Publications

This work reports on the unprecedented magnetron sputtering deposition of submicrometric hollow cones of bioactive glass at low temperature in the absence of any template or catalyst. The influence of sputtering conditions on the formation and development of bioglass cones was studied. It was shown that larger populations of well-developed cones could be achieved by increasing the argon sputtering pressure. A mechanism describing the growth of bioglass hollow cones is presented, offering the links for process control and reproducibility of the cone features. The composition, structure, and morphology of the as-synthesized hollow cones were investigated by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), grazing incidence geometry X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)-selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The in vitro biological performance, assessed by degradation tests (ISO 10993-14) and cytocompatibility assays (ISO 10993-5) in endothelial cell cultures, was excellent. This allied with resorbability and the unique morphological features make the submicrometer hollow cones interesting candidate material devices for focal transitory permeabilization of the blood brain barrier in the treatment of carcinoma and neurodegenerative disorders.

A series of flexibly linked bis(pyridinium) salts with various counterions (Br-, PF6-, BF4- and OTf-) was designed and prepared starting from corresponding N-alkylated 4-pyridones precursors with mesogenic 3,4,5-tris(alkyloxy)benzyl moieties (alkyl=dodecyl or tetradecyl). These salts were investigated for their liquid crystalline properties by a combination of differential scanning calorimetry, polarising optical microscopy and temperature-dependent powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Their thermal stability was checked by thermogravimetric analysis. All bis(pyridinium) salts, except the triflate salt with shorter terminal carbon chain, display an enantiotropic liquid crystalline behaviour with a hexagonal columnar (Col(h)) phase assigned on the basis of its characteristic texture and XRD studies. It was found that these luminescent bis(pyridinium) salts show weak emission in dichloromethane solutions at room temperature and a pronounced red-shifted emission in solid state. The emission properties of these bis(pyridinium) salts do not depend significantly on the nature of counterion employed.

Gallium antimonide (GaSb) is the basis of the most photovoltaic and thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems and its innovative technological aspects based on modern ultra-high vacuum techniques are in trend for device achievement. The real surface of GaSb is modified by technological processes that can conduce to problems related to the reproducible control of its surface properties. The GaSb surface is reactive in atmosphere due to oxygen presence and exhibits a native oxide layer. The evolution of native oxides during the ion sputtering, chemical etching and thermal annealing processes for preparing the surface is presented in detailed way. Ratios of surface constituents are obtained by Angle Resolved X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (ARXPS). Moreover, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Low-Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) are used for characterization. The surface stoichiometry is changed using a specific etchant (e.g. citric acid) at different etching time and is analyzed by ARXPS, SEM, EDS and AFM methods. The experimental results provide useful information regarding surface native oxides characteristics on n-GaSb(100) to be taken into account for development of low resistance contacts for TPV devices based on GaSb alloy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A model for current voltage characteristics of a thin film metal-ferroelectric-metal structure is constructed by combining the electrostatics of a polarized ferroelectric film with the balanced flow of charge through its interfaces. Using a set of fitting parameters, good agreement with several sets of experimental data is obtained for different system temperatures. The influence of model parameters on the current-voltage characteristic is discussed. Best fit values of some of these parameters correlate well with ab initio calculations in the literature, supporting the idea of low dielectric permittivity of the interface transition layers in the ferroelectric.

