National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

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5781 articles found

1961. Antimicrobial Activity Evaluation on Silver Doped Hydroxyapatite/Polydimethylsiloxane Composite Layer

Authors: Ciobanu, CS; Groza, A; Iconaru, SL; Popa, CL; Chapon, P; Chifiriuc, MC; Hristu, R; Stanciu, GA; Negrila, CC; Ghita, RV; Ganciu, M; Predoi, D

Published: 2015, BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, 2015, DOI: 10.1155/2015/926513

The goal of this study was the preparation, physicochemical characterization, and microbiological evaluation of novel hydroxyapatite doped with silver/polydimethylsiloxane (Ag:HAp-PDMS) composite layers. In the first stage, the deposition of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer layer on commercially pure Si disks has been produced in atmospheric pressure corona discharges. Finally, the new silver doped hydroxyapatite/polydimethylsiloxane composite layer has been obtained by the thermal evaporation technique. The Ag: HAp-PDMS composite layers were characterized by various techniques, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The antimicrobial activity of the Ag:HAp-PDMS composite layer was assessed against Candida albicans ATCC 10231 (ATCC-American Type Culture Collection) by culture based and confirmed by SEM and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) methods. This is the first study reporting the antimicrobial effect of the Ag: HAp-PDMS composite layer, which proved to be active against Candida albicans biofilm embedded cells.

1962. Anionic polymerization by an electron transfer process from a CdSe quantum dot-perylenediimide (PDI) system

Authors: Rusen, E; Mocanu, A; Nistor, LC; Hudhomme, P; Diacon, A

Published: 2015, RSC ADVANCES, 5, 28232, DOI: 10.1039/c5ra01865j

Reversible physical interactions between CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and perylenediimide (PDI) derivatives have been investigated. Original processes, dependent on the concentration of the two species, contact time, temperature and pH, were observed. The combining of the two solutions resulted in the formation of an electron transfer complex (ETC) due to the transfer of an electron from CdSe nanoparticles to PDI, followed by the formation of the final particularly stable dianion PDI2- species through another electron transfer process. The anionic species was employed for the polymerization initiation of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). Some aspects of the anionic polymerization mechanism have been investigated.

1963. Pure and almost pure NIR emission of Tm and Tm,Yb-CeO2 under UV, X-ray and NIR up-conversion excitation: key roles of level selective antenna sensitization and charge-compensation

Authors: Avram, D; Cojocaru, B; Urda, A; Tiseanu, I; Florea, M; Tiseanu, C

Published: 2015, , DOI: 10.1039/c5cp03458b

1964. OPTICAL AND PHOTOCATALYTIC PROPERTIES OF ELECTROSPUN ZnO FIBERS

Authors: Busuioc, C; Evanghelidis, A; Enculescu, M; Enculescu, I

Published: JUL-SEP 2015, DIGEST JOURNAL OF NANOMATERIALS AND BIOSTRUCTURES, 10, 965, DOI:

ZnO nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning a solution of zinc acetate dihydrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone in N, N-dimethylformamide, followed by calcination at 500, 650 or 800 degrees C for 1 h. X-ray diffraction, selected area electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy were used for the characterization of the resulting fibers. The thermally treated samples exhibit ZnO single phase with polycrystalline hexagonal structure. The morphological investigation revealed an accentuated contraction process during calcination, as well as the increase of the crystallite size and the appearance of a breaking tendency with the calcination temperature enhancement. Both UV and Visible emissions under excitation at 350 nm were showed by the optical studies, which also led to band gap values slightly lower than those reported for similar one-dimensional nanostructures. In order to assess the photocatalytic activity of ZnO fibers, the photodegradation of methylene blue in aqueous medium (10(-3) M) under UV irradiation (368 nm) was analyzed.

1965. Nanostructured Titanium Doped Iron Oxide Photoelectrodes for Water Splitting

Authors: Miclea, C; Amarande, L; Cioangher, MC; Miclea, CT; Mihailescu, M; Radu, C; Ivanov, A

Published: 2015, ROMANIAN JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 18, 105, DOI:

Water splitting by means of semiconducting photoelectrodes and solar light represents a promising alternative to conventional fossil fuel economy. In this process the photoactive electrode absorb sunlight directly thus initiating the photochemical reaction which create excess electrons in the conduction band of the semiconducting electrode. Titanium doped iron oxide seems to be a promising semiconducting material for photoelectrodes. Consequently, we investigated the effect of Ti doping on the structure, electrical and photoelectrochemical properties alpha-Fe2O3. The Ti doped alpha-Fe2O3 were prepared by a slightly modified mixed oxide route, consisting in a prolonged mixing of the raw materials in a high energy planetary ball mill until the particles decreased to the nanometric sizes. Optimum results were obtained for samples doped with 5 at. % titanium and sintered at 1200 degrees C. Photocurrents as high as 8.4 mA/cm(2), for illumination from a 300 W xenon lamp, were recorded for such samples. It is hoped that such photoelectrodes show promise for water splitting.

