Compositional boundary layers trigger liquid unmixing in a basaltic crystal mush

Abstract: The separation of immiscible liquids has significant implications for magma evolution and the formation of magmatic ore deposits. We combine high-resolution imaging and electron probe microanalysis with the first use of atom probe tomography on tholeiitic basaltic glass from Hawaii, the Snake River Plain, and Iceland, to investigate the onset of unmixing of basaltic liquids into Fe-rich and Si-rich conjugates. We examine the relationships between unmixing and crystal growth, and the evolution of a nanoemulsion in a crystal mush. We identify the previously unrecognised role played by compositional boundary layers in promoting unmixing around growing crystals at melt-crystal interfaces. Our findings have important implications for the formation of immiscible liquid in a crystal mush, the interpretations of compositional zoning in crystals, and the role of liquid immiscibility in controlling magma physical properties

Triplet Exciton Generation in Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells based on Endohedral Fullerenes

Organic bulk-heterojunctions (BHJ) and solar cells containing the trimetallic nitride endohedral fullerene 1-[3-(2-ethyl)hexoxy carbonyl]propyl-1-phenyl-Lu3N@C80 (Lu3N@C80-PCBEH) show an open circuit voltage (VOC) 0.3 V higher than similar devices with [6,6]-phenyl-C[61]-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM). To fully exploit the potential of this acceptor molecule with respect to the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells, the short circuit current (JSC) should be improved to become competitive with the state of the art solar cells. Here, we address factors influencing the JSC in blends containing the high voltage absorber Lu3N@C80-PCBEH in view of both photogeneration but also transport and extraction of charge carriers. We apply optical, charge carrier extraction, morphology, and spin-sensitive techniques. In blends containing Lu3N@C80-PCBEH, we found 2 times weaker photoluminescence quenching, remainders of interchain excitons, and, most remarkably, triplet excitons formed on the polymer chain, which were absent in the reference P3HT:PC61BM blends. We show that electron back transfer to the triplet state along with the lower exciton dissociation yield due to intramolecular charge transfer in Lu3N@C80-PCBEH are responsible for the reduced photocurrent

Atom probe tomography of nanoscale electronic materials

International audienceAs the characteristic length scale of electronic devices shrinks, so does the required scale for measurement techniques to provide useful feedback during development and fabrication. The current capabilities of atom probe tomography (APT), such as detecting a low number of dopant atoms in nanoscale devices or studying diffusion effects in a nanowire (NW), make this technique important for metrology on the nanoscale. Here we review recent APT investigations applied to transistors (including regions such as gate oxide, channel, source, drain, contacts, etc.), heterogeneous dopant incorporation in NWs, and Pt-based nanoparticles

Composition profiling of GaAs/AIGaAs quantum dots grown by droplet epitaxy

Droplet epitaxy (DE) is a growth method which can create III-V quantum dots (QDs) whose optoelectronic properties can be accurately controlled through the crystallisation conditions. In this work, GaAs/AlGaAs DE-QDs have been analyzed with the complimentary techniques of crosssectional scanning tunneling microscopy and atom probe tomography. Structural details and a quantitative chemical analysis of QDs of different sizes are obtained. Most QDs were found to be pure GaAs, while a small proportion exhibited high intermixing caused by a local etching process. Large QDs with a high aspect ratio were observed to have an Al-rich crown above the GaAs QD. This structure is attributed to differences in mobility of the cations during the capping phase of the DE growth