Experimental visualization of lithium diffusion in LixFePO4

Chemical energy storage using batteries will become increasingly important for future environmentally friendly ('green') societies. The lithium-ion battery is the most advanced energy storage system, but its application has been limited to portable electronics devices owing to cost and safety issues. State-of-the-art LiFePO4 technology as a new cathode material with surprisingly high charge-discharge rate capability has opened the door for large-scale application of lithium-ion batteries such as in plug-in hybrid vehicles. The scientific community has raised the important question of why a facile redox reaction is possible in the insulating material. Geometric information on lithium diffusion is essential to understand the facile electrode reaction of LixFePO4 (0相似文献   

Nanostructure of pure iron anodically oxidized in borate buffer solution and annealed by infrared radiation

The behavior of oxide film on pure iron passivated in a borate buffer solution and subsequently radiated by infrared light (IR) was investigated in comparing to that by just IR annealing without passivation, and was evaluated by film structure, etc. The effect of thermal annealing over 250 degrees C was observed with gamma-Fe2O3 grain growth and sharp increase in surface roughness, film thickness and oxygen content. An ellipsometric parameter of tan psi was sensitively reflected by annealing effect, and tan psi curve had a shoulder at 150 degrees C for 5 min and a peak of tan psi was shifted from 350 nm to 450 nm in wavelength. This shift was also caused by the formation of gamma-Fe2O3, because the peak was also observed in tan psi of the bulk Fe2O3 family. Passivation effects at 800 mV prior to IR annealing on thickness and oxygen content changed at 150 degrees C, and decreased tan psi at 350 nm and excessive film growth over 250 degrees C, and increased oxygen content under 100 degrees C and surface roughness at 50-250 degrees C. The terrace width with atomic scale flatness was slightly increase by passivation prior to IR annealing at 50-250 degrees C, and the maximum terrace width reached larger than 10 nm by passivation and IR annealing at 100 degrees C for 30 min.     

Two-dimensional “transXend” detector for third-generation energy-resolved computed tomography

The “transXend” detector measures X-rays as electric currents and provides the energy distribution of the measured X-rays after analysis. Capabilities of material distinction, effective atomic number measurement, and low-dose exposure computed tomography (CT) with high K-edge contrast agent from the use of the transXend detector in energy-resolved CT have been demonstrated via the first-generation CT measurements. For application of the principle of the transXend detector to the third-generation CT for human subjects in future work, a method for fabrication of a two-dimensional transXend detector is proposed and demonstrated using a commercial two-dimensional detector and two kinds of strip absorbers. The energy-resolved CT is performed by placing a proposed absorber system in front of a two-dimensional detector, which is used for conventional current measurement CT.     

Vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectra and cross-sections for volatile organic compounds at 10.5 eV

Vacuum ultraviolet single-photon ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (VUV-SPI-TOFMS) has been applied to the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including aromatic, chlorinated, and oxygenated compounds. Photoionization mass spectra of 23 VOCs were measured using SPI-TOFMS at 10.5 eV (118 nm). The limits of detection of VOCs using SPI-TOFMS at 10.5 eV were estimated to be a few ppbv. The mass spectra of 20 VOCs exhibit only the parent ion and its isotopes' signals. The ionization processes of the VOCs were discussed on the basis of the reaction enthalpies predicted by the quantum chemical calculations. Absolute photoionization cross-sections for 23 VOCs, including 12 newly measured VOCs, at 10.5 eV were determined in comparison to the reported absolute photoionization cross-section of NO.     

CP-PACS: A massively parallel processor at the University of Tsukuba

Computational Physics by Parallel Array Computer System (CP-PACS) is a massively parallel processor developed and in full operation at the Center for Computational Physics at the University of Tsukuba. It is an MIMD machine with a distributed memory, equipped with 2048 processing units and 128 GB of main memory. The theoretical peak performance of CP-PACS is 614.4 Gflops. CP-PACS achieved 368.2 Gflops with the Linpack benchmark in 1996, which at that time was the fastest Gflops rating in the world.CP-PACS has two remarkable features. Pseudo Vector Processing feature (PVP-SW) on each node processor, which can perform high speed vector processing on a single chip superscalar microprocessor; and a 3-dimensional Hyper-Crossbar (3-D HXB) Interconnection network, which provides high speed and flexible communication among node processors.In this article, we present the overview of CP-PACS, the architectural topics, some details of hardware and support software, and several performance results.     

Verb generation in Japanese--A multicenter PET activation study

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) during silent verb generation was measured at four Japanese PET centers. To minimize the variance of the measurement, speakers of a single language (Japanese) served as subjects and experimental conditions at the four PET centers were controlled as much as possible. Two types of activation patterns were observed: activations in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and the medial frontal cortex (at the two centers with a 2D PET scanner) and additional activation in the left posterior temporal cortex (at the two centers with a 3D scanner). This suggests either a difference in the sensitivity of the two types of PET scanners (viz., a 3D scanner is generally more sensitive than a 2D scanner) and/or subject bias due to the small number of subjects at the individual centers. The pooled activation pattern was fundamentally similar to activation patterns obtained in the previous studies for verb generation in English and other European languages, suggesting that regions for verb generation are independent of particular languages. Regions relevant to verb generation are discussed.     

