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A facile approach to individualize spherically aggregated pristine carbon nanohorns (pr-CNHs) was established. Specifically, we found that treatment of pr-CNHs with chlorosulfonic acid generates positively charged polarized species, which disintegrate toward individualized carbon nanohorns (in-CNHs). Interestingly, the isolated in-CNHs were revealed to be p-doped owing to the adsorption of chlorosulfonate units. The findings were confirmed by data derived from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging, Raman and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, and additionally supported by theoretical calculations and thermogravimetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and DWCNTs) have been controllably synthesized by an arc discharge in different atmosphere using petroleum coke as carbon source. The morphology and properties of two kinds of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) synthesized with Fe as catalyst were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer, thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy. In the He gas atmosphere only SWCNTs were found to be synthesized by arc discharge in contrast to the case in Ar gas atmosphere in which only DWCNTs were formed, In addition, properties of solar cells based on both kinds of CNTs and n-type Si are examined under illumination of light emission diode (LED). It is found that the performance of solar cells depends significantly on the type of CNTs, i.e., SWCNTs-based solar cells show better performance under LED illumination with wavelengths in the range of 400–940nm than the case of DWCNTs which exhibit high performance under illumination of the 1310nm infrared light. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The synthesis of graphene nanosheets has been achieved by pulsed arc discharge in water with petroleum asphalt as a carbon source. The synthesized graphene nanosheets were examined by Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results indicate that most of as-synthesized graphene nanosheets have 2–5 layers, and small amounts of them have sheets in the range of 5–10 layers. The optical emission spectroscopy was used to monitor the arc discharge process, which indicates that the released hydrogen from asphalt may play a key role in the formation of graphene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with an oleic acid as a surfactant were reduced and nitrided by hydrogen plasma and nitrogen–hydrogen mixed plasma generated by 13.56MHz Radio-Frequency. Fe3O4 nanoparticles could be reduced to α-Fe nanoparticles with small average grain size about 35nm and with little carbonization by hydrogen plasma treatment. In the nitrogen–hydrogen mixed plasma treatment, it was clarified that the mixture of hydrogen with ratio of 10–30% to nitrogen accelerated nitridation of α-Fe nanoparticles. This effect was derived by generating exited species with higher activity such as NH ions and its radicals. Furthermore, it was also revealed that nitridation behavior strongly depended on average grain size of as-prepared α-Fe nanoparticles. In the plasma nitridation of α-Fe nanoparticles with average grain size of 35nm, the nitridation was easily promoted with lower input power. This could be attributed to large surface energy of nanoparticles because nanoparticles had wide surface area than bulk materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The use of dual-layer solid-phase extraction (SPE), a primary–secondary amine (PSA) in combination with graphitized carbon black (GCB), was evaluated for sample clean-up during multiresidue pesticide screening of agricultural and food products. The retention of fatty acids by the PSA sorbent was quantified and the effect of the elution solvent on the retention of fatty acid on the SPE cartridge was evaluated. The use of stronger elution solvents to elute certain pesticides from graphitized carbon was shown to interfere with the capacity of PSA to bind fatty acids. A suitable protocol was tested using GCB/PSA dual-layer SPE to clean-up several food matrices and to simultaneously screen multiple fortified pesticides with a wide range of physico-chemical properties. With a few exceptions, pesticide recoveries were between 85% and 110%, and sample-to-sample differences of less than 5% were achieved, demonstrating the versatile suitability of the dual-layer SPE to sample clean-up. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A 69-year-old Japanese female was admitted to our hospital due to a 2-month history of vomiting after eating. Examination of the small intestinal tract revealed a tumor with calcification in the inner portion, from the horizontal portion to the ascending portion of the duodenum, and jejunojejunostomy was performed. The pathological findings of the tumor gave a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, diffuse small cleaved cell (Working Formulation classification), B cell type, of the jejunum. Calcification is rarely found in untreated malignant lymphoma and 15 cases of untreated malignant lymphoma with calcification have been reviewed.Copyright © 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films comprise nanoclustering graphites (nc-G), fused aromatic rings (nR), and olefinic chain clusters (nC) of sp2-bonded carbons in an sp3 matrix. In this study, the sp2 composition of the nc-G, nR and nC in a-C:H films is found to be determined by