National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

In this paper, we analyze the structural distortions observed by transmission electron microscopy in thin epitaxial SrRuO3 layers used as bottom electrodes in multiferroic coatings onto SrTiO3 substrates for future multiferroic devices. Regardless of the nature and architecture of the multilayer oxides deposited on the top of the SrRuO3 thin films, selected area electron diffraction patterns systematically revealed the presence of faint diffraction spots appearing in forbidden positions for the SrRuO3 orthorhombic structure. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) combined with Geometric Phase Analysis (GPA) evidenced the origin of these forbidden diffraction spots in the presence of structurally disordered nanometric domains in the SrRuO3 bottom layers, resulting from a strain-driven phase transformation. The local high compressive strain (-4% divided by -5%) measured by GPA in the HRTEM images induces a local orthorhombic to monoclinic phase transition by a cooperative rotation of the RuO6 octahedra. A further confirmation of the origin of the forbidden diffraction spots comes from the simulated diffraction patterns obtained from a monoclinic disordered SrRuO3 structure. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Zinc oxide-graphene oxide nanocomposite layers were submitted to laser irradiation in air or controlled nitrogen atmosphere using a frequency quadrupled Nd:YAG (lambda = 266 nm, tau(FWHM) congruent to 3 ns, nu = 10 Hz) laser source. The experiments were performed in air at atmospheric pressure or in nitrogen at a pressure of 2 x 10(4) Pa. The effect of the irradiation conditions, incident laser fluence value, and number of subsequent laser pulses on the surface morphology of the composite material was systematically investigated. The obtained results reveal that nitrogen incorporation improves significantly the wetting and photoactive properties of the laser processed layers. The kinetics of water contact angle variation when the samples are submitted to laser irradiation in nitrogen are faster than that of the samples irradiated in air, the surfaces becoming super-hydrophilic under UV light irradiation. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Ge, GeO2 and Ge2C6H10O7 additions to MgB2 obtained by ex situ spark plasma sintering significantly enhance the critical current density J(c) in high magnetic fields. A J(c)(T = 20 K) of 102 A cm(-2) is obtained at 3.9 T in the pristine sample and at 5.8 T in the MgB2(Ge2C6H10O7)(0.0014) sample. The decrease in the critical temperature for added samples is less than 1 K and T-c(20 K, H = 0) shows a small decrease from 5.5 x 10(5) A cm(-2) in the pristine sample to 3.9 x 10(5) A cm(-2) in MgB2(Ge2C6H10O7)(0.0014) sample. Ge does not substitute into the MgB2 lattice. (C) 2014 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thin SiC films were grown on (1 0 0) Si substrates at temperatures from 400 to 1000 degrees C under various CH4 pressures by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique using a KrF excimer laser. After deposition, films were in situ annealed at their deposition temperature under 500 mbar of CH4 for 1.0-1.5h. X-ray reflectivity investigations showed that films exhibited mass densities similar to SiC single crystal samples, while symmetrical and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction investigations found that films deposited at 800 degrees C or higher substrate temperatures were nanocrystalline. Modeling of spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements indicated that the refractive index values were similar to those reported for bulk SiC, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations found that films contained in bulk a relatively low oxygen concentration of around 1.0 at.%. Nanoindentation results showed that the deposited SiC films were very hard, with hardness values above 40 GPa for films deposited at temperatures higher than 800 degrees C. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We investigate the effect of silver addition to polycrystalline Sm-1111 superconductor. We show that Ag improves the phase homogeneity of the samples drastically reducing the weight of the low temperature, hence, leading to less fluorinated phases. The intragranular critical current density is enhanced by adding a small amount of Ag in all pinning regimes but a higher content of Ag leads to a decrease of this quantity. A tentative explanation for this dependence is proposed.

