Peter A. Leigh

Hydrodynamic voltammetry with channel microband electrodes : resolution of ECE and DISP1 processes

Abstract Gold microband channel electrodes (30 μ m in length) are used to study the reduction of ortho - bromonitrobenzene in dimethylformamide solution. An ECE mechanism is shown to operate and a rate constant of 250 s −1 for the chemical step is deduced. The ability to distinguish between ECE and DISP1 processes with the experimental protocol adopted is noted.

Fabrication of Si/SiO2 nanocomposite thin films

Si-rich SiO2 films were deposited onto Si and quartz substrates by r.f. co-sputtering, and then annealed under vacuum at temperatures between 500 to 900°C for 1 hour. A combination of high resolution transmission electron microscopy, optical ellipsometry, and UV/VIS and FTIR photospectrometry were used to investigate the microstructures and optical properties of the co-sputtered films before and after annealing. The as-deposited films consisted of a fully amorphous SiOx(I < × < 2) structure. After annealing, the films consisted of clusters of crystalline Si with average sizes in the range between 3nm and 8nm embedded in a stoichiometric SiO2 amorphous matrix.

Adenosine triphosphate synthesis using an electrochemically-driven proton pump

By coupling the proton-release from a hydrogen-loaded palladium electrode, upon which was adsorbed an ATPase, the amount of ATP in solution is increased one hundred fold, as detected by the release of light from luciferin-luciferase.