Synthesis of reduced graphene oxide and its electrocatalytic properties

The method of the chemical synthesis of reduced graphene oxide was developed. Sodium hypophosphite and sulfi te were used as reducing agents. The formation of reduced graphene oxide was confi rmed by several methods. Volt-ampere characteristics of electrodes based on reduced graphene oxide were investigated in an experimental model of an oxygen fuel cell with an alkaline electrolyte. Characteristics of oxygen electrodes based on reduced graphene oxide were stable over semiannual tests. The resulting reduced graphene oxide is a promising material for oxygen electrodes of chemical current sources.     

Synthesis and Properties of N,N′-Disubstituted Ureas and Their Isosteric Analogs Containing Polycyclic Fragments: XIV. N-[(Adamantan-1-yl)(phenyl)methyl]-N′-substituted Ureas and Symmetrical Bis-ureas

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - A procedure has been developed for the synthesis of rac-1-[isocyanato(phenyl)methyl]adamantane from rac-2-(adamantan-1-yl)-2-phenylacetic acid in 95% yield....     

Catalytic activity of bimetallic nanoparticles M@Pd (M = Ni,Cu, Ag,Pt, Au) in deoxygenation of carboxylic acids: a quantum chemical evaluation

Russian Chemical Bulletin - The key intermediates and transition states of the mechanisms of propionic acid decarbonylation and decarboxylation on icosahedral monometallic nanoclusters Pd55 and...     

Combined Crossed Molecular Beams and Ab Initio Study of the Bimolecular Reaction of Ground State Atomic Silicon (Si; 3P) with Germane (GeH4; X1A1)

The chemical dynamics of the elementary reaction of ground state atomic silicon (Si; ³P) with germane (GeH₄; X¹A₁) were unraveled in the gas phase under single collision condition at a collision energy of 11.8±0.3 kJ mol⁻¹ exploiting the crossed molecular beams technique contemplated with electronic structure calculations. The reaction follows indirect scattering dynamics and is initiated through an initial barrierless insertion of the silicon atom into one of the four chemically equivalent germanium-hydrogen bonds forming a triplet collision complex (HSiGeH₃; ³ i1 ). This intermediate underwent facile intersystem crossing (ISC) to the singlet surface (HSiGeH₃; ¹ i1 ). The latter isomerized via at least three hydrogen atom migrations involving exotic, hydrogen bridged reaction intermediates eventually leading to the H₃SiGeH isomer i5 . This intermediate could undergo unimolecular decomposition yielding the dibridged butterfly-structured isomer ¹ p1 (Si(μ-H₂)Ge) plus molecular hydrogen through a tight exit transition state. Alternatively, up to two subsequent hydrogen shifts to i6 and i7 , followed by fragmentation of each of these intermediates, could also form ¹ p1 (Si(μ-H₂)Ge) along with molecular hydrogen. The overall non-adiabatic reaction dynamics provide evidence on the existence of exotic dinuclear hydrides of main group XIV elements, whose carbon analog structures do not exist.     

Some Features of Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions of N-2-Haloethyl Derivatives of 5,5-Substituted Hydantoins

Russian Journal of General Chemistry - Reaction of 5,5-dimethyl-3-(2-chloroethyl)- and 5,5-diphenyl-3-(2-bromoethyl)- hydantoins with potassium 4-aminobenzoate in dimethylformamide in the presence...     

Formation of the single-phase ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As by pulsed laser annealing

It is shown that (Ga,Mn)As layers formed by Mn⁺ ion implantation into GaAs and subsequent annealing by an excimer laser pulse with an energy density to 200–300 mJ/cm² feature the properties of the p-type semiconductor and ferromagnetic properties. The threshold dose of implanted ions (~10¹⁵ cm^–2) for activating Mn acceptors is determined. The sheet hole concentration and the Curie temperature increase with further increasing Mn⁺ ion dose. Hysteresis loops in the magnetic field dependences of the Hall effect, the negative magnetoresistance, and magnetic and structural studies suggest that the layers are analogues of single-phase ferromagnetic compounds (Ga,Mn)As formed by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy.     

Bulk and surface electron transport in topological insulator candidate YbB6–δ

We report the study of transport and magnetic properties of the YbB_6–δsingle crystals grown by inductive zone melting. A strong disparity in the low temperature resistivity, Seebeck and Hall coefficients is established for the samples with the different level of boron deficiency. The effective parameters of the charge transport in YbB_6–δ are shown to depend on the concentration of intrinsic defects, which is estimated to range from 0.09% to 0.6%. The pronounced variation of Hall mobility μ_H found for bulk holes is induced by the decrease of transport relaxation time from τ ≈ 7.7 fs for YbB_5.994 to τ ≈ 2.2 fs for YbB_5.96. An extra contribution to conductivity from electrons with μ_H≈ –1000 cm² V^–1 s^–1 and the very low concentration n /n_Yb≈ 10^–6 discovered below 20 K for all the single crystals under investigation is suggested to arise from the surface electron states appeared in the inversion layer due to the band bending. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Observation of two resonant structures in e+ e- -->pi+ pi- psi(2S) via initial-state radiation at Belle

The cross section for e+ e- --> pi+ pi- psi(2S) between threshold and sqrt[s]=5.5 GeV is measured using 673 fb(-1) of data on and off the Upsilon(4S) resonance collected with the Belle detector at KEKB. Two resonant structures are observed in the pi+ pi- psi(2S) invariant-mass distribution, one at 4361 +/- 9 +/- 9 MeV/c2 with a width of 74 +/- 15 +/- 10 MeV/c2, and another at 4664 +/- 11 +/- 5 MeV/c2 with a width of 48 +/- 15 +/- 3 MeV/c2, if the mass spectrum is parametrized with the coherent sum of two Breit-Wigner functions. These values do not match those of any of the known charmonium states.     

Measurement of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type flavor entanglement in Upsilon(4S) --> B0 B0 decays

The neutral B meson pair produced at the Upsilon(4S) should exhibit a nonlocal correlation of the type discussed by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen. We measure this correlation using the time-dependent flavor asymmetry of semileptonic B(0) decays, which we compare with predictions from quantum mechanics and two local realistic models. The data are consistent with quantum mechanics, and inconsistent with the other models. Assuming that some B pairs disentangle to produce B(0) and B(0) with definite flavor, we find a decoherent fraction of 0.029 +/ -0.057, consistent with no decoherence.     

Ab initio method for calculating electron-phonon scattering times in semiconductors: application to GaAs and GaP

We propose a fully ab initio approach to calculate electron-phonon scattering times for excited electrons interacting with short-wavelength (intervalley) phonons in semiconductors. Our approach is based on density functional perturbation theory and on the direct integration of electronic scattering probabilities over all possible final states with no ad hoc assumptions. We apply it to the deexcitation of hot electrons in GaAs, and calculate the lifetime of the direct exciton in GaP, both in excellent agreement with experiments. Matrix elements of the electron-phonon coupling, and their dependence on the wave vector of the final state and on the phonon modes, are shown to be crucial ingredients of the evaluation of electron-phonon scattering times.