Long recombination

Hydrocarbon flames have rapid dissociation reactions within the primary flame zone, leading to a mole-number overshoot, which is followed by a relatively long recombination zone. Important rapid-dissociation reactions include... 

It should be noted that not all flames have the behaviors discussed above. For example, the equilibrium species distribution in some H2-N20-Ar flames has essentially the same mole number as the reactants. As a result the adiabatic flame temperature is achieved directly in the flame front with no long recombination tail. Ammonia-oxygen flames exhibit a slow approach to chemical equilibrium, albeit with a long dissociation, not recombination, tail [279], Here the temperature in the flame front overshoots the adiabatic flame temperature, with the equilibrium temperature being approached from above as the dissociation reactions proceed. In certain highly strained, rich, hydrocarbon flames (e.g., C2H2-H2-O2), such as those used for flame-based diamond growth, the temperature can also overshoot the adiabatic flame temperature in the flame front. Here the overshoot is caused by the relatively slow dissociation of the excess acetylene [270]. 

Illumination creates excess electrons and holes which populate the extended and localized states at the band edges and give rise to photoconductivity. The ability to sustain a large excess mobile carrier concentration is crucial for efficient solar cells and light sensors and depends on the carriers having a long recombination lifetime. The carrier lifetime is a sensitive function of the density and distribution of localized gap states, so that the study of recombination in a-Si H gives much information about the nature of the gap states as well as about the recombination mechanisms. 

Examples of the low temperature luminescence spectra are shown in Fig. 8.12. The luminescence intensity is highest in samples with the lowest defect density and so we concentrate on this material. The role of the defects is discussed in Section 8.4. The luminescence spectrum is featureless and broad, with a peak at 1.3-1.4 eV and a half width of 0.25-0.3 eV. It is generally accepted that the transition is between conduction and valence band tail states, with three main reasons for the assignment. First, the energy is in the correct range for the band tails, as the spectrum lies at the foot of the Urbach tail (Fig. 8.12(6)). Second, the luminescence intensity is highest when the defect density is lowest, so that the luminescence cannot be a transition to a defect. Third, the long recombination decay time indicates that the carriers are in localized rather than extended states (see Section 8.3.3). 

The photoconductivity response of a-Si H nipi structures has an extremely long recombination lifetime. A brief exposure to illumination causes an increase in the conductivity which persists almost indefinitely at room temperature (Kakalios and Fritzsche 1984). An example of this persistent photoconductivity is shown in Fig. 9.32. The decay time exceeds 10 s at room temperature and decreases as the temperature is raised, with an activation energy of about 0.5 eV. 

An interesting feature of this structure is that the free electrons will be found in the minima of the conduction bands while the holes reside in the maxima of the valence band, thus are physically separated from each other. This provides extremely long recombination times for photo-induced electron-hole pairs. Thus a photocurrent can exist much longer in a nipi structure than in a homogeneously doped semiconductor. 

In contrast to the bimoleciilar recombination of polyatomic radicals ( equation (A3.4.34)1 there is no long-lived intennediate AB smce there are no extra intramolecular vibrational degrees of freedom to accommodate the excess energy. Therefore, the fonnation of the bond and the deactivation tlirough collision with the inert collision partner M have to occur simultaneously (within 10-100 fs). The rate law for trimoleciilar recombination reactions of the type in equation (A3.4.47) is given by... 

The situation is very different in indirect gap materials where phonons must be involved to conserve momentum. Radiative recombination is inefficient, resulting in long lifetimes. The minority carrier lifetimes in Si reach many ms, again in tire absence of defects. It should be noted tliat long minority carrier lifetimes imply long diffusion lengtlis. Minority carrier lifetime can be used as a convenient quality benchmark of a semiconductor. 

However, not all excitons have sufficiently long lifetimes to reach the interface before recombining. To circumvent this problem and increase device efficiency, heterostmcture devices have been fabricated. In these devices, donors and acceptors are mixed together to create a network that provides many internal interfaces where charge separation can occur. Heterostmcture devices made from the donor polymer... 

By similar logic, protein affinity Hbraries have been constmcted to identify protein—protein combining sites, as in antibody—antigen interaction (19) and recombinant Hbraries have been made which produce a repertoire of antibodies in E. coli (20). In another case, a potential DNA-based therapeutic strategy has been studied (21). DNAs from a partially randomized Hbrary were selected to bind thrombin in vitro. Oligonucleotides, termed aptamers that bound thrombin shared a conserved sequence 14—17 nucleotides long. 

Human Extended Insulin Zinc Suspension. Ultralente Humulin U is a long-acting form of human insulin produced by recombinant DNA techniques. It is adrninistered subcutaneously and should not be given intravenously. The time course of this preparation is similar for onset of activity but shorter for maximum activity and duration of action compared with ultralente preparations of animal origin. Insulins of the lente series can be mixed in any proportion to obtain the desired dose and modified activity. 

Thushigh internal quantum efficiency requires short radiative and long nonradiative lifetimes. Nonradiative lifetimes are generally a function of the semiconductor material quaUty and are typically on the order of microseconds to tens of nanoseconds for high quahty material. The radiative recombination rate, n/r, is given by equation 4 ... 

Thaumatin (trade name Talin) is a very potent sweetener (ca 2000X, 10% sucrose solution sweetness equivalence). However, its potency is overshadowed by inferior taste quaUties. The onset of sweetness is very slow, and after reaching the maximum sweetness, a very long-lingering sweetness combined with an unpleasant aftertaste follows. Primarily owing to this poor taste quaUty, thaumatin is not considered a practically useflil sweetener. It is, however, used as a flavor enhancer, especially in products such as chewing gum. Thaumatin and thaumatin B-recombinant were affirmed GRAS flavors (EEMA no. 3732 and 3814, respectively). They are not approved as sweeteners in the United States. 

One method used to achieve genetic stabiUty is to insert the plasmid or the recombinant DNA direcdy into the chromosome. Since no cell can afford to lose a chromosome, this assures that the recombinant DNA is not lost as long as it remains an integral part of the chromosome. 

Two NKxr splice variants have been identified (Table 3). A NKxr splice variant having a very short C-terminal intracellular tail (7 instead of 96 amino acids), which has been expressed and characterized in recombinant systems (Fig. 1), was found to be expressed at higher level than the long isoform in breast cancer cells. As compared to the long receptor, the short NKxr isoform is less subjected to desensitization and internalization... 

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