National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Samarium doped hydroxyapatite (Ca10-xSmx(PO4)(6)(OH)(2), x(Sm) = 0.5, 50SmHAp) is a very promising candidate to be used for different coatings in various dental and orthopedic implants. We report, for the first time, the obtaining of 50SmHAp thin films by a cost-effective method, namely spin coating. Thin films of 50SmHAp on silicon substrate have been analyzed by various techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Metallographic microscopy and Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES). The stability of 50SmHAp suspension was evaluated by ultrasound measurements. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also used to evaluate the 50SmHAp suspension. The antifungal activity of 50SmHAp suspension and coatings was assessed using Candida albicans ATCC 10231 fungal strain (C. albicans). The results of the antifungal assays depicted that both 50SmHAp suspensions and coatings were effective in inhibiting the development of C. albicans fungal cells, thus making them ideal candidates for the development of novel antifungal agents. The obtained results give new perspective for possible applications of 50SmHAp thin films in various medical applications due to their antifungal properties.

Plasmonic nanostructures based on AuAg nanoalloys were fabricated by thermal annealing of metallic films in an argon atmosphere. The nanoalloys were chosen because they can extend the wavelength range in which plasmon resonance occurs and thus allow the design of plasmonic platforms with the desired parameters. The influence of initial fabrication parameters and experimental conditions on the formation of nanostructures was investigated. For the surface morphology studies, chemical composition analysis and nanograin structure, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR TEM) measurements were performed. The position of the resonance band was successfully tuned in the 100 nm range. The EDS together with the XPS analysis confirmed the formation of an alloy with the aspect ratio of individual metals in a single nanoisland similar to the ratio of the thicknesses of the initially sputtered layers. The experimental research was complemented by the neural network model, which enables the calculation of the absorbance peak depending on the thickness of Au and Ag layers and the annealing time. The proposed model of machine learning makes it possible to fine-tune the desired position of the plasmon resonance.

The dependencies of the BiOi defect concentration on doping, irradiation fluence and particle type in p-type silicon diodes have been investigated. We evidenced that large data scattering occurs for fluences above 10(12) 1 MeV neutrons/cm(2), becoming significant larger for higher fluences. We show that the BiOi defect is metastable, with two configurations A and B, of which only A is detected by Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy and Thermally Stimulated Currents techniques. The defect' electrical activity is influenced by the inherent variations in ambient and procedural experimental conditions, resulting not only in a large scattering of the results coming from the same type of measurement but making correlation between different types of experiments difficult. It is evidenced that the variations in [BiOiA] are triggered by subjecting the samples to an excess of carriers, by either heating or an inherent short exposure to ambient light when manipulating the samples prior to experiments. For the samples investigated in this work both, the [BiOiA] as determined from electrical spectroscopic measurements and the full depletion voltage as measured from Current-Voltage characteristics reach a steady state in similar to 7h. Any electrical measurement performed before will give a different result. The bi-stable behavior of the BiOi defect fully accounts for these variations.

Zirconia- and hafnia-based thin films have attracted tremendous attention in the past decade because of their unexpected ferroelectric behavior at the nanoscale, which enables the downscaling of ferroelectric devices. The present work reports an unprecedented ferroelectric rhombohedral phase of ZrO2 that can be achieved in thin films grown directly on (111)-Nb:SrTiO3 substrates by ion-beam sputtering. Structural and ferroelectric characterizations reveal (111)-oriented ZrO2 films under epitaxial compressive strain exhibiting switchable ferroelectric polarization of about 20.2 mu C/cm(2) with a coercive field of 1.5 MV/cm. Moreover, the time-dependent polarization reversal characteristics of Nb:SrTiO3/ZrO2/Au film capacitors exhibit typical bell-shaped curve features associated with the ferroelectric domain reversal and agree well with the nucleation limited switching (NLS) model. The polarization-electric field hysteresis loops point to an activation field comparable to the coercive field. Interestingly, the studied films show ferroelectric behavior per se, without the need to apply the wake-up cycle found in the orthorhombic phase of ZrO2. Overall, the rhombohedral ferroelectric ZrO2 films present technological advantages over the previously studied zirconia- and hafnia-based thin films and may be attractive for nanoscale ferroelectric devices.

