National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

The current increasing interest in portable biosensing platforms led to their development on flexible porous substrates, such as filter paper. As these devices rely on fluid transport under capillary action, without the use of an external force, studies of the diffusion process can provide useful data for optimizing their working capabilities. We present here the results obtained by experimentally studying the radial diffusion of various fluids. The diffusion in filter paper has been recorded for six fluids with different viscosity. For each of them, the displacement of the fluid front has been measured along eight radial directions and then we investigated the possibility of describing this diffusion process using Gillespie's model.

The paper presents the research results in the field of TiNiCu shape memory alloys processed by powder metallurgy techniques. The powders mixtures used to synthesize Ti50Ni30Cu20 alloys were obtained by blended constitutive elemental powders or by mechanical alloying of powder mixtures for 10 and 20 hours, respectively. Finally, a subsequent annealing process was carried out, followed by a rapid cooling in ice water. All experiments were performed under 99.9% argon atmosphere. At room temperature, the obtained materials contained monoclinic and orthorhombic martensite type. The structural and thermal investigation of these materials were discussed in view of the potential development of actuators.

Phase-change memories have reached an advanced degree of maturity, although, to be able to meet the increasing storage demand, multilevel capability is needed. A GeTe memristor is obtained in an amorphous state and it is subjected to a specific thermal treatment which initiates the transition toward the crystalline state. It is found that this crystalline state initialization process is highly beneficial for subsequently obtaining a large number of intermediate resistive states between the high and low resistive states. Multiple resistance levels are achieved by operating the devices in both DC sweeps and rectangular pulse modes in the low-voltage subthreshold regime. The conduction is modeled using a space charge limited conduction model, showing three distinct conduction regions in the high resistive state which merge toward a single conduction region as the low resistive state is approached. The obtained memristors can be used as multilevel nonvolatile memories or as synapses in neuromorphic computing.

Thin film metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitors with an equal mixture of hafnium oxide and zirconium oxide as the ferroelectric material are fabricated using iridium oxide as the electrode material. The influence of the oxygen concentration in the electrodes during crystallization anneal on the ferroelectric properties is characterized by electrical, chemical, and structural methods. Forming gas, O-2, and N-2 annealing atmospheres significantly change the ferroelectric performance. The use of oxygen-deficient electrodes improves the stabilization of the ferroelectric orthorhombic phase and reduces the wake-up effect. It is found that oxygen-rich electrodes supply oxygen during anneal and reduce the amount of oxygen vacancies, but the nonferroelectric monoclinic phase is stabilized with a negative impact on the ferroelectric properties.

The species cis-[Cu(tbg)(2)](ClO4)(2) (CuTP) (tbg: 1-(o-tolyl)biguanide) was designed as a novel antimicrobial and biocompatible agent. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed a mononuclear species with a very interesting structure consisting of two tautomeric forms of tbg arranged in a cis-configuration. A complex hydrogen bond network with perchlorate anions involved in different interactions leads to a supramolecular structure. The EPR data indicated the formation of a stable cis-trans mixture in dimethylsulfoxide. Moreover, the EPR experiments evidenced no activity against the superoxide radical (O-2 center dot(-)) but scavenging ability of the hydroxyl radical (HO center dot). This complex exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against planktonic and biofilm embedded gram-negative (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae) and gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Lysteria monocytogenes) bacteria. The best efficiency was noticed against E. cloacae and L. monocytogenes with minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal biofilm eradication for a concentration value of 1.95 mu g/ml. One of the possible mechanisms of antimicrobial activity is represented by reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. The complex was not cytotoxic on L929 fibroblasts. The in silico analysis confirmed the drug-likeness and safety profile of the tested compound and its potential for developing novel antimicrobial and therapeutic tools, targeting other clinical conditions besides infectious diseases.

