Ph.D. (Chemistry) / The effect of crystal defects on the adsorption and flotation properties of zinc sulphides was examined. Flotation experiments were restricted to collectorless flotation, that is to the flotation of untreated and copper-activated samples. The effect of cyanide treatment was examined only so that an explanation could be found for the bonding characteristics of the adsorbed copper on regions where the crystallography was undisturbed and on those where it was distorted. The electrochemical method for the determination of copper permitted continuous and highly sensitive monitoring of the copper adsorption on the sphalerites. The first part of the thesis concerns the adsorption of copper on synthetic zinc sulphide crystals and natural sphalerites. It is stated that the degree of adsorption depends on the defect structure. Structure etching, gamma-ray irradiation, and selective grinding experiments are shown to justify the conclusions reached. The second part of the thesis describes the flotation of the samples. The adsorption characteristics of the samples are defined in the first part and the adsorption and flotation properties are correlated.

Un des objectifs de ces travaux a été d’évaluer l’effet du recyclage et de polluants (huile moteur (HM) et éthylène glycol (EG)) sur les propriétés d’usage de polypropylènes chocs issus de véhicules usagés. Le recyclage (ici limité à six cycles d’extrusion) n’entraîne pas de modification significative des propriétés mécaniques. L’étude de la cinétique de cristallisation des polymères pollués a montré que l’EG retarde la cristallisation du copolymère. La cinétique de dégradation a permis de simuler et de quantifier les différentes étapes de dégradation des matériaux. Le comportement au feu des polymères est par ailleurs amélioré de manière significative après recyclage et en présence des polluants, particulièrement dans le cas de la pollution à l’HM. Le deuxième axe de l’étude a été consacré à l’ignifugation des matériaux par des systèmes intumescents (formulation à base de polyphosphate d’ammonium (APP) avec et sans agent de synergie (borate de zinc (ZB))). Dans tous les cas les matériaux recyclés et pollués présentent des performances satisfaisantes. Nous avons montré que l’efficacité du char intumescent est gouvernée par sa vitesse de formation et par sa conductivité thermique qui sont influencées positivement par la pollution (avec APP/ZB) et le recyclage (avec APP) (augmentation de la vitesse et diminution de la conductivité thermique). La caractérisation chimique des structures qui se développent dans des conditions de combustion montre la formation d’une structure phosphocarbonée contenant des polyaromatiques, des pyrophosphates et de l’acide phosphorique ainsi que, dans le cas du ZB, des borophosphates (sa formation permet de renforcer la structure intumescente). / The impact of recycling and pollutants (engine oil (EO) and ethylene glycol (EG)) on the intrinsic properties of polypropylene-based materials coming from end-of-life cars was investigated. Recycling (limited here to six extrusion cycles) is not detrimental to the mechanical properties of the polymeric matrices. The crystallization kinetics study realized on the polluted polymers showed that the presence of EG delays crystallization. The degradation kinetics allowed to simulate and quantify the different degradation steps of the materials. Pollutants and recycling also lead to an improvement of the reaction to fire of our copolymer, especially in the case of EO-containing samples. The second part of the work was devoted to the study of the flame retardant properties of our materials provided by ammonium polyphosphate (APP) with or without zinc borate (ZB) (synergistic agent)). In all cases recycled and polluted materials show satisfying performances. It was found that the efficiency of the protective barrier provided by the char is governed by the rapidity of its formation and its thermal conductivity which are positively influenced by EO (with APP/ZB) and recycling (with APP) (increase of the formation rate and decrease of the conductivity). Chemical characterization of the structures formed in a fire scenario reveals the formation of a phosphocarboneous structure containing polyaromatics, pyrophosphates and phosphoric acid and when zinc borate is used, borophosphates which can reinforce the intumescent structure.

Members of the zinc binuclear cluster family are important fungal transcriptional regulators sharing a common DNA binding domain. Da181p is a pleotropic zinc binuclear cluster protein involved in the induction of the UGA genes required for the γ-aminobutyrate nitrogen catabolic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The zinc binuclear cluster domain is indispensable for function in Da181p and little is known about other domains in this protein. The aim of the study was to explore the zinc binuclear cluster protein family using comparative bioinformatics as a complement to biochemical and structural approaches. A database of all zinc binuclear cluster proteins was composed. A total of 118 zinc binuclear proteins are reported in this work. Thirty nine previously unidentified zinc binuclear cluster proteins were found. Four homologues of Da181p were identified by homology searching. Important sequence motifs were identified in the aligned sequences of Da181p and its homologues. The coiled coil motif found in the Ga14p zinc binuclear cluster protein could not be identified in Da181p and its homologues. This suggested that Da181p did not dimerise through this structural motif as other zinc binuclear cluster proteins. Solvent accessible site that could be phosphorylated by protein kinase C or casein kinase II and the role of such sites in the possible regulation of Da181p function were discussed.

