In Situ Thermal Decomposition of Exfoliated Two-Dimensional Black Phosphorus

With a semiconducting band gap and high charge carrier mobility, two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP), often referred to as phosphorene, holds significant promise for next generation electronics and optoelectronics. However, as a 2D material, it possesses a higher surface area to volume ratio than bulk BP, suggesting that its chemical and thermal stability will be modified. Herein, an atomic-scale microscopic and spectroscopic study is performed to characterize the thermal degradation of mechanically exfoliated 2D BP. From in situ scanning/transmission electron microscopy, decomposition of 2D BP is observed to occur at ~400 {\deg}C in vacuum, in contrast to the 550 {\deg}C bulk BP sublimation temperature. This decomposition initiates via eye-shaped cracks along the [001] direction and then continues until only a thin, amorphous red phosphorous like skeleton remains. In situ electron energy loss spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and energy-loss near-edge structure changes provide quantitative insight into this chemical transformation process.Comment: In press: 4 figures in main manuscript, 27 pages with supporting informatio

Experimental Demonstration of Unconditional Entanglement Swapping for Continuous Variables

The unconditional entanglement swapping for continuous variables is experimentally demonstrated. Two initial entangled states are produced from two nondegenerate optical parametric amplifiers operating at deamplification. Through implementing the direct measurement of Bell-state between two optical beams from each amplifier the remaining two optical beams, which have never directly interacted with each other, are entangled. The quantum correlation degrees of 1.23dB and 1.12dB below the shot noise limit for the amplitude and phase quadratures resulting from the entanglement swapping are straightly measured.Comment: new versio

Solvent Exfoliation of Electronic-Grade, Two-Dimensional Black Phosphorus

Solution dispersions of two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP), often referred to as phosphorene, are achieved by solvent exfoliation. These pristine, electronic-grade BP dispersions are produced with anhydrous, organic solvents in a sealed tip ultrasonication system, which circumvents BP degradation that would otherwise occur via solvated oxygen or water. Among conventional solvents, n-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP) is found to provide stable, highly concentrated (~0.4 mg/mL) BP dispersions. Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that the structure and chemistry of solvent-exfoliated BP nanosheets are comparable to mechanically exfoliated BP flakes. Additionally, residual NMP from the liquid-phase processing suppresses the rate of BP oxidation in ambient conditions. Solvent-exfoliated BP nanosheet field-effect transistors (FETs) exhibit ambipolar behavior with current on/off ratios and mobilities up to ~10000 and ~50 cm^2/(V*s), respectively. Overall, this study shows that stable, highly concentrated, electronic-grade 2D BP dispersions can be realized by scalable solvent exfoliation, thereby presenting opportunities for large-area, high-performance BP device applications.Comment: 6 figures, 31 pages, including supporting informatio

A Random Walk Model for Item Recommendation in Social Tagging Systems

Social tagging, as a novel approach to information organization and discovery, has been widely adopted in many Web 2.0 applications. Tags contributed by users to annotate a variety of Web resources or items provide a new type of information that can be exploited by recommender systems. Nevertheless, the sparsity of the ternary interaction data among users, items, and tags limits the performance of tag-based recommendation algorithms. In this article, we propose to deal with the sparsity problem in social tagging by applying random walks on ternary interaction graphs to explore transitive associations between users and items. The transitive associations in this article refer to the path of the link between any two nodes whose length is greater than one. Taking advantage of these transitive associations can allow more accurate measurement of the relevance between two entities (e.g., user-item, user-user, and item-item). A PageRank-like algorithm has been developed to explore these transitive associations by spreading users\u27 preferences on an item similarity graph and spreading items\u27 influences on a user similarity graph. Empirical evaluation on three real-world datasets demonstrates that our approach can effectively alleviate the sparsity problem and improve the quality of item recommendation

Measurement of Volumetric Deformation, Strain Localization, and Shear Band Characterization during Triaxial Testing using a Photogrammetry-Based Method

