Indian Institute of Technology Indore

About: Indian Institute of Technology Indore is a education organization based out in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Chemistry. The organization has 1606 authors who have published 4803 publications receiving 66500 citations.

First Observation of an Attractive Interaction between a Proton and a Cascade Baryon

Abstract: This Letter presents the first experimental observation of the attractive strong interaction between a proton and a multistrange baryon (hyperon) Ξ-. The result is extracted from two-particle correlations of combined p-Ξ-⊕p¯-Ξ¯+ pairs measured in p-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV at the LHC with ALICE. The measured correlation function is compared with the prediction obtained assuming only an attractive Coulomb interaction and a standard deviation in the range [3.6, 5.3] is found. Since the measured p-Ξ-⊕p¯-Ξ¯+ correlation is significantly enhanced with respect to the Coulomb prediction, the presence of an additional, strong, attractive interaction is evident. The data are compatible with recent lattice calculations by the HAL-QCD Collaboration, with a standard deviation in the range [1.8, 3.7]. The lattice potential predicts a shallow repulsive Ξ- interaction within pure neutron matter and this implies stiffer equations of state for neutron-rich matter including hyperons. Implications of the strong interaction for the modeling of neutron stars are discussed.

Switching-based cooperative decode-and-forward relaying for hybrid FSO/RF networks

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a switching scheme for a hybrid free-space optical (FSO)/radio frequency (RF) system with a selective decode-and-forward (DF) relay network. Specifically, the system transmits over FSO channels when the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the FSO receiver is greater than the threshold SNR. If the SNR drops below the threshold, the system switches and transmits over RF channels. The exact outage probability and average symbol error rate (SER) expressions are derived for a selective DF relay network with maximal ratio combining (MRC) assumed at the destination. In addition, the asymptotic outage and SER expressions with a lower computational complexity are derived and the diversity order is determined. The optimum value of the threshold SNR, which satisfies the target SER, has been calculated numerically for the proposed switching scheme. The theoretical results, which are validated by Monte Carlo simulations, show that the proposed switching scheme for a cooperative hybrid FSO/RF system drastically improves the performance compared to that of a single-hop (SH) switching-based hybrid FSO/RF and cooperative FSO systems.

Donor–acceptor–acceptor (D–A–A) type 1,8-naphthalimides as non-fullerene small molecule acceptors for bulk heterojunction solar cells

Abstract: Donor–acceptor–acceptor (D–A–A) type 1,8-naphthalimide based small molecules SM1 and SM2 functionalized with tetracyanobutadiene (TCBD) and dicyanoquino-dimethane (DCNQ) modules, showing strong absorption in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) region are reported. TCBD and DCNQ linked SM1 and SM2 exhibit multi-redox waves. The electrochemical and optical HOMO–LUMO gaps show similar trends. These SMs exhibit a broad absorption profile which is complementary to the D–A copolymer P donor and also possess an appropriate lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) to serve as an acceptor with P with a LUMO level of −3.33 eV. The organic solar cells based on P:SM1 and P:SM2 exhibit a PCE of 4.94% and 6.11%, respectively. The higher value of the PCE for the SM2 based organic solar cells has been attributed to the broader absorption profile, more balanced charge transport and lower photon energy loss. The values of Voc of the organic solar cells for the SM1 acceptor (1.06 V and 1.02 V without and with solvent additive) are the highest values reported for devices based on non-fullerene acceptors to the best of our knowledge. The energy loss (Eloss) of 0.56 eV and 0.48 eV for SM1 and SM2 based devices, respectively is one of the smallest reported for BHJ organic solar cells.

Highest coercivity and considerable saturation magnetization of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles with tunable band gap prepared by thermal decomposition approach

Abstract: The report states that well-dispersed CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) with controllable morphology were prepared using an economical and facile one-pot thermal decomposition approach. Cobalt (II) acetylacetonate and Iron (III) acetylacetonate were employed as precursors instead of expensive and toxic pentacarbonyl. The transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction investigation show that CoFe2O4 NPs possess cubic morphology, homogeneous size distribution and pure phase structure. Optical band gap was tuned from 1.147 to 0.92 eV and saturation magnetization (M s) increased from 53.91 to 84.01 emu/g for the as-prepared and annealed (700 °C) NPs. The coercivity (H c) enhanced from 1137 to 2109 Oe at room temperature, which is the highest value reported to date for CoFe2O4 NPs synthesized by thermal decomposition. All CoFe2O4 (as-prepared and annealed) NPs showed excellent ferromagnetism behaviour at room temperature. Raman studies of CoFe2O4 NPs confirm the redistribution of Co2+ from octahedral to tetrahedral site. The work demonstrates the great potential of CoFe2O4 NPs as a promising alternative for data storage device applications as well as for opto-magnetic devices.

Donor–acceptor meso-alkynylated ferrocenyl BODIPYs: synthesis, structure, and properties

Abstract: meso-Alkynylated ferrocenyl BODIPYs (3–6) with varying conjugation length have been designed, and synthesized using the palladium catalyzed Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction of meso-chloro BODIPY with the corresponding ferrocenylethynes. These BODIPYs have been designed to improve the electronic communication between the donor ferrocene, and the acceptor BODIPY. The photonic and electrochemical properties indicate charge transfer (CT) from the ferrocene to the BODIPY. Single crystal X-ray structures of 2′, 3, and 6 show interesting supramolecular interactions. Computational studies were used to study the electronic structure of the BODIPYs.