Cover Picture: Arresting,Fixing, and Separating Dimers Composed of Uniform Silica Colloidal Spheres (Adv. Funct. Mater. 12/2006)

In colloidal suspensions of silica, particles undergo constant collisions. By controlling various parameters, the repulsive barrier can be reduced, thereby substantially increasing the number of collision‐induced dimerization events. Xia and co‐workers report on p. 1627 that the dimers could be arrested and then permanently fixed by introducing a small amount of fresh tetraethylorthosilicate into the colloidal suspension, with monodisperse dimer yields of up to 50 %. This yield could be increased to 80 % by centrifugation in a density gradient medium. When fresh tetraethylorthosilicate is introduced into a colloidal suspension of silica spheres, it hydrolyzes and condenses in situ to arrest and fix the dimers resulting from constant collisions between the spheres. By optimizing the experimental parameters (including the length of aging time) and the diameter of the silica spheres, as well as the concentrations of counterions, water, and ammonia, it is possible to routinely produce monodisperse dimers with a yield as high as 50 %. When combined with centrifugation using a density gradient medium, the yield of such dimers could be further increased to 80 %. It is believed that this method will provide a simple and versatile approach to the high‐volume production of dimers from spherical colloids composed of different materials. These dimers may find widespread use in a range of applications such as fabrication of photonic crystals and fundamental studies related to colloidal science.     

Oxidative degradation of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes: Studies of molecular model compounds and selected membranes

Selected aromatic amides were used to model the chemical reactivity of aromatic polyamides found in thin‐film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Chlorination and possible amide bond cleavage of aromatic amides upon exposure to aqueous chlorine, which can lead to membrane failure, were investigated. Correlations are made of the available chlorine concentration, pH, and exposure time with chemical changes in the model compounds. From the observed reactivity trends, insights are obtained into the mechanism of RO membrane performance loss upon chlorine exposure. Two chemical pathways for degradation are shown, one at constant pH and another that is pH‐history dependent. An alternative strategy is presented for the design of chlorine‐resistant RO membranes, and an initial performance study of RO membranes incorporating this strategy is reported. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 1173–1184, 2003     

Assessing stem cell research productivity

Honour Index (HoI), a method to evaluate research performance within different research fields, was derived from the impact factor (IF). It can be used to rate and compare different categories of journals. HoI was used in this study to determine the scientific productivity of stem cell research in the Asian Four Dragons (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) from 1981 to 2001. The methodology applied in this study represents a synthesis of universal indicator studies and bibliometric analyses of subfields at the micro-level. We discuss several comparisons, and conclude the developmental trend in stem cell research for two decades. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A redundant multivalued logic for a 10-Gb/s CMOS demultiplexer IC

A redundant multivalued logic is proposed for high-speed communication ICs. In this logic, serial binary data are received and converted into parallel redundant multivalued data. Then they are restored into parallel binary data. Because of the multivalued data conversion, this logic makes it possible to achieve higher operating speeds than that of a conventional binary logic. Using this logic, a 1:4 demultiplexer (DEMUX, serial-parallel converter) IC was fabricated using a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process. The IC achieved an operating speed of 10 Gb/s with a supply voltage of only 1.3 V and with power consumption of 38 mW. This logic may achieve CMOS communication ICs with an operating speed several times greater than 10 Gb/s.     

负载型复合载体及其镍基催化剂的性能

采用溶胶-凝胶法制备了负载型ZrO_2/Al_2O_3和ZrO_2/Al_2O_3-SiO_2复合载体,研究了不同复合载体对Ni基催化剂CO_2重整甲烷反应和性能的影响,并用XRD、IR、TPR、TPD和BET等方法对复合载体及催化剂进行了表征。结果表明,ZrO_2负载在基载体后比表面积、碱性、活性组分Ni的分散度和Ni与ZrO_2的相互作用增大。NiO在复合载体表面的分散容量与ZrO_2的负载量有关,ZrO_2的负载量为37．5%时NiO的分散容量达最高值(24．0%)。与Ni/ZrO_2相比,Ni/ZrO_2/Al_2O_3-SiO_2和Ni/ZrO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂对CO_2的吸附能力增大,CO_2吸附量增加,酸强度降低,CO_2重整CH_4反应活性提高,其中以Ni/ZrO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂的活性最好。     