Triaxial Testing Has Been Routinely Used as a Standard Laboratory Test that Allows Correct Determination of Soil Characteristics. Previously the Volumetric Strain of the Triaxial Specimen Was Considered to Be Uniformly Distributed Along with the Specimen during the Isotropic and Deviatoric Loading. Although This Assumption Might Hold True under Isotropic Loading, the Effects of Restrained Ends and Disturbance during the Procedures of Specimen Installation and Testing Can Cause Nonuniform Strains throughout the Whole Specimen. This Paper Investigates the Effects of Specimen Preparation and Misalignment on the Strain Uniformity Along with the Soil Specimen during Triaxial Testing. a Series of Consolidated Drained Tests at Several Stress Paths Were Conducted on Sand Specimens. a Photogrammetry-Based Method Was Applied at Different Stages of Specimen Preparation and Testing to Provide a Three-Dimensional Full-Field Deformation Measurement of the Surface of the Triaxial Soil Specimen. One Commercial Camera Was Used to Capture Images for the Triaxial Specimen, and a Developed Application for Data Processing and Post-Processing Was Utilized to Ensure Automatic and Fast Processing of the Developed Photogrammetric-Based Method. the Local Displacement Data Provided by the Photogrammetry-Based Method Enabled the Evaluation of the Strain Localization and the Volumetric Strain Nonuniformity Analysis at Different Heights Along with the Specimen. the Triaxial Test Results Demonstrated that the Soil Specimen during Triaxial Testing Has Deformed Nonuniformly in the Axial, Radial, and Circumferential Directions. the Plots of the Strain Localization Precisely Presented the Variation of Local Strains and the Magnitude of Deformation after the Saturation Stage. These Results Prove the Soil Specimen Volume is Not Constant during Saturation, and Unavoidable Disturbance Had Occurred during the Specimen Preparation Steps and Saturation. the Results Proved that the Specimen Misalignment during Triaxial Testing Leads to Scattering in the Triaxial Test Results. Further Discussion Was Presented About the Shear Band Characterization Including Shear Band Thickness, Formation, and Propagation

Developing models for the assessment and the design of the in situ remediation of contaminated sediments

The sediments in natural environment serve as sinks for contaminants from historical release, particularly hydrophobic organic compounds (HOC) and heavy metals. In-situ remediation, including monitored natural recovery (MNR), in-situ treatment (e.g. sorbing amendment) and in-situ capping, is one of the few alternative economically viable options with a proven record of success for sediment remediation. Modeling is often used to compare in-situ remedial approaches and design a system of meeting long term remedial goals. The fate and transport of contaminants in a remediation system is commonly modeled using a generalized advection-dispersion-reaction equation with potentially different physical and chemical properties in each layer. An analytical solution was developed with computational efficiency and unconditional stability for the multi-layered transport problem with linear processes and was shown to be more convenient for sensitivity analyses and parameter estimation and implement. A numerical model, CapSim, has been developed to model the transport and fate under more general conditions. Several important processes in sediment environments, such as nonlinear and kinetically limited sorption, steady and periodic advection, bioturbation, consolidation and deposition, are incorporated in the model. The current model also allows description of multiplied coupled chemical reactions. It builds on a simpler numerical model of Lampert (2009). It allows assessment of the transport and fate of chemicals under the most important dynamic sediment processes. Performance reference compounds (PRC) are often used to support passive sampling as a means of monitoring sediment processes and in situ remedial processes. An analytical solution was developed for modeling the release of PRC and uptake of target compounds in cylindrical passive sampling system. In the presence of nonlinear sorbents such as activated carbon, the interpretation and application of PRCs is more difficult. The fate and transport model CapSim was used to simulate the behavior of PRCs and target compounds in a passive sampling system with activated carbon. The impacts from the non-linear sorption of the compounds in activated carbon as well as the competitive sorption between an isotope-labeled PRC and the non-labeled compound are discussed.Chemical Engineerin