the ion bombardment energy flux (Γ Ei), which can be estimated as the product of ion bombardment energy and ion flux onto the deposited surface, in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using a plasma mixture of H 2 and CH 4 gases with the H radical injection method. The sp2 composition is analyzed using Raman spectroscopy and near-edge X-ray absorption structure spectroscopy. a-C:H becomes increasingly graphitized with increasing Γ Ei. The precise control of the sp2 C structure composition can be achieved by controlling the very-high-frequency input power and radio frequency input bias power via the ion flux and ion bombardment energy. Unlabelled Image • a-C:H films were deposited using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with H radical injection. • Precise control of the sp2 C composition in a-C:H films was achieved by controlling the n e and V DC. • The ion bombardment energy flux (Γ Ei), which is the product of E i and Γ i , determined the sp2 C composition in a-C:H films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flow control effects of a nanosecond-pulse-driven dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (ns-DBDPA) in dynamic stall flow were experimentally investigated. The ns-DBDPA was installed on the leading edge of an airfoil model designed in the form of a helicopter blade. The model was oscillated periodically around 25% of the chord length. Aerodynamic coefficients were calculated using the pressure distribution, which was obtained by the measurement of the unsteady pressure by sensors inside the model. The flow control effect and its sensitivity to pitching oscillation and ns-DBDPA control parameters are discussed using the aerodynamic coefficients. The freestream velocity, the mean of the angle of attack, and the reduced frequency were employed as the oscillation parameters. Moreover, the nondimensional frequency of the pulse voltage, the peak pulse voltage, and the type and position of the ns-DBDPA were adopted as the control parameters. The result shows that the ns-DBDPA can decrease the hysteresis of the aerodynamic coefficients and a flow control effect is obtained in all cases. The flow control effect can be maximized by adopting the low nondimensional frequency of the pulse voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control authority of a nanosecond-pulse-driven dielectric-barrier discharge plasma actuator (ns-DBDPA) was evaluated via wind tunnel experiments with the simultaneous measurement of lift and drag forces, pressure on the airfoil surface, and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. In these experiments, a Reynolds number of Re = 2.6 × 105 was applied with a freestream velocity of 40 m/s under atmospheric pressure. The force measurements revealed multiple peaks of lift force recovery and drag force modulation depending on the angle of attack, α, and non-dimensional frequency, F+. At the positive post-stall α close to stall α of approximately 16°, F+ values around 2.0 were effective for lift recovery and drag reduction. When the deep-stall angle α is larger than 20° (either positive or negative), relatively low F+ values around 0.25 were effective for lift recovery. When actuating at a deep-stall angle corresponding to F+ = 0.25, the surface pressure measurements showed that a near flat pressure distribution is formed on the suction side, and the PIV measurement showed that this near flat distribution is caused by the increase in backflow velocity near the surface of the airfoil. This backflow enhancement near the suction side surface leads to the reduction in pressure in separated flow, resulting in significant increases in the lift and drag coefficients. Thus, this simultaneous measurement of force, pressure, and PIV is capable of evaluating the multiple control modes underlying lift and drag control by ns-DBDPA.Graphical abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of images of a generation process of an underwater secondary streamer from a developed primary streamer was visualized by an ultrahigh-speed camera with a microscope lens. The secondary streamer with a filamentary structure propagated with an average velocity of 30 km/s from one of the channel tips of the semispherical primary streamer with an average propagation velocity of 1.8 km/s. The synchronized current waveform showed that pulsed currents of about 100 mA were changed into a continuous current of about 300 mA when the secondary streamer started to propagate. This experiment was carried out by the application of a single-shot pulsed positive voltage to a needle-to-wire electrode system with a gap length of 6 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Exposure to N 2 O 5 generated by plasma technology activates immunity in Arabidopsis through tryptophan metabolites. However, little is known about the effects of N 2 O 5 exposure on other plant species. Sweet basil synthesizes many valuable secondary metabolites in its leaves. Therefore, metabolomic analyses were performed at three different exposure levels [9.7 (Ex1), 19.4 (Ex2) and 29.1 (Ex3) μmol] to assess the effects of N 2 O 5 on basil leaves. As a result, cinnamaldehyde and phenolic acids increased with increasing doses. Certain flavonoids, columbianetin, and caryophyllene oxide increased with lower Ex1 exposure, cineole and methyl eugenol increased with moderate Ex2 exposure and L-glutathione GSH also increased with higher Ex3 exposure. Furthermore, gene