National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Staggered gap radial heterojunctions based on ZnO-CuxO core-shell nanowires are used as water stable photocatalysts to harvest solar energy for pollutants removal. ZnO nanowires with a wurtzite crystalline structure and a band gap of approximately 3.3 eV are obtained by thermal oxidation in air. These are covered with an amorphous CuxO layer having a band gap of 1.74 eV and subsequently form core-shell heterojunctions. The electrical characterization of the ZnO pristine and ZnO-CuxO core-shell nanowires emphasizes the charge transfer phenomena at the junction and at the interface between the nanowires and water based solutions. The methylene blue degradation mechanism is discussed taking into consideration the dissolution of ZnO in water based solutions for ZnO nanowires and ZnO-CuxO core-shell nanowires with different shell thicknesses. An optimum thickness of the CuxO layer is used to obtain water stable photocatalysts, where the ZnO-CuxO radial heterojunction enhances the separation and transport of the photogenerated charge carriers when irradiating with UV-light, leading to swift pollutant degradation.

Phosphate-tellurite glasses exhibit magnetic properties, due to the presence of the small metallic Te colloids which were revealed in low field magnetic circular dichroism. These metallic colloids induce the red coloring of these glasses together with the absorbance in the visible region. The temperature dependence of the absorption spectrurn and the A-term in magnetic circular dichroism are specific for Te metallic nanoparticles, which results during the melting procedure over 1000 degrees C due to the conversion of Te4+ in Te-0 atoms. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy supports this fact due to the presence of small peaks as satellites in the region of Te 3d core-level spectrum. Quantification of these satellites compared with Te 3d(3/2) and 3d(5/2) peaks suggests a 14% concentration of Te metallic nanoparticles in these phosphate-tellurite glasses. The presence of metallic particles induces the crystallization effects of Te micrograins upon thermal treatments at higher temperatures.

The bone regeneration field targeted lately the development of new products based on precursors of natural origin. This study aimed to obtain the optimal design of polymer-ceramic composites for guided bone regeneration application from cellulose acetate (CA) and hydroxyapatite (HA) by varying three relevant parameters: the amount of HA powder added to the CA matrix (in the 20-40 wt% range), the HA particles size (max. 20 mu m vs. max. 40 mu m) and the homogenization time required for HA powder dispersion in the CA matrix (1 min vs. 4 min). For polymer-ceramic film structures preparation, the phase inversion by immersion in water method was used. This involved the deposition of composite solution (i.e. CA with 20-40 wt% HA) on a glass support, followed by sizing it at a thickness of 0.2 mm. The obtained film structures were investigated in terms of morphocompositional and structural properties. The surface features evaluation was achieved by surface wettability, roughness, water permeation, protein retention and in vitro evaluation of MC3T3-E1 morphology and viability. Further, ceramic particle distribution throughout samples volume was provided by computed tomography methods. These investigations targeted the validation of the prepared composite film structures as viable solutions for guided bone regeneration.

Recently, a large spectrum of biomaterials emerged, with emphasis on various pure, blended, or doped calcium phosphates (CaPs). Although basic cytocompatibility testing protocols are referred by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 10993 (parts 1-22), rigorous in vitro testing using cutting-edge technologies should be carried out in order to fully understand the behavior of various biomaterials (whether in bulk or low-dimensional object form) and to better gauge their outcome when implanted. In this review, current molecular techniques are assessed for the in-depth characterization of angiogenic potential, osteogenic capability, and the modulation of oxidative stress and inflammation properties of CaPs and their cation- and/or anion-substituted derivatives. Using such techniques, mechanisms of action of these compounds can be deciphered, highlighting the signaling pathway activation, cross-talk, and modulation by microRNA expression, which in turn can safely pave the road toward a better filtering of the truly functional, application-ready innovative therapeutic bioceramic-based solutions.

Three novel fluorescent mesoporous silica composites were obtained through the covalent immobilization of 7-amino-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin, 6-amino-chromen-2-one and 7-amino-4-methyl-3-coumarinylacetic acid, respectively, inside the channels of mesoporous silica SBA-15. Presence of fluorescent moieties was assessed by elemental analysis, thermal analysis, infrared, UV-Vis, Si-29- and C-13-CP/MAS NMR, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Reduction of specific surface area of the composites by 50-60% and also the average pore size diameter by 0.5-0.55 nm compared to unfunctionalized SBA-15 was evidenced by N-2 adsorption desorption analysis. Their antioxidant, antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity on HeLa-2 cells were evaluated in order to formulate some potential applications of the obtained compounds. The obtained results recommend the obtained fluorescent mesoporous nanocomposites as potential candidates for the development of novel probes for the in situ tracking of oxidative stress, as well as for antimicrobial applications.

