National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Titanium oxide/graphene oxide nanocomposite thin films were grown by ultraviolet (UV) matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique in controlled oxygen or nitrogen atmospheres. The effect of graphene oxide addition and laser-induced reduction as well as nitrogen doping on the wetting behavior and photoactive properties of titanium oxide thin films was investigated. Hydrophobic to hydrophilic conversion of titanium oxide films takes place progressively as the relative amount of graphene oxide in the MAPLE composite target increases. Nitrogen doping leads to further decrease of the static contact angle of the composite films. The photoactive properties of the synthesized materials were investigated through the evolution of contact angle under UV light irradiation. Wetting properties of both TiO2 and TiO2/GO nanocomposite thin films improved upon exposure to UV light.

Sol-gel template method has been used to prepare BaFBr:Eu2+ nanophosphor-SiO2 hybrid entrapped within the nanopores array (of about 200 nm size) of a comercial anodized alumina (AA) membrane. Structural and morphological measurements using electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have shown the presence of the BaFBr:Eu2+ nanophosphor in the silica xerogel entrapped within the nanopores array; photoluminescence and X-ray excited luminescence measurements have shown Eu2+ luminescence at 395 nm accompanied by a broad band due to AA membrane. The method assures a relatively uniform spreading of the BaFBr nanophosphor into the AA membrane pores array without the nanoparticles agglomeration. Preliminary imaging tests have shown a spatial resolution in the micrometer range and even in the submicrometer range can be expected. As BaFBr:Eu2+ is a very efficient Xray phosphor the material might be used as X-ray micro-imaging detector. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

We demonstrate that under continuous single-beam excitation, one can generate an abnormal antiStokes Raman emission (AASRE) whose properties are similar to a coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering. The effect has been observed in mesoscopic materials, which possess intrinsically nonlinear properties [lithium niobate (LiNbO3), bismuth germanium oxide (Bi12GeO20; BGO), bismuth silicon oxide (Bi12GeO20; BSO)], which have a nonzero electric susceptibility of the third order, chi((3)) not equal 0. Corroborated Raman and coherent backscattering studies demonstrate that the occurrence of both effects is conditioned by the existence of a mesoscopic morphology of the sample, which is able to ensure efficient transport of the light inside the sample through a multiple light scattering mechanism. In this context, both AASRE and coherent backscattering effects are because of the Anderson localization of the light. (C) 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

A kinetic analysis under non-isothermal conditions has been performed on europium-doped phosphate glasses with molar composition 20.42 Li2O-10.25 Al2O3-58.49 P2O5-7.23 BaO-1.44 La2O3-2.16 Eu2O3 and particle size <30 mu m, >50 mu m. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements at four heating rates, from room temperature up to 900 degrees C using synthetic air have revealed that no significant mass change occurs during the heat treatment, as normally expected for glass samples. The step changes in heat flow signals are associated with the presence of three important effects: the first one, that occurs as a slope corresponds to the glass transition effect (T-g) is followed by two exothermic peaks, first of them more pronounced, associated with the first crystallization process (T-p1), while, the second one, lower in intensity corresponds to the second crystallization (T-p2) process. As expected, all peaks (T-g, T-p1 and T-p2) increase with the increasing of the heating rate. Both the activation energy of crystallization process and the crystallization mechanism were comparatively analyzed by two free-model estimations and using the formal theory of transformations for heterogeneous nucleation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

We address theoretically the electronic transport through graphene quantum dots with the emphasis on the transmission phase. Analytical and numerical results are presented regarding the existence - or not - of a lapse of the transmittance phase (and, consequentially, a Fano zero in the transmittance) at the charge neutrality point. A simple universal criterium is found, the phase lapses being always present if the contact sites belong to the same sub-lattice. ((c) 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Tetragonal Sr2FeMoO6 powders were prepared by the sol gel and solid-state reaction methods. The structure, microstructure and magnetic characteristics of the double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 in the form of as-prepared powders and classical sintered ceramics were analyzed and compared. Moreover, the magnetic properties of Sr2FeMoO6 ceramics obtained by sol gel and solid state reaction methods and sintered by the classical method were compared with those of Sr2FeMoO6 ceramics obtained by the same two methods, but sintered by the spark plasma sintering technique. The morphology of the powders obtained from the gel precursor and oxides mixture was characterized by homogeneity, as well as the grains shape and size. The powder prepared by the sol gel method was finer (particle average size of 0.6 mu m) than those obtained from oxides mixture (particle average size of 0.9 mu m). Sintered ceramics with tetragonal Sr2FeMoO6 phase were prepared from the two mentioned powders by classical sintering at 1200 degrees C, 2 h in 5%H-2/Ar. The pellets obtained from the gel powder exhibited higher magnetic characteristics than those derived from the oxides mixture. The saturation magnetization and the total magnetic moment of the samples prepared by the sol-gel method were M-sat=41.18 emu/g and mu(exp)/f.u.=3.26, respectively, while for the samples derived from the oxides mixture were M-sat=40.77 emu/g and mu(exp)/f.u=3.10. Also, Sr2FeMoO6 pellets sintered by the conventional method showed higher saturation magnetization values than those sintered by spark plasma sintering technique. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.