Multifunctionality of silver closo-boranes

Silver compounds share a rich history in technical applications including photography, catalysis, photocatalysis, cloud seeding and as antimicrobial agents. Here we present a class of silver compounds (Ag2B10H10 and Ag2B12H12) that are semiconductors with a bandgap at 2.3?eV in the green visible light spectrum. The silver boranes have extremely high ion conductivity and dynamic-anion facilitated Ag(+) migration is suggested based on the structural model. The ion conductivity is enhanced more than two orders of magnitude at room temperature (up to 3.2?mS?cm(-1)) by substitution with AgI to form new compounds. Furthermore, the closo-boranes show extremely fast silver nano-filament growth when excited by electrons during transmission electron microscope investigations. Ag nano-filaments can also be reabsorbed back into Ag2B12H12. These interesting properties demonstrate the multifunctionality of silver closo-boranes and open up avenues in a wide range of fields including photocatalysis, solid state ionics and nano-wire production

Structural symmetry of YD3 epitaxial thin films

A thin-film laminated structure comprised of Pd(5 nm)/Nb(5 nm)/Y(500 nm)/Nb(5 nm) on α-Al2O3(110) was synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy to yield a crystalline Y layer with the c axis oriented perpendicular to the growth plane. Neutron diffraction and topographical measurements of the epitaxial YD3 layer formed after deuteriding the Y metal layer were consistent with a twinlike structure possessing P63cm and/or P3c1 symmetry. ©2000 The American Physical Society