National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Ag-doped nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (Ag:HAp-NPs) (Ca10-x Ag (x) (PO4)(6)(OH)(2), x (Ag) = 0.05, 0.2, and 0.3) with antibacterial properties are of great interest in the development of new products. Coprecipitation method is a promising route for obtaining nanocrystalline Ag:HAp with antibacterial properties. X-ray diffraction identified HAp as an unique crystalline phase in each sample. The calculated lattice constants of a = b = 9.435 , c = 6.876 for x (Ag) = 0.05, a = b = 9.443 , c = 6.875 for x (Ag) = 0.2, and a = b = 9.445 , c = 6.877 for x (Ag) = 0.3 are in good agreement with the standard of a = b = 9.418 , c = 6.884 (space group P6(3)/m). The Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectra of the sintered HAp show the absorption bands characteristic to hydroxyapatite. The Ag:HAp nanoparticles are evaluated for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Providencia stuartii, Citrobacter freundii and Serratia marcescens. The results showed that the antibacterial activity of these materials, regardless of the sample types, was greatest against S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, P. stuartii, and C. freundii. The results of qualitative antibacterial tests revealed that the tested Ag:HAp-NPs had an important inhibitory activity on P. stuartii and C. freundii. The absorbance values measured at 490 nm of the P. stuartii and C. freundii in the presence of Ag:HAp-NPs decreased compared with those of organic solvent used (DMSO) for all the samples (x (Ag) = 0.05, 0.2, and 0.3). Antibacterial activity increased with the increase of x (Ag) in the samples. The Ag:HAp-NP concentration had little influence on the bacterial growth (P. stuartii).

ZnO films were electrodeposited from an aqueous nitrate bath on ITO/glass substrates. The process was performed not by the usual potentiostatic approach but by using potential ramps with different sweep rates. We tested these ramps in both directions i.e. either towards electronegative (direct) or electropositive (inverse) potential. As expected, the samples prepared in different deposition conditions show different morphology, different quality of crystalline structure and different optical properties. By employing inverse ramps we prepared films with high quality structural and optical properties. We assume that in these conditions the growth is followed by an etching process which preferentially removes the areas with high defect concentration and leads to the formation of hollow hexagonal prisms. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oxyfluoride glass-ceramics in the system SiO2-Al2O3-CaF2-EuF3 containing Eu3+-doped CaF2 nanocrystals were produced by using controlled crystallization of melt-quenched glass. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy data have revealed the formation of CaF2 nanocrystals of about 50 nm size. The Eu3+-dopant ions act as the nucleating agent necessary to initiate the crystallization process. The refractive index is higher in the glass ceramics than in the initial glass and varies as the annealing time increases. Two competitive processes are responsible for this behavior, the crystallization of the CaF2 phase and the decrease of the glass ceramic mass density. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Amorphous Bi4Ge3O12 glass samples were produced by melt quenching procedure stating with Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) powder, obtained by solid state reaction between oxides. The kinetics of non-isothermal crystallization of EGO nano-crystals has been investigated. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) can give the main parameters of crystallization with an exothermic peak from 813 K to 851 K depending on the heating rate, which was assigned to the crystallization of cubic BGO in the amorphous matrix and compared with the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns. The nano-crystal dimensions were calculated from the XRD patterns by using the Debye-Scherrer method and were compared with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images. It was shown that the Ozawa model is most suitable for describing the behavior of non-isothermal crystallization of EGO nano-crystals within the glass matrix. Experimental results suggest a disk-shape type growth mechanism for the Bi4Ge3O12 nano-crystallites. The Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method has shown that the average activated energy value is 385 +/- 14 kJ/mol which was computed within the same model and agrees very well with the activation energy of the crystallization. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Superconducting bulks of MgB2 with addition of Sb2O3 and Sb with different stoichiometric compositions ((MgB2) + (Sb2O3) (x) , x = 0.0025, 0.005, 0.015, and (MgB2) + (Sb)(y), y = 0.01) were obtained by the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technique. All added samples have high density, above 95% and critical temperature, T (c), of 38.1-38.6 K. This result and XRD data suggest that Sb does not enter the lattice of MgB2. Impurity phases are Mg3Sb2, MgO, and MgB4. The optimum addition is Sb2O3 for x = 0.005. This sample shows the critical current density, J (c)(5 K, 0 T) = 4 x 10(5) A/cm(2) and J (c)(5 K, 7 T) = 6 x 10(2) A/cm(2), while the irreversibility field, H (irr) (5 K, 100 A/cm(2)) = 8.23 T. Indicated values of J (c) and H (irr) are higher than for the pristine sample. The mechanism of J (c) and H (irr) increase in the Sb2O3 added samples is complex and composed of opposite effects most probably involving morphology elements, the presence of nano metric MgB4 and the indirect influence of oxygen or oxygen and Sb. Crystallite size of MgB2 is decreasing when Sb-based additions are introduced and the effect is stronger for the Sb-metal addition. The sample with Sb-metal addition does not improve J (c) and H (irr) when compared with pristine sample.

