233 research outputs found
Electronic friction and liquid-flow-induced voltage in nanotubes
A recent exciting experiment by Ghosh et al. reported that the flow of an
ion-containing liquid such as water through bundles of single-walled carbon
nanotubes induces a voltage in the nanotubes that grows logarithmically with
the flow velocity v0. We propose an explanation for this observation. Assuming
that the liquid molecules nearest the nanotube form a 2D solid-like monolayer
pinned through the adsorbed ions to the nanotubes, the monolayer sliding will
occur by elastic loading followed by local yield (stick-slip). The drifting
adsorbed ions produce a voltage in the nanotube through electronic friction
against free electrons inside the nanotube. Thermally excited jumps over
force-biased barriers, well-known in stick-slip, can explain the logarithmic
voltage growth with flow velocity. We estimate the short circuit current and
the internal resistance of the nanotube voltage generator.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; published on PRB
(http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v69/e235410) and on the Virtual Journal of
Nanoscale Science and Technology (http://www.vjnano.org, July 14, 2002, Vol.
10, Iss. 2
Enhancement of noncontact friction between closely spaced bodies by two-dimensional systems
. We consider the effect of an external bias voltage and the spatial
variation of the surface potential, on the damping of cantilever vibrations.
The electrostatic friction is due to energy losses in the sample created by the
electromagnetic field from the oscillating charges induced on the surface of
the tip by the bias voltage and spatial variation of the surface potential. A
similar effect arises when the tip is oscillating in the electrostatic field
created by charged defects in a dielectric substrate. The electrostatic
friction is compared with the van der Waals friction originating from the
fluctuating electromagnetic field due to quantum and thermal fluctuation of the
current density inside the bodies. We show that the electrostatic and van der
Waals friction can be greatly enhanced if on the surfaces of the sample and the
tip there are two-dimension (2D) systems, e.g. a 2D-electron system or
incommensurate layers of adsorbed ions exhibiting acoustic vibrations. We show
that the damping of the cantilever vibrations due to the electrostatic friction
may be of similar magnitude as the damping observed in recent experiments of
Stipe \textit{et al} [B.C.Stipe, H.J.Mamin, T.D.Stowe, T.W.Kenny, and D.Rugar,
Phys.Rev. Lett.% \textbf{87}, 0982001]. We also show that at short separation
the van der Waals friction may be large enough to be measured experimentally.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Relation between inelastic electron tunneling and vibrational excitation of single adsorbates on metal surfaces
We analyse theoretically a relation between the vibrational generation rate
of a single adsorbate by tunneling electrons and the inelastic tunneling (IET)
current in scanning tunneling microscope, and the influence of the vibrational
excitations on the rate of adsorbate motions. Special attention is paid to the
effects of finite lifetime of the vibrational excitations. We show that in the
vicinity and below the IET threshold the rate of adsorbate motion deviates from
a simple power-law dependence on the bias voltage due to the effects of bath
temperature and adsorbate vibrational lifetime broadenings. The temperature
broadening appears to be confined near the threshold voltage within a narrow
region of several , whereas the lifetime broadening manifests itself in
a much wider region of applied voltages below the IET threshold.Comment: 8 pages including 4 figure
Dynamics of Excited Electrons in Copper: Role of Auger Electrons
Within a theoretical model based on the Boltzmann equation, we analyze in
detail the structure of the unusual peak recently observed in the relaxation
time in Cu. In particular, we discuss the role of Auger electrons in the
electron dynamics and its dependence on the d-hole lifetime, the optical
transition matrix elements and the laser pulse duration. We find that the Auger
contribution to the distribution is very sensitive to both the d-hole lifetime
tau_h and the laser pulse duration tau_l and can be expressed as a monotonic
function of tau_l/tau_h. We have found that for a given tau_h, the Auger
contribution is significantly smaller for a short pulse duration than for a
longer one. We show that the relaxation time at the peak depends linearly on
the d-hole lifetime, but interestingly not on the amount of Auger electrons
generated. We provide a simple expression for the relaxation time of excited
electrons which shows that its shape can be understood by a phase space
argument and its amplitude is governed by the d-hole lifetime. We also find
that the height of the peak depends on both the ratio of the optical transition
matrix elements R=|M_{d \to sp}|^2/|M_{sp \to sp}|^2 and the laser pulse
duration. Assuming a reasonable value for the ratio, namely R = 2, and a d-hole
lifetime of tau_h=35 fs, we obtain for the calculated height of the peak Delta
tau_{th}=14 fs, in fair agreement with Delta tau_{exp} \approx 17 fs measured
for polycrystalline Cu.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Low oxygen tension primes aortic endothelial cells to the reparative effect of tissue-protective cytokines
Erythropoietin (EPO) has both erythropoietic and tissue-protective properties. The EPO analogues carbamylated EPO (CEPO) and pyroglutamate helix B surface peptide (pHBSP) lack the erythropoietic activity of EPO but retain the tissue-protective properties that are mediated by a heterocomplex of EPO receptor (EPOR) and the β common receptor (βCR). We studied the action of EPO and its analogues in a model of wound healing where a bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) monolayer was scratched and the scratch closure was assessed over 24 h under different oxygen concentrations. We related the effects of EPO and its analogues on repair to their effect on BAECs proliferation and migration (evaluated using a micro-Boyden chamber). EPO, CEPO and pHBSP enhanced scratch closure only at lower oxygen (5%), while their effect at atmospheric oxygen (21%) was not significant. The mRNA expression of EPOR was doubled in 5% compared to 21% oxygen, and this was associated with increased EPOR assessed by immunofluorescence and Western blot. By contrast βCR mRNA levels were similar in 5% and 21% oxygen. EPO and its analogues increased both BAECs proliferation and migration, suggesting that both may be involved in the reparative process. The priming effect of low oxygen tension on the action of tissue-protective cytokines may be of relevance to vascular disease, including atherogenesis and restenosis
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