A new Pd-oxide-Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As MOS hydrogen sensor

A new and interesting Pd-oxide-Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.7/As MOS hydrogen sensor has been fabricated and studied. The steady-state and transient responses with different hydrogen concentrations has been measured at various temperatures. Based on the large Schottky barrier height and presence of oxide layer, the studied device exhibits a high hydrogen detection sensitivity and wide temperature operating regime. The studied device exhibits the low-leakage current and obvious current changes when exposed to hydrogen-contained gas. Even at room temperature, a very high hydrogen detection sensitivity of 155.9 is obtained when a 9090 ppm H/sub 2//air gas is introduced. Furthermore, when exposed to hydrogen-contained gas at 95/spl deg/C, both the forward and reverse currents are substantially increased with increased hydrogen concentration. In other words, the studied device can be used as a hydrogen sensor under the applied bidirectional bias. Under the applied voltage of 0.35 V and 9090 ppm H/sub 2//air hydrogen ambient, a fast adsorption response time about 10 s is found. The transient and steady-state characteristics of hydrogen adsorption are also investigated.     

A novel InP/InGaAs TEBT for ultralow current operations

A novel InP/InGaAs tunneling emitter bipolar transistor (TEBT) is fabricated and demonstrated. The studied device exhibits a very small collector-emitter offset voltage of 40 mV and an extremely wide operation regime. The operation region is larger than 11 decades in magnitude of collector current (10/sup -12/ to 10/sup -1/A). A current gain of 3 is obtained even if the device is operated at an ultralow collector current of 3.9 /spl times/ 10/sup -12/A (1.56 /spl times/ 10/sup -7/A/cm/sup 2/). Furthermore, the common-emitter breakdown voltage of the studied device is higher than 2 V. Consequently, the studied device shows a promise for low supply voltage, and low-power consumption circuit applications.     

Colloidal silica removal in coagulation processes for wastewater reuse in a high-tech industrial park.

Four experiments of coagulation and flocculation were conducted to investigate the characteristics of colloidal silica removal in a high-tech industrial wastewater treatment plant for reclamation and reuse of the effluent. Experimental results illustrated that poly-aluminium chloride (PACl) showed higher performances on colloidal silica removal than alum. Interestingly, the two coagulants demonstrated the same capacity on silica removal. The specific silica removal capacity was approximately 0.135 mg SiO2/mg Al2O3 when the dosage of coagulants was in the range 30-150 mg/L Al2O3. In addition, the silica was reduced significantly at the condition of pH above 8. Experimental data implied that precipitation of aluminium flocs was the major mechanism for colloid silica removal in PACl and alum coagulation, besides, charge adsorption was also important for improving removal efficiency. Moreover, the addition of polyacrylic acid (PAA) as a flocculant could slightly advance silica removal in the PACl coagulation. The combined PACl/PAA/flocs coagulation was effective for the removal of colloidal silica, soluble COD, and turbidity and also suitable as a pretreatment unit in wastewater reclamation and reuse processes.     

Synthesis and characterization of a novel proton‐exchange membrane for fuel cells operating at high temperatures and low humidities

The synthesis of a p‐toluidine/formaldehyde (PTF) resin was performed, and the effects of the molar ratio of the individual monomers and the polymerization conditions on the structure of the PTF resin were studied. Fourier transform infrared and ¹³C‐NMR spectra were used to characterize the PTF. Wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction patterns revealed the crystalline structures of various PTFs. Polarized optical microscopy revealed that the molar ratio of the monomers had a strong effect on the crystalline morphologies. A longer polymerization time turned out a polymer with a higher intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight, which led to differences in the proton conductivity. All of the PTFs showed a higher proton conductivity than a commercial Nafion membrane at 90–100°C and 0% relative humidity. The proton conductivity of the PTF series could be improved by sulfonation with sulfuric acid and could be maintained after blending with polyurethane. Pure methanol could be used as a fuel source because of the insolubility and nonwetting properties of PTF in methanol to increase the output current density for a PTF membrane electrode assembly. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Trace elements in human transitory milk. Variation caused by biological attributes of mother and infant

Multielement analysis was performed on human milk collected on 5-9-d postpartum from 51 Japanese females using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometry (MS), ICP atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and fluorometry. Thirty-one elements were detected by these analytical methods in milk. Twelve elements (Na, Mg, P, S, K, Ca, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr, Rb, and Mo) were detected in all of the samples. Al, Cs, and Ba were the elements detected by ICP-MS in more than half of the samples. Multiple regression analysis extracted biological attributes of mother and infant, such as maternal stature, maternal wt, or infant's birth wt, as statistically significant factors contributing to the variation in elemental concentration in milk. However, the rates of contribution were small in all cases. It was concluded that the biological attributes of mother and infant examined in this study were not the major factors that contribute to elemental variation in human milk.     

Performance limitations of TDD wireless personal communications with asynchronous radio ports

A wireless personal communications system, based on a TDMA architecture, using asynchronous ports (radio base stations) and the TDD (time division duplexing) method is evaluated using computer simulations. It is shown that, without port synchronisation TDD methods cannot achieve the uplink quality obtainable by the FDD (frequency division duplexing) method.<>     

A D&T roundtable: challenges for low-power and high-performancechips

Microprocessor and other lC performance continues to improve at historic rates, with no visible end in sight for the next 10 years. However, we are starting to encounter a power wall. This is true for high-performance components as well as for low-power chips with a very limited energy budget offered by batteries. We need to find ways to manage power and energy consumption on all fronts-technology, design, and architecture-without compromising performance. Otherwise, we may face discontinuation of Moore's law for the semiconductor industry in the near future. This would be triggered not by any difficulty in the scaling of process technology but by formidable barriers posed by packaging and cooling, inefficacy of power delivery, and energy constraints dictated by battery technology, which is advancing at a very lukewarm pace     

Effect of incipient removal of hydrogen through palladium membrane on the conversion of methane steam reforming: Experimental and modeling

This paper presents a mathematical model based on the reaction rate expressions to describe the displacement of methane conversion in the steam reforming. The effect of several parameters including weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), load-to-surface ratio, reaction pressure, hydrogen partial pressure in permeate side and reaction temperature were investigated. Simulation and experimental results showed that a conversion higher than 80% could be achieved in a palladium membrane reactor at reaction temperature of 500 °C relative to 850 °C in a conventional fixed bed reactor (FBR). Besides, the yield of CO (<2%) in membrane reactor was much lower than that (>50%) in the FBR, which indicated the significant depression of CO production in use of membrane reactor.     

Mass transfer modelling for GS heavy water plants: Part 1: Point efficiency on GS sieve trays

A model that takes into account the gas-phase and liquid-phase resistance to mass transfer has been developed, where the overall mass transfer coefficient (K_OGa) is expressed as a function of the equivalent Sauter-mean bubble diameter. This parameter was back calculated from mass transfer measurements made at a pilot plant on single pass sieve trays of 0.311 m diameter. Hydraulic parameters were measured for these trays as well. Mean bubble diameters were then correlated as a function of active area F-factor and dispersion height for various tray geometries, and these correlations are used to predict point efficiencies on production plant trays up to 8.5 m in diameter.     

A novel spherical-ordered macroporous CuO nanocatalyst for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Journal of Applied Electrochemistry - The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 is a promising research direction in resource utilization and sustainable energy development. However, there is still a...