553 research outputs found
Excitons in boron nitride nanotubes: dimensionality effects
We show that the optical absorption spectra of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes
are dominated by strongly bound excitons. Our first-principles calculations
indicate that the binding energy for the first and dominant excitonic peak
depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the system, varying from 0.7 eV in
bulk hexagonal BN via 2.1 eV in the single sheet of BN to more than 3 eV in the
hypothetical (2,2) tube. The strongly localized nature of this exciton dictates
the fast convergence of its binding energy with increasing tube diameter
towards the sheet value. The absolute position of the first excitonic peak is
almost independent of the tube radius and system dimensionality. This provides
an explanation for the observed "optical gap" constancy for different tubes and
bulk hBN [R. Arenal et al., to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2005)].Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Excitons and Many-Electron Effects in the Optical Response of Single-Walled Boron Nitride Nanotubes
We report first-principles calculations of the effects of quasiparticle
self-energy and electron-hole interaction on the optical properties of
single-walled BN nanotubes. Excitonic effects are shown to be even more
important in BN nanotubes than in carbon nanotubes. Electron-hole interactions
give rise to complexes of bright (and dark) excitons, which qualitatively alter
the optical response. Excitons with binding energy larger than 2 eV are found
in the (8,0) BN nanotubes. Moreover, unlike the carbon nanotubes, theory
predicts that these exciton states are comprised of coherent supposition of
transitions from several different subband pairs, giving rise to novel
behaviors.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Theoretical Study of One-dimensional Chains of Metal Atoms in Nanotubes
Using first-principles total-energy pseudopotential calculations, we have
studied the properties of chains of potassium and aluminum in nanotubes. For BN
tubes, there is little interaction between the metal chains and the tubes, and
the conductivity of these tubes is through carriers located at the inner part
of the tube. In contrast, for small radius carbon nanotubes, there are two
types of interactions: charge-transfer (dominant for alkali atoms) leading to
strong ionic cohesion, and hybridization (for multivalent metal atoms)
resulting in a smaller cohesion. For Al-atomic chains in carbon tubes, we show
that both effects contribute. New electronic properties related to these
confined atomic chains of metal are analyzed.Comment: 12 pages + 3 figure
Curvature, hybridization, and STM images of carbon nanotubes
The curvature effects in carbon nanotubes are studied analytically as a
function of chirality. The pi-orbitals are found to be significantly
rehybridized in all tubes, so that they are never normal to the tubes' surface.
This results in a curvature induced gap in the electronic band-structure, which
turns out to be larger than previous estimates. The tilting of the pi-orbitals
should be observable by atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy
measurements.Comment: Four pages in revtex format including four epsfig-embedded figures.
The latest version in PDF format is available from
http://fy.chalmers.se/~eggert/papers/hybrid.pd
Identification of Electron Donor States in N-doped Carbon Nanotubes
Nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes have been synthesized using pyrolysis and
characterized by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy and transmission electron
microscopy. The doped nanotubes are all metallic and exhibit strong electron
donor states near the Fermi level. Using tight-binding and ab initio
calculations, we observe that pyridine-like N structures are responsible for
the metallic behavior and the prominent features near the Fermi level. These
electron rich structures are the first example of n-type nanotubes, which could
pave the way to real molecular hetero-junction devices.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, revtex, submitted to PR
Sigma1 Targeting to Suppress Aberrant Androgen Receptor Signaling in Prostate Cancer.
Suppression of androgen receptor (AR) activity in prostate cancer by androgen depletion or direct AR antagonist treatment, although initially effective, leads to incurable castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) via compensatory mechanisms including resurgence of AR and AR splice variant (ARV) signaling. Emerging evidence suggests that Sigma1 (also known as sigma-1 receptor) is a unique chaperone or scaffolding protein that contributes to cellular protein homeostasis. We reported previously that some Sigma1-selective small molecules can be used to pharmacologically modulate protein homeostasis pathways. We hypothesized that these Sigma1-mediated responses could be exploited to suppress AR protein levels and activity. Here we demonstrate that treatment with a small-molecule Sigma1 inhibitor prevented 5α- dihydrotestosterone-mediated nuclear translocation of AR and induced proteasomal degradation of AR and ARV, suppressing the transcriptional activity and protein levels of both full-length and splice-variant AR. Consistent with these data, RNAi knockdown of Sigma1 resulted in decreased AR levels and transcriptional activity. Furthermore, Sigma1 physically associated with ARV7 and A
Electronic correlations on a metallic nanosphere
We consider the correlation functions in a gas of electrons moving within a
thin layer on the surface of nanosize sphere. A closed form of expressions for
the RKKY indirect exchange, superconducting Cooper loop and `density-density'
correlation function is obtained. The systematic comparison with planar results
is made, the effects of spherical geometry are outlined. The quantum coherence
of electrons leads to the enhancement of all correlations for the
points--antipodes on the sphere. This effect is lost when the radius of the
sphere exceeds the temperature coherence length.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, to appear in PRB (RC
Novel Biodegradable Composite of Calcium Phosphate Cement and the Collagen I Mimetic P-15 for Pedicle Screw Augmentation in Osteoporotic Bone
Osteoporotic vertebral fractures often necessitate fusion surgery, with high rates of implant failure. We present a novel bioactive composite of calcium phosphate cement (CPC) and the collagen I mimetic P-15 for pedicle screw augmentation in osteoporotic bone. Methods involved expression analysis of osteogenesis-related genes during osteoblastic differentiation by RT-PCR and immunostaining of osteopontin and Ca2+ deposits. Untreated and decalcified sheep vertebrae were utilized for linear pullout testing of pedicle screws. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Expression of ALPI II (p p p p p p p p p = 0.04) with PMMA, and 1252 ± 131 N (p < 0.0078) with CPC-P-15. CPC-P-15 induces osteoblastic differentiation of human MES and improves pullout resistance of pedicle screws in osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic bone
Size, Shape and Low Energy Electronic Structure of Carbon Nanotubes
A theory of the long wavelength low energy electronic structure of
graphite-derived nanotubules is presented. The propagating electrons are
described by wrapping a massless two dimensional Dirac Hamiltonian onto a
curved surface. The effects of the tubule size, shape and symmetry are included
through an effective vector potential which we derive for this model. The rich
gap structure for all straight single wall cylindrical tubes is obtained
analytically in this theory, and the effects of inhomogeneous shape
deformations on nominally metallic armchair tubes are analyzed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 postscript figure
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