In this dissertation, Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods grown by a two-step chemical bath deposition method on Si substrate is characterized. Research was conducted on ZnO nanorods for the understanding of their optical properties at room temperature (RT), with the emphasis on the visible luminescence. To this end, controlled thermal treatments of as-grown ZnO nanorods were conducted under different conditions, such as annealing time and environment, at atmospheric pressure. Results related to the following studies are reported: an investigation of the structure of ZnO nanorods, an analysis of the chemical composition of the surface, an investigation of the surface stoichiometry of the rods, and a study of defect-related photoluminescence of ZnO nanorods upon thermal treatment in different ambients.To achieve this, the samples were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and room temperature (RT) photoluminescence Spectroscopy (PL). As-grown ZnO nanorods exhibit a hexagonal shape and have the wurtzite structure; they have, respectively, an average length and diameter of ~900 nm and ~50 nm, and most of the rods are perpendicular to the substrate. The main extrinsic species found in as-grown nanostructures are C, H, F, S, and Cl. ToF-SIMS and XPS confirmed the presence of H related-defects, and the oxygen 1 S XPS peak at 531.5 eV is therefore assigned to oxygen bound to H-related defects. Based on stoichiometry studies, it is found that the near surface regions of as-grown ZnO nanorods (2 to 10 monolayers) are rich in Zn. The RT luminescence of as-grown ZnO nanorods exhibits a near band edge emission centered at ~379.5 nm and deep level emission extending from ~450 nm to ~850 nm. When these nanorods are thermally treated at high temperatures (>850 oC), it is found that even though their crystalline quality is preserved, their morphology is significantly affected, regardless of annealing ambient. Furthermore, in the near surface regions of annealed ZnO nanorods it is found that the Zn/O stoichiometric ratios deviate from unity. Specifically, oxygen vacancies form within the first 100 nm from the sample surface. Further from the surface, the material is deficient in Zn. It is deduced from XPS and AES that the ambient affects the activation rate of intrinsic defects. Furthermore, the only extrinsic defects that are affected by thermal treatment are found to be H-related defects. At high annealing temperatures (300 oC to ~700 oC), H-related defects are removed, and this removal process is found to affect significantly the RT luminescence properties of ZnO nanorods. Specifically, hydrogen passivates vacancy-related defects, depending on the thermal treatment. PL spectroscopy is used to follow this passivation effect as a function of annealing temperature, which causes an initial quenching followed by an enhancement of the green and the red luminescence, regardless of the ambient. Finally, the green luminescence that arises following annealing above ~800 oC is assigned to Zn vacancy-related defects, while the red luminescence that dominates the visible band of ZnO nanorods upon annealing between 400 oC and 600 oC is suggested to be due to oxygen vacancy-related defects.