溶剂脱沥青组合工艺生产重交通道路沥青

中国石化荆门分公司以江汉-阿曼混合原油和江汉-鲁宁混合原油为原料,分别采用减压蒸馏—丙烷脱沥青和减压蒸馏—添加催化裂化油浆—丙烷脱沥青工艺,生产出符合SH 0522—2000的100号道路沥青。结果表明,江汉-阿曼混合原油减压渣油中掺兑质量分数为30%的催化裂化油浆后,脱油沥青的各项性能均满足AH-70或AH-90重交通道路沥青的要求,而且薄膜烘箱试验表明,试样延度超过标准要求。     

广州清洁燃料汽车发展方向

选择好合适的汽车替代燃料，科学确定一个地区清洁燃料汽车的发展方向，是减少机动车有害尾气排放、控制城市大气环境污染重大而紧迫的课题。国内外汽车清洁燃料的发展规律表明，天然气特别是液化天然气，是汽车替代燃料的最佳选择与发展方向。为此，探讨了随着天然气工业的加快发展，作为广州这样一座已经发展液化石油气汽车并已形成有一定规模的城市，如何适应新形势的需求，科学决策，选择符合国家能源发展政策并适应当地具体实际的汽车清洁燃料路线，寻求顺利实施液化石油气与天然气两种清洁燃料平稳过渡的具体措施。最后提出以下建议：加速LNG加气站和液化天然气汽车（LNGV）相关技术规范的制定；加快实现LNG关键设备，如LNG泵、LNG售气机、车用LNG储罐的国产化步伐，以降低LNGV和加气站的成本；鉴于LNGV改装技术的现状，不提倡对在用车进行改装，而应加大力度，逐步推广单燃料LNG汽车。     

催化精馏合成N-异丙基苯胺

在Joback基团贡献法估算反应的G ibbs函数的基础上,得到了异丙醇与苯胺合成N-异丙基苯胺的平衡常数与反应温度的关系式。研究了回流比、异丙醇与苯胺的摩尔比、塔釜操作温度、苯胺进料口位置距塔顶的距离对异丙醇与苯胺催化精馏合成N-异丙基苯胺的影响,确定了适宜的工艺条件:回流比2.5~3.5、异丙醇与苯胺的摩尔比1.5、塔釜操作温度223℃、苯胺进料口位置距塔顶300~400mm。在优化条件下,苯胺的转化率可达到99%,N-异丙基苯胺的选择性可达到99.5%,N-异丙基苯胺的质量分数可稳定在98.8%以上。     

H型丝光沸石催化剂催化甲苯与叔丁醇的烷基化反应

针对合成对叔丁基甲苯传统工艺中存在的缺点,采用环境友好、可重复利用的H型丝光沸石催化剂(以下简称催化剂)进行了甲苯与叔丁醇的烷基化反应,并用X射线衍射和氨程序升温脱附等方法对不同焙烧温度下得到的催化剂的物相结构和酸性质进行了表征,研究了各种反应条件对催化剂的催化性能的影响。实验结果发现,在适宜的操作条件下,即催化剂的焙烧温度823K、反应温度180℃、反应时间3h、初始压力1.0MPa、原料与催化剂的质量比为8、叔丁醇与甲苯的摩尔比为4、溶剂环己烷与甲苯的摩尔比为5时,甲苯转化率达42.73%,叔丁基甲苯的选择性为96.30%,对叔丁基甲苯的选择性为80.37%。     

A New Comb Circular Polarizer Suitable for Millimeter‐Band Application

This letter presents a new polarizer which has a simple comb structure inside a circular waveguide. The electrical performance of the proposed comb polarizer is optimized by a circular waveguide radius and by the physical parameters of the comb plates. This polarizer is suitable for providing good performance in millimeter‐band application because of its simple structure and low fabrication cost. In our experiments the dual‐band comb polarizer designed in band 1(K) and band 2(Ka) showed good electrical performance without any tuning elements.