National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Herein we report a simple and scalable route to synthesize porous cobalt/cobalt oxide - carbon sphere composites as anode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. It involves the impregnation of starch-derived hydrochar spheres with a cobalt salt, followed by a heat treatment (700 degrees C) under inert atmosphere. The obtained high surface area (similar to 670 m(2) g(-1)), submicron spheres (similar to 300 nm diameter) with high-degree of microporosity (81%) consist of an amorphous carbon matrix with embedded Co/CoO nanoparticles (similar to 6 nm sized), having a total cobalt content of 6.2 wt%. The hybrid sphere anodes demonstrated superior specific capacity, rate performance and cycling stability. Discharge capacities of 520 and 310 mA h g(-1) are observed at charge-discharge rates of 0.1 and 1C respectively. No significant capacity fading is identified on prolonged cycling at various current densities. The electrode also demonstrated excellent structural stability during extended charge-discharge processes. (c) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Silico-phosphate films doped with CdS/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) for luminescence temperature sensing devices, were deposited on silicon substrate by sol-gel method, spin coating technique. Optical absorption and photoluminescence emission of CdS/ZnS-doped silico-phosphate films were investigated. CdS/ZnS nano-crystalline particles were put into evidence by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The specific vibration modes of the constituents were evidenced by structural analysis carried out by Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The characteristic fluorescence emission of CdS/ZnS nanoparticles was noticed in the visible domain. The morphology of the films was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Clusters of hexagonal crystalline CdS/ZnS QDs were put into evidence.

Light induced catalytic processes have attracted significant attention during the last years for wastewater treatment due to their efficiency in decomposition of organic contaminants. In this study we report the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO)/ZnO hybrid layers with high photocatalytic efficiency using laser radiation. The results show that the hybrid layers exhibit much improved photodecomposition efficiency as compared to pure GO or ZnO both under UV and visible-light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of the hybrid as compared to the reference pure ZnO and GO layers was attributed to the contribution of GO to the separation and transport of the photogenerated charge carriers. Additionally, under visible light irradiation the organic molecules can act as first sensitizers in the degradation process. The recyclability of the layers was also investigated through repetitive photodegradation cycles under UV- or visible-light irradiation. After consecutive degradation runs, the hybrid photocatalyst layers were still stable and retained high degradation efficiency, ensuring reusability. The photocatalytic activity of the layers was correlated with the gradual change of their chemical structure during consecutive degradation cycles. Owing to the high photodegradation efficiency, reusability, and ease of recovery the synthesised hybrid layers consisting of easily available materials are suitable for environmental purification applications.

It is shown that the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of Ba(Ti0.8Zr0.2)O-3-x(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (x = 0.45) (BCTZ 45) epitaxial thin films have a nontrivial dependence on film thickness. BCTZ 45 epitaxial films with different thicknesses (up to 400 nm) have been deposited on SrTiO3 by pulsed laser deposition and investigated by different combined techniques: conventional and off-axis X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and dielectric and piezoforce microscopy. The changes occurring in epitaxial films when their thickness increases have been attributed to a partial relaxation of misfit strain, driving the induced tetragonal symmetry in very thin films to the original rhombohedral symmetry of the bulk material in the thickest film, which influences directly and indirectly the dielectric and piezoelectric properties.

We have analyzed by transmission electron microscopy silicon and GaAs crystals polished with sandpapers of different grain size. The surface damage induced a crystal permanent convex curvature with a radius of the order of a few meters. The curvature is due to a compressive strain generated in the damaged zone of the sample. Contrary to what was reported in the literature, the only defects detected by transmission electron microscopy were dislocations penetrating a few microns from the surface. Assuming the surface damage as a kind of continuous indentation, a simple model able to explain the observed compressive strain is given.