Photoluminescence and magnetic circular dichroism of the IrQ(ppy)(2)-5Cl compound were investigated between 15 and 295 K. These results have been compared with the output files obtained from Density Functional Theory by using the Gaussian 03W software and some additional packages. The experimental results confirm the first triplet state absorption which arises from d to pi(Q) transition. The temperature dependence photoluminescence have shown a small interaction with the polystyrene, used for dispersion of IrQ(ppy)(2)-5Cl compound. The green and red phosphorescence have the same temperature dependence. The MCD spectra, especially at 15K, reveals the main transitions involved in the Metal-to-Ligand Charge Transfer processes from the Ir towards the two ligands, phenylpyridine and quinoline, respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Te metal or TeO2 were added to MgB2 ((MgB2) (A)(x), x = 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, A = addition). The mixtures were processed by spark plasma sintering. The critical current density J(c), of the samples containing the Te/TeO2 additions is enhanced at high fields and at temperatures up to 20K. The curve of J(c)(5 K, H) for the sample with optimum x(Te) = 0.01 shows no accelerated decrease up to 8 T (J(c)(5 K, 8 T) = 1.8 x 10(3) A cm(-2)). The irreversibility field of the samples containing the Te/TeO2 additions is also enhanced. (C) 2012 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Carbon nanowalls (CNWs) functionalization allows the tailoring of some of their properties after they have been synthesized. Herewith we report on post-synthesis CNWs functionalization by plasma treatments. Radiofrequency plasmas generated in hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, tetrafluoroethane, and sulfur hexafluoride admixed to argon, were used. The changes of morphology, structure, chemical composition were determined by SEM, FTIR, Raman Spectroscopy, specifically for each gas mixture. The results point out to the surface erosion, the functional groups attachment, or to thin film coverage of CNWs material. Such processes strongly influence the material properties, as exemplified by the wettability: superhydrophilic or superhydrophobic surfaces are obtained starting from the same base CNWs material.

The phase of the electronic wave function is not directly measurable but, quite remarkably, it becomes accessible in pairs of isospectral shapes, as recently proposed in the experiment by Moon et al. [Science 319, 782 (2008)]. The method is based on a special property, called transplantation, which relates the eigenfunctions of the isospectral pairs, and allows us to extract the phase distributions, if the amplitude distributions are known. We numerically simulate such a phase extraction procedure in the presence of disorder, which is introduced both as Anderson disorder and as roughness at edges. With disorder, the transplantation can no longer lead to a perfect fit of the wave functions, however we show that a phase can still be extracted-defined as the phase that minimizes the misfit. Interestingly, this extracted phase coincides with (or differs negligibly from) the phase of the disorder-free system, up to a certain disorder amplitude, and a misfit of the wave functions as high as similar to 5%, proving a robustness of the phase extraction method against disorder. However, if the disorder is increased further, the extracted phase shows a puzzle structure, no longer correlated with the phase of the disorder-free system. A discrete model is used, which is the natural approach for disorder analysis. We provide a proof that discretization preserves isospectrality and the transplantation can be adapted to the discrete systems.

Background: In this work the chemical structure of dextran-iron oxide thin films was reported. The films were obtained by MAPLE technique from composite targets containing 10 wt. % dextran with 1 and 5 wt.% iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs). The IONPs were synthesized by co-precipitation method. A KrF* excimer laser source (lambda = 248 nm, tau(FWHM)congruent to 25 ns, nu = 10 Hz) was used for the growth of the hybrid, iron oxide NPs-dextran thin films. Results: Dextran coated iron oxide nanoparticles thin films were indexed into the spinel cubic lattice with a lattice parameter of 8.36 angstrom. The particle sized calculated was estimated at around 7.7 nm. The XPS shows that the binding energy of the Fe 2p(3/2) of two thin films of dextran coated iron oxide is consistent with Fe3+ oxides. The atomic percentage of the C, O and Fe are 66.71, 32.76 and 0.53 for the films deposited from composite targets containing 1 wt.% maghemite and 64.36, 33.92 and 1.72 respectively for the films deposited from composite targets containing 5 wt.% maghemite. In the case of cells cultivated on dextran coated 5% maghemite gamma-Fe2O3, the number of cells and the level of F-actin were lower compared to the other two types of thin films and control. Conclusions: The dextran-iron oxide continuous thin films obtained by MAPLE technique from composite targets containing 10 wt.% dextran as well as 1 and 5 wt.% iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by co-precipitation method presented granular surface morphology. Our data proved a good viability of Hep G2 cells grown on dextran coated maghemite thin films. Also, no changes in cells morphology were noticed under phase contrast microscopy. The data strongly suggest the potential use of iron oxide-dextran nanocomposites as a potential marker for biomedical applications.