Preparation and electrocatalytic activity of palladium-platinum core-shell nanoalloys protected by a perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer

Palladium-platinum nanoalloys with a core-shell and nano-network structure were successfully synthesized by a hydrogen sacrificial protective method in an aqueous solution directly using a perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer as a protecting agent. The structure, local composition and electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction of the Pd/Pt/PFSA nanoalloys were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (Cs-STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and voltammetry. The core-shell structure was completed without contaminating reducing agents, organic solvents, useless protecting agents and a mediator. The Pd/Pt/PFSA core-shell nanoalloys realized a high electrochemical surface area and better electrocatalytic mass-activity for the oxygen reduction reaction than the Pt/PFSA nanoparticles.     

Mixing speed-controlled gold nanoparticle synthesis with pulsed mixing microfluidic system

Gold nanoparticles with diameters of a few tens of nanometer and a narrow size distribution were synthesized using a pulsed mixing method with a microfluidic system which consists of a Y-shaped mixing microchannel and two piezoelectric valveless micropumps. This mixing method enables control of the mixing speed of gold salts and reducing agent by changing the switching frequency of the micropumps, which was our focus to improve the particle size distribution, which is an essential parameter in gold nanoparticle synthesis. In the proposed method, the mixing time was inversely proportional to the switching frequency and the minimum mixing time was 95 ms at a switching frequency of 200 Hz. During synthesis experiments, the mean diameter of the synthesized gold nanoparticles was found to increase, and the coefficient of variation of particle size was found to decrease with decreasing mixing time. We successfully improved the coefficient of variation to less than 10% for a mean diameter of around 40 nm.     

Study of drive system for linear induction motor using magnetic energy recovery switch

This paper proposes a power supply suitable for driving linear induction motors. The power supply consists of a voltage source inverter (VSI) and a magnetic energy recovery switch (MERS). Circuit configuration and operation principles of the power supply are described. Power factor correction by MERS can increase the output power. Technical advantages of using MERS compared with increasing the rated voltage of VSI are discussed. Some experiments with a linear induction motor were conducted. The results confirm that MERS can reduce the capacity of the VSI or increase the output with the same VSI capacity. The number of devices and magnitude of losses are evaluated on a large‐scale drive system. A half‐bridge type of MERS is provided and discussed. The half‐bridge MERS mitigates disadvantages of using MERS. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 169(4): 65–74, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience. wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20832     

Synthesis of charge transporting block copolymers containing 2,7-dimethoxycarbazole units for light emitting device

The block copolymers consisting of 2,7-dimethoxycarbazole- and oxadiazole-containing segments as hole and electron transporting units, respectively, were synthesized by NMRP manner. OLED devices were fabricated using block copolymer, random copolymer, and polymer blend for matrix of the emitting layer with Ir(ppy)₃ as a phosphorescent dopant in order to investigate morphological effect on the performance. From the finding that the block copolymer system overwhelmed the others in EQE, we assumed that a morphology with dimethoxycarbazole units assembled to the surface of PEDOT:PSS played a considerable role for effective recombination of charges as well as sufficient charge injection into the emitting layer.     

Structure and properties of poly(vinyl alcohol)/κ‐carrageenan blends

Blends of a commercial atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (a‐PVA) derived from vinyl acetate and κ‐carrageenan were prepared by mixing the aqueous solutions of both samples. Blend films prepared by casting were transparent. In the DSC curves of the blend films, the endothermic peaks shifted to lower temperature with an increase of the content of κ‐carrageenan. The Young's modulus and the strength at break increased with an increase of the content of a‐PVA. As the standing temperature of the blend solutions decreased, the gelation region increased also at high content of carrageenan. In the amorphous regions of blend films, a‐PVA and κ‐carrageenan were miscible. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Layered mixed-anion compounds: Epitaxial growth,active function exploration,and device application

Optoelectronic properties and device applications of layered mixed-anion compounds such as oxychalcogenide LaCuOCh (Ch = chalcogen) and oxypnictide LaT_MOPn (T_M = 3d transition metal, Pn = pnicogen) are reviewed. Several distinctive functions have been found in these materials based on our original material exploration concept. Fabrication of high-quality epitaxial films of LaCuOCh leads to clarifying the excellent electrical and optical properties such as high hole mobility of 8 cm²/(V s) and heavy hole doping at >10²¹ cm^?3 in LaCuOSe, and sharp and tunable-wavelength photoluminescence in the solid–solution systems in LaCuOCh. In addition, a room temperature operation of a light-emitting diode is demonstrated using LaCuOSe as a light-emitting layer. These results suggest that the layered oxychalcogenides have potential for light-emitting layers as well as transparent hole-injection layers in organic/inorganic light-emitting diodes. Furthermore, by extending the material system from the copper-based oxychalcogenides to isostructural compounds, transition metal-based oxypnictides LaT_MOP (T_M = Fe, Ni), we have found novel superconductors, LaFeOP and LaNiOP.     

