National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Our study focused on the long-term degradation under simulated conditions of coatings based on different compositions of polycaprolactone-polyethylene glycol blends (PCL-blend-PEG), fabricated for titanium implants by a dip-coating technique. The degradation behavior of polymeric coatings was evaluated by polymer mass loss measurements of the PCL-blend-PEG during immersion in SBF up to 16 weeks and correlated with those yielded from electrochemical experiments. The results are thoroughly supported by extensive compositional and surface analyses (FTIR, GIXRD, SEM, and wettability investigations). We found that the degradation behavior of PCL-blend-PEG coatings is governed by the properties of the main polymer constituents: the PEG solubilizes fast, immediately after the immersion, while the PCL degrades slowly over the whole period of time. Furthermore, the results evidence that the alteration of blend coatings is strongly enhanced by the increase in PEG content. The biological assessment unveiled the beneficial influence of PCL-blend-PEG coatings for the adhesion and spreading of both human-derived mesenchymal stem cells and endothelial cells.

Single-phase Ba1-xSrxTiO3 (BST) perovskite ceramics with 0.3 <= x <= 0.4 were prepared from powders synthesized via sol-gel route. The compositions have the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition close to room temperature. At 20 degrees C the BST ceramics are ferroelectric for 0.3 <= x <= 0.35 and paraelectric for x = 0.375 and x = 0.40. The study follows the relation between the structural changes produced when increasing the Sr content and the dielectric properties at low intensity electric fields. It is found that the grain size and tetragonality decreases as the Sr content increases. Analyses of complex permittivity and impedance spectroscopy reveal the temperature and frequency dependencies of the dielectric properties. The phase transitions seem to be of first order for all compositions, with a thermal hysteresis that decreases with increasing the Sr content, fact attributed to the corresponding increase of the grain boundaries weight allowing a more efficient stress relaxation in the structure during the change of the symmetry from cubic to tetragonal. The diffusiveness degree during the phase transition is increasing with Sr content, suggesting some relaxor-type contribution attributed to smaller grain size. The ac conductivity follows the universal Jonscher law, with an ac component having the power parameter s independent of Sr content, and a dc component that it is thermally activated with an activation energy of about 0.7-0.77 eV attributed to oxygen vacancies acting as donor-like defects. The fit of impedance spectra at different temperatures and frequencies is obtained by using an equivalent circuit accounting the grains, grain boundaries, electrode interfaces and the local contributions produced by reorientation of defect dipoles or defect clusters. All the component circuits have significant variations around phase transitions. These are discussed in relation to structural changes occurring during transition and considering the changes in the distribution of various charges when polarization vanishes.

Tellurium metallic colloids were evidence in the phosphate tellurite glasses obtained by the melt quenching method over 1000 degrees C. The concentration and subsequent color of these glasses strongly depend on the preparation conditions due to the significant differences among the melting point of the component oxides. The presence of Te metallic colloids was evidenced by the magneto-optical measurements at different temperatures, by the shift of the emissions spectra with the excitation wavelength and the thermoluminescence spectra as a result of recombination between the hole centers, created during x-ray irradiation, with the quasi coupled electrons from the surface of the metallic colloids. The peak position in the absorption spectra of these metallic colloids was modeled based on generalized Mie light scattering theory on these metallic structures, taking into account the size and shape of colloids but also the dielectric constant of the phosphate tellurite glasses in which these colloids are embedded.

This study aims to obtain uniform and homogeneous bismuth germanate oxides thin films by spin coating and using the sol-gel technique with different precursors, followed by low-temperature annealing at 560 degrees C. By using Bi(NO3)(3) precursors, we have obtained transparent, yellowish thin films with a 200 nm thickness. The structural analysis of the initial sol-gel powder has shown the presence of two crystalline structures, the cubic Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) and monoclinic Bi2GeO5 crystallites, which evolves towards the BGO structure after annealing. The elemental analysis confirmed the composition of the desired compound Bi4Ge3O12 with 60 wt % GeO2 and 40 wt % Bi2O5. On the other hand, by changing the precursor to (Bi(CH3COO)(2), the film thickness increased to 500 nm thicker due to the high viscosity of the sol, and a dominant monoclinic Bi2GeO5 crystalline structure appeared. The elemental analysis revealed a nonstoichiometric composition with 38 wt % GeO2 and 62 wt % Bi2O3. Due to the low GeO2 phase content that reacted with metastable Bi2GeO5, we obtained cubic Bi4Ge3O12 as a secondary phase, with Bi2GeO5 as a dominant crystalline phase. The redshifts of both absorptions and emissions spectra peaks confirmed a different disorder structure as an interplay between the cubic Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) and monoclinic Bi2GeO5 phases.

