National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

The purpose of this work was to obtain precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) particles in polymorphic form of vaterite via gas-liquid route in controlled pH conditions. The effect of CO2 concentration (12.5-100%), feed gas (CO2-air) flow rate, pH, and conductivity of solution upon the PCC particles properties was studied. On the basis of the experimental data, the main factors leading to vaterite formation as major product were established. It was found that the buffer solution has a decisive role in determining polymorphic phase of PCC while CO2 concentration and feed gas flow rate have no significant influence. It was demonstrated that spherical vaterite particles of high purity can be produced under controlled reaction conditions. Also, some considerations on the mechanism of carbonation process were formulated.

The rectifying properties of Nb:SrTiO3-Bi1-xGdxFeO3-Pt structures (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) displaying diode-like behavior were investigated via current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures. The potential barrier was estimated for negative polarity assuming a Schottky-like thermionic emission with injection controlled by the interface and the drift controlled by the bulk. The height of the potential barrier at the Nb:SrTiO3-Bi1-xGdxFeO3 interface increases with Gd doping. The results are explained by the partial compensation of the p-type conduction due to Bi vacancies with Gd doping in addition to the shift of the Fermi level towards the middle of the bandgap with increasing dopant concentration. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729816]

We studied the anisotropic properties of mechanically stretched bulk carbon nanotube sheets using magnetoresistance (MR) measurements in magnetic fields applied under different orientations with respect to the stretching direction. The stretching direction was either parallel or perpendicular to the direction of the electric current. The magnetic field was rotated either in-the-plane or out-of-the-plane of the sheets. We found that the angular dependence of the MR is a superposition of two terms, one with twofold symmetry and the other one with fourfold symmetry. We also found that the field-dependence of the MR is composed of two terms, one positive and one negative, whose magnitudes are largest when the field is parallel with the stretching direction. If the sheets are treated with nitric acid, the positive term is removed and the MR is smallest when the field is aligned with the magnetic field. We attribute these anisotropic features to magnetoelastic effects induced by the coupling between the magnetic catalyst nanoparticles, the magnetic field, and the network of nanotubes. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729538]

ZnO films were electrodeposited from an aqueous nitrate bath on ITO/glass substrates. The process was performed not by the usual potentiostatic approach but by using potential ramps with different sweep rates. We tested these ramps in both directions i.e. either towards electronegative (direct) or electropositive (inverse) potential. As expected, the samples prepared in different deposition conditions show different morphology, different quality of crystalline structure and different optical properties. By employing inverse ramps we prepared films with high quality structural and optical properties. We assume that in these conditions the growth is followed by an etching process which preferentially removes the areas with high defect concentration and leads to the formation of hollow hexagonal prisms. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We use a generalized master equation (GME) formalism to describe the nonequilibrium time-dependent transport of Coulomb interacting electrons through a short quantum wire connected to semi-infinite biased leads. The contact strength between the leads and the wire is modulated by out-of-phase time-dependent potentials that simulate a turnstile device. We explore this setup by keeping the contact with one lead at a fixed location at one end of the wire, whereas the contact with the other lead is placed on various sites along the length of the wire. We study the propagation of sinusoidal and rectangular pulses. We find that the current profiles in both leads depend not only on the shape of the pulses, but also on the position of the second contact. The current reflects standing waves created by the contact potentials, like in a wind musical instrument (for example, a flute), but occurring on the background of the equilibrium charge distribution. The number of electrons in our quantum "flute" device varies between two and three. We find that for rectangular pulses the currents in the leads may flow against the bias for short time intervals, due to the higher harmonics of the charge response. The GME is solved numerically in small time steps without resorting to the traditional Markov and rotating wave approximations. The Coulomb interaction between the electrons in the sample is included via the exact diagonalization method. The system (leads plus sample wire) is described by a lattice model.

We present the scaling law of the pinning force F-P in intermediate and high temperature superconductors, the factors which influence its field and temperature dependence, the limitations imposed by the enlarged anisotropy and high operating temperatures, giant creep included. The theoretical developments which incorporate the new features of these classes of superconductors, most of them based on the Anderson-Kim theory, prove to be a useful source of information relative to the nature of the pinning and the characteristic fields. The use of models based on thermal activation integrates into scaling the tail of pinning force and also substantiates the use of the irreversibility field H-irr as scale field. Finally, the data on scaling law in the two class of superconductors are presented and discussed.

Nanoscaled alpha-FeOOH (goethite) with controlled morphology was synthesized via hydrothermal reaction at 145-155 degrees C from ferrous ions and an oxidant in the presence of a cationic surfactant. The formation of alpha-FeOOH was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer spectroscopy, FT-IR analysis and visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The morphology of the product was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The particles obtained by the proposed method have a medium size of about 35 nm. The proposed growth mechanism takes into account two possible simultaneous pathways consisting of direct electrostatic interaction between FeOH groups and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and adsorption of bicarbonate ions on the alpha-FeOOH surface followed by complexation of CTAB through ammonium head groups. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High quality pulsed laser deposited lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films are obtained by pulsed laser deposition on SrRuO3(111) single crystal layers and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), to determine the surface composition. It is found that a minor amount of Pb forms PbO2 at the surface and also some Pb is included into the contamination layer, in form of a Pb(CO3)2 layer of about 1?nm thickness, occupying about one quarter of the PZT surface. The stoichiometry of the outermost 45?nm layers yielded as PbZr0.25Ti0.80O2.5, which suggest the formation of an oxygen depleted, Brownmillerite-like layer at the surface, of at least 5?nm thickness.

We present the magnetic properties of magnetic glass ceramics obtained by crystallization of Fe containing borosilicate glass. Two types of nucleators have been used: Cr2O3 and P2O5. The role of the nucleators proved to be crucial in the size and morphology of the crystallites developed within glassy matrix as well in the magnetic response. The former stimulates the growth of regular single crystals uniformly dispersed within the matrix whereas the latter leads to the formation of grains made of tiny (30 nm), nanocrystals. The magnetic response depends on the amount of Fe ions left dispersed within glassy matrix as paramagnetic ions. Although P2O5 leads to the best structural magnetite, almost 42% of Fe ions are left dispersed in the matrix without magnetic interaction. In the case of Cr2O3, the paramagnetic Fe is decreased to 12% but structural deficiency in the occupancy of the Fe sites of magnetite is revealed by Mossbauer spectroscopy.

Oxyfluoride glass-ceramics in the system SiO2-Al2O3-CaF2-EuF3 containing Eu3+-doped CaF2 nanocrystals were produced by using controlled crystallization of melt-quenched glass. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy data have revealed the formation of CaF2 nanocrystals of about 50 nm size. The Eu3+-dopant ions act as the nucleating agent necessary to initiate the crystallization process. The refractive index is higher in the glass ceramics than in the initial glass and varies as the annealing time increases. Two competitive processes are responsible for this behavior, the crystallization of the CaF2 phase and the decrease of the glass ceramic mass density. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.