The condensation of acetone using anhydrous hydrogen chloride results after three weeks at room temperature, in a 1 5 % yield of phorone (4) and a 7 5 % yield of mesityl oxide (5). In the presence of one weight percent of the Lewis acid, aluminium chloride, the yield of 4 is increased to 3 9 % . An increase in the amount of the Lewis acid, aluminium chloride, to ten weight percent results in a ...

Electron Rutherford back scattering (ERBS) is a new spectroscopy for determining the composition of surfaces. In this work the surface sensitivity of ERBS was investigated by changing the entrance and exit angle of the electron beam while keeping the scattering angle constant. It was found that in this way the surface sensitivity of the technique can be varied considerably. We use aluminium as ...

Oxidation can drastically change mechanical properties of nanostructures that typically have large surface-to-volume ratios. However, the underlying mechanisms describing the effect oxidation has on the mechanical properties of nanostructures have yet to be characterized. Here we use reactive molecular dynamics and show that the oxidation enhances the aluminium nanowire ductility, and the oxide...

Nanostructured devices have the potential to serve as the basis for next-generation energy systems that make use of densely packed interfaces and thin films. One approach to making such devices is to build multilayer structures of large area inside the open volume of a nanostructured template. Here, we report the use of atomic layer deposition to fabricate arrays of metal-insulator-metal nanoca...

A fast and cost-effective technique is applied for fabricating cobalt and nickel nanopillars on aluminium substrates. By applying an electrochemical process, the aluminium oxide barrier layer is removed from the pore bottom tips of nanoporous anodic alumina templates. So, cobalt and nickel nanopillars are fabricated into these templates by DC electrodeposition. The resulting nanostructure remai...

The favourable mechanical properties and high biocompatibility of the newly developed mixed ceramics composed of zirconium oxide and aluminium oxide have continuously extended the scope of their application. Rotating instruments on a zirconium oxide basis are regarded as superior to metal burs in dentoalveolar surgery in terms of favourable temperature effects on the surrounding bone tissue and...

This communication reports an approach based on plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of aluminium oxide for the functionalization of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE or "Teflon") surfaces. Alternating exposure of PTFE to oxygen plasma and trimethylaluminium causes a permanent hydrophilic effect, and a more than 10-fold improvement of the "glueability" of PTFE to aluminium.

A simple approach was introduced to enhance the photostability of CuInS2@ZnS core@shell quantum dots (QDs) by doping aluminium into the ZnS shell. Aluminium in the as-prepared QDs was oxidized to Al2O3, which formed a passivation oxide layer that effectively prevents photo-degradation of QDs during long-term light irradiation.

Thin oxide interlayers are commonly added to the back reflector of thin-film silicon solar cells to increase their current. To gain more insight in the enhancement mechanism, we tested different back reflector designs consisting of aluminium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) and/or hydrogenated silicon oxide (SiOx:H) interlayers with different metals (silver, aluminium, and chromium) in standard p-i-n ...

Nanoparticles hosted in conductive matrices are ubiquitous in electrochemical energy storage, catalysis and energetic devices. However, agglomeration and surface oxidation remain as two major challenges towards their ultimate utility, especially for highly reactive materials. Here we report uniformly distributed nanoparticles with diameters around 10 nm can be self-assembled within a reduced gr...