The chemical precipitation was used to obtain carbon fibers (CF) with surface modified by magnetite particles (Fe3O4). Processing was carried out by employing up to three subsequent coating stages of ultrasonic treatments. After each sonication stage, the coating was 17, 33, and 47 wt. % of the total weight of the modified fibers. Raman spectroscopy indicates the presence in the coating of a mixture of iron II and III states. As-decorated fibers were used to fabricate composites with an epoxy resin (ED-20) matrix cured with PEPA. The quantity of the carbon fiber filler was of 1, 3, and 6 wt %. At room temperature, the saturation magnetization of the soft magnetic samples was 0.37, 0.83, and 1.72 emu/g for the indicated compositions. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer materials with extra functions such as magnetic in this case, are expected to be useful in applications from the power and energy industries.

Wheat is the most cultivated plant and an important source of carbohydrates in the world. The Fe deficiency reduces quality of grain wheat leading to Fe deficiency in human. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of foliar and ground application of iron oxide nanoparticles (made in Romania) on growth components, yield and morphological and anatomical modifications of wheat plants. The ground application of iron oxide decreased height of plant, length of root and increased root volume and chlorophyll content more than foliar application. For the wheat plants fertilized with iron oxide nanoparticles, the decrease of root length was compensated by an increase of radicular density, which led to the development of new adventitious roots that could help the plants have a better uptake of water and nutrients. This meant that the production was not negatively influenced by the treatments performed, regardless of the application method. Our studies revealed that the fertilized wheat plants (foliar and root zone) presented anatomical changes in relation to control plants. The studies presented in this paper can contribute to achieve the necessary framework for the innovative development strategy regarding the efficiency of magnetic nanoparticles in foliar and ground fertilization of different crops.

In the last few decades, the intensive use of agricultural lands affected crop productivity and thus raised serious concerns due to competing demands for food to feed the ever-growing world population (projected to be 9.7 billion by 2050). In this context, the development of nanotechnology-based fertilizers for crop nutrition has been suggested as an alternative tool to overcome the drawbacks arising from the current agricultural practices. Unfortunathelly, there is little studies about the effects of nanomaterials on plants. In this study we presented the effect of hydroxyapatite (nHA) and iron oxides (nIO) nanoparticles obtained in Romania on growth and photosintesis of corn and winter wheat plants. The results show that hydroxyapatite (nHA) and iron oxides (nIO) treatments applied by watering the soil had a positive effect on the photosynthesis of maize and winter wheat plants. In the case of treatments with solutions of iron oxides a negative effect on the length of main root was observation, but a compensating effect was found by increasing root density. This and also the higher chlorophyll content. led to a positive effect on height of maize and winter wheat plants.

TiO2-C (carbon) hybrid materials are promising electrocatalyst supports because the presence of TiO2 results in enhanced stability. Use of new types of carbonaceous materials such as reduced graphene oxide instead of traditional active carbon provides certain benefits. Although the rutile polymorph of TiO2 seems to have the most beneficial properties in these hybrid materials, the anatase type is more frequent in TiO2-rGO composites, especially in graphite oxide (GO) derived ones, as GO has several properties which may interfere with rutile formation. To explore and evaluate these peculiarities and their influence on the composite formation, we compared TiO2-C systems formulated with GO and Black Pearls (BP) carbon. Various physicochemical methods, such as attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR)-, solid state NMR-, Raman- and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy, etc. were used to characterize the samples from the different stages of our multistep sol-gel synthesis. Our experiments demonstrated that utilization of GO is indeed feasible for composite preparation, although its sodium contamination has to be removed during the synthesis. On the other hand, high temperature treatment and/or solvothermal treatment during composite synthesis resulted in decomposition of the functional groups of the GO and the functional properties of the final product were similar in case of both composites. However, Pt/TiO2-GO derived sample showed higher oxygen reduction reaction activity than Pt/TiO2-BP derived one. Based on the decrease of electrochemical surface area, the stability order was the following: Pt/C (commercial) < Pt/TiO2-BP derived C < Pt/TiO2-GO derived C.