Table_1_Anticorrosive Effects of Some Thiophene Derivatives Against the Corrosion of Iron: A Computational Study.DOC

<p>It is known that iron is one of the most widely used metals in industrial production. In this work, the inhibition performances of three thiophene derivatives on the corrosion of iron were investigated in the light of several theoretical approaches. In the section including DFT calculations, several global reactivity descriptors such as E_HOMO, E_LUMO, ionization energy (I), electron affinity (A), HOMO-LUMO energy gap (ΔE), chemical hardness (η), softness (σ), as well as local reactivity descriptors like Fukui indices, local softness, and local electrophilicity were considered and discussed. The adsorption behaviors of considered thiophene derivatives on Fe(110) surface were investigated using molecular dynamics simulation approach. To determine the most active corrosion inhibitor among studied thiophene derivatives, we used the principle component analysis (PCA) and agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis (AHCA). Accordingly, all data obtained using various theoretical calculation techniques are consistent with experiments.</p

A Systematic Study of Plasma Activation of Silicon Surfaces for Self Assembly

We study the plasma activation systematically in an attempt to simplify and optimize the formation of hydrophilic silicon (Si) surface critical for self-assembly of nanostructures that typically uses <i>piranha</i> solution, a high molarity cocktail of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide at elevated temperatures. In the proposed safer and simpler approach, O₂ plasma is used under optimized process conditions in a capacitively coupled parallel-plate chamber to induce strong hydrophilic behavior on silicon surfaces associated with the formation of suboxide groups. Surface activation is validated and studied via contact angle measurements as well as XPS spectra and consequently optimized using a novel atomic force spectroscopy approach, which can streamline characterization. It is found that plasma power around 100 W and exposure duration of ∼65 s are the most effective parameters to enhance surface activation for the reactive ion etcher system used. Other optimum plasma process conditions for pressure and flow-rate are also reported along with temporal development of activation, which peaks within 1 h and wears off in 24 h scale in air. The applicability of the plasma approach to nanoassembly process was demonstrated using simple drop coating and spinning of polystyrene (<i>d</i> < 500 nm, 2.5–4.5% w/v) and inkjet printing on polydimethylsiloxane