MgxZn1-xO has emerged as a material of great technological importance. Having a direct energy band gap that is tunable throughout much of the ultraviolet (UV) region of the spectrum from the near-UV (~370 nm) to the deep-UV (~176 nm), this compound is of interest for a variety of optoelectronic devices operating in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum. MgxZn1-xO offers advantages over the more mature compound semiconductor AlGaN which stem mainly from the unusually high exciton binding energy (60 meV in ZnO). In this study the growth of ZnO and MgxZn1-xO thin films using metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) is systematically investigated. The films are mainly grown on c-Al2O3 and Si (100) and characterized using various techniques, such as photoluminescence (PL), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The optical and the structural properties are essentially inspected in order to improve their quality. In this thesis the optimisation of ZnO grown using oxygen gas as a new oxidant in our reactor is investigated. The growth temperature and VI/II ratio are varied in order to find optimum parameters giving high quality layers. The effects of Si (100), Si (111), c- and r-sapphire, glass, GaAs and ZnO substrates on the optical, structural and morphological properties of ZnO thin films grown with tert-butanol (TBOH) is examined. Similar morphologies are observed for all substrates, with the films comprising hexagonal columns having cone shaped ends. The photoluminescence spectra are similar, but the various transitions have different relative intensities. It is clear that the different substrates influence neither the orientation of the films, nor the surface morphology, significantly. The photoluminescence hints at larger stacking fault densities in films grown on silicon and glass, however, as evidenced by stronger basal plane stacking fault-related luminescence at ~3.319 eV in the relevant low temperature photoluminescence spectra. The morphology changes with Mg incorporation, from hexagonal columnar structures to cubic faceted columns. From PL, the full with at half maximum is found to gradually increase with Mg content due to alloy broadening. The deep level emission (DLE) is observed to shift with Mg content. By changing the Mg content, the band gap of MgxZn1-xO film is tuned by ~450 meV, which provides an excellent opportunity for band gap engineering for optoelectronic applications. The c-lattice constant of ZnO (5.205 Å) decreases by only 0.6% when the Mg content reaches x=0.39. The introduction of Mg into ZnO is shown to increase the relative PL intensity of stacking fault-related transitions (at 3.314 eV for ZnO). This becomes the dominant near band edge emission. Using TEM a thin Mg rich layer is observed at the interface between the film and the Si or Al2O3. Temperature dependent PL measurements on layers with low Mg concentration (x=0.05 and 0.1) show that the main bound exciton peak exhibits an “s-shaped” temperature dependence, characteristic of localization in a disordered alloy. The origin of the PL line broadening of MgxZn1-xO (x≤0.04) is also analyzed with respect to alloy broadening, taking into account a random cation distribution and alloy clustering. The influence of various MOCVD growth parameters such as growth temperature and VI/II ratio is studied. Varying the temperature from 280 ˚C to 580 ˚C reveals strong morphological changes and optical degradation of the films. Low (<280 ˚C) and high (>580 ˚C) growth temperatures reduce the Mg incorporation. High VI/II ratios also decrease the Mg incorporation, as evidenced by the red-shift of the donor bound exciton (D°X) line. This is ascribed to a stronger premature reaction between (MeCp)2Mg and the oxidant or a preferential heterogeneous interaction between the Mg and oxygen species on the growth front. For both oxidizing agents (O2 and TBOH), the growth at 420 ˚C and a VI-II ratio of 60 on c-Al2O3 gave optimal quality layers in terms of their optical and structural quality. A comparison of films grown using TBOH and O2 gas as oxidizing agent shows no major difference in terms of Mg incorporation. The effect of annealing, the inclusion of a buffer layer and the influence of growth rate on the properties MgxZn1-xO thin films are also reported.

No description available.

The spark spectra of zinc have been photographed in the region between 990 Å and 2590 Å using a condensed spark in helium as source. Exposures were taken using a Hilger large quartz prism spectrograph and a 3 meter normal incidence vacuum grating spectrograph of local design. Of 1000 lines measured, some 228 were classified in the spectra Zn I, Zn II, and Zn III on the basis of square arrays constructed using energy levels from Moore's "Atomic Energy levels," volume II (1952). Also, 67 lines were classified in the third spark spectrum of zinc, Zn IV, enabling assignment of relative energies to 8 even levels belonging to the configuration 3d⁸ 4s and to 27 odd levels belonging to the configuration 3d⁸ 4p, In addition, use was made of 25 lines measured by Bloch and Bloch (1936) in the region below 500 Å in determination of the ground state 3d⁹²D. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

The spectra of zinc have been photographed in the region between 2400Å and 7000Å. Electrodeless discharge and Schuler tube were used as sources, and exposures were taken on a Hilger E-498 medium quartz spectrograph, a Hilger E-1 Littrow prism spectrograph and a 21 foot concave diffraction grating. There were 1200 lines measured in this region of which 110 were already classified. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

The formation of zinc ferrite from zinc and iron compounds, which reacted under sintering conditions, has been investigated. A mechanism of ferrite formation controlled by cation diffusion has been suggested and it has been shown that the nature of the reagents affects the note of ferrite formation. The decomposition of zinc ferrite by alkaline earth compounds, which reacted under sintering conditions, has also been studied. Calcium ferrite was found to be more stable than zinc ferrite but, for kinetic reasons a metastable phase of zinc ferrite was formed more readily. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mining Engineering, Keevil Institute of / Graduate

Radiations from Zn⁶⁵ have been studied by means of a thin lens beta ray spectrometer. A spiral baffle was used to separate positrons from negatrons. The gamma ray spectrum in the energy range above 100 kev was found to consist of one gamma ray at 1.11 mev and annihilation radiation at 0.51 mev. One positron group was found with maximum energy at 0.327 mev. No internal conversion electrons were found. A decay scheme has been proposed in which Zn⁶⁵ decays either by K-capture to a 1.11 mev excited state of Cu⁶⁵ or bypositron emission to the ground state of Cu⁶⁵. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate