394 research outputs found
Superconductivity in heavily boron-doped silicon carbide
The discoveries of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond (C:B) in
2004 and silicon (Si:B) in 2006 renew the interest in the superconducting state
of semiconductors. Charge-carrier doping of wide-gap semiconductors leads to a
metallic phase from which upon further doping superconductivity can emerge.
Recently, we discovered superconductivity in a closely related system:
heavily-boron doped silicon carbide (SiC:B). The sample used for that study
consists of cubic and hexagonal SiC phase fractions and hence this lead to the
question which of them participates in the superconductivity. Here we focus on
a sample which mainly consists of hexagonal SiC without any indication for the
cubic modification by means of x-ray diffraction, resistivity, and ac
susceptibility.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Regeneration of activated carbon by fenton and photofenton oxidation for the treatment of phenol wastewater
Advanced Oxidation Processes have emerged as promising technologies for the recovery of carbons saturated with aromatic molecules, owing to their potency to degrade a wide range of organic pollutants by the generation of very reactive and non selective free hydroxyl radicals. The purpose of this work is to study the adsorption of phenol on activated carbons (ACs) and the consecutive in-situ regeneration of carbon by Fenton oxidation. Two different processes have been carried out: - the first one is based on a complete batch system in order to investigate the influence of Fe2+ and H2O2 concentrations; - the second one consists in a continuous fixed bed adsorption, followed by a batch circulation of the Fentonâs reagent through the saturated AC bed, to examine the efficiency of the real process. Two different activated carbons have been also studied: a both micro- and mesoporous AC (L27) and an only microporous one (S23). In the batch reactor containing a 1 g/L phenol solution, the optimal conditions found for pollutant mineralization in the homogeneous Fenton system (Fe2+ = 10 mmol/L, [H2O2] = 1000 mmol/L, corresponding to 6.5 times the stoechiometric amount for complete mineralization) are not the best for AC regeneration: a continuous reduction of adsorption capacity of L27 from 100% to 23% is observed after 3 oxidations, due to the decrease of both AC weight and surface area. Higher concentration of Fe2+ (20 mmol/L) and lower concentration of H2O2 (2 times the stoechiometry) lead to a 50% recovery of the initial adsorption capacity during at least 4 consecutive cycles for L27, while about 20% or less for S23. In the consecutive continuous adsorption/batch oxidation process, the regeneration efficiency reaches 30% to 40% for L27 after two cycles whatever the feed concentration (0.1 g/L or 1 g/L of phenol) and less than 10% for S23 (0.1 g/L of phenol). During oxidation step, Total Organic Carbon removal is found to reach a limit, probably due to the formation of Fe3+/organic acid complex, hindering Fe2+ regeneration. Such complexes are stable in usual Fenton conditions, but can be destroyed by UV radiation. A photo-Fenton test performed on L27 indeed shows almost complete mineralization and improved recovery of AC adsorption capacity although not complete (56% after two cycles)
Superconductivity of hexagonal heavily-boron doped silicon carbide
In 2004 the discovery of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond
(C:B) led to an increasing interest in the superconducting phases of wide-gap
semiconductors. Subsequently superconductivity was found in heavily boron-doped
cubic silicon (Si:B) and recently in the stochiometric ''mixture'' of heavily
boron-doped silicon carbide (SiC:B). The latter system surprisingly exhibits
type-I superconductivity in contrast to the type-II superconductors C:B and
Si:B. Here we will focus on the specific heat of two different superconducting
samples of boron-doped SiC. One of them contains cubic and hexagonal SiC
whereas the other consists mainly of hexagonal SiC without any detectable cubic
phase fraction. The electronic specific heat in the superconducting state of
both samples SiC:B can be described by either assuming a BCS-type exponentional
temperature dependence or a power-law behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure
Apparent finite-size effects in the dynamics of supercooled liquids
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed for a supercooled simple liquid
with changing the system size from N=108 to to examine possible
finite-size effects. Although almost no systematic deviation is detected in the
static pair correlation functions, it is demonstrated that the structural
relaxation in a small system becomes considerably slower than that in
larger systems for temperatures below at which the size of the
cooperative particle motions becomes comparable to the unit cell length of the
small system. The discrepancy increases with decreasing temperature.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
Anisotropic s-wave superconductivity in single crystals CaAlSi from penetration depth measurements
In- and out-of-plane London penetration depths were measured in single
crystals CaAlSi (T_{c}=6.2 K and 7.3 K) using a tunnel-diode resonator. A full
3D BCS analysis of the superfluid density is consistent with a prolate
spheroidal gap, with a weak-coupling BCS value in the ab-plane and stronger
coupling along the c-axis. The gap anisotropy was found to significantly
decrease for higher T_{c} samples.Comment: 4 page
High-Resolution Photoemission Study of MgB2
We have performed high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy on MgB2 and
observed opening of a superconducting gap with a narrow coherent peak. We found
that the superconducting gap is s-like with the gap value of 4.5 meV at 15 K.
The temperature dependence (15 - 40 K) of gap value follows well the BCS form,
suggesting that 2Delta/kBTc at T=0 is about 3. No pseudogap behavior is
observed in the normal state. The present results strongly suggest that MgB2 is
categorized into a phonon-mediated BCS superconductor in the weak-coupling
regime.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, accepted in Physical Review Letter
Heterogeneous Diffusion in Highly Supercooled Liquids
The diffusivity of tagged particles is demonstrated to be very heterogeneous
on time scales comparable to or shorter than the relaxation time
( the stress relaxation time) in a highly supercooled
liquid via 3D molecular dynamics simulation. The particle motions in the
relatively active regions dominantly contribute to the mean square
displacement, giving rise to a diffusion constant systematically larger than
the Einstein-Stokes value. The van Hove self-correlation function is
shown to have a long distance tail which can be scaled in terms of
for t \ls 3\tau_{\alpha}. Its presence indicates heterogeneous diffusion in
the active regions. However, the diffusion process eventually becomes
homogeneous on time scales longer than the life time of the heterogeneity
structure ().Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Genetic diversity and population structure of Striga hermonthica populations from Kenya and Nigeria
Article purchasedStriga hermonthica is a parasitic weed that poses a serious threat to the production of economically important cereals in sub-Saharan Africa. The existence of genetic diversity within and between S. hermonthica populations presents a challenge to the successful development and deployment of effective control technologies against this parasitic weed. Understanding the extent of diversity between S. hermonthica populations will facilitate the design and deployment of effective control technologies against the parasite. In the present study, S. hermonthica plants collected from different locations and host crops in Kenya and Nigeria were genotyped using single nucleotide polymorphisms. Statistically significant genetic differentiation (FST = 0.15, P = 0.001) was uncovered between populations collected from the two countries. Also, the populations collected in Nigeria formed three distinct subgroups. Unique loci undergoing selection were observed between the Kenyan and Nigerian populations and among the three subgroups found in Nigeria. Striga hermonthica populations parasitising rice in Kenya appeared to be genetically distinct from those parasitising maize and sorghum. The presence of distinct populations in East and West Africa and in different regions in Nigeria highlights the importance of developing and testing Striga control technologies in multiple locations, including locations representing the geographic regions in Nigeria where genetically distinct subpopulations of the parasite were found. Efforts should also be made to develop relevant control technologies for areas infested with ârice-specificâ Striga spp. populations in Kenya
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