Electrocatalysis of Lithium (Poly-) Sulfides in Organic Ether-Based Electrolytes

This work aims at identifying an effective electrocatalyst for polysulfide reactions to improve the electrode kinetics of the sulfur half-cell in liquid organic electrolytes for alkali-sulfur cells. To increase the charge and discharge rates and energy efficiency of the cell, functionalized electrocatalytic coatings have been prepared and their electrode kinetics have been measured. To the best of our knowledge, there is no extensive screening of electrocatalysts for the sulfur electrode in dimethoxyethane:1,3-dioxolane (DME:DOL) electrolytes. In order to identify a suitable electrocatalyst, apparent exchange current densities at various materials (Al, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Steel, glassy carbon, ITO, Ni, Pt, Ti, TiN, Zn) are evaluated in a polysulfide electrolyte using potentiodynamic measurements with a Butler-Volmer fit. The chemical stability and surface morphology changes after electrochemical measurements are assessed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results show that cobalt is a promising candidate with appropriate electrocatalytic properties for polysulfide reactions while being stable in the electrochemical environment, followed by chromium in terms of catalytic activity and stability. Sputtered TiN was found to be a very stable material with very low catalytic activity, a possible current collector for the cell

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin - Volume 2 Number 2

Coming Events Come On, \u2732 Ballot for Officers Hospital News Legislation Scholarship Fund Notes Refresher Course Correspondence Use of Heparin in Modern Treatment The Jefferson Medical College Library Nursing School Education Action - Camera - Seniors Degrees Received Engagements Weddings Births Deaths Attention Alumnae Bulletin Progress Of Special Interest Army Assignments Organized Staff Meeting

Twinning phenomena along and beyond the bain path

Twinning is a phenomenon that occurs, e.g., during deformation, martensitic transformation and film growth. The present study shows that the crystallography of twinning can be described by two twinning modes along the complete Bain transformation path and beyond connecting body-centered and face-centered cubic structures. To probe this concept, we used strained epitaxial films of the Fe-Pd magnetic shape memory system. As the substrate acts as an absolute reference frame, we could show by pole figure measurements that all observed twinning can be a body-centered and face-centered cubic twinning mode. This continuously transforms towards identity when approaching the complementary structure

High-Field Pauli-Limiting Behavior and Strongly Enhanced Upper Critical Magnetic Fields near the Transition Temperature of an Arsenic-Deficient LaO_0.9F_0.1FeAs_(1-\delta) Superconductor

We report upper critical field B_c2(T) data for disordered (arsenic-deficient) LaO_0.9F_0.1FeAs_(1-delta) in a wide temperature and magnetic field range up to 47 T. Because of the large linear slope of Bc2 about -5.4 T/K to -6.6 T/K near Tc = 28.5 K the T-dependence of the in-plane Bc2(T) shows a flattening near 23 K above 30 T which points to Pauli-limited behavior with Bc2(0) about 63-68 T. Our results are discussed in terms of disorder effects within conventional and unconventional superconducting pairings.Comment: Change of the title as suggested by the Editors, one author added, typos corrected, references updated, final published versio

Tuning functional properties by plastic deformation

It is well known that a variation of lattice constants can strongly influence the functional properties of materials. Lattice constants can be influenced by external forces; however, most experiments are limited to hydrostatic pressure or biaxial stress. Here, we present an experimental approach that imposes a large uniaxial strain on epitaxially grown films in order to tune their functional properties. A substrate made of a ductile metal alloy covered with a biaxially oriented MgO layer is used as a template for growth of epitaxial films. By applying an external plastic strain, we break the symmetry within the substrate plane compared to the as-deposited state. The consequences of 2% plastic strain are examined for an epitaxial hard magnetic Nd2Fe14B film and are found to result in an elliptical distortion of the in-plane anisotropy below the spin-reorientation temperature. Our approach is a versatile method to study the influence of large plastic strain on various materials, as the MgO(001) layer used is a common substrate for epitaxial growth

Velocity-selective sublevel resonance of atoms with an array of current-carrying wires

Resonance transitions between the Zeeman sublevels of optically-polarized Rb atoms traveling through a spatially periodic magnetic field are investigated in a radio-frequency (rf) range of sub-MHz. The atomic motion induces the resonance when the Zeeman splitting is equal to the frequency at which the moving atoms feel the magnetic field oscillating. Additional temporal oscillation of the spatially periodic field splits a motion-induced resonance peak into two by an amount of this oscillation frequency. At higher oscillation frequencies, it is more suitable to consider that the resonance is mainly driven by the temporal field oscillation, with its velocity-dependence or Doppler shift caused by the atomic motion through the periodic field. A theoretical description of motion-induced resonance is also given, with emphasis on the translational energy change associated with the internal transition.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, final versio

Long-term effect of diuretic-based therapy on fatal outcomes in subjects with isolated systolic hypertension with and without diabetes.

Diuretic-based antihypertensive therapy is associated with the development of diabetes but with improved clinical outcomes. It has been proposed that the duration of clinical trials has been too short to detect the adverse effects of diabetes. We assessed the long-term mortality rate of subjects in the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (n = 4,732) who were randomized to stepped-care therapy with 12.5 to 25.0 mg/day of chlorthalidone or matching placebo. If blood pressure remained above the goal, atenolol or matching placebo was added. At a mean follow-up of 14.3 years, cardiovascular (CV) mortality rate was significantly lower in the chlorthalidone group (19%) than in the placebo group (22%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.854, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.751 to 0.972). Diabetes at baseline (n = 799) was associated with increased CV mortality rate (adjusted HR 1.659, 95% CI 1.413 to 1.949) and total mortality rate (adjusted HR 1.510, 95% CI 1.347 to 1.693). Diabetes that developed during the trial among subjects on placebo (n = 169) was also associated with increased CV adverse outcome (adjusted HR 1.562, 95% CI 1.117 to 2.184) and total mortality rate (adjusted HR 1.348, 95% CI 1.051 to 1.727). However, diabetes that developed among subjects during diuretic therapy (n = 258) did not have significant associations with CV mortality rate (adjusted HR 1.043, 95% CI 0.745 to 1.459) or total mortality rate (adjusted HR 1.151, 95% CI 0.925 to 1.433). Diuretic treatment in subjects who had diabetes was strongly associated with lower long-term CV mortality rate (adjusted HR 0.688, 95% CI 0.526 to 0.848) and total mortality rate (adjusted HR 0.805, 95% CI 0.680 to 0.952). Thus, chlorthalidone-based treatment improved long-term outcomes, especially among subjects who had diabetes. Subjects who had diabetes associated with chlorthalidone had no significant increase in CV events and had a better prognosis than did those who had preexisting diabetes