expression analysis by quantitative RT-PCR showed that certain genes involved in the syntheses of secondary metabolites and jasmonic acid were significantly up-regulated early after N 2 O 5 exposure. These results suggest that N 2 O 5 exposure increases several valuable secondary metabolites in sweet basil leaves via plant defense responses in a controllable system., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Homologous recombination (HR) repairs DNA damage including DNA double-stranded breaks and alterations in HR-related genes results in HR deficiency. Germline alteration of HR-related genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, causes hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC). Cancer cells with HR deficiency are sensitive to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and DNA-damaging agents. Thus, accurately evaluating HR activity is useful for diagnosing HBOC and predicting the therapeutic effects of anti-cancer agents. Previously, we developed an assay for site-specific HR activity (ASHRA) that can quantitatively evaluate HR activity and detect moderate HR deficiency. HR activity in cells measured by ASHRA correlates with sensitivity to the PARP inhibitor, olaparib. In this study, we applied ASHRA to lymphoblastoid cells and xenograft tumor tissues, which simulate peripheral blood lymphocytes and tumor tissues, respectively, as clinically available samples. We showed that ASHRA could be used to detect HR deficiency in lymphoblastoid cells derived from a BRCA1 pathogenic variant carrier. Furthermore, ASHRA could quantitatively measure the HR activity in xenograft tumor tissues with HR activity that was gradually suppressed by inducible BRCA1 knockdown. The HR activity of xenograft tumor tissues quantitatively correlated with the effect of olaparib. Our data suggest that ASHRA could be a useful assay for diagnosing HBOC and predicting the efficacy of PARP inhibitors., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Fixing atmospheric nitrogen for use as fertilizer is a crucial process in promoting plant growth and enhancing crop yields in agricultural production. Currently, the chemical production of nitrogen fertilizer from atmospheric N 2 relies on the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. Therefore, developing a low-cost and easily applicable method for fixing nitrogen from the air would provide a beneficial alternative. In this study, we tested the utilization of dinitrogen pentoxide (N 2 O 5 ) gas, generated from oxygen and nitrogen present in ambient air with the help of a portable plasma device, as a nitrogen source for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Nitrogen-deficient plants supplied with medium treated with N 2 O 5 , were able to overcome nitrogen deficiency, similar to those provided with medium containing a conventional nitrogen source. However, prolonged direct exposure of plants to N 2 O 5 gas adversely affected their growth. Short-time exposure of plants to N 2 O 5 gas mitigated its toxicity and was able to support growth. Moreover, when the exposure of N 2 O 5 and the contact with plants were physically separated, plants cultured under nitrogen deficiency were able to grow. This study shows that N 2 O 5 gas generated from atmospheric nitrogen can be used as an effective nutrient for plants, indicating its potential to serve as an alternative nitrogen fertilization method for promoting plant growth., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Herein, we developed a near-invisible solar cell through a precise control of the contact barrier between an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and a monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ), grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The contact barrier between WS 2 and ITO was controlled by coating various thin metals on top of ITO (M x /ITO) and inserting a thin layer of WO 3 between M x /ITO and the monolayer WS 2 , which resulted in a drastic increase in the Schottky barrier height (up to 220 meV); this could increase the efficiency of the charge carrier separation in our Schottky-type solar cell. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cell with the optimized electrode (WO 3 /M x /ITO) was more than 1000 times that of a device using a normal ITO electrode. Large-scale fabrication of the solar cell was also investigated, which revealed that a simple size expansion with large WS 2 crystals and parallel long electrodes could not improve the total power (P T ) obtained from the complete device even with an increase in the device area; this can be explained by the percolation theory. This problem was addressed by reducing the aspect ratio (width/channel length) of the unit device structure to a value lower than a critical threshold. By repeating the experiments on this optimized unit device with an appropriate number of series and parallel connections, P T could be increased up to 420 pW from a 1-cm 2 solar cell with a very high value (79%) of average visible transmission (AVT)., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Reactive nitrogen species (RNS) play an important role in plant immunity as signaling factors. We previously developed a plasma technology to partially convert air molecules into dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), an RNS whose physiological action is poorly understood. To reveal the function of N2O5 gas in plant immunity, Arabidopsis thaliana was exposed