Femtosecond-laser-irradiation-induced structural organization and crystallinity of Bi2WO6

Controlling the structural organization and crystallinity of functional oxides is key to enhancing their performance in technological applications. In this work, we report a strong enhancement of the structural organization and crystallinity of Bi2WO6 samples synthetized by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method after exposing them to femtosecond laser irradiation. X-ray difraction, UVvis and Raman spectroscopies, photoluminescence emissions, energy dispersive spectroscopy, feld emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were employed to characterize the as-synthetized samples. To complement and rationalize the experimental results, frstprinciples calculations were employed to study the efects of femtosecond laser irradiation. Structural and electronic efects induced by femtosecond laser irradiation enhance the long-range crystallinity while decreasing the free carrier density, as it takes place in the amorphous and liquid states. These efects can be considered a clear cut case of surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Effect of Variations in Annealing Temperature and Metallic Cations on Nanostructured Molybdate Thin Films

Crystalline molybdate thin films were prepared by the complex polymerization method. The AMoO4(A = Ca, Sr, Ba) films were deposited onto Si wafers by the spinning technique. The Mo–O bond in the AMoO4structure was confirmed by FTIR spectra. X-ray diffraction revealed the presence of crystalline scheelite-type phase. The mass, size, and basicity of A2+cations was found to be dependent on the intrinsic characteristics of the materials. The grain size increased in the following order: CaMoO4 < SrMoO4 < BaMoO4. The emission band wavelength was detected at around 576 nm. Our findings suggest that the material’s morphology and photoluminescence were both affected by the variations in cations (Ca, Sr, or Ba) and in the thermal treatment

Magnetism and multiferroic properties at MnTiO3 surfaces: A DFT study

The present study illustrates how density functional theory calculations can rationalize the surface structure and magnetism for the low-index (1 1 0), (1 0 1), (1 0 0), (0 0 1), (1 1 1), and (0 1 2) surfaces of MnTiO3. A simple procedure, without surface reconstructions or chemical adsorptions in which the stability, magnetism and the morphological transformations is presented in detail to clarify the control of their multiferroic nature. The surface stability was found to be controlled by the octahedral [MnO6] and [TiO6] clusters formed by the Mn2+ and Ti4+ cations - i.e., their local coordination at the surfaces, respectively- with nonpolar (1 1 0) being the most stable. Enhanced superficial magnetism was found for (0 1 2), (0 0 1), and (1 1 1) surfaces in agreement with the more undercoordinated [TiOn]′ and [MnOn]• complex clusters at the surface plane. Our calculation suggests the existence of magnetic [TiOn]′ species for unstable (0 0 1) and (1 1 1) surfaces, explained by the unusual crystal-field associated with the surface environment. The crystal morphology has been predicted to determine the most likely terminations to be present as well as the intrinsic magnetization density associated with morphologies. Moreover, the (0 0 1) surface plane plays a key role in the enhancement of the magnetic properties for shape-oriented MnTiO3 nanoparticles, suggesting a superior magnetoelectric coupling due to the presence of uncompensated spins and polar distortions perpendicular to the surface plane

A DFT investigation of the role of oxygen vacancies on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of ATiO3 (A = Mn, Fe, Ni) multiferroic materials

In order to achieve deep insight into the multiferroic behavior and electronic properties of intrinsic oxygen vacancies in ATiO3 (A = Mn, Fe, Ni), first-principles calculations based on hybrid density functional theory were carried out for bulk and non-polar (110) surface models. We found that the formation of an oxygen vacancy is accompanied by structural and electronic disorders in the constituent clusters of [TiO6] and [AO6] in ATiO3, that become [TiO5] and [AO5], respectively. This perturbation contributes to the generation of intermediary energy levels in the band gap region, thus narrowing the required excitation energy. In addition, the remaining electrons are mainly trapped in the empty 3d orbitals of the Ti cations neighboring the oxygen vacancy, generating [TiO5] 0 (3d1 ) that mediates an antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in MnTiO3 and FeTiO3 materials. In particular, MnTiO3 surfaces show exposed [TiO4] 0 species that are responsible for its half-metallic behavior. The present work provides compelling evidence that controlling oxygen vacancies can be a valuable strategy to tailor the multiferroic properties of ATiO3 materials

Eletrodos de SrTiO3 através de um novo método de precursores poliméricos.

