Koji Kimura

Worldwide surveys of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in water environment in recent years

Recently, perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have been noted as causes of some of the important environmental problems in recent years due to their occurrences and properties. The most commonly used PFCs are perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which have been used in many kinds of products. They have been found in surface water and tap water in both developed and developing countries around the world including in North America, Europe and Asia. In most countries, rivers are the source of tap water, which is one of the important pathways in which PFCs reach humans. It is essential to evaluate PFOS and PFOA contamination in the river basin. The purpose of this field study was to determine the presence of PFOS and PFOA in rivers around the world. The surveys were conducted in 15 countries during 2004 to 2010. In total, 539 samples were collected from the rivers in 41 cities. A solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with HPLC-ESI-MS/MS were used for the analysis of these chemicals. PFOS and PFOA were detected in all 41 cities not only in industrialized areas but also in non-industrialized areas, representing that these compounds undergo long-range transportation in the environment. The average concentration of PFOS in each city ranged from not detected to 70.1 ng/L. The average concentration of PFOA in each city was in the range 0.2-1,630.2 ng/L. The industrialized areas show higher contamination in both PFOS and PFOA concentrations than non-industrialized areas. Industrial activities are some of the major sources of PFCs contamination in rivers.

Epitaxially grown Al electrodes for high-power surface acoustic wave devices

A deposition process of epitaxial Al film on a quartz substrate was studied to obtain Al electrodes of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices having high resistance to stress migration. A vapor deposition system was used under relatively moderate deposition conditions: (1) pressure range of 10 −5 Pa; (2) deposition temperature of 150°C; (3) deposition rate in the range of 120∼240 nm/min. The growth mode of epitaxial Al film differed from that of polycrystalline Al film on quartz

Development of an X-ray fluorescence holographic measurement system for protein crystals

Experimental procedure and setup for obtaining X-ray fluorescence hologram of crystalline metalloprotein samples are described. Human hemoglobin, an α2β2 tetrameric metalloprotein containing the Fe(II) heme active-site in each chain, was chosen for this study because of its wealth of crystallographic data. A cold gas flow system was introduced to reduce X-ray radiation damage of protein crystals that are usually fragile and susceptible to damage. A χ-stage was installed to rotate the sample while avoiding intersection between the X-ray beam and the sample loop or holder, which is needed for supporting fragile protein crystals. Huge hemoglobin crystals (with a maximum size of 8 × 6 × 3 mm(3)) were prepared and used to keep the footprint of the incident X-ray beam smaller than the sample size during the entire course of the measurement with the incident angle of 0°-70°. Under these experimental and data acquisition conditions, we achieved the first observation of the X-ray fluorescence hologram pattern from the protein crystals with minimal radiation damage, opening up a new and potential method for investigating the stereochemistry of the metal active-sites in biomacromolecules.

SAW Resonators Using Epitaxially Grown Al Electrodes

Epitaxially grown Al electrode was obtained on rotated Y cut quartz substrate by vapor deposition. The epitaxial relationship was (311) Al//(032) SiO2. This electrode had very high resistance to stress migration. In SAW resonators, time to failure caused by stress migration was improved by more than 2000 times and power handling capability was increased by at least 10 times over an ordinary polycrystalline Al–Cu electrode. Epitaxially grown Al electrode was also obtained on LST-cut quartz substrate.

X-ray Fluorescence Holographic Study on High-Temperature Superconductor FeSe0.4Te0.6

Abstract To observe the difference of atomic heights between the Se and Te layers with respect to the Fe layer in FeSe0.4Te0.6 single crystal, a Fe Kα fluorescence X-ray holography (XFH) experiment was performed at room temperature. The crystal structure of superconductor FeSe0.4Te0.6 obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) at a low temperature has distinct z-coordinates of Se and Te, remarkably different from each other. The reconstructed atomic image around central Fe atoms by XFH, however, reveals the different and complex results.