1966. Silver Azide Nanoparticles Embedded into Silica as Energetic Nano-materials

Authors: Ghica, C; Damian, R; Culita, D; Turcu, I; Ionita, P

Published: 2015, MATERIALS SCIENCE-MEDZIAGOTYRA, 21, 332, DOI: 10.5755/j01.ms.21.3.6926

Silver azide is a primary high explosive that can be initiated by different means. In this work, silver azide nanoparticles were obtained, embedded into silica, and further derivatized with biotin. TEM, DLS, and IR measurements were used to characterize the hybrid energetic nanoparticles. The hybrid nanoparticles are made from an explosive core (silver azide) and a shell (silica), to which has been attached through an organic linker a biological target vectot (biotin). These hybrid nanoparticles can be used as models to study smart energetic nano-materials

1967. Evolution of surface oxides on GaAs

Authors: Ghita, RV

Published: NOV-DEC 2015, JOURNAL OF OPTOELECTRONICS AND ADVANCED MATERIALS, 17, 1709, DOI:

A real GaAs surface is covered with a relatively thick layer (a few nanometers) of native oxide. As2O3, As2O5, and Ga2O3 will form when a clean GaAs surface is exposed to air and light. It was put into evidence the presence of a Ga-As-O precursor oxide in an XPS measurement on native oxide at room temperature. An extended ARXPS study on native oxide on GaAs was performed for native oxides. The influence of thermal treatment on native oxides was put into evidence by an ARXPS study from Room temperature to 700 degrees C. In the thermal evolution of As and Ga oxide is observed the disappearance of As oxide at 400 degrees C and the Ga oxide at 700 degrees C. The spectral data in ARXPS analysis indicated the same evolution for As and Ga oxides.

1968. SHAPE MEMORY PROPERTIES OF FeNiCoTi RIBBONS EVIDENCED BY MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS

Authors: Tolea, F; Sofronie, M; Tolea, M; Kuncser, V; Valeanu, M

Published: APR-JUN 2015, DIGEST JOURNAL OF NANOMATERIALS AND BIOSTRUCTURES, 10, 575, DOI:

The present work addresses the shape memory and (ferro) magnetic properties of Fe52Ni29-xCo15+xTi4 (with x=0, 3 and 6) alloys. The analysed samples were prepared as ribbons by the melt spinning method and subjected to thermal treatments. X-ray diffraction, DSC, thermomagnetic measurements and Mossbauer spectroscopy were used for a complete structural and magnetic characterization. Both the preparation route and the different Co addition induce specific effects which are discussed in detail. The sample with x=0 sustains an irreversible transformation, while a partial reversible transformation and a relatively increased Curie temperature were observed for sample with x=3. However, further increasing the Co content to x= 6 leads to a loss of the martensitic transformation.

1969. HETEROSTRUCTURES BASED ON SMALL MOLECULES ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

Authors: Socol, M; Rasoga, O; Breazu, C; Socol, G; Preda, N; Pasuk, I; Visan, D; Stavarache, I; Gherendi, F; Girtan, M; Sidwaba, U

Published: OCT-DEC 2015, DIGEST JOURNAL OF NANOMATERIALS AND BIOSTRUCTURES, 10, 1392, DOI:

Heterostructures with layers from small molecules organic compounds were deposited on ITO/glass substrate by thermal vacuum evaporation (TVE) technique. Structural, optical and morphological investigations were carried out on the realised layers (zinc phthalocyanine-ZnPc, fullerene-C60 and 1,4,5,8-naphthalene-tetracarboxylic dianhydride-NTCDA). The films are polycrystalline keeping the morphological features characteristic to these materials. The prepared heterostructures reveal a large absorption domain in the visible domain. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the investigated structures, recorded in dark, present an improvement in the current value (similar to one order of magnitude) for the standard structure (ITO/PEDOT: PSS/ZnPc/C60/NTCDA/Al) with a supplimentary layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). For the inverted structure (Al/NTCDA/C60/ZnPc/ITO) was also noticed an increased curent value in comparasion with that observed for the standard structure.

1970. Thermoelectric doping effect in Ca3Co4-xNixO9 ceramics

Authors: Constantinescu, G; Rasekh, S; Torres, MA; Bosque, P; Madre, MA; Sotelo, A; Diez, JC

Published: JAN-FEB 2015, BOLETIN DE LA SOCIEDAD ESPANOLA DE CERAMICA Y VIDRIO, 54, 27, DOI: 10.1016/j.bsecv.2015.02.004

Ca3Co4-xNixO9 (x=0.01, 0.03, and 0.05) polycrystalline thermoelectric ceramics have been prepared by the classical solid state method. As a result of the Ni addition an increase in porosity has been detected. Moreover, the presence of Ni has been related with the increase of Ca2Co3O6 secondary phase and the appearance of a new NiO-CoO solid solution. However, for the 0.01-Ni doped samples an improvement in the thermoelectric performances has been measured. This effect has been related with a decrease in the resistivity values and an increase in the Seebeck coefficient. The raise in the power factor for the 0.01-Ni doped samples, compared with the undoped ones, is between 10 and 25% at 50 and 800 degrees C respectively. Moreover, the maximum power at 800 degrees C, around 0.25 mW/K-2.m, is significantly higher than the best results obtained in Ni doped samples reported previously in the literature. (C) 2015 Sociedad Espanola de Ceramica y Vidrio. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license