to plasma-generated N2O5 gas once (20 s) per day for 3 days, and inoculated with Botrytis cinerea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst), or cucumber mosaic virus strain yellow (CMV(Y)) at 24 h after the final N2O5 gas exposure. Lesion size with B. cinerea infection was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by exposure to N2O5 gas. Propagation of CMV(Y) was suppressed in plants exposed to N2O5 gas compared with plants exposed to the air control. However, proliferation of Pst in the N2O5-gas-exposed plants was almost the same as in the air control plants. These results suggested that N2O5 gas exposure could control plant disease depending on the type of pathogen. Furthermore, changes in gene expression at 24 h after the final N2O5 gas exposure were analyzed by RNA-Seq. Based on the gene ontology analysis, jasmonic acid and ethylene signaling pathways were activated by exposure of Arabidopsis plants to N2O5 gas. A time course experiment with qRT-PCR revealed that the mRNA expression of the transcription factor genes, WRKY25, WRKY26, WRKY33, and genes for tryptophan metabolic enzymes, CYP71A12, CYP71A13, PEN2, and PAD3, was transiently induced by exposure to N2O5 gas once for 20 s peaking at 1-3 h post-exposure. However, the expression of PDF1.2 was enhanced beginning from 6 h after exposure and its high expression was maintained until 24-48 h later. Thus, enhanced tryptophan metabolism leading to the synthesis of antimicrobial substances such as camalexin and antimicrobial peptides might have contributed to the N2O5-gas-induced disease resistance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The very early nucleation stage of a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) was directly observed with in-situ monitoring of chemical vapor deposition and automated image analysis. Unique nucleation dynamics, such as very large critical nuclei and slow to rapid growth transitions, were observed during the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth of monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ). This can be explained by two-step nucleation, also known as non-classical nucleation, in which metastable clusters are formed through the aggregation of droplets. Subsequently, nucleation of solid WS 2 takes place inside the metastable cluster. Furthermore, the detailed nucleation dynamics was systematically investigated from a thermodynamic point of view, revealing that the incubation time of metastable cluster formation follows the traditional time-temperature transformation diagram. Quantitative phase field simulation, combined with Bayesian inference, was conducted to extract quantitative information on the growth dynamics and crystal anisotropy from in-situ images. A clear transition in growth dynamics and crystal anisotropy between the slow and rapid growth phases was quantitatively verified. This observation supports the existence of two-step nucleation in the VLS growth of WS 2 . Such detailed understanding of TMD nucleation dynamics can be useful for achieving perfect structure control of TMDs., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) attract intence attention due to its unique optoelectrical features. Recent progress in production stage of TMD enables us to synthesis uniform and large area TMD with mono layer thickness. Elucidation of growth mechanism is a challenge to improve the crystallinity of TMD, which is regargeded as a next crutial subject in the production stage. Here we report novel diffusion and nucleation dynamics during tungsten disulphide (WS 2 ) growth. The diffusion length (L d ) of the precursors have been measured with unique nucleation control methods. It was revealed that the L d reaches up to ~750 μm. This ultra-long diffusion can be attributed to precursor droplets observed during in-situ monitoring of WS 2 growth. The integrated synthesis of >35,000 single crystals and monolayer WS 2 was achieved at the wafer scale based on this model. Our findings are highly significant for both the fundamental study of droplet-mediated crystal growth and the industrial application of integrated single-crystal TMDs.

Conventionally, graphene is a poor thermoelectric material with a low figure of merit ( ZT ) of 10 -4 -10 -3 . Although nanostructuring was proposed to improve the thermoelectric performance of graphene, little experimental progress has been accomplished. Here, we carefully fabricated as-grown suspended graphene nanoribbons with quarter-micron length and ∼40 nm width. The ratio of electrical to thermal conductivity was enhanced by 1-2 orders of magnitude, and the Seebeck coefficient was several times larger than bulk graphene, which yielded record-high ZT values up to ∼0.1. Moreover, we observed a record-high electronic contribution of ∼20% to the total thermal conductivity in the nanoribbon. Concurrent phonon Boltzmann transport simulations reveal that the reduction of lattice thermal conductivity is mainly attributed to quasi-ballistic phonon transport. The record-high ratio of electrical to thermal conductivity was enabled by the disparate electron and phonon mean free paths as well as the clean samples, and the enhanced Seebeck coefficient was attributed to the band gap opening. Our work not only demonstrates that electron and phonon transport can be fundamentally tuned and decoupled in graphene but also indicates that graphene with appropriate nanostructures can be very promising thermoelectric materials.