Entrada padronizada: RIBEIRO, C

Effects of surface stability on the morphological transformation of metals and metal oxides as investigated by first-principles calculations

Morphology is a key property of materials. Owing to their precise structure and morphology, crystals and nanocrystals provide excellent model systems for joint experimental and theoretical investigations into surface-related properties. Faceted polyhedral crystals and nanocrystals expose well-defined crystallographic planes depending on the synthesis method, which allow for thoughtful investigations into structure-reactivity relationships under practical conditions. This feature article introduces recent work, based on the combined use of experimental findings and first-principles calculations, to provide deeper knowledge of the electronic, structural, and energetic properties controlling the morphology and the transformation mechanisms of different metals and metal oxides: Ag, anatase TiO2, BaZrO3, and α-Ag2WO4. According to the Wulff theorem, the equilibrium shapes of these systems are obtained from the values of their respective surface energies. These investigations are useful to gain further understanding of how to achieve morphological control of complex three-dimensional crystals by tuning the ratio of the surface energy values of the different facets. This strategy allows the prediction of possible morphologies for a crystal and/or nanocrystal by controlling the relative values of surface energies.The authors are grateful to FAPESP (2013/07296-2, 2012/ 14468-1, 2013/26671-9 and 2014/04350-9), CAPES (process A104/2013 and 99999.002998/2014-09), CNPq INCTMN 573636/2008-7, PrometeoII/2014/022 and ACOMP/2014/270 projects (Generalitat Valenciana), Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain), CTQ2012- 36253-C03-02 and the Spanish Brazilian program (PHB2009-0065-PC) for financially supporting this research. We also acknowledge the Servei Informática, Universitat Jaume I for a generous allotment of computer time

A 3D platform for the morphology modulation of materials: first principles calculations on the thermodynamic stability and surface structure of metal oxides: Co3O4, α-Fe2O3, and In2O3

Essentially, the exposed crystal planes of a given material, which primarily determine their morphology, tremendously affect its behavior. First principle calculations, based on the Wulff construction model and broken bonding density index, have been performed to calculate the equilibrium and their transformations for different metal oxides: Co3O4, α-Fe2O3, and In2O3. Present results point out that starting by surface thermodynamics is a helpful approach to predict and assess the morphology transformations of these materials. These complete set of morphologies may serve as a guide for researchers, when analyzing the images from electron microscopies, to gain further understanding of how to control crystal shape synthetically by tuning the surface chemistry and by controlling the relative values of surface energies

Grain size effect on the electrical response of SnO2 thin and thick film gas sensors

Porous nano and micro crystalline tin oxide films were deposited by RF Magnetron Sputtering and doctor blade techniques, respectively. Electrical resistance and impedance spectroscopy measurements, as a function of temperature and atmosphere, were performed in order to determine the influence of the microstructure and working conditions over the electrical response of the sensors. The conductivity of all samples increases with the temperature and decreases in oxygen, as expected for an n-type semiconducting material. The impedance plots indicated the existence of two time constants related to the grains and the grain boundaries. The Nyquist diagrams at low frequencies revealed the changes that took place in the grain boundary region, with the contribution of the grains being indicated by the formation of a second semicircle at high frequencies. The better sensing performance of the doctor bladed samples can be explained by their lower initial resistance values, bigger grain sizes and higher porosity.Fil: Savu, Raluca. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Ponce, Miguel Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Joanni, Ednan. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Bueno, Paulo Roberto. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Castro, Miriam Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Cilense, Mario. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Varela, Jose Arana. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Longo, Elson. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; Brasi

Back to the basics: probing the role of surfaces in the experimentally observed morphological evolution of ZnO

Although the physics and chemistry of materials are driven by exposed surfaces in the morphology, they are fleeting, making them inherently challenging to study experimentally. The rational design of their morphology and delivery in a synthesis process remains complex because of the numerous kinetic parameters that involve the effective shocks of atoms or clusters, which end up leading to the formation of different morphologies. Herein, we combined functional density theory calculations of the surface energies of ZnO and the Wulff construction to develop a simple computational model capable of predicting its available morphologies in an attempt to guide the search for images obtained by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The figures in this morphology map agree with the experimental FE-SEM images. The mechanism of this computational model is as follows: when the model is used, a reaction pathway is designed to find a given morphology and the ideal step height in the whole morphology map in the practical experiment. This concept article provides a practical tool to understand, at the atomic level, the routes for the morphological evolution observed in experiments as well as their correlation with changes in the properties of materials based solely on theoretical calculations. The findings presented herein not only explain the occurrence of changes during the synthesis (with targeted reaction characteristics that underpin an essential structure–function relationship) but also offer deep insights into how to enhance the efficiency of other metal-oxide-based materials via matching