PREPARING OF THE CHAMELEON COATING BY THE ION JET DEPOSITION METHOD

Preparation of chameleon coatings using an Ionized Jet Deposition (IJD) technique is reported in the present paper. IJD is a new flexible method for thin film deposition developed by Noivion, Srl. The chameleon coatings are thin films characterised by a distinct change of their tribological properties according to the external conditions. The deposited films of SiC and TiN materials were examined by the Raman spectroscopy, SEM and XPS. The results of the Raman spectroscopy have proved an amorphous structure of SiC films. The data from XPS on TiN films have shown that the films are heavily oxidized, but also prove that the films are composed of TiN and pure Ti. The SEM provided information about the size of grains and particles constituting the deposited films, which is important for tribological properties of the films. Deposition of the chameleon coating is very complex problem and IJD could be ideal method for preparation of this coating

Simulation of UV/Vis Spectra of CyMe4BTBP and Some of its Degradation Products

Wet extraction and selective separation methods of actinide elements from highly active spent nuclear fuel constitutes a key step in the current waste reprocessing technologies. The quadridentate 6,6‘-bis(1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-2,2‘-bipyridine ligands (BTBPs) form a very promising group of extraction agents investigated at recent. Radiation decay process of one of the BTBPs representatives, CyMe4BTBP, is indirectly analyzed by simulating the UV-Visible absorption spectra of the original compound and one proposed possible CyMe4BTBP and 1-octanol adduct and comparing the obtained courses with experimentally observed data. Ab-initio TDDFT approach using 6-31++G(d,p) basis set and wB97X, CAM-B3LYP, LC-wPBE functionals is applied. Partial agreement of the simulated and experimental data is found and discussed

Transport of gadolinium in a cement composite

Development of cement based composites suitable for radionuclide immobilization is of great interest for secure containment of nuclear waste. This requires, in particular, detailed knowledge of how radionuclides are transported in such composites. In this paper we investigate the transport of gadolinium in a dry cement composite. Experimental data are obtained in a non-destructive way by neutron imaging. Their theoretical interpretation is based on a diffusion-advection model in which sorption is included

Fiber Optic Sensor of Ammonia Gas Using Plasmonic Extraordinary Optical Transmission

While standard surface plasmon resonance (bio) sensing, relaying on propagating surface plasmon polariton sensitivity on homogeneous metal/dielectric boundaries, represents nowadays a routine sensing technique, other alternatives, such as inverse designs with nanostructured plasmonic periodic hole arrays, have been far less studied, especially in the context of gas sensing applications. Here, we present a specific application of such a plasmonic nanostructured array for ammonia gas sensing, based on a combination of fiber optics, extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) effect, and chemo-optical transducer selectively sensitive to ammonia gas. The nanostructured array of holes is drilled in a thin plasmonic gold layer by means of focused ion beam technique. The structure is covered by chemo-optical transducer layer showing selective spectral sensitivity towards gaseous ammonia. Metallic complex of 5-(4′-dialkylamino-phenylimino)-quinoline-8-one dye soaked in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix is used in place of the transducer. Spectral transmission of the resulting structure and its changes under exposition to ammonia gas of various concentrations is then interrogated by fiber optics tools. The observed VIS-NIR EOT spectra are juxtaposed to the predictions performed by the rigorous Fourier modal method (FMM), providing useful theoretical feedback to the experimental data, and ammonia gas sensing mechanism of the whole EOT system and its parameters are discussed

Texture of the Freshwater Shells from the Unionidae Family Collected in the Czech Republic Investigated by X-ray and Neutron Diffraction

Bivalve shells exhibit extreme mechanical resistance despite using a minimal amount of material. The shells thus represent an inspiration and a source of information for environmental, geological, and engineering sciences. In this study, two species of freshwater shells from the Unionidae family, collected in the Czech Luznice River, were investigated with respect to their crystallographic preferred orientation by means of X-ray and neutron diffraction. The observed texture was found to be of a strongly uniaxial type, with the strength increasing along the shell growth direction. The c-axis of aragonite does not change during growth and its alignment remains perpendicular to the outer surface of the shel