National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Eutectic particles of B4C-TiB2 were reinforced with Ti by spark plasma sintering (SPS) or infiltration. The SPSed samples with 20, 30 and 40 wt. % Ti consisted of ceramic phases, and had a bicontinuous macrostructure formed by the Ti-rich region and the eutectic particles region, while the infiltrated sample was a complex composite comprised of a 3D Ti-rich continuous network, composite in nature, that contained Ti-metal and in which are embedded isolated ceramic (eutectic) particles. The SPSed samples are brittle with the maximum bending strength of 300 MPa for the 30 wt. % Ti, higher than for a reference sample produced by SPS from directionally solidified eutectic particles. A higher amount of added Ti results in a higher displacement in the bending test suggesting a higher fracture toughness. Simultaneous strengthening and toughening of the composite was realized. The infiltrated sample was ductile, while its bending strength (220 MPa) was comparable to the values measured for the brittle as-introduced reference sample and the sample with 20 wt. % Ti, both produced by SPS. In the SPSed and infiltrated samples at the interface between the Ti-rich region and B4C-TiB2 eutectic particles, a local 'pull-out' intergranular fracturing mechanism mainly involving Ti-B 1D-grains was observed. This local micromechanism together with a 'pull out' macromechanism of the eutectic grains from the Ti-rich component are considered important for the bridging/anchoring behavior responsible for the strengthening and toughening processes in our novel hierarchical composites.

We report the facile and low-cost preparation as well as detailed characterization of dense arrays of passivated ferromagnetic nickel (Ni) nanotubes (NTs) vertically-supported onto solid Au-coated Si substrates. The proposed fabrication method relies on electrochemical synthesis within the nanopores of a supported anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and allows for fine tuning of the NTs ferromagnetic walls just by changing the cathodic reduction potential during the nanostructures' electrochemical growth. Subsequently, the experimental platform allowed further passivation of the Ni NTs with the formation of ultra-thin antiferromagnetic layers of nickel oxide (NiO). Using adequately adapted magnetic measurements, we afterwards demonstrated that the thickness of the NT walls and of the thin antiferromagneticNiO layer, strongly influences the magnetic behavior of the dense array of exchange-coupled Ni/NiO NTs. The specific magnetic properties of these hybrid ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic nanosystems were then correlated with the morpho-structural and geometrical parameters of the NTs, as well as ultimately strengthened by additionally-implemented micromagnetic simulations. The effect of the unidirectional anisotropy strongly amplified by the cylindrical geometry of the ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic interfaces has been investigated with the magnetic field applied both parallel and perpendicular to the NTs axis.

ZnO nanostructures with intrinsic and extended defects were prepared by rapid decomposition of zinc-propio-nate and annealing at 400 degrees C-970 degrees C. The correlation between the structure/morphology, type of native defects (photoluminescence (PL), EPR) and ferromagnetism was investigated, together with ammonia adsorption capacity. All the samples show room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM). Crystallite size increases while the unit cell volume, c-axis constant, microstrain and saturation magnetization relax with increasing temperature; morphology varies from aggregated nanoparticles to frameworks of well-welded crystals. 400 degrees C-800 degrees C annealed samples show a broad visible and/or a prominent violet-blue PL emission and, two narrow g = 2.0065 and g = 1.9632 EPR signals. 800 degrees C-970 degrees C annealed samples exhibit very intense green-yellow photoluminescence. The intrinsic defects in conjunction with a deformed lattice and/or pinned by grain-boundaries appear responsible for RTFM and Curie temperature exceeding 700 degrees C. Tuning the morphology, PL intensity and ferromagnetic signal by choice of annealing temperature can find applications in (gas) sensing, photonic/optoelectronic and spintronic devices.

Effects of proton irradiation on the superconducting properties of sintered MgB2 samples were investigated as a function of proton fluence at fixed energy. All experimental data suggest that critical current densities, irreversibility field and creep activation energy are enhanced because of the complex disorder, which mainly affects the grain boundaries, brought on the crystalline structure by the energetic protons.

The influence of waste glass and red mud addition as alternative source of aluminosilicate precursors on the microstructural, mechanical, and leaching properties of bottom ash-based geopolymer was studied in this work through mineralogical, morphological, and spectroscopic analysis, as well as by conducting compressive strength and leaching tests. The bottom ash-based geopolymer composites were synthesized by adding a constant amount of waste glass (10% by weight) and increasing amounts of red mud (up to 30% by weight). The results derived from FTIR, Si-29 and Al-27 MAS NMR, and SEM-EDX revealed that adding up to 10% (by weight) red mud to the synthesis mixes leads to an increase in the degree of geopolymerization of the activated mixes. The compressive strength followed the same trend. An increase of more than 10% (by weight) red mud added to the synthesis mixes results in a significant decrease of compressive strength of the geopolymer composites. A low leachability of geopolymer composites in regard with their contaminants was revealed especially for those with good compressive strength.

