National Cheng Kung University

About: National Cheng Kung University is a education organization based out in Tainan City, Taiwan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Thin film. The organization has 49723 authors who have published 69799 publications receiving 1437420 citations. The organization is also known as: NCKU.

Structural Features of Nanotubes Synthesized from NaOH Treatment on TiO2 with Different Post-Treatments

Abstract: We demonstrated that nanotubes synthesized from a NaOH treatment on TiO2 with subsequent acid washing could proceed with repeatable crystalline-structure transformation through a simple acid−base washing step. By providing the unit cell parameters, we identified a divalent salt titanate (Na2Ti2O5·H2O) with a layered structure as the structure formed after the NaOH treatment. With the increase in acidity during the post-treatment acid washing, the layered titaniate transformed into a nanotube through Na+−H+ substitution, and eventually transformed into anatase TiO2. Crystalline-structure analysis has shown the feasibility of this titanate−titania transformation occuring through a simple structural rearrangement. A complete scheme for the formation and transformation of nanotubes induced by the NaOH treatment and the post-treatment washing was proposed.

Novel high-efficiency step-up converter

Abstract: As a result of the equivalent series resistor of the boost inductor, conventional boost converters are not able to provide high voltage gain. A high-efficiency high step-up converter is proposed, with low voltage stress on power switch, power diodes and output capacitors. The circuit topology of the proposed converter consists of an energy clamp circuit and a voltage boost cell. The boost converter functions as an active clamp circuit to suppress the voltage spike on power switch during the turn-off transient period. The boost converter output terminal and flyback converter output terminal are serially connected to increase the output voltage gain with the coupled inductor. By serially connecting the secondary windings of the boost inductor, a high voltage gain is achieved with less voltage stress on the power devices, such as power MOSFET and power diodes. The operational principle and steady-state analysis are described. A 35 W converter with simulation and experimental results is presented to demonstrate the performance. It shows that the efficiency of the proposed converter is very high (nearly 93%) with four times the voltage output.

Design of an Amphiphilic Polymer for Nanoparticle Coating and Functionalization

Abstract: Inorganic colloidal nanoparticles, such as quantum dots or Au nanoparticles, have been extensively investigated for two decades in physics as well as in chemistry. Applications in a variety of fields such as optics, electronics, and biology are envisaged and important proof-of-concept studies have been reported. In particular, with regard to biologically motivated applications, colloidal stability is a key requirement. Apart from nanoparticles stabilized with small ligand molecules, lipids, [6–8] and surface silanization, amphiphilic polymers have been also used by several groups to disperse originally hydrophobic nanoparticles in aqueous solution. This class of amphiphilic particle coatings not only enables the phase transfer of the nanoparticles from organic solvents to aqueous solution, but also serves as a versatile platform for chemical modification and bioconjugation of the particles because biological molecules can be covalently linked to the polymer surface. Because the stability of the amphiphilic coating around the nanoparticle solely depends on the hydrophobic interaction, this procedure is very general and does, for example, not depend on the material of the inorganic nanoparticle core, as it is the case for ligand exchange protocols. Because of the numerous contact points mediated by hydrophobic interaction, the attachment of the polymer to the particle surface is highly stable and can be improved further by crosslinking of the polymer shell. Nowadays quantum dots coated with amphiphilic polymers and with various biological molecules attached to their surface are commercially available (e.g., Invitrogen). The amphiphilic polymers that have been used so far for coating hydrophobic inorganic nanoparticles consist of hydrophobic side chains for the linkage to the nanoparticle surface and a hydrophilic backbone that provides water solubility through charged groups (in general -COO ) and also acts as an anchor for the attachment of biological molecules with bioconjugate chemistry. In this report, we introduce an amphiphilic polymer which involves a third kind of building block: functional organic molecules. The functional organic molecules are linked to the hydrophobic side chains in a similar way as the hydrophilic backbone and provide additional functionality in the particle surface (Figure 1). The amphiphilic polymer described here is based on a poly(maleic anhydride) backbone. Reaction of a fraction of the anhydride rings with alkylamines leads to the formation of the hydrophobic side chains that are needed for intercalation with the hydrophobic surfactant layer on the nanoparticle surface. Another fraction of the anhydride rings is used to link functional organic molecules to the backbone. Like the alkylamines, organic molecules bearing amino-groups can be directly linked to the anhydride rings by reaction of the anhydride with the amino group. In this way alkylamines and organic molecules with amino terminations can be linked to the polymer backbone in a one-pot reaction. The resulting amphiphilic polymer is then wrapped around hydrophobic capped nanoparticles and the organic solvent is replaced by aqueous solution according to our previously published procedure. By linking some of the remaining anhydride rings with diamine linkers, the polymer molecules around each nanoparticle are interconnected and, thus, the shell is crosslinked. Upon phase transfer to aqueous solution, the remaining anhydride rings open to yield negatively charged carboxyl groups, which provide electrostatic repulsion resulting in a stable dispersion of the nanoparticles. Apart from negatively charged carboxyl groups, the polymer surface of the nanoparticles also contains embedded functional organic molecules. The strategy reported here has several advantageous features: 1) The maleic anhydride moieties react spontaneously with high yield with both amino-modified hydrophobic side-chains (such as alkylamines) and functional organic molecules with amino terminal groups. 2) No additional reagents are needed for the coupling. In comparison, [*] R. A. Sperling, M. Zanella, Prof. W. J. Parak Fachbereich Physik, Philipps Universit#t Marburg Renthof 7, 35037 Marburg (Germany) E-mail: Wolfgang.Parak@physik.uni-marburg.de C.-A. J. Lin, R. A. Sperling, P.-Y. Li, M. Zanella, Prof. W. J. Parak Center for NanoScience Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit#t M8nchen Munich (Germany) C.-A. J. Lin, T.-Y. Yang, W. H. Chang Department of Biomedical Engineering Chung Yuan Christian University Taiwan (ROC) C.-A. J. Lin, J. K. Li, W. H. Chang R&D Center for Membrane Technology Center for Nano Bioengineering Chung Yuan Christian University Taiwan (ROC) [] These authors contributed equally to this work. [] Present address: Institute of Biotechnology, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan (ROC)