Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Halide Post-Perovskite 3-Cyanopyridinium Lead Tribromide for Optoelectronic Applications

2D halide perovskite-like semiconductors are attractive materials for various optoelectronic applications, from photovoltaics to lasing. To date, the most studied families of such low-dimensional halide perovskite-like compounds are Ruddlesden–Popper, Dion–Jacobson, and other phases that can be derived from 3D halide perovskites by slicing along different crystallographic directions, which leads to the spatially isotropic corner-sharing connectivity type of metal-halide octahedra in the 2D layer plane. In this work, a new family of hybrid organic–inorganic 2D lead halides is introduced, by reporting the first example of the hybrid organic–inorganic post-perovskite 3-cyanopyridinium lead tribromide (3cp)PbBr3. The post-perovskite structure has unique octahedra connectivity type in the layer plane: a typical “perovskite-like” corner-sharing connectivity pattern in one direction, and the rare edge-sharing connectivity pattern in the other. Such connectivity leads to significant anisotropy in the material properties within the inorganic layer plane. Moreover, the dense organic cation packing results in the formation of 1D fully organic bands in the electronic structure, offering the prospects of the involvement of the organic subsystem into material's optoelectronic properties. The (3cp)PbBr3 clearly shows the 2D quantum size effect with a bandgap around 3.2 eV and typical broadband self-trapped excitonic photoluminescence at temperatures below 200 K

Coherent phonons in Bi2Se3 induced by a powerful THz pulse

Using the electro-optic detection method we have detected coherent phonons of Eg1, Eu1, Eg2, and A1g1 symmetry generated in a crystalline film of Bi2Se3 by a powerful single-cycle THz pulse. Coherent excitation of Raman active modes is interpreted as a result of three-and four-phonon interactions in the anharmonic crystal lattice of Bi2Se3

Coherent phonons in Bi

Using the electro-optic detection method we have detected coherent phonons of Eg1, Eu1, Eg2, and A1g1 symmetry generated in a crystalline film of Bi2Se3 by a powerful single-cycle THz pulse. Coherent excitation of Raman active modes is interpreted as a result of three-and four-phonon interactions in the anharmonic crystal lattice of Bi2Se3

NEXAFS study of electronic and atomic structure of active layer in Al/indium tin oxide/TiO2 stack during resistive switching

We have studied the stability of the resistive switching process in the Al/(In2O3)0.9(SnO2)0.1/TiO2 assembly grown by atomic layer deposition. Besides electrical characterization the effect of electric field on the atomic electronic structure of the TiO2 layer was studied using near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The region of the current instability in the I-V characteristics was revealed. Presumably this current instability is supported by the amorphous structure of the TiO2 film but is initiated by the surface morphology of the Al substrate. A formation of the O2 molecules was established which occurs specifically in the region of the current instability that is a result of electrical Joule heating manifestation

Enhanced Erosion Resistance of an Ultrafine-Grained Ti Alloy with a PVD Coating

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the erosive wear resistance, strength, and adhesive characteristics of the high-temperature structural titanium alloy Ti-5.7Al-3.8Mo-1.2Zr-1.3Sn (the Russian grade VT8M-1) with coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained (UFG) structures and a protective erosion-resistant TiVN coating produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD), deposited on the alloy surface. A microscopic analysis of the areas subjected to the action of abrasive particles was performed, and different characters of erosive wear were revealed depending on the structural state of the alloy. The obtained results convincingly demonstrate that by means of refining the grain structure of alloys and depositing a protective ion-plasma TiVN coating on the alloy surface, it is possible to significantly increase the erosion resistance of materials operating under high loads and in aggressive environments

Enhanced Erosion Resistance of an Ultrafine-Grained Ti Alloy with a PVD Coating

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the erosive wear resistance, strength, and adhesive characteristics of the high-temperature structural titanium alloy Ti-5.7Al-3.8Mo-1.2Zr-1.3Sn (the Russian grade VT8M-1) with coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained (UFG) structures and a protective erosion-resistant TiVN coating produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD), deposited on the alloy surface. A microscopic analysis of the areas subjected to the action of abrasive particles was performed, and different characters of erosive wear were revealed depending on the structural state of the alloy. The obtained results convincingly demonstrate that by means of refining the grain structure of alloys and depositing a protective ion-plasma TiVN coating on the alloy surface, it is possible to significantly increase the erosion resistance of materials operating under high loads and in aggressive environments

Superconductivity in Cu Co-Doped SrxBi2Se3 Single Crystals

In this study, we grew Cu co-doped single crystals of a topological superconductor candidate Sr x Bi 2 Se 3 , and studied their structural and transport properties. We reveal that the addition of even as small an amount of Cu co-dopant as 0.6 atomic %, completely suppresses superconductivity in Sr x Bi 2 Se 3 . Critical temperature (∼2.7 K) is rather robust with respect to co-doping. We show that Cu systematically increases the electron density and lattice parameters a and c. Our results demonstrate that superconductivity in Sr x Bi 2 Se 3 -based materials is induced by significantly lower Sr doping level x < 0.02 than commonly accepted x ∼ 0.06 , and it strongly depends on the specific arrangement of Sr atoms in the host matrix. The critical temperature in superconductive Sr-doped Bi 2 Se 3 is shown to be insensitive to carrier density

Feasibility and physics potential of detecting 8^8B solar neutrinos at JUNO

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) features a 20 kt multi-purpose underground liquid scintillator sphere as its main detector. Some of JUNO's features make it an excellent location for B solar neutrino measurements, such as its low-energy threshold, high energy resolution compared with water Cherenkov detectors, and much larger target mass compared with previous liquid scintillator detectors. In this paper, we present a comprehensive assessment of JUNO's potential for detecting B solar neutrinos via the neutrino-electron elastic scattering process. A reduced 2 MeV threshold for the recoil electron energy is found to be achievable, assuming that the intrinsic radioactive background U and Th in the liquid scintillator can be controlled to 10 g/g. With ten years of data acquisition, approximately 60,000 signal and 30,000 background events are expected. This large sample will enable an examination of the distortion of the recoil electron spectrum that is dominated by the neutrino flavor transformation in the dense solar matter, which will shed new light on the inconsistency between the measured electron spectra and the predictions of the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework. If eV , JUNO can provide evidence of neutrino oscillation in the Earth at approximately the 3 (2 ) level by measuring the non-zero signal rate variation with respect to the solar zenith angle. Moreover, JUNO can simultaneously measure using B solar neutrinos to a precision of 20% or better, depending on the central value, and to sub-percent precision using reactor antineutrinos. A comparison of these two measurements from the same detector will help understand the current mild inconsistency between the value of reported by solar neutrino experiments and the KamLAND experiment