Few-layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are known as true two-dimensional materials, with excellent semiconducting properties and strong light-matter interaction. Thus, TMDs are attractive materials for semitransparent and flexible solar cells for use in various applications. Hoewver, despite the recent progress, the development of a scalable method to fabricate semitransparent and flexible solar cells with mono- or few-layered TMDs remains a crucial challenge. Here, we show easy and scalable fabrication of a few-layered TMD solar cell using a Schottky-type configuration to obtain a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of approximately 0.7%, which is the highest value reported with few-layered TMDs. Clear power generation was also observed for a device fabricated on a large SiO 2 and flexible substrate, demonstrating that our method has high potential for scalable production. In addition, systematic investigation revealed that the PCE and external quantum efficiency (EQE) strongly depended on the type of photogenerated excitons (A, B, and C) because of different carrier dynamics. Because high solar cell performance along with excellent scalability can be achieved through the proposed process, our fabrication method will contribute to accelerating the industrial use of TMDs as semitransparent and flexible solar cells.

Chirality-selective synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been a research goal for the last two decades and is still challenging due to the difficulty in controlling the atomic structure in the one-dimensional material. Here, we develop an optimized approach for controlling the chirality of species by tuning the oxidation degree of Co catalyst. Predominant synthesis of (6,4) SWNTs is realized for the first time. The detailed mechanism is investigated through a systematic experimental study combined with first-principles calculations, revealing that the independent control of tube diameter and chiral angle achieved by changing the binding energy between SWNTs (cap and tube edge) and catalyst causes a drastic transition of chirality of SWNTs from (6,5) to (6,4). Since our approach of independently controlling the diameter and chiral angle can be applied to other chirality species, our results can be useful in achieving the on-demand synthesis of specific-chirality SWNTs.

Gas-liquid interfacial atmospheric-pressure plasma jets (GLI-APPJ) are used medically for plasma-induced cell-membrane permeabilization. In an attempt to identify the dominant factors induced by GLI-APPJ responsible for enhancing cell-membrane permeability, the concentration and distribution of plasma-produced reactive species in the gas and liquid phase regions are measured. These reactive species are classified in terms of their life-span: long-lived (e.g., H 2 O 2 ), short-lived (e.g., O 2 •- ), and extremely-short-lived (e.g., • OH). The concentration of plasma-produced • OH aq in the liquid phase region decreases with an increase in solution thickness (<1 mm), and plasma-induced cell-membrane permeabilization is found to decay markedly as the thickness of the solution increases. Furthermore, the horizontally center-localized distribution of • OH aq , resulting from the center-peaked distribution of • OH in the gas phase region, corresponds with the distribution of the permeabilized cells upon APPJ irradiation, whereas the overall plasma-produced oxidizing species such as H 2 O 2aq in solution exhibit a doughnut-shaped horizontal distribution. These results suggest that • OH aq is likely one of the dominant factors responsible for plasma-induced cell-membrane permeabilization., Competing Interests: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Understanding the spatial motion of excitons is of both fundamental interest and central importance for optoelectrical applications. Here, we have investigated the temperature (T) dependence of the transport dynamics of neutral excitons and charged excitons (trions) in atomically thin two-dimensional crystals of the transition-metal dichalcogenide WS 2 . The transport dynamics of neutral excitons can be divided into three temperature ranges, where the diffusion of neutral excitons is governed by thermal activation (≤∼75 K), ionized impurity scattering (∼75 K ≤ T ≤∼200 K), and LO phonon scattering (≥∼200 K). The trions have a diffusion length that is over 20 times longer than that of neutral excitons at very low temperatures (≤∼10 K), which may be related to theoretically predicted Pauli-blocking effects during the excitation process.

Adding a mechanical degree of freedom to the electrical and optical properties of atomically thin materials can provide an excellent platform to investigate various optoelectrical physics and devices with mechanical motion interaction. The large scale fabrication of such atomically thin materials with suspended structures remains a challenge. Here we demonstrate the wafer-scale bottom-up synthesis of suspended graphene nanoribbon arrays (over 1,000,000 graphene nanoribbons in 2 × 2 cm(2) substrate) with a very high yield (over 98%). Polarized Raman measurements reveal graphene nanoribbons in the array can have relatively uniform-edge structures with near zigzag orientation dominant. A promising growth model of suspended graphene nanoribbons is also established through a comprehensive study that combined experiments, molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical calculations with a phase-diagram analysis. We believe that our results can contribute to pushing the study of graphene nanoribbons into a new stage related to the optoelectrical physics and industrial applications.