The cathodic deposition of zinc oxide film on Pt from an aqueous solution containing 0.05 M Zn(NO3)(2) was investigated using linear sweep voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The film formation is an electroprecipitation process due to reduction of nitrate ion on the surface of working electrode in the presence of Zn2+ ions. A morphology of ZnO with hexagonal platelets was observed. The standard electromotive force of the cell reaction was calculated for both NO3/NO2 process and overall deposition process. Linear voltammograms and visual observations showed that polarizing the electrode at higher negative potentials than -1.1 V, the parallel reduction of zinc ion to zinc metal occurs together with reduction of nitrate ion to hydroxide ion; as a consequence, a partial amorphous state of ZnO film was recorded on SEM micrographs. Experimental impedance data and data calculated by fitting with an equivalent circuit showed that the ZnO formation involves an adsorption of complexed zinc ions on Pt electrode, before the charge transfer.

EuFeO3 perovskite was considered as a case study of the cooperative effects of the rare earth and transition metal elements in the total catalytic oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons. For this purpose, a EuFeO3 perovskite was prepared using the citrate route. Extensive characterization was performed via ex situ and in situ methods. EXAFS revealed that oxygen vacancies are formed in the nearest neighborhood of Fe and next-nearest neighborhood of Eu. Combining Eu-151 and Fe-57 Mossbauer experiments also suggested local oxygen defects in the proximity of the Eu cations during the reaction, as well as cooperative electron delocalization effects between Eu and Fe. XPS has shown the +3 oxidation state of both Eu and Fe cations and the relatively strong ionicity of the Fe-O chemical bonds, as suggested by the weakened 2p(3/2) satellite in the Fe2p spectrum. A systematic change of this satellite with the A cation in AFeO(3) perovskites was also discussed. The thermal treatment of the catalyst at 623 K, in air or toluene, was accompanied by a partial reduction of Fe and a partial oxidation of Eu, respectively. The interaction between the two elements appeared to be influenced mainly by the temperature and only slightly by the sample environment during further treatments. Catalytic oxidation of toluene on this perovskite led only to the production of carbon dioxide and water with no side-product formation from partial oxidation reactions. All the characterization and catalytic results preferably agree with a Volkenstein mechanism. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The compositions in the ternary chalcogenide systems from the demarcation region between the glass-formation domain (GFD) and the partially or fully crystalline formation domain seem to exhibit outstanding properties. We have shown in this paper that the compositions with the best memory-switching properties are situated at the border of the GFD in many systems. One can use this correlation to find new phase-change materials with better switching properties or to discover GFDs that were not observed yet. (C) 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

GeSi nanostructured films were obtained by cosputtering from two Ge and Si targets and subsequent annealing in furnace in N-2 for 5 h at 700, 800 and 900 degrees C, with the aim to show the correlation between electrical properties and crystalline structure of the films. The as-deposited films are amorphous, have a Ge: Si composition of 55: 45 and 185 nm thickness. The film structure was investigated by XRD and TEM, and the electrical behaviour was studied by measuring current-voltage (I-V) and current-temperature (I-T) characteristics and by discussing them in correlation with the structure. Different electrical behaviours of GeSi films corresponding to different structures have been evidenced. The 700 degrees C annealed GeSi films are formed of nanocrystals (7-15 nm) separated by amorphous regions (1-2 nm). These films present a superlinear I-V characteristic typical of high field-assisted tunnelling through potential barriers (amorphous regions) between nanocrystals. The I-T characteristic at low temperature follows a T-1/2 law showing a thermally activated tunnelling of carriers between neighboring GeSi nanocrystals. The films annealed at 800 and 900 degrees C have a like behavior, they are completely crystallized and present linear I-V and Arrhenius I-T dependences reflecting the polycrystalline behaviour. [GRAPHICS] . (C) 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

The complex chalcogenides with excellent memory switching properties are mainly situated close to the border of glass formation domain. The simulation of the structural changes occurring during the memory switching process of a ternary chalcogenide composition has been carried out. The transition of a high resistivity GeAs4Te7 amorphous cluster with 120 atoms to a low resistivity crystalline cluster was analyzed. The coordination of atoms changes from that corresponding to 8-N coordination rule (two for tellurium, three for arsenic, and four for germanium) in the amorphous phase to six (the same for all atoms) in metastable crystalline phase. Because of spatial constraints exercised by the amorphous matrix, the amorphous cluster cannot expand. In these circumstances Te atoms seem to be over-coordinated (up to sixfold-coordinated). During the switching process, the atoms are moving on distances up to 4.0 angstrom. The average displacement is of 2.36 angstrom.