Publications

Chromium substituted cobalt ferrites CoFe2-xCrxO4 (x=0; 1; 1.5) were synthesized through a soft chemistry methodthe gluconate precursor route. The gluconate precursors were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and thermal analysis. The spinel oxide powders were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Mossbauer spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller N-2 adsorption-desorption analyses. XRD indicated the formation of the spinel-type phase with good crystallinity. The mean crystalline domains size decreased from 23.8 to 17.8nm with the increase in the chromium content. SEM revealed faceted particles for which the particle sizes varied significantly with the chromium content. The chromium substituted cobalt ferrites were found to have high catalytic performance.

Two mixtures of elemental nickel and titanium powders in atomic proportions of 50% Ni + 50% Ti and 32% Ni + 68% Ti, respectively, were ground for 40 hours in a high energy planetary mill. In the case of the first mixture, the mechanical alloying was totally produced, while for the second, the alloying was partial. In both mixtures, qualitative X-ray diffraction phase analysis revealed the presence of metastable phases, such as Ni HC and NiTi- R-phase. Also, the equiatomic mixture is characterized by a partially amorphous structure. 10% of each type of mixture submitted to milling was used as reinforcing element in the form of particulates for two magnesium matrix composites. They were obtained by sintering in the plasma at 590 degrees C. In the case of the reinforced with the second mixture composite, the production of new phases other than the matrix and those present in the mixture of nickel and titanium powders after milling were recorded. The electron microscopy images of the two composites have resistant, free of micropores or microcracks matrix / particulates interfaces. The Mg-10% (32 at% Ni + 68 at% Ti) composite is characterized by Vickers hardness higher than that of the composite reinforced with the equiatomic mixture.

The realization of high-beta lasers is one of the prime applications of cavity QED promising ultra-low thresholds, integrability, and reduced power consumption in the field of green photonics. In such nanolasers, spontaneous emission can play a central role even above the threshold. By going beyond rate-equation approaches, we revisit the definition of a laser threshold in terms of the input-output characteristics and the degree of coherence of the emission. We demonstrate that there are new regimes of cavity-QED lasing, realized, e.g., in high-Q nanolasers with extended gain material, for which the two can differ significantly such that coherence is reached at much higher pump powers than required to observe the thresholdlike intensity jump. Against the common perception, such devices do not benefit from high-beta factors in terms of power reduction, as a significant amount of stimulated emission is required to quieten the spontaneous emission noise.

Photo-induced effects on charging and discharging of nanocrystals (NCs) in capacitor memories with Ge NCs in an HfO2 matrix as a floating gate layer are studied. The sequence of layers HfO2/Ge-HfO2/ HfO2 was deposited on a p-Si substrate using magnetron sputtering. Well separated Ge NCs are obtained after rapid thermal annealing at 600 degrees C. The optoelectric capacitor memories were fabricated with a semi-transparent electrode on top of the structure and an Al electrode on the back side of the Si substrate. Light illumination effects on hysteresis curves were investigated using different operation modes. The hysteresis window increases by increasing the light exposure time. The spectral dependence of the hysteresis window shows the maximum contribution of the light in the wavelength range of 950-1000 nm, corresponding to both contributions from the Si substrate and from Ge NCs. The stored information about the electrical and optical pulses is also investigated in the regime of the flat band potential measurements (retention measurements). It is shown that in our memory structure, the photo-effect on the memory retention corresponds to a tunnelling transfer of negative charges from the Si substrate to Ge NCs, up to a mean value of 1.6 electrons per NC. Published by AIP Publishing.

Electrospun sub-micrometer polymer fiber mats represent an interesting substrate which can be employed as a transparent conducting electrode. Functionalization by using nanostructures represents a convenient way of increasing the range of applications. The present paper describes an electrodeposition process which can be applied for preparing ZnO nanostructures covered fibers in a straightforward manner. Poly(methyl methacrylate) fiber mats were obtained by electrospinning using metal frame collectors. Subsequent metallization by DC sputtering was used, these microstructured electrodes being thermally transferred onto glass substrates and further employed as working electrodes for the electrochemical deposition of ZnO. The transparency of the metal covered webs, a function of fiber density, is comparable to that of conventional transparent conductive oxides electrodes such as ITO. The same enhanced control of the ZnO electrodeposition process was observed for the case of the web electrodes as for the classic case of deposition on transparent conducting oxides or on metallic substrates. Structural, optical, morphological and wetting properties were investigated and correlated with the electrodeposition conditions. The photocatalytic properties of ZnO covered fibers were tested through the decomposition of methylene blue thin films under UV irradiation.