The cell membrane permeability, which is strongly related to gene transfection, is improved using a cell-solution electrode for generating atmospheric-pressure plasma (APP) just above the solution. In the case of the floating cells, the cell membrane permeability is significantly improved by the cell-solution electrode APP compared with the conventional diffusion type APP, because the distance between the plasma generation area and the cell solution surface becomes short, which could reduce the radial diffusion loss of the plasma irradiated to the cell suspended solution. In the case of the adherent cells, cell membrane permeability is found to be enhanced by the shorter distance between the solution surface and the adherent cells as well as using the cell-solution electrode, which means that the short-lived reactive oxygen species generated at the solution surface are essential for the improvement of cell membrane permeability.

A photoluminescence (PL) peak has been observed from a monolayer of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), which is known to be an ideal 2D semiconductor. The PL peak appears near the low-energy side of neutral free excitons with very sharp peak width (∼10 meV) at low temperature (83 K). Systematic temperature-dependent PL measurements reveal that the peak can be explained by bound excitons being trapped by the surface impurities, which results in a highly localized state for the excitons. Since the optically detectable, highly localized impurity state promises to have extensive practical applications for quantum optics, our finding represents an important step in the study of 2D materials for use in quantum computation and information.

In this study, a silica stationary phase modified with sulfoxide group and ammonium-salt was prepared for the separation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from mineral oils, and its properties were investigated. Organic sulfide was attached to a diamino (primary and secondary amino) bonded silica surface by an amide bond, and the bonded sulfide groups were oxidized with periodate to afford sulfoxide groups bonded to the stationary phase. The secondary amino groups in the spacer chain were converted to ammonium-salt by the addition of hydrochloric acid. The sulfoxide group and ammonium-salt bonded stationary phase was tested for their suitability as adsorbent for SPE-type preparative short columns and for an analytical HPLC-type separation. The new stationary phase (1.2 mmol of sulfur bonded per gram) separated PCBs from mineral oils (paraffin-based transformer oils) more efficiently than previously reported stationary phases including sulfoxide group or ammonium-salt bonded ones. The quantitative chromatographic parameters for an aliphatic hydrocarbon (eicosane) and some PCB congeners also indicated strong retention of highly chlorinated biphenyls by the sulfoxide and ammonium-salt bonded silica compared with simple aminopropyl, sulfoxide group or ammonium-salt bonded ones. A cleanup procedure was established for simple determination of PCBs in mineral oil samples using sulfoxide group and ammonium-salt bonded silica packed column fractionation. The analytical method, combination of the cleanup procedure, and measurement with a GC-high resolution (magnetic sector) MS or a GC-quadrupole MS were validated using mineral oil certified reference materials.

Electrical transport properties of C60 and C59N encapsulated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are investigated by fabricating them as the channels of field effect transistor (FET) devices at room temperature. Their measurements indicate that C60@SWNTs exhibit the enhanced p-type characteristics compared with the case of pristine SWNTs, whereas C59N@SWNTs show the n-type behavior. The novel transport properties of peapods can be explained by the charge-transfer effect, which can modify the electronic structure of SWNTs.

The quantitative analysis of ketones using DNPH is usually conducted in the presence of an acid catalyst. However, this method may cause an analytical error because 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones have both E- and Z-stereoisomers. Purified ketone-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone comprised only the E-isomer. However, under the addition of acid, both E- and Z-isomers were seen. In the case of 2-butanone-, 2-pentanone- and 2-hexanone-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone, the equilibrium Z/E isomer ratios were 0.20, 0.21 and 0.22, respectively. In addition, when trace water was added to the hydrazone derivatives in acetonitrile solution, the concentration of ketone derivatives were seen to decrease and the concentration of free DNPH was seen to increase. The decomposition rate of 2-butanone-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone was dependent on the concentration of acid-catalysis and reached an equilibrium state--carbonyl, DNPH, hydrazone-derivative and H2O--within 10 h at 0.1 mol L(-1) phosphoric acid solution. The equilibrium constants of ketone-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones, [carbonyl] [DNPH]/[hydrazone] [H2O], were relatively large and ranged from 0.74x10(-4) to 5.9x10(-4). Hydrazone derivatives formed from 2-ketones such as 2-pentanone, 2-hexanone and 4-methyl-2-pentanone showed lower equilibrium constants than corresponding 3-ketones. Consequently, only a minimum concentration of catalytic acid must be added. The best method for the determination of ketone-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones by HPLC or GC is to add phosphoric acid to both the standard reference solution and samples, forming a 0.001 mol L(-1) acid solution, and analyze after 27 h.