[en] Considering how pervasive charge transfer (CT) processes are in heterogeneous media, proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET), in its many different manifestations, is undoubtedly one of the most important interfacial chemical processes. Charge transport plays a central role in a variety of energy transduction processes in biological and artificial photosynthetic systems. For instance, proton pumping in biological membranes serves to establish an electrochemical potential that enables conversion of light into chemical energy. Whereas a variety of spectroscopic and microscopic methods are enabling steady progress in unraveling of photobiological charge transduction, our atomistic understanding of even the seemingly simplest interfacial processes, for example the adsorption and evolution of H2 molecules at a Pt electrode-H2O liquid interface (e.g., the Heyrovsky reaction: H2 f Had + H+ + e-) or even the discharge of H+ at water-metal interfaces (Volmer reaction H+ + e- f Had) remains at a primitive level, in part because of the difficulty of probing ultrafast CT processes at solid-liquid interfaces.

[en] This paper observed the relationships among site, dose, pathological morphology, pathogenesis, incidence, and diagnostic criteria in retrospectively evaluating 685 cases of chronic radiation-induced lens damage. The early diagnosis together with protective measures are indispensible to proventing and treating radiation-induced lens damage

[en] An electron added to a solvent polarizes its surrounding medium to minimize the free energy. Such an electron with its polarization cloud, which we refer to as the solvated electron, is one of the most fundamental chemical reagents of significant experimental and theoretical interest. The structure and dynamics of solvated electrons in protic solvents have been explored ever since the discovery of intense blue coloration in solutions of alkali metals in ammonia. Because solvated electrons are the most fundamental chemical reagents as well as carriers of negative charge, substantial experimental and theoretical efforts have focused on elucidating their equilibrium structure and solvation dynamics in a variety of neat liquids. One of the most important but least explored environments for solvated electrons, namely, the two-dimensional liquid/solid and liquid/vacuum interfaces, is the subject of this review.

[en] Aiming at improving the structures of micro-channel heat sinks for chip cooling techniques, four types of heat sinks, including traditional micro-channel (TMC) heat sink, rectangle column fin heat sink, single-hole jet-cooling heat sink and double-layer micro-channel heat sink were modelled. And the characteristics of flow and heat transfer in these heat sinks were investigated by numerical method. The numerical results show that the layout of microchannel heat sink is very important to the fluid flow and heat transfer. It is positive for improving thermal performance to fill metal foam in the inlet header by strengthening flow distribution uniformity. In comparison to traditional microchannel rows, the pin-fin array way of microchannel arrangement will strengthen the thermal performance of the overall heat sink due to the better field coordination characteristic. Although the jetting cooling heat sink technology possesses the best chip cooling capacity, it is not proposed for the field of microchannel cooling because of a huge flowing resistant. The double-layer structure with the inlet at the bottom layer processes the second-best cooling capability at the cost of an acceptable large pressure drop. In general, under the same pumping power, there is substantial development potential on the traditional micro-channel heat sink with metal-foam inlet header and rectangle column fin micro-channel heat sink

[en] TiN/Ti/NiSi/Si multilayer system is of great technological importance for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) device fabrication. Interfacial reactions in this multilayer system play a critical role in determining the contact resistance and affect silicon consumption, a key issue in shallow junction structures. In this report, interfacial reactions in TiN/Ti/NiSi/Si multilayer systems, with a focus on Ti/NiSi interface, were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and four-point probe measurements. Impact of thermal treatment temperatures was investigated

[en] Highlights: • Au-Ag alloy nanoparticles modified ZnO films were prepared by a chemical method. • The alloy modified ZnO films exhibited higher photocatalytic activity. • The enhanced activity is related to the process of photocatalytic reaction. -- Abstract: Au–Ag alloy modified ZnO nanocomposite films have been prepared by sol–gel and spin-coating method. A visible-light absorption ability in the region of 450–550 nm due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Au–Ag alloy was attained in the nanocomposite films along with a quasilinear relationship between the wavelength of the plasmon bands and Ag/Au precursor’s molar ratio. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite films for Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under UV-light irradiation is enhanced by alloy-modification, which is related to the process of photocatalytic reaction as confirmed by the TOC results. The enhancement degree of photocatalytic activity strongly depends on the Ag/Au molar ratio, among which the Ag_0.1Au_0.2/ZnO photocatalyst provided the highest photocatalytic activity that is more than 2 times higher than the pristine ZnO photocatalyst as fabricated and tested under the same conditions

[en] Sphere-shaped bismuth vanadate (BiVO_4) was synthesized by a simple and cost-effective low temperature hydrothermal method. In order to improve the photo-response of the prepared sphere-shaped BiVO_4 in natural sunlight, the as-synthesized BiVO_4 incorporated with graphene oxide (GO) was assembled into sphere-shaped BiVO_4/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites. For studying their morphological, physical, optical, and photo-chemical properties, the obtained composites were well characterized with the aid of various physicochemical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance, N_2 adsorption/desorption and electrochemical measurements. In addition, the photocatalytic performance of the prepared BiVO_4 and BiVO_4/RGO composites were evaluated by monitoring the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB)-contained wastewater under natural sunlight irradiation, where the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency can be achieved for the BiVO_4/RGO composites with 3 wt% RGO dosage (approx. 68.85% increase compared with that of pure sphere-shaped BiVO_4) The improved photocatalytic activity of BiVO_4/RGO composite is attributed to the formation of well-defined BiVO_4-RGO interfaces, which greatly enhances the charge separation efficiency. - Highlights: • One-pot synthesis of sphere-shaped BiVO_4/RGO composite was presented. • The composite showed improved direct sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity. • The origin of the enhanced photocatalytic performances was discussed. • h"+ directly oxidation of substrates suppressed the formation rate of "·OH.

[en] We present a unified ab initio study of electronic and optical properties of TiO₂ rutile and anatase phases with a combination of density-functional theory and many-body perturbation-theory techniques. The consistent treatment of exchange and correlation, with the inclusion of many-body one-particle and two-particles effects in self-energy and electron-hole interaction, produces a high-quality description of electronic and optical properties, giving, for some quantities, the first available estimation for this compound. In particular, we give a quantitative estimate of the electronic and direct optical gaps, clarifying their role with respect to previous measurements obtained by various experimental techniques. We obtain a description for both electronic gap and optical spectra that is consistent with experiments by analyzing the role of different contributions to the experimental optical gap and relating them to the level of theory used in our calculations. We also show the spatial properties of excitons in the two crystalline phases, highlighting the localization character of different optical transitions. This paper aims at understanding and firmly establishing electro-optical bulk properties, yet to be clarified, of this material of fundamental and technological interest for green energy applications.

[en] Grafting of water soluble mixed monomers of acrylic acid (AA)/acrylamide (Am) and acrylic acid/methacrylic acid (MA) onto polyethylene film by the pre-irradiation grafting method was investigated. The results showed that the grafting proceeded successfully with the adding of ferric salt in the solution. In the case of AA/Am system, a synergistic effect was noticed. In the case of AA/MA system, the graft percent increased with the increase in the concentration of MA in the feed ratio. Furthermore, the effects of monomer concentration, radiation dose and temperature on the grafting were also studied

[en] Short communications only