Microstructure and paramagnetic Meissner effect of YBa2Cu3Oy nanowire networks

The microstructure and magnetic characterizations of non-woven, fabric-like YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) nanofiber mats are reported. The samples were produced by solution blow spinning (SBS), starting from a sol-gel solution of the precursor materials in polyvinylpyrrolidone. In the present work, the nanowire network samples were morphologically characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and the superconducting properties were measured by magnetometry. An interesting feature is the appearance of a paramagnetic Meissner effect (PME) when field-cooling, firstly verified in that sort of sample. The PME appears only in very small applied magnetic fields, which is similar to previous observations of the PME on an artificially granular YBCO thin film, but distinctly different from bulk samples investigated in the literature. Thus, we explain the PME by flux trapping within the voids of the nanoporous structure of the nanofiber mats

Magntic susceptibility as a proxy to heavy metal content in the sediments of Anzali wetland, Iran

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Heavy metal concentrations and magnetic susceptibility of sediment samples were analyzed as indicators of urban and industrial contamination in Anzali wetland in Gilan, Iran. The aim was to investigate the suitability of magnetic properties measurements for indicating heavy metal pollution. The concentration of six heavy metals (Ni, Cr, Cd, Zn, Fe, and Pb) was determined in different depths of four sediment core samples within four different regions of the wetland (Abkenar, Hendekhaleh, Shijan and Siakeshim). Average concentration of heavy metals in the sediment cores was higher than the severe effect level (SEL) for Ni, Cr and Fe (77.26, 113.63 ppm and 5.2%, respectively) and lower than SEL for Cd, Zn and Pb (0.84, 137.7, 29.77 ppm, respectively). It was found that the trend of metal concentrations with the depth is different in each core and is related to the pollution discharges into the rivers entering the wetland. Core magnetic susceptibility measurements also showed different magnetic properties in each core. Cluster analysis was applied using Pearson correlation coefficient between heavy metal concentrations and magnetic properties across each core. Significant relationship was found to exist between magnetic susceptibility and the concentration of Ni in Abkenar and the concentration of Fe in other regions. Whereas Abkenar is almost the isolated and uncontaminated region of the wetland, it revealed a difference in magnetic properties between contaminated and uncontaminated sediments. It was concluded that magnetic properties of samples from contaminated zone were mostly related to Fe content. The result of this study demonstrated that magnetic susceptibility measurements could be applied as a proxy method for heavy metal pollution determination in marine environments in Iran especially as a rapid and cost-effective introductory site assessments.</p