Search results for "Crystals"
showing 10 items of 350 documents
Halogen Bonding beyond Crystals in Materials Science
2019
Halogen bonding has recently gained well deserved attention in present-day research for its importance in many fields of supramolecular science and crystal engineering. Although generally overlooked in comprehensive studies in the past, halogen bonding has become an important tool also in the field of materials science. An increased number of scientific reports are published every year where halogen bonding is exploited in soft materials rather than in crystal engineering. Here, we focus on a description of the most exciting contemporary developments in the field of halogen-bonded functional soft materials, assembled using the guiding principles of crystal engineering. We give a particular …
Electron-density critical points analysis and catastrophe theory to forecast structure instability in periodic solids
2018
The critical points analysis of electron density,i.e. ρ(x), fromab initiocalculations is used in combination with the catastrophe theory to show a correlation between ρ(x) topology and the appearance of instability that may lead to transformations of crystal structures, as a function of pressure/temperature. In particular, this study focuses on the evolution of coalescing non-degenerate critical points,i.e. such that ∇ρ(xc) = 0 and λ1, λ2, λ3≠ 0 [λ being the eigenvalues of the Hessian of ρ(x) atxc], towards degenerate critical points,i.e. ∇ρ(xc) = 0 and at least one λ equal to zero. The catastrophe theory formalism provides a mathematical tool to model ρ(x) in the neighbourhood ofxcand allo…
Single-crystal I h ice surfaces unveil connection between macroscopic and molecular structure
2017
Physics and chemistry of ice surfaces are not only of fundamental interest but also have important impacts on biological and environmental processes. As ice surfaces—particularly the two prism faces—come under greater scrutiny, it is increasingly important to connect the macroscopic faces with the molecular-level structure. The microscopic structure of the ubiquitous ice Ih crystal is well-known. It consists of stacked layers of chair-form hexagonal rings referred to as molecular hexagons. Crystallographic unit cells can be assembled into a regular right hexagonal prism. The bases are labeled crystallographic hexagons. The two hexagons are rotated 30° with respect to each other. The linkage…
Experimental investigation of two-side heat transfer in spacer-filled channels
2020
Abstract In Membrane Distillation (MD), spacers support the membranes and promote mixing, thus reducing temperature polarization. Their efficient design requires a knowledge of the distribution of the local heat transfer coefficient h and of its dependence on Reynolds number, spacer geometry and flow-spacer relative orientation. In previous work, we applied Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLC) and digital image processing to the measurement of h distributions for different spacer configurations; data were used to validate CFD simulations and select turbulence models. For constructive reasons, the test section allowed only one-side heat transfer, while in most MD configurations (e.g. spiral-w…
Systematic Construction of Ternary Cocrystals by Orthogonal and Robust Hydrogen and Halogen Bonds
2016
A carefully designed strategy is presented for the construction of ternary cocrystals, based on the orthogonality of two supramolecular interaction modes: hydrogen bonding between crown ethers and thioureas and the halogen bonding between thioureas and perfluorohalocarbons. Tested on a set comprising two crown ethers, two thioureas and five halogen bond donors, the strategy resulted in a high, 75% success rate, with 15/20 component combinations yielding at least one cocrystal. Crystal structure analysis revealed the interplay between the hydrogen and halogen bonding motifs, also shedding light on the variables affecting their formation. peerReviewed
Optical active centres in ZnO samples
2006
Abstract In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the interest in the use of ZnO (Eg ∼ 3.37 eV) as a material for a wide range of opto-emitter applications spanning visible and short wavelengths. Bulk, thin films and nanomaterials obtained using different synthesis methods have been investigated for optoelectronic and biotechnological device applications. Nominally undoped bulk samples typically present a myriad-structured near-band-edge recombination, mainly due to free/bound excitons and donor–acceptor pair transitions. Furthermore, deep level emission due to intrinsic defects and extrinsic impurities, such as transition metal ions, are commonly observed in different grades of bulk…
Depth profiles of aggregate centers and nanodefects in LiF crystals irradiated with 34 MeV 84Kr, 56 MeV 40Ar and 12 MeV 12C ions
2018
I. Manika, J. Maniks and R. Zabels acknowledge the national project IMIS2. A. Dauletbekova, A. Akilbekov, M. Zdorovets and A. Seitbayev acknowledge the GF AP05134257of Ministry of Education and Science the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Dehydration potential of ultrathin clouds at the tropical tropopause
2003
[1] We report on the first simultaneous in situ and remote measurements of subvisible cirrus in the uppermost tropical troposphere. The observed cirrus, called UTTCs ( ultrathin tropical tropopause clouds), are the geometrically (200-300 m) and optically (t approximate to 10(-4)) thinnest large-scale clouds ever sampled (approximate to10(5) km(2)). UTTCs consist of only a few ice particles per liter with mean radius approximate to5 mum, containing only 1-5 % of the total water. Yet, brief adiabatic cooling events only 1-2 K below mean ambient temperature destabilize UTTCs, leading to large sedimenting particles (r approximate to 25 mm). Due to their extreme altitude above 17 km and low part…
Cascaded adaptive-mask algorithm for twin-image removal and its application to digital holograms of ice crystals.
2009
An iterative Gerchberg-Saxton-type algorithm with a support constraint for twin-image removal from reconstructed Gabor inline holograms of single plane objects is described. It is applied to simulated holograms and to holograms of ice crystals recorded in the laboratory and in atmospheric clouds in situ. The algorithm is characterized by a distinction between object and background region and an iterative adaption of the object mask. Applying the algorithm to recorded inline holograms of atmospheric objects, the twin-image artifacts are removed successfully, for the first time allowing for a proper access to the in situ phase information on atmospheric ice crystals. It is also demonstrated t…
Partitioning of Aerosol Particles in Mixed-phase Clouds at a High Alpine Site
2007
6 German Aerospace Centre, D-82234, Wessling, Germany * Now at Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland Abstract The partitioning of aerosol particles between the cloud and the interstitial phase (i.e., unactivated aerosol) has been investigated during several Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiments (CLACE) conducted in winter and summer 2004 and winter 2005 at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch (3,580 m altitude, Switzerland). Ambient air was sampled using different inlets in order to determine the scavenged fraction of aerosol particles, F Scav , and of black carbon, F Scav,BC . They denote the fraction of the aerosol volume con…