Co-Al基三元系中B2相的溶解度间隙与稳定性

Information on phase equilibria in the Co-Al based systems which are related to some magnetic and heat resistance materials is important for their microstructural control. Recently, it was proposed with a theoretical calculation on electronic band structure that some Heusler-type alloys Co2 XAl (X: Cr and Mn) should be a new type of spinelectronic materials so-called half-metallic ferromagnet. In the case of the Co2CrAl, however, magnetic properties expected from the theoretical work can not been experimentally obtained and the reason has been still unknown. On the other hand, a tunne- ling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect due to the half-metallic properties was reported in Co2 (Cr0.6 Fe0.4 ) Al alloy, but not the Co2CrAl alloy. In the present paper, it is reported that this discrepancy with the theoretical work in the Co2CrAl alloy is bought about by phase separation between A2 and B2 phases, and that the substitution of Fe for Cr can suppress the precipitation of A2 phase in the B2 phase. Such a phase separation is originally due to the miscibility gap between CoAl and Cr formed in the Co-Al-Cr ternary system as well as that reported by Hao et al. in the Ni-Co-Al-Fe system.     

Silica-shelled single quantum dot micelles as imaging probes with dual or multimodality

The present study describes a stabilization of single quantum dot (QD) micelles by a "hydrophobic" silica precursor and an extension of a silica layer to form a silica shell around the micelle using "amphiphilic" and "hydrophilic" silica precursors. The obtained product consists of approximately 92% single nanocrystals (CdSe, CdSe/ZnS, or CdSe/ZnSe/ZnS QDs) into the silica micelles, coated with a silica shell. The thickness of the silica shell varies, starting from 3-4 nm. Increasing the shell thickness increases the photoluminescence characteristics of QDs in an aqueous solution. The silica-shelled single CdSe/ZnS QD micelles possess a comparatively high quantum yield in an aqueous solution, a controlled small size, sharp photoluminescence spectra (fwhm approximately 30 nm), an absence of aggregation, and a high transparency. The surface of the nanoparticles is amino-functionalized and ready for conjugation. A comparatively good biocompatibility is demonstrated. The nanoparticles show ability for intracellular delivery and are noncytotoxic during long-term incubation with viable cells in the absence of light exposure, which makes them appropriate for cell tracing and drug delivery. The presence of the hydrophobic layer between the QD and silica-shell ensures an incorporation of other hydrophobic molecules with interesting properties (e.g., hydrophobic paramagnetic substances, hydrophobic photosensitizers, membrane stabilizers, lipid-soluble antioxidants or prooxidants, other hydrophobic organic dyes, etc.) in the close proximity of the nanocrystal. Thus, it is possible to combine the characteristics of hybrid materials with the priority of small size. The silica-shelled single QD micelles are considered as a basis for fabrication of novel hybrid nanomaterials for industrial and life science applications, for example, nanobioprobes with dual modality for simultaneous application in different imaging techniques (e.g., fluorescent imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging).     

Determination of epoxidized soybean oil in bottled foods

A determination method for epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) in bottled foods was developed and used to survey bottled foods on the Japanese market. The amount of sample required was decreased to 20 g and the standard addition method was adopted for the quantification, because lipid in foods interrupted the hydrolysis of ESBO. The recoveries were 87.1 and 98.9% and the determination limit was 5.0 microg/g for a 20 g sample, be cause lipid in foods interupted the hydrolysis of ESBO. The recoveries using the internal standard method varied widely, because hydrolysis of the internal standard, cis-11,14-eicosadienoic acid ethyl ester, was affected more than that of ESBO by coexisting lipid in the sample. ESBO was not detected in any of the bottled baby food samples examined (14 samples), though it had been frequently detected in previous European surveys. This difference may be related to the low fat content and low fluidity of the bottled baby foods retailed in Japan. On the other hand, ESBO was detected at levels of 25.7-494.0 microg/g in liver paste, pasta sauce, Sungan in spicy oil, and spicy oil. These foods had higher fat content and higher fluidity. However, ESBO intake from these foods appears unlikely to exceed the TDI in the EU (1 mg/kg bw/day).     

Room-temperature miscibility gap in LixFePO4

The rechargeable lithium-ion cell is an advanced energy-storage system. However, high cost, safety hazards, and chemical instability prohibit its use in large-scale applications. An alternative cathode material, LiFePO(4), solves these problems, but has a kinetic problem involving strong electron/hole localization. One reason for this is believed to be the limited carrier density in the fixed monovalent Fe(3+)PO(4)/LiFe(2+)PO(4) two-phase electrode reaction in LixFePO4. Here, we provide experimental evidence that LixFePO4, at room temperature, can be described as a mixture of the Fe(3+)/Fe(2+) mixed-valent intermediate LialphaFePO4 and Li1-betaFePO4 phases. Using powder neutron diffraction, the site occupancy numbers for lithium in each phase were refined to be alpha=0.05 and 1-beta=0.89. The corresponding solid solution ranges outside the miscibility gap (0相似文献