Zhao-Bin Chen

Extending the capability of STM break junction for conductance measurement of atomic-size nanowires: An electrochemical strategy

The STM break junction (STM-BJ) and mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) are the two most widely applied techniques to fabricate atomic-size nanowires for conductance measurement. However, the drawbacks of the mechanical crashing between the two electrodes of the same material in these techniques hamper its capability of application in view of the variety of metals as well as the environment to perform the measurements. In this paper, we present an electrochemical strategy for STM-BJ by establishing a chemically well-defined metallic contact through a jump-to-contact mechanism between the tip and substrate of dissimilar metals, wherein the tip is in situ and electrochemically deposited with a thin film of a foreign metal of interest. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by taking Cu as a model system, followed by generalizing to Pd and Fe for which the conductance has been found otherwise difficult to measure at room temperature. The preferential point-contact conductance at 1, 0.9, and 0.86 G0 was measured for Cu, Pd, and Fe, respectively. The strategy present in this work not only extends the capability of STM-BJ to create a variety of metal nanowires including magnetic nanowires for further investigations but also provides opportunities to construct metal-molecule-metal junctions with a variety of choices of metals in the junctions.

Giant Single-Molecule Anisotropic Magnetoresistance at Room Temperature

We report an electrochemically assisted jump-to-contact scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) break junction approach to create reproducible and well-defined single-molecule spintronic junctions. The STM break junction is equipped with an external magnetic field either parallel or perpendicular to the electron transport direction. The conductance of Fe-terephthalic acid (TPA)-Fe single-molecule junctions is measured and a giant single-molecule tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (T-AMR) up to 53% is observed at room temperature. Theoretical calculations based on first-principles quantum simulations show that the observed AMR of Fe-TPA-Fe junctions originates from electronic coupling at the TPA-Fe interfaces modified by the magnetic orientation of the Fe electrodes with respect to the direction of current flow. The present study highlights new opportunities for obtaining detailed understanding of mechanisms of charge and spin transport in molecular junctions and the role of interfaces in determining the MR of single-molecule junctions.

Switching of Charge Transport Pathways via Delocalization Changes in Single-Molecule Metallacycles Junctions

To explore the charge transport through metalla-aromatics building blocks, three metallacycles complexes were synthesized, and their single-molecule conductances were characterized by using mechanically controllable break junction technique. It is found that the conductance of the metallacycles junction with phosphonium group is more than 1 order of magnitude higher than that without phosphonium group. X-ray diffraction and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy suggested that the attached phosphonium group makes metallacycles more delocalized, which shortened the preferred charge transport pathway and significantly enhanced the single-molecule conductance. This work revealed that the delocalization of metalla-aromatics could be used to switch the charge transport pathway of single-molecule junctions and thus tune the charge transport abilities significantly.

Fast determination of active components in Angelica dahurica extract using capillary electrochromatography with methacrylate ester-based monolithic columns

The separation and determination of four important active components (imperatorin, isoimperatorin, phelloptorin and falcarindiol) from Angelica dahurica extract has been performed using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with a methacrylate ester-based monolithic column. The effect of the porogen ratio on the column preparation was studied. The mobile phase composition, such as the concentration of organic solvent, the ionic strength and the pH of the buffer were also optimized. Under the optimized conditions (50% acetonitrile and 50% of a 20 mmol/L sodium dihydrogen phosphate electrolyte at pH 4.95, - 25 kV), a fast and baseline separation of the four analytes was achieved. The calibration curves showed a good linearity (r2 > 0.997) and the limits of detection were lower than 0.34 mg/L. The mean recoveries of the studied components ranged between 95.18% and 98.44%. The method developed is sensitive, reliable and suitable for the quality control. With this CEC system, the quality of Angelica dahurica extracts from 18 various regions was evaluated.

Determination of five synthetic sweeteners in wines using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI MS/MS) method for the determination of five synthetic sweeteners (acesulfame, sodium saccharin, sodium cyclamate, aspartame and neotame) in wines has been developed. The HPLC separation was carried out on an Ultimate C18 column (100 mm x 2.1 mm, 3 microm). Several parameters, including the composition and pH of the mobile phase, column temperature and the monitor ions, were optimized for improving the chromatographic performance and the sensitivity of determination. The results demonstrated that the separation can be completed in less than 5 min by gradient elution with 20 mmol/L ammonium formate and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid (pH 3.8) and methanol as the mobile phase. The column temperature was kept at 45 degrees C. When the analytes were detected by ESI -MS/MS under multiple reaction monitoring mode, the detection limits were 0.6, 5, 1, 0.8 and 0.2 microg/L for acesulfame, sodium saccharin, sodium cyclamate, aspartame and neotame, respectively. The average recoveries ranged from 87.2% to 103%. The relative standard deviations were not more than 1.2%. This method is rapid, accurate, highly sensitive and suitable for the quality control of low concentration of the synthetic sweeteners, which are illegally added to wines and other foods with complex matrices.

Study on the Shimming Power Supply at room temperature for superconducting magnet

The homogeneity of superconducting magnetic field is one of the important factors determining the spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of NMR spectroscopy. The active shimming is a real-time tuning for a homogeneous magnetic field. In this paper the principle of the active shimming and its process as well as the basic model of room-temperature Shimming Power Supply were investigated. A FPGA-controlled Shimming Power Supply system with Ethernet-based communications was designed. The utilization of Ethernet technique increases the controlling speed of a host computer and the data transfer speed. The FPGA module ensures the precise control and data distribution. The multi-bit DAC insures the high precision and high resolution of currents output. The use of the current-series feedback technique provides a high stability for the output current. The Shimming Power Supply system has features of simple structure, quick response, high integration, high precision, high resolution and independency. It may find wide application in real-time shimming of superconducting magnet.