The divertor of a fusion reactor like DEMO requires materials able to withstand high heat fluxes and neutron irradiation for several years. For the water cooling concept of this essential part of the reactor, the most likely plasma facing material will be W, while the heatsink material considered is CuCrZr or an improved version of such a Cu-based alloy. To realize W-Cu alloy joints able to withstand thousands of thermal cycles can be difficult due to the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of these materials. In this work we investigate the possibility to realize such joints by using W-Cu functional gradient materials (FGMs) produced from nanometric and micrometric metallic powders mixtures and consolidated by spark plasma sintering at about 900 degrees C. Morphological and thermal properties investigations, performed for typical compositions, shows that the best results are obtained using powders with micrometric dimensions. A resulting 1 mm thick, 3 layers W-Cu FGM produced by this simple method shows a remarkable almost constant thermal conductivity value of 200 W m(-1) K-1, from room temperature up to 1000 degrees C.

Thermoluminescent measurements between 40 and 300 C revealed two traps in the irradiated Alq(3) powder synthetized from Al(OH)(3), at 0.8 and 1.1 eV below the conduction band. These two traps have been assigned with the Alq(3) facial and meridional isomers and the trapping process stand for a long time after the switching off the irradiation source. The spectra recorded an hour after switching recover 60% from the photoluminescence and also decreasing the TL signals. A theoretical model was proposed in order to explain the trapping and detrapping processes in both meridional and facial Alq(3) isomers based on the XPS measurements for the HOMO, LUMO, ionization potential and optical bandgap, completed with the DFT calculated parameters and similar experimental results concerning the evidences of the triplet states in Alq(3) compound.

This paper reports the influence of the charge carrier mobility on the electroluminescent properties of a dual-emitter organometallic compound dispersed in two conjugated organic small-molecule host materials and embedded in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The electroluminescent processes in OLEDs are strongly influenced by the host-guest interaction. The charge carrier mobility in the host material plays an important role in the electroluminescent processes but also depends on the triplet-triplet interaction with the organometallic compound. The low charge carrier mobility in 4,4'-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (CBP) host material reduces the electroluminescent processes, but they are slightly enhanced by the triplet-triplet exothermic charge transfer. The higher charge carrier mobility in the case of N, N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N, N'-diphenylbenzidine (TPD) host material influences the electroluminescent processes by the endothermic energy transfer at room temperature, which facilitates the triplet-triplet harvesting in the host-guest system. The excitation is transferred to the guest molecules by triplet-triplet interaction as a Dexter transfer, which occurs by endothermic transfer from the triplet exciton in the host to the triplet exciton in the guest.

DEMO fusion reactor divertor is expected to extract a heat flux of about 10 MW/m(2). One of the most promising concept design for it is the W-monoblock, which should be connected to a CuCrZr or an advanced Cu ODS alloy pipe passing through the W component. Since the optimum operating temperature windows for W and existing Cu alloys are far away from overlapping, a suited interface is needed to keep the adjacent materials as close as Possible to their respective temperature operating windows. The interface material should therefore have a low enough thermal conductivity to act as a thermal barrier and a thermal expansion coefficient suited to protect the W-pipe joint from stresses induced by the different thermo-mechanical properties of W and Cu-alloys. As interface materials we have considered Cu-ZrO2 composites produced by powder metallurgy route. Such materials can be realized in an unexpected large compositional range (up to at least 90% ZrO2 volume concentration) and be easily further joined to both W and Cu-alloys by an electrical field assisted technology. We analyse their microstructure and thermo-physical properties both as single materials and included in W-thermal barrier-CuCrZr 3-layers systems in comparison to those of previously produced Cu-ased composites and commercially available Cu foams.

The main goal of this paper is to put on solid mathematical grounds the so-called non-equilibrium Green's function transport formalism for open systems. In particular, we derive the Jauho-Meir-Wingreen formula for the time-dependent current through an interacting sample coupled to non-interacting leads. Our proof is non-perturbative and uses neither complex-time Keldysh contours nor Langreth rules of 'analytic continuation.' We also discuss other technical identities (Langreth, Keldysh) involving various many-body Green's functions. Finally, we study the Dyson equation for the advanced/retarded interacting Green's function and we rigorously construct its (irreducible) self-energy, using the theory of Volterra operators.