A complete characterization from optical, morphological, electrical, photo-electrical and thermo-electrical point of view was done for PEDOT:PSS thin films and DMSO and EG sensitized PEDOT:PSS films. The studies on the electrical conductivity and electrical photoconductivity allowed the calculation of different relaxation times. The relaxation time of the electrical conductivity is of order of femtosecond and is multiplied by a factor 10 when PEDOT: PSS thin films were deposited on surfaces sensitized with DMSO and EG. Besides, the photoconduction excitation and relaxation times are of order of seconds. An increase in the relaxation photoconduction time by 2 was observed for films deposited on surfaces sensitized with DMSO and by 1.2 for films deposited on surfaces sensitized with EG. The time response of electrical conductivity after exposure to light adds supplementary knowledge for the understanding of the inertial processes, or hysteresis behavior of organic or perovskite solar cells involving PEDOT:PSS films. The electrical conductivity increases with the temperature and the use of DMSO and EG as surfactants lead to higher values of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. A better stability of the electrical conductivity with the temperature increase, was noticed for films deposited on surfaces sensitized with DMSO.

Hybrid organic-inorganic thin films based on zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and ZnO nanoparticles were deposited by Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE). Synthesized by a simple wet chemical precipitation method, the ZnO nanoparticles were featured by a hexagonal wurtzite structure, a band-gap value of similar to 3.3 eV and emission bands typical for this semiconductor. The hybrid films containing ZnPc and various amounts of ZnO nanoparticles were evaluated from morphological, compositional, structural, optical and electrical point of view. No chemical decomposition of the organic compound was observed in the FTIR spectra of the deposited layers. The transmittance and photoluminescence spectra recorded on hybrid films disclose the optical signature of both organic (ZnPc) and inorganic (ZnO) components. The electrical measurements carried out under illumination emphasized the importance of the quantity of the inorganic component on the performance parameters of the structures prepared with the hybrid films. Our study provides new insight in the MAPLE deposition of the organic-inorganic hybrid films with potential applications in the photovoltaic cells area.

Memristors characterized by non-volatile memory resistance switching are promising candidates for building brain inspired computing architectures. However, existing memristive devices are still far from the energy efficiency of petaflops per joule exhibited by biological neural networks. Therefore, to achieve the goal of ultra-low power operation, it is necessary to develop new materials for the active layer in memristors. Here, we show highly energy efficient memristive devices built from liquid-exfoliated 2D WS2 and MoS2 nanosheets, enriched in monolayers using a cascade centrifugation method. Lateral devices with electrochemically inert electrodes were built using the drop casting method. The devices show non-volatile resistive switching with a remarkable low energy consumption. This work contributes to the realization of energy efficient and high performance neuromorphic computing applications. (c) 2020 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Structural analysis of the Eu2+-doped BaCl2 nanocrystals and the doping process was monitored and characterized via electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Structural analysis has shown a slight distortion of the cell which is reflected in the low value of microstrain and the Eu2+-doping effect is limited to the first order chlorine ions neighbors of Ba2+. Electron paramagnetic resonance measurements have indicated the presence of the Eu2+-dopant ions in the BaCl2 host matrix with a solubility limit of about 2%. From the spectra simulation, the isotropic g-value g(iso) = 1.9951(7), the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant A(iso)= 42.4 MHz and the high-order zero-field splitting parameters from the crystal field B-2(0) = 21 MHz and B-2(2)= -493 MHz were obtained. During X-ray irradiation, defects are produced and stabilized by the Eu2+ dopant ions. The single dominant thermoluminescence peak at 132 degrees C (activation energy E = 1.1 eV) was assigned to the recombination of the F(Cl)-center with Eu2+ related hole centers. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We developed a new type of chalcohalide glasses with physicochemical and nonlinear optical properties that are tunable by composition. It is found that more than 60 mol.% CdCl2 heavy metal halide can be dissolved into the ternary Ge Sb S system and forming stable glasses. The visible-light transparency range is extended to shorter wavelengths with the addition of CdCl2, which is beneficial for the optical quality control and infra-red (IR) system alignment. The third-order optical nonlinearity (TONL) is studied using the femtosecond Z-scan method. The results show that both the nonlinear refractive index and two photon absorption co-efficient decrease with CdCl2. Benefiting from the favorable property-tailoring effects of CdCl2, the TONL figure of merit (FOM) can be improved to meet the requirement (FOM < 1) for all-optical switching and IR photonic applications.

In this work, ZnO-CdS composite powders synthesized by a simple chemical precipitation method were thoroughly characterized. The morphological, structural, compositional, photocatalytical, and biological properties of the prepared composites were investigated in comparison with those of the pristine components and correlated with the CdS concentration. ZnO-CdS composites contain flower-like structures, their size being tuned by the CdS amount added during the chemical synthesis. The photocatalytic activity of the composites was analyzed under UV irradiation using powders impregnated with methylene blue; the tests confirming that the presence of CdS along the ZnO in composites can improve the dye discoloration. The biological properties such as antioxidant capacity, antibacterial activity, and cytotoxicity of the ZnO, CdS, and ZnO-CdS composites were evaluated. Thus, the obtained composites presented medium antioxidant effect, biocidal activity against Escherichia coli, and no toxicity (at concentrations less than 0.05 mg/mL for composites with a low CdS amount) for human fibroblast cells. Based on these results, such composites can be used as photocatalytic and/or biocidal additives for photoactive coatings, paints, or epoxy floors, which in their turn can provide a cleaner and healthier environment.