Simultaneous potentiometric determination of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide

A rapid and highly selective potentiometric method for the simultaneous analysis of peracetic acid (PAA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been proposed, for the first time, using glassy carbon (GC) as an indicator electrode and I2/I- potential buffer. On the basis of the large difference in the reaction rates of PAA and H2O2 with I-, which was confirmed using stopped-flow spectrophotometry, a transient potential response corresponding to the reactions of the two species with I- was observed. The response times were typically a few seconds and several minutes for PAA and H2O2, respectively. The effects of the concentrations of molybdate catalyst, H+, I2, and I- in the potential buffer on the selectivity as well as the sensitivity were examined. The potential response obtained using the GC indicator electrode was found to be Nernstian over a wide range of their concentrations (typically from micromolar to millimolar) with slopes of 30.5 and 29.5 mV for PAA and H2O2, respectively (in close agreement with the theoretical value, that is, 29.6 mV). O2 was found to have no substantial effect on the potential change at the GC electrode in the present potential buffer.     

Determination of the equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of adsorption of copper(II) ions onto seeds of Capsicum annuum

Adsorption of copper ions onto Capsicum annuum (red pepper) seeds was investigated with the variation in the parameters of pH, contact time, adsorbent and copper(II) concentrations and temperature. The nature of the possible adsorbent and metal ion interactions was examined by the FTIR technique. The copper(II) adsorption equilibrium was attained within 60 min. Adsorption of copper(II) ions onto C. annuum seeds followed by the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. Maximum adsorption capacity (q(max)) of copper(II) ions onto red pepper seeds was 4.47x10(-4) molg(-1) at 50 degrees C. Three kinetic models including the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion equations were selected to follow the adsorption process. Kinetic parameters such as rate constants, equilibrium adsorption capacities and related correlation coefficients, for each kinetic model were calculated and discussed. It was indicated that the adsorption of copper(II) ions onto C. annuum seeds could be described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and also followed the intraparticle diffusion model up to 60 min, but diffusion is not only the rate controlling step. Thermodynamics parameters such as the change of free energy, enthalpy and entropy were also evaluated for the adsorption of copper(II) ions onto C. annuum seeds.     

Improved model-order reduction by using spacial information in moments

The new concept of multinode moment matching (MMM) is introduced in this paper. The MMM technique simultaneously matches the moments at several nodes of a circuit using explicit moment matching around s=0. As compared to the well known single-point moment matching (SMM) techniques (such as asymptotic waveform evaluation), MMM has several advantages. First, the number of moments required by MMM is significantly lower than SMM for a reduced-order model of the same accuracy, which directly translates into computational efficiency. This higher computational efficiency of MMM as compared to SMM increases with the number of inputs to the circuit. Second, MMM has much better numerical stability as compared to SMM. This characteristic allows MMM to calculate an arbitrarily high-order approximation of a linear system, achieving the required accuracy for systems with complex responses. Finally, MMM is highly suitable for parallel-processing techniques especially for higher order approximations while SMM has to calculate the moments sequentially and cannot be adapted to parallel processing techniques.     

Aligned wafer bonding: A key to three dimensional microstructures

Successful fabrication of critically aligned three dimensional structures has been achieved by combining precision alignment procedures and techniques for direct silicon bonding. This produces three dimensional bonded layers that might include combinations of mechanical, electronic and/or optical elements formed in separate prefabricated layers. We call this techniquealigned wafer bonding. The precise aligned bonding of the features was done with an Optical AssociatesHyperline 400 Infrared Aligner. This machine can hold two imprinted wafers face to face while projecting an infrared image of the surfaces to a viewing screen. An array of alignment marks were etched into the surface of silicon wafers with hot potassium hydroxide. These V-grooves were then precisely aligned and the wafers were brought into contact for initial bonding. Subsequent high temperature annealing was used to strengthen and complete the chemical bonding. The instrumentation used in this work required alignment features with a vertical dimension of 30 micrometers to produce a suitable infrared image. We found that the apparent size of the images produced by the optical system limited the accuracy in precision alignment. However, with reduced wafer separation, we achieved wafer alignment with an accuracy of better than 5 micrometers. This technique would generally be used for the precision alignment and bonding of complementary micromechanical, electrical, or optical structures during the formation of three dimensional devices. The details of the aligned wafer bonding and its applications are presented.     

Properties of the contact on ion cleaned n and p type silicon surfaces

Schottky contacts were produced by silver evaporation on Si(100) surfaces cleaned by ion sputtering and partial annealing. The samples work function were measured before and after metal deposition with the Kelvin method, in an experimental set-up which allowed a topografical study and direct comparison between n and p types. Clean surfaces with and without a residual layer of oxide was achieved and controlled by AES. It was found that the Fermi level of all the surfaces was pinned by donor states created by the bombardment and that there was no barrier on n type and an important surface barrier on p type. The diodes we obtained presented no barrier on n type and a rectifying contact on p type. So we deduced that the Schottky barrier is already fully formed before metal contact is achieved. Furthermore study of the electrical properties of the diodes had shown that the bombardment creates donor states responsible for the barrier and a perturbated layer with deep acceptor traps responsible for the current flow mechanism. A residual layer of oxide and a post annealing of the device did not noticeably change the Schottky barrier in the diodes achieved on p type but led to clearly differenciated performances for the diodes achieved on both p and n type substrate. So we therefore concluded that the characteristics of the deep acceptor traps of the superfacial layer are modified by the oxide and annealing, both of which on the other hand having no effect on the surface donor states.     

Gamma-Irradiation and Storage Effects on Some Chemical Aspects of Carrots

Studies on chemical changes induced by gamma-irradiation at optimum dose of 75 krad in carrots were undertaken. Sugars, nitrogen, free amino acids, amino acids of alcohol insoluble solids, and pectin fractions were determined. The results indicate that the postharvest irradiation of carrots does not dramatically affect their chemical composition during storage. However, it was observed that storage time affected significantly the biochemical changes occurring in the constituents of carrots exposed to gamma-irradiation.