Experimental study on latent heat storage characteristics of W/O emulsion -Supercooling rate of dispersed water drops by direct contact heat exchange-

Recently, much attention has been paid to investigate the latent heat storage system. Using of ice heat storage system brings an equalization of electric power demand, because it will solved the electric -power-demand-concentration on day-time of summer by the air conditioning. The flowable latent heat storage material, Oil/Water type emulsion, microencapsulated latent heat material-water mixture or ice slurry, etc., is enable to transport the latent heat in a pipe. The flowable latent heat storage material can realize the pipe size reduction and system efficiency improvement. Supercooling phenomenon of the dispersed latent heat storage material in continuous phase brings the obstruction of latent heat storage. The latent heat storage rates of dispersed water drops in W/O (Water/Oil) emulsion are investigated experimentally in this study. The water drops in emulsion has the diameter within 3 ～ 25μm, the averaged water drop diameter is 7.3μm and the standard deviation is 2.9μm. The direct contact heat exchange method is chosen as the phase change rate evaluation of water drops in W/O emulsion. The supercooled temperature and the cooling rate are set as parameters of this study. The evaluation is performed by comparison between the results of this study and the past research. The obtained experimental result is shown that the 35K or more degree from melting point brings 100% latent heat storage rate of W/O emulsion. It was clarified that the supercooling rate of dispersed water particles in emulsion shows the larger value than that of the bulk water.     

The Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Liquid n-Alkanes: C n H2n+2 (n=5 to 10) and Toluene

Experimental values of the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusivity of six pure liquid n-alkanes (C _n H_2n+2; n=5 to 10) and toluene are presented in the temperature range of –20 to 70°C under atmospheric or saturation pressure. Measurements were made with the transient hot-wire method, and in the analysis, the temperatures T and T (associated with both and ) were used. In the present work, the values of thermal diffusivity were corrected by the factors k _f (=1.0076 to 0.9892) for data sets obtained with different configurations of the experiment, in which the factors were determined by reference to the thermal diffusivity of n-heptane [= _s/(c _p )_s] at 298.15 K calculated from the volumic heat capacity (c _p )_s as a reference material for heat capacity and the experimentally obtained thermal conductivity _s. The uncertainty of the data is estimated to be 0.48% for the thermal conductivity (absolutely measured) and about 1.8% for the thermal diffusivity (with a coverage factor of k _p =2; p=95%).     

Evaluation of crystallinity in TiO2 films with mixed structures grown on MgO (001) substrates by argon-ion beam sputtering based on infrared reflection-absorption spectra

TiO2 films with thicknesses (d) above 15 nm were grown on optically polished surfaces of MgO (001) substrates held at 400 degrees C by sputtering a Ti target with an argon-ion beam when the partial pressure of O2 was kept at 1.1 x 10(-2) Pa. X-ray diffraction patterns show that TiO2 films with d < 56 nm are composed of an a-axis anatase-type structure, whereas those with d > 56 nm are composed of a mixture of phases with the c-axis parallel to the film surface. The thickness dependence of the infrared reflection-absorption spectra shows that TiO2 films with d < 56 nm are composed of both anatase and amorphous phases, whereas those with d > 56 nm are composed of anatase, rutile, and amorphous phases. The crystallinity in TiO2 films is also evaluated from the infrared reflection-absorption spectra by comparison of the observed and the calculated results determined from the dielectric function of anisotropic TiO2 bulk single crystal.     

Fabrication of optics by use of plasma chemical vaporization machining with a pipe electrode

We figure optical surfaces by plasma chemical vaporization machining (CVM) with a pipe electrode, in which an rf plasma generated at the electrode tip under approximately atmospheric pressure moves over the surfaces. We propose a shaping method in which the movement of plasma on the surfaces can be determined. Flat and aspheric surfaces are successfully figured with the desired peak-to-valley shape accuracy of 0.1 microm. The root-mean-square roughness of the resultant surfaces is at the subnanometer level. These results confirm that the plasma CVM and the shaping method have the capability to fabricate optics with high accuracy.