Amino-derivatized lignocomposite (ADL-composite) has been designed as an artificial lignin polymer (P1) of monolignol (coniferyl alcohol, CA) enhanced by aniline insertion (P2). The derivatized lignopolymeric (P2) layer covered the surface of a methacrylate particles (SC2/SC6) functionalized previously with amino phenolic crosslinker (p-phenylenediamine (p-Ph-2-NH2) or p-amino-2-hydroxybenzoic acid (p-NH2-SalA)). One-pot biocatalytic approach allowed to combine the preparation of the polymeric materials and also its attachment on the particles surface. Thus, the monolignol (CA) will be oxi-copolymerized together with aniline on the amino prefunctionalized support surface. The oxidation process was performed using H2O2 reagent and catalyzed by peroxidase enzyme (horseradish peroxidase, HRP). The biocatalytic process was evaluated in term of aromatic monomers (CA and aniline) conversion. The chemical structure and properties of the resulted ADL-composites were investigated using specific techniques (e.g. FTIR, TPD, TGA, static contact angle, elemental analysis, and gel permeation chromatography). Attachment of P1/P2 polymer on the particles improved the hydrophobicity and also the basicity of the composite surface. Lipase enzyme was immobilized on the ADL-composites for testing the applicability of ADL-composites for biocatalyst preparation. SEM analysis allowed to notice the modification of ADL-composites surface after enzyme immobilization. Immobilized lipase exhibited better activity compared with free lipase demonstrating the efficiency of ADL-composite as support for enzyme immobilization.

Group IV nanocrystals (NCs), in particular from the Si-Ge system, are of high interest for Si photonics applications. Ge-rich SiGe NCs embedded in nanocrystallized HfO2 were obtained by magnetron sputtering deposition followed by rapid thermal annealing at 600 & DEG;C for nanostructuring. The complex characterization of morphology and crystalline structure by X-ray diffraction, mu-Raman spectroscopy, and cross-section transmission electron microscopy evidenced the formation of Ge-rich SiGe NCs (3-7 nm diameter) in a matrix of nanocrystallized HfO2. For avoiding the fast diffusion of Ge, the layer containing SiGe NCs was cladded by very thin top and bottom pure HfO2 layers. Nanocrystallized HfO2 with tetragonal/orthorhombic structure was revealed beside the monoclinic phase in both buffer HfO2 and SiGe NCs-HfO2 layers. In the top part, the film is mainly crystallized in the monoclinic phase. High efficiency of the photocurrent was obtained in a broad spectral range of curves of 600-2000 nm at low temperatures. The high-quality SiGe NC/HfO2 matrix interface together with the strain induced in SiGe NCs by nanocrystallization of both HfO2 matrix and SiGe nanoparticles explain the unexpectedly extended photoelectric sensitivity in short-wave infrared up to about 2000 nm that is more than the sensitivity limit for Ge, in spite of the increase of bandgap by well-known quantum confinement effect in SiGe NCs.

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.

Rare-earth doped oxyfluoride glass ceramics represent a new generation of tailorable optical materials with high potential for optical-related applications such as optical amplifiers, optical waveguides, and white LEDs. Their key features are related to the high transparency and remarkable luminescence properties, while keeping the thermal and chemical advantages of oxide glasses. Sol-gel chemistry offers a flexible synthesis approach with several advantages, such as lower processing temperature, the ability to control the purity and homogeneity of the final materials on a molecular level, and the large compositional flexibility. The review will be focused on optical properties of sol-gel derived nano-glass ceramics related to the RE-doped luminescent nanocrystals (fluorides, chlorides, oxychlorides, etc.) such as photoluminescence, up-conversion luminescence, thermoluminescence and how these properties are influenced by their specific processing, mostly focusing on the findings from our group and similar ones in the literature, along with a discussion of perspectives, potential challenges, and future development directions.

Phosphate tellurite glasses, with a nominal composition of 40%ZnO+40%P2O5+20%TeO2, have been synthesized by melt quenching procedure. P2O5 can lead to chemically stable phosphate tellurite glasses, compared with those classical synthesized with H3PO4. Magneto-optical measurements have shown a derivative A(1) term centered at 532 nm originating from a transition to a degenerated excited state associated with tellurium colloids. The glass densities, measured by the Archimedes method at room temperature, display an increasing value with the melting temperature of the samples. The electrical conductivity shifts toward lower frequencies with the increased melting temperature, being influenced by the mobile charges, which require lower thermal activation energy due to the Te-o metallic particles. Together with dielectric constant, the electrical conductivity underlines structural changes, by increasing the melting temperature, associated with the presence of Te-o nanoclusters.