We report in this paper on the deposition and characterization of CeO2 nanostructured thin films with hierarchical morphology. Micro -sized ceria powder (CeO2, 99.9% purity) was pressed to obtain a ceramic target. An ArF laser working at 193 nm irradiated the target in controlled oxygen gas flow at constant pressure (0.1 mbar). Silicon wafers used as substrates for thin films were heated at different temperatures, up to 773 K. The influence of substrate temperature on the structure and surface morphology of ceria thin films was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The refractive indices and information about roughness and thickness were revealed by spectroellipsometry. Crystalline cubic ceria thin films exhibiting a hierarchical structure that combines columnar and dendritic growth were obtained at temperatures above 473 K. For the samples obtained at 773 K, columns ending in pyramidal formations with sharp edges and sizes of hundreds of nanometers were observed, indicating a high crystallinity of the layer. XRD analysis reveals a consistent increase of the X-ray coherence length/crystallite size along the [111] direction with increasing temperature. Using a semi -empirical formula, Raman crystallites sizes were calculated and it was found that size increases with the temperature increasing. The spectroellipsometry investigations evidenced the increasing of refractive index with the substrate temperature increase. High surface roughness and pyramidal structures were noticed from the atomic force microscopy images for layers deposited at substrate temperature above 473 K. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of the transient thermal effects on the partition of the energy of selfrecoils in germanium and silicon into energy eventually given to electrons and to atomic recoils respectively is studied. The transient effects are treated in the frame of the thermal spike model, which considers the electronic and atomic subsystems coupled through the electron-phonon interaction. For low energies of selfrecoils, we show that the corrections to the energy partition curves due to the energy exchange during the transient processes modify the Lindhard predictions. These effects depend on the initial temperature of the target material, as the energies exchanged between electronic and lattice subsystems have different signs for temperatures lower and higher than about 15 K. Many of the experimental data reported in the literature support the model. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High density (above 92%) superconducting bulks of MgB2 co-added with cubic BN (c-BN) and fullerenes (C-60) were obtained by the ex-situ spark plasma sintering (SPS). Compositions were (MgB2)((1-x))(C)(x)(c-BN)(0.01), x = 0.0125, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075. The co-added sample (MgB2)(0.975)(C)(0.025)(c-BN)(0.01) shows a marginally higher critical current density J(c) at intermediate magnetic fields and below 15 K than for optimum samples added with c-BN or C-60. For this sample, pinning is in the point pinning limit and the delta T-c mechanism is dominant. At high magnetic fields co-added samples are inferior to samples added with one additive, but are superior to pristine sample. Co-addition of c-BN and C-60 is not effective for vortex pinning when compared with individual addition. The result is discussed based on phase formation aspects, microstructural details and residual strain. It was found that in the presence of C-60, c-BN consumption with formation of MgNB9 is intensified with implications on different elements that influence pinning. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper presents some investigations on the optical and morphological properties of the polymer (matrix): monomer (inclusion) composite materials obtained from blends of bisphenol A polycarbonate and amidic monomers. For the preparation of the composite films, we have selected monomers characterised by a maleamic acid structure and synthesised them starting from maleic anhydride and aniline derivatives with -COOH, -NO2, -N(C2H5)(2) functional groups attached to the benzene ring. The composite films have been deposited by spin coating using a mixture of two solutions, one containing the matrix and the other the inclusion, both components of the composite system being dissolved in the same solvent. The optical transmission and photoluminescence properties of the composite films have been investigated in correlation with the morphology of the films. The scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy have revealed a non-uniform morphology characterised by the development of two distinct phases. We have also investigated the generation of some optical non-linear (ONL) phenomena in these composite systems. The composite films containing as inclusions monomers characterised by the presence of one -COOH or two -NO2 substituent groups to the aromatic nucleus have shown the most intense second-harmonic generation (SHG). The second-order optical non-linear coefficients have been evaluated for these films, and the effect of the laser power on the ONL behaviour of these materials has also been emphasised.

Submerged in liquid plasma treatment is a new approach for nanomaterials functionalization. This paper presents a surfactant free method for functionalization of graphene nano-platelets derived from carbon nanowalls through plasma jet treatment of their water suspensions. The untreated and under-liquid plasma treated suspensions were characterized in terms of their UV-Vis absorption, zeta-size, zeta-potential, pH, and conductivity. Investigation of dried material revealed that the graphene nano-sheets morphology and structure have been preserved, showing also new oxygen functional groups bonded to the carbon network after in liquid plasma treatment. The results demonstrate the efficiency of this technique in changing the properties of carbon nanowalls suspensions and also in getting functionalized multilayered graphene sheets.

Surface layers have already been observed by broadband dielectric spectroscopy for composite systems formed by adsorption of rod-like cyanophenyl derivates as probe molecules on the surface of oxide particles. In this work, features of the surface layer are reported; samples with different amounts of the probe molecules adsorbed onto oxide (nano) particles were prepared in order to study their interactions with the surface. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was applied to analyze the amount of loaded probe molecules. The density of the surface species n(s) was introduced and its values were estimated from quantitative Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) coupled with TGA. This parameter allows discriminating the composites into several groups assuming a similar interaction of the probe molecules with the hosts of a given group. An influence factor H is further proposed as the ratio of the number of molecules in the surface layer showing a glassy dynamics and the number of molecules adsorbed tightly on the surface of the support: It was found for aerosil composites and used for calculating the maximum filling degree of partially filled silica MCM-41 composites showing only one dielectric process characteristic for glass-forming liquids and a bulk behavior for higher filling degrees.