Match | EPFL Graph Search

A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matches are packaged in matchboxes, and paper matches are partially cut into rows and stapled into matchbooks. The coated end of a match, known as the match "head", consists of a bead of active ingredients and binder, often colored for easier inspection. There are two main types of matches: safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface, and strike-anywhere matches, for which any suitably frictional surface can be used. Historically, the term match referred to lengths of cord (later cambric) impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. These were used to light fires and fire guns (see matchlock) and cannons (see linstock) and to detonate explosive devices such as dynamite sticks. Such matches were characterised by their burning speed i.e. quick match and slow match. Depending on its formulation, a slow match burns at a rate of around 30 cm (1 ft) per hour and a quick match at per minute. The modern equivalent of a match (in the sense of a burnable cord) is the simple fuse such as a visco fuse, still used in pyrotechnics to obtain a controlled time delay before ignition. The original meaning of the word still persists in some pyrotechnics terms, such as black match (a black-powder-impregnated fuse) and Bengal match (a firework akin to sparklers producing a relatively long-burning, colored flame). However, when friction matches became commonplace, the term match came to refer mainly to these. The word match derives from Old French mèche, referring to the wick of a candle. A note in the text Cho Keng Lu, written in 1366, describes a sulfur match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur, used in China by "impoverished court ladies" in AD 577 during the conquest of Northern Qi.

Electronic Structure of Few-Layer Black Phosphorus from & mu;-ARPES

Nicola Marzari, Marco Gibertini, Samuel Poncé, Christophe Berthod

Black phosphorus (BP) stands out among two-dimensional(2D) semiconductorsbecause of its high mobility and thickness dependent direct band gap.However, the quasiparticle band structure of ultrathin BP has remainedinaccessible to experiment thus far. Here we ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Recent progress in black phosphorus nanostructures as environmental photocatalysts

Sami Rtimi, Yucheng Wu

Hazardous chemicals excruciatingly contaminated water, air, and soil for the past few decades. Eco-friendly techniques to clean and or destroy these harmful chemicals is an urgent requirement at this moment. In this direction, a large number of methodologi ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2020

Photocarrier-induced band-gap renormalization and ultrafast charge dynamics in black phosphorus

Majed Chergui, Michele Puppin, Gianmarco Gatti

With its tunable band-gap and its unique optical and electronic properties black phosphorus (BP) opens exciting opportunities for optoelectronic nanotechnology. The band-gap extends from the visible to the mid-infrared spectral range, as a function of samp ...

2019