Photoconductive and Photovoltaic Properties in Cadmium Bismuth Aluminate Glasses

Photo-induced phenomena such as photoconductive and photovoltaic effects were investigated for the glasses in CdO-Bi(2)O(3)-Al(2)O(3) system. Photoconductive effect was characterized by a slow decay of photocurrent (persitent photoconductivity). The decay rate decreased with increasing CdO content and decreasing Bi(2)O(3) content. Photovoltage was very small at room temperature but increased to an obvious value on heating. The photoconductivity and photovoltage were increased with CdO content and enhanced by heat treatment in air. The valence band spectra of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the hybridization of Cd 4d and O 2p orbitals increases with decreasing Bi(2)O(3) content and increasing CdO content in the glasses. As the results maximum tends to flat. This type of band structure inhibits the rapid recombination of electrons and holes. The persistent photoconductivity of the glasses may be attributed to deep energy level of DX centers. Deep energy levels of the glasses are able to prevent the recombination because they have a repulsive barrier for both electron emission and capture

Solubility control of thin calcium-phosphate coating with rapid heating

http://jdr.iadrjournals.org/cgi/reprint/76/8/148

Functional importance of Crenarchaea-specific extra-loop revealed by an X-ray structure of a heterotetrameric crenarchaeal splicing endonuclease

Archaeal splicing endonucleases (EndAs) are currently classified into three groups. Two groups require a single subunit protein to form a homodimer or homotetramer. The third group requires two nonidentical protein components for the activity. To elucidate the molecular architecture of the two-subunit EndA system, we studied a crenarchaeal splicing endonuclease from Pyrobaculum aerophilum. In the present study, we solved a crystal structure of the enzyme at 1.7-Å resolution. The enzyme adopts a heterotetrameric form composed of two catalytic and two structural subunits. By connecting the structural and the catalytic subunits of the heterotetrameric EndA, we could convert the enzyme to a homodimer that maintains the broad substrate specificity that is one of the characteristics of heterotetrameric EndA. Meanwhile, a deletion of six amino acids in a Crenarchaea-specific loop abolished the endonuclease activity even on a substrate with canonical BHB motif. These results indicate that the subunit architecture is not a major factor responsible for the difference of substrate specificity between single- and two-subunit EndA systems. Rather, the structural basis for the broad substrate specificity is built into the crenarchaeal splicing endonuclease itself