Trilayer memory capacitors of control HfO2/floating gate of Ge nanoparticles in HfO2/tunnel HfO2/Si substrate deposited by magnetron sputtering and subsequently annealed are investigated for the first time for applications in radiation dosimetry. In the floating gate (FG), amorphous Ge nanoparticles (NPs) are arranged in two rows inside the HfO2 matrix. The HfO2 matrix is formed of orthorhombic/tetragonal nanocrystals (NCs). The adjacent thin films to the FG are also formed of orthorhombic/tetragonal HfO2 NCs. This phase is formed during annealing, in samples with thick control HfO2, in the presence of Ge, being induced by the stress. In the rest of the control oxide, HfO2 NCs are monoclinic. Orthorhombic HfO2 has ferroelectric properties and therefore enhances the memory window produced by charge storage in Ge NPs to above 6 V. The high sensitivity of 0.8 mV Gy(-1) to a particle irradiation from a Am-241 source was measured by monitoring the flatband potential during radiation exposure after electrical writing of the memory.

Artificial complex-oxide heterostructures containing ultrathin buried layers grown along the pseudocubic [111] direction have been predicted to host a plethora of exotic quantum states arising from the graphene-like lattice geometry and the interplay between strong electronic correlations and band topology. To date, however, electronic-structural investigations of such atomic layers remain an immense challenge due to the shortcomings of conventional surface-sensitive probes with typical information depths of a few angstroms. Here, we use a combination of bulk-sensitive soft X-ray angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (SX-ARPES), hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES), and state-of-the-art first-principles calculations to demonstrate a direct and robust method for extracting momentum-resolved and angle-integrated valence-band electronic structure of an ultrathin buckled graphene-like layer of NdNiO3 confined between two 4-unit cell-thick layers of insulating LaAlO3. The momentum-resolved dispersion of the buried Ni d states near the Fermi level obtained via SX-ARPES is in excellent agreement with the first-principles calculations and establishes the realization of an antiferro-orbital order in this artificial lattice. The HAXPES measurements reveal the presence of a valence-band bandgap of 265 meV. Our findings open a promising avenue for designing and investigating quantum states of matter with exotic order and topology in a few buried layers.

It is shown that quantum electromagnetic transitions to high orders are essential to describe the time-dependent path of a nanoscale electron system in a Coulomb blockade regime when coupled to external leads and placed in a 3D rectangular photon cavity. The electronic system consists of two quantum dots embedded asymmetrically in a short quantum wire. The two lowest in energy spin degenerate electron states are mostly localized in each dot with only a tiny probability in the other dot. In the presence of the leads, a slow high-order transition between the ground states of the two quantum dots is identified. The Fourier power spectrum for photon-photon correlations in the steady state shows a Fano type of resonance for the frequency of the slow transition. Full account is taken of the geometry of the multilevel electronic system, and the electron-electron Coulomb interactions together with the para- and diamagnetic electron-photon interactions are treated with step-wise exact numerical diagonalization and truncation of appropriate many-body Fock spaces. The matrix elements for all interactions are computed analytically or numerically exactly.

The main objective of the tissue engineering field is to regenerate the damaged parts of the body by developing biological substitutes that maintain, restore, or improve original tissue function. In this context, by using the electrospinning technique, composite scaffolds based on polycaprolactone (PCL) and inorganic powders were successfully obtained, namely: zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO2) and hydroxyapatite (HAp). The novelty of this approach consists in the production of fibrous membranes based on a biodegradable polymer and loaded with different types of mineral powders, each of them having a particular function in the resulting composite. Subsequently, the precursor powders and the resulting composite materials were characterized by the structural and morphological point of view in order to determine their applicability in the field of bone regeneration. The biological assays demonstrated that the obtained scaffolds represent support that is accepted by the cell cultures. Through simulated body fluid immersion, the biodegradability of the composites was highlighted, with fiber fragmentation and surface degradation within the testing period.

This paper describes an alternative active layer for the solar cells based on the organometallic compounds in two configurations: bulk heterojunction and donor/acceptor junction between the organometallic compounds as the electron donor and carbon-based layer as the electron acceptor. Both configurations depend on the band alignment which ensures optimal charge transport towards electrodes in the sandwich structures of these active layers, but the optimization also depends by the exciton diffusion length which limits the thicknesses of the active layer. In the bulk heterojunctions, the exciton diffusion length could be extended to 100 nm which allows a better efficiency then bilayer structures. The photoconductive behaviors of these two configurations have shown the superiority of the bulk heterojunctions, increasing the intensity of the measured photocurrent. The redshift of the photoluminescence of Alq3-5Cl in the bulk heterojunctions reveals a better charge transfer towards the acceptor layer, in this case, formed from graphene oxide. The alternative of organometallic compounds as donor materials ensures a better thermal and chemical stability compared with other organic materials like perovskites.