XAFS Analysis of Crystal GeCu2Te3 Phase Change Material

Abstract The structure of crystal GeCu2Te3 was investigated by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurement. We found that the Ge–Te interatomic distances obtained from XAFS are larger than those obtained from X-ray diffraction, and the Cu–Te distances are smaller. The averaged Ge–Te and Cu–Te distances obtained from XAFS are almost equal to the corresponding interatomic distances in amorphous GeCu2Te3. Therefore both crystal and amorphous GeCu2Te3 seem to be built up of the same local configurations of GeTe4 and CuTe4 tetrahedrons. This would be the reason why the phase change in GeCu2Te3 occurs very fast.

Structural Aspects of the Superionic Conduction Mechanism in Ag-GeSe3 Glasses

Abstract The local and intermediate-range atomic structure in the Ag ion conducting glasses Agx(GeSe3)1−x with xu2009=u20090.15 and 0.50 has been investigated by Anomalous X-Ray Scattering experiments at the K absorption edges of each constituent element. This method can provide insight into the structural properties enabling the effect of superionic conductivity for compositions with xu2009>u20090.33 in the amorphous phase. The experimental results were analyzed with Reverse Monte Carlo modeling, providing the partial structure factors and the corresponding partial pair-distribution functions. Evidence is found for a high level of intermediate range order for low silver concentrations, whereas the superionic conducting phase formed at high silver concentrations is characterized by cluster-like configurations of Ag atoms on a nanometer scale.

Plasmon Line Width in Liquid Metals

With the recent development of synchrotron radiation sources and the instrumentations, inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) has become an important tool for observing plasmons in materials. One of the significant advantages of IXS is that it can be applied to liquid samples, which is considerably difficult for electron energy loss spectroscopy. Thus far, the IXS study of plasmons in liquid samples has been performed for several systems such as liquid lithium, liquid aluminum, or lithium ammonia solutions. However, the properties of plasmons in the liquid phase are less clearly understood than those in the crystalline phase. One of such properties is the plasmon line width. For the solid state, the finite line width observed in experiments can be evaluated using the formulations derived in previous theoretical studies, in which the effect of interband transitions, phonon-assisted intraband (or interband) transitions, and the excitations of two electron–hole (e–h) pairs are considered. These effects should also play an important role in liquid, because a finite line width is also observed in liquid samples. The effects of phonon and two e–h pairs are readily extended to liquid systems, since these effects can be calculated without using information on the ionic structure. On the other hand, the effect of interband transitions is difficult to extend to the liquid state, because it strongly depends on the ionic structure. In this work, we show the derivation of a formula for evaluating the plasmon line width at the zero momentum transfer, q 1⁄4 0, in metallic liquid. The formula describes how the ionic structure influences the plasmon line width for metallic liquid. The application of the formula to liquid alkali metals is also shown. The plasmon line width at q 1⁄4 0, E1=2ð0Þ, is written as E1=2ð0Þ 1⁄4 h !p Im ð!pÞ; ð1Þ

Inelastic X-ray Scattering Study on Plasmon Dispersion in Liquid Cs

We study the plasmon dispersion of liquid Cs using inelastic X-ray scattering techniques in the range of momentum transfer, 0.32 ≤ q ≤ 0.55 A−1. While the previous electron energy loss spectroscopy...

Phonon excitations in Pd40Ni40P20 bulk metallic glass by inelastic X-ray scattering

To clarify microscopic elastic properties of a Pd40Ni40P20 bulk metallic glass, inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) experiments were carried out using high-resolution IXS spectrometer installed at BL35XU/SPring-8. Clear longitudinal acoustic (LA) excitation modes are observed in the whole momentum transfer Q range up to ~22 nm-1. The microscopic sound velocity of the LA modes obtained from the Q → 0 limit of the dispersion relation is about 12% faster than the macroscopic value, suggesting the microscopic heterogeneity in the elastic properties of this BMG. In addition, transverse acoustic (TA) modes can be deduced from a detailed analysis of the IXS spectra. The microscopic Poisson’s ratio obtained from the ratio of the excitation energies of the TA and LA modes is 0.47 ± 0.04, larger than the macroscopic value of 0.40. Thus, the fragile nature of this BMG already found in the macroscopic sense is much enhanced in the microscopic view.