‐Assembled Membranes

Self‐assembling peptide amphiphiles (PAs) can form hierarchically ordered membranes when brought in contact with aqueous polyelectrolytes of the opposite charge by rapidly creating a diffusion barrier composed of filamentous nanostructures parallel to the plane of the incipient membrane. Following this event, osmotic forces and charge complexation template nanofiber growth perpendicular to the plane of the membrane in a dynamic self‐assembly process. In this work, we show that this hierarchical structure requires massive interfacial aggregation of PA molecules, suggesting the importance of rapid diffusion barrier formation. Strong PA aggregation is induced here through the use of heparin‐binding PAs with heparin and also with polyelectrolytes of varying charge density. Small angle X‐ray scattering shows that in the case of weak PA‐polyelectrolyte interaction, membranes formed display a cubic phase ordering on the nanoscale that likely results from clusters of PA nanostructures surrounded by polyelectrolyte chains.