Two ZnO materials of spherical hierarchical morphologies, with hollow (ZnOHS) and solid cores (ZnOSS), were obtained through the hydrolysis of zinc acetylacetonate in 1,4-butanediol. The nature of the defects and surface reactivity for the two ZnO materials were investigated through photoluminescence, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy proving the coexistence of shallow and deep defects and, also, the presence of polyol byproducts adsorbed on the outer layers of the ZnO samples. The EPR spectroscopy coupled with the spin-trapping technique showed that the surface of the ZnO samples generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) like hydroxyl (OH) and singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) as well as carbon-centered radicals. The ZnO materials exhibited a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity, being active against Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and fungi strains, both in planktonic and, more importantly, adherent groywth states. The decrease of antimicrobial efficiency in the presence of a ROS scavenger (mannitol) and the decrease of the cell viability with the ROS level suggest that one of the mechanisms that governs both the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities on human liver cells is ROS-mediated. However, at active antimicrobial concentrations, the biocompatibility of the tested materials is very good.

Highly defected tubular SiO2 is found to outperform the activity of TiO2-P25 and the SiO2-TiO2 composite in photocatalytic H-2 generation from methanol-water solution under simulated solar light AM 1.5. The enhanced performances of SiO2 come from the particularities of the reaction mechanism and ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation. The SiO2 exposed to light generates solely O-1(2) (singlet oxygen). The TiO2-P25 produces uniquely large quantities of OH radicals whereas the formation of O-2(-) is evidenced only over SiO2-TiO2, along with small amounts of OH. The TiO2 works as a photocatalyst by intermediation of OH radicals. In contrast, the organic substrate is activated on the surface of SiO2 by the intra-band gap, isolated, surface quantum defects. Distinct reaction mechanisms, involving the participation of photogenerated charges and ROS, are proposed. The material-related ROS production can be of great practical importance in fields such as biology (germ inactivation), medicine (photodynamic therapy by O-1(2)), and synthesis of oxygenated organic compounds of great added value.

Chalcogenide amorphous materials, such as GeTe, are known to exhibit deposition dependent optical and structural properties. The formation of a single and homogeneous amorphous GeTe (a-GeTe) phase is questionable since the deposited films can be mixtures of monoelemental nanoclusters. In this work, we employed two deposition techniques, pulsed laser deposition from a polycrystalline GeTe target and co-sputtering from two distinct Ge and Te targets, respectively, to obtain a-GeTe films. To improve the homogeneity of the amorphous phase obtained by magnetron sputtering, the substrate temperature was varied from room temperature up to 180 degrees C. The samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. It was found that the film mass density, optical bandgap, refractive index and absolute reflectivity become progressively larger with increasing substrate temperature, due to the minimization of voids fraction and the number of dangling bonds in the amorphous structure. Moreover, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results prove the formation of Ge-Te bonds and therefore of the GeTe alloy at the optimal substrate temperature of 180 degrees C. This study reveals the importance of optimizing the deposition conditions for obtaining a specific amorphous phase, which enables the atomic rearrangements responsible for fast phase-change needed in memory applications.

Organometallic compounds could be an excellent alternative to the organic active layers for solar cells due to several better properties like thermal and chemical stability. These organometallic compounds are electron donor materials which are easily used in donor-acceptor heterojunctions in these solar cells. One of the main problems for the active media in the solar cells is connected with the exciton diffusion length which limits the thickness of the donor layer in these donor-acceptor heterojunctions. A way to improve the exciton diffusion length is better charge transfer between the donor and acceptor facilitating the exciton diffusion towards the electrodes of the solar cells. The adding of electronegative ions or chemical groups could also influence the band alignment between the donor and acceptor smoothing the charge transport across the solar cells.

Sensors based networked mesoporous SnO2 nanostructures templated by non-ionic surfactant - Brij (R) 35 were prepared via hydrothermal chemistry route. Specific patterns of the structure, morphology, surface chemistry and sensing properties were obtained by pH and autogenous pressure tuning. Consequently, the as-obtained SnO2 powders were subjected to extensive BET, Raman, TEM, HRTEM and XPS complementary investigations. The sensitive films were obtained by screen printing deposition of the powders onto commercial Al2O3 substrates. The gas sensing properties were assessed towards different hazardous gas species: CO, CH4, NH3, NO2, SO2 and H2S over a wide range of operating temperatures. Our particular SnO2 HP sensor synthesized at high autogenous pressure showed the highest selective-sensitivity to H2S (< 5 ppm) under 50% relative humidity (RH). The enhancement in the H2S sensitivity at low operating temperature under infield conditions was found to be closely connected to the morphological aspects and surface chemistry, peculiarities that can be assessed as consequences of the chemical tuning.