Sn nanoparticles (NPs) are usually obtained by difficult chemical routes in several steps followed by thermal treatments. Here, a simple and clean method, to obtain Sn NPs directly on the substrate, is developed based on a vapor transport technique. The method is versatile, thus can be easily adjusted to obtain Sn NPs of different size, areal density and morphology, by controlling the deposition conditions. NPs are grown on Si/SiO2 substrate and characterized. Water contact angle measurements show that Sn nanoparticles increase the surface hydrophobicity by 20%. Thus, NPs cleanly obtained from a low-cost, earth-abundant, and environmentally friendly material, can be used to modulate the wettability of surfaces. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mononuclear Mn(II) coordination compound, [Mn(H2L)Cl-2] (1), was synthesized by the reaction of H2L and MnCl2 center dot 4H(2)O in methanol where H2L is tridentate ONO-donor hydrazone ligand [H2L = (E)-N'-(2-hydroxy-5-iodobenzylidene)isonicotinohydrazide]. The reaction of H2L with MnCl2 center dot 4H(2)O in the presence of excess amount of NaN3 in methanol gave an azido bridged dinuclear Mn(III) coordination compound, [Mn-2(L)(mu-N-3)(2)(CH3OH)(2)] (2), whereas in the presence of low amount of NaN3, a phenolate bridged dinuclear Mn(II) coordination compound, [Mn-2(HL)(2)(CH3OH)(2)Cl-2]center dot CH3OH (3), was obtained. These compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic methods, single crystal X-ray analysis and magnetic measurements. The structural studies indicated that the ligand is coordinated as ONO-donor ligand in 1-3 and behave as a neutral, dianionic and monoanionic ligand in compounds 1, 2 and 3, respectively. There is a good agreement between spectroscopic properties and structures of the compounds. Several synthetic attempts indicated that the azide anion has considerable effect on the formation of phenolate bridged dinuclear Mn(II) coordination compound which attributed to its general basic properties. Magnetic measurements indicate the formation of dinuclear molecules with ferromagnetic intramolecular couplings in the case of 2 and 3 as well as with much weaker and distributed antiferromagnetic interactions among the dinuclear units of these compounds. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Silica-based bioactive glasses (SBG) hold great promise as bio-functional coatings of metallic endo-osseous implants, due to their osteoproductive potential, and, in the case of designed formulations, suitable mechanical properties and antibacterial efficacy. In the framework of this study, the FastOs(R)BG alkali-free SBG system (mol%: SiO2-38.49, CaO-36.07, P2O5-5.61, MgO-19.24, CaF2-0.59), with CuO (2 mol%) and Ga2O3 (3 mol%) antimicrobial agents, partially substituting in the parent system CaO and MgO, respectively, was used as source material for the fabrication of intentionally silica-enriched implant-type thin coatings (similar to 600 nm) onto titanium (Ti) substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The physico-chemical and mechanical characteristics, as well as the in vitro preliminary cytocompatibility and antibacterial performance of an alkali-free silica-rich bio-active glass coating designs was further explored. The films were smooth (R-RMS < 1 nm) and hydrophilic (water contact angle of similar to 65 degrees). The SBG coatings deposited from alkali-free copper-gallium co-doped FastOs(R)BG-derived exhibited improved wear performance, with the coatings eliciting a bonding strength value of similar to 53 MPa, Lc3 critical load value of similar to 4.9 N, hardness of similar to 6.1 GPa and an elastic modulus of similar to 127 GPa. The Cu and Ga co-doped SBG layers had excellent cytocompatibility, while reducing after 24 h the Staphylococcus aureus bacterial development with 4 orders of magnitude with respect to the control situations (i.e., nutritive broth and Ti substrate). Thereby, such SBG constructs could pave the road towards high-performance bio-functional coatings with excellent mechanical properties and enhanced biological features (e.g., by coupling cytocompatibility with antimicrobial properties), which are in great demand nowadays.

Almost six decades ago, in Romania a small group of physicists begun to study chalcogenide compositions, motivated primarily by the desire to understand the phase-change phenomenon in these materials, discovered recently, at that time, by Stanford R. Ovshinsky. It took not too long for them to realize the challenges these materials set to the research. With newcomers to the field, the research was broadened. In some cases just for basic research, to model, and to understand the chalcogenide materials, whereas in other cases, the applicative potential was revealed and used. Herein, the evolution of the field of these somewhat exotic materials is followed, listing the main contributions done in Romania, both in basic and applied research.