2008 NOV 24 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "The electric-field distribution at the end of a charged capillary system is detected using a scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) coupling imaging mode. A theoretical model based on the resistance of solution at the capillary end describes the three-dimensional distribution of the electric field," scientists in Nanjing, People's Republic of China report.

  "The effect of the detection electrode position and separation high voltage on solution potential is observed and analyzed. Results demonstrate that the electric field at the end-channel shows an isopotential conchanging from a disk shape into a hemispherical shape when leaving the capillary opening. The solution potential decreases along the central axis of the capillary to the detection reservoir. In the some scanning plane, the solution potential decreases along the radial direction," wrote K. Wang and colleagues, Nanjing University ...read more

  2008 NOV 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, "In this work, the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of pyridine (py) on thin films of Co and Ni electrodeposited on an Ag electrode activated by oxidation-reduction cycles (ORC) are presented. The SERS spectra from the thin films were compared to those of py on activated bare transition metal electrodes. ...read more

  2008 NOV 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "Novel unsymmetrically pi-elongated porphyrins, in which the naphthyl moiety is fused to the porphyrin core at the naphthyl bridge with a carboxyl group (fused-Zn-1) or at the opposite side of the phenyl bridge with a carboxyl group (fused-Zn-2), have been synthesized to improve the light-harvesting abilities in porphyrin-sensitized solar cells. As the results of T-elongation with low symmetry, Soret and Q bands of fused-Zn-1 and fused-Zn-2 were red-shifted and broadened, and the intensity of Q-band relative to that of Soret band was enhanced," investigators in Kyoto, Japan report ...read more