Article
Optics
Andris Berzins, Janis Smits, Andrejs Petruhins, Roberts Rimsa, Gatis Mozolevskis, Martins Zubkins, Ilja Fescenko
Summary: In this paper, the imaging of stresses in the top layer of diamond with deposited structures of Cr2O3 at temperatures 19°C and 37°C was demonstrated using stress-sensitive optically detected magnetic resonances (ODMR) in NV centers. The stresses in the diamond-film interface were also calculated and correlated to measured ODMR frequency shifts. The results show that NV microscopy can be used to optically detect and quantify the spatial distributions of stresses in diamond-based photonic devices with micrometer precision, and thin films can be used for local application of temperature-controlled stresses.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jingxin Sang, Tan Zheng, Liu Xu, Xin Zhou, Shijian Tian, Jiatong Sun, Xiaofeng Xu, Jianqiang Wang, Shuguang Zhao, Yang Liu
Summary: This study discusses the effects of surface topology change on metal-insulator transition behaviors of VO2/Al2O3 thin films prepared by DC sputtering. It is found that grain size and lattice strain play significant roles in improving the metal-insulator transition, with increasing crystalline size enhancing sheet conductivity and lattice strain modulating T-MIT.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Kaiming Qiao, Yuhang Liang, Hu Zhang, Fengxia Hu, Ziyuan Yu, Yi Long, Jing Wang, Jirong Sun, Tongyun Zhao, Baogen Shen
Summary: This study investigates the growth mechanism of FeRh films and their impact on phase transition and magnetocaloric effect. By changing the substrates, the phase transition temperature and entropy changes of FeRh films can be controlled, resulting in regulated entropy changes and refrigeration capacity in a wide temperature span.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Tyler Stabile, Yize Stephanie Li
Summary: This study investigates the deposition of strained alpha-Sn thin films on highly lattice-mismatched Ge (100) substrates by physical vapor deposition, using different cleaning methods. The results show that the morphology of thin films is significantly influenced by the cleaning method. It is demonstrated that the alpha-Sn thin films deposited on Ge substrates exhibit n-type electrical properties and may hold potential for advanced electronics and photonics applications.
MATERIALS TODAY ADVANCES
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Cedric Karel Fonzeu Monguen, Samuel Daniel, Zhen-Yu Tian
Summary: Cu-Cr double-layer thin film catalysts were prepared by PSE-CVD for low-temperature oxidative dehydrogenation of propane. Cr30Cu120 exhibited high propane conversion and propene selectivity at 300℃ and 400℃. The reaction rate and activation energy of Cr30Cu120 were related to the amount of lattice oxygen, Cu2+ and Cr6+ species, and crystallite size. Moreover, Cr30Cu120 showed good stability in a stability test.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ji Qi, Yuan Zhang, Huan Liu, Hang Xu, Chen Wang, Linglong Hu, Ming Feng, Weiming Lu
Summary: In this study, the effects of strain on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance were investigated using different types of strain. It was found that the strain exhibited different trends in rigid and flexible materials, which can be explained by the difference in oxygen activation energy in lattice fields.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Shweta Sharma, Reema Gupta, Monika Tomar
Summary: Controlling the background oxygen gas pressure can tailor lattice strain and significantly improve the electrical and ferroelectric properties of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 thin films deposited using pulsed laser deposition. The optimal gas pressure of 200 mTorr resulted in a film with superior properties, including high polarization, low leakage current, high Curie temperature, and excellent dielectric properties.
MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Dong Han, Rahma Moalla, Ignasi Fina, Valentina M. Giordano, Marc d'Esperonnat, Claude Botella, Genevieve Grenet, Regis Debord, Stephane Pailhes, Guillaume Saint-Girons, Romain Bachelet
Summary: The study investigates the impact of epitaxial strain on the structural, electronic, and thermoelectric properties of p-type transparent Sr-doped LaCrO3 thin films. By growing high-quality fully strained LSCO epitaxial thin films on different oxide substrates, it was found that the electric conductivity and Seebeck coefficient can be significantly influenced by strain.
ACS APPLIED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Weon Cheol Lim, Jonghan Song, Tae-Yeon Seong, Keun Hwa Chae
Summary: This study investigates the modulation of lattice stress in ZnO thin films implanted with Ar, Mn and Ag ions. The results show that the granular nature of the films remains unchanged after ion implantation, but morphological changes are observed. The crystalline phase of the films remains unchanged at different doses of the ions, but lattice stress increases with the increase of ion implantation amount, which is difficult to explain using the ion radius. However, it is found to have a certain relationship with the total energy loss governed by both electronic and nuclear stopping process.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Marwa M. Tharwat, Ashwag Almalki, Amr M. Mahros
Summary: This study introduces a randomly distributed plasmonic aluminum nanoparticle array on conventional GaAs thin-film solar cells to enhance sunlight harvesting, analyzing the performance through modifications in absorbance and planar density of the plasmonic layer. The findings suggest that increasing the planar density enhances absorption in the visible region but worsens absorption in the near-infrared region.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shengxin Zhu, Le Yang, Jiawei Wen, Xiaolong Feng, Peijun Zhou, Fuguo Xie, Jiang Zhou, Ya-Na Wang
Summary: A new method for measuring internal strain in the 18650 Li-ion battery has been developed, which shows promise in achieving a better understanding of the internal strain evolution process.
JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES
(2021)
Article
Optics
Yan-Hua Zhou, Xue-Feng Zhang, Tao Wang
Summary: Density shift plays a crucial role in the uncertainty of optical lattice clocks. Researchers have developed a numerical algorithm called MBSED to accurately analyze the density shift of the system. This algorithm can be used for numerical simulations of optical lattice clocks and may have applications in other quantum metrology platforms.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ming Wu, Zhizheng Jiang, Xiaojie Lou, Fan Zhang, Dongsheng Song, Shoucong Ning, Mengyao Guo, Stephen J. Pennycook, Ji-Yan Dai, Zheng Wen
Summary: This study presents a flexoelectric photodetector based on a thin-film heterostructure, demonstrating a giant strain gradient in LaFeO3 thin films grown on LaAlO3 substrates, leading to significant flexoelectric polarization and photovoltaic effect with nanosecond response time. This novel self-powered photodetector offers an alternative to traditional interface-type structures and opens up avenues for designing practical flexoelectric devices for nanoelectronics applications.
Article
Materials Science, Ceramics
Imran Ahmad Salmani, Mohd. Shahid Khan, Javid Ali, Aurangzeb Khurram Hafiz, Mohd. Mehkoom, S. M. Afzal, Mohd. Saleem Khan
Summary: This study investigates the third-order optical nonlinearity and multiferroicity of perovskite ZrFeO3 nanocrystalline thin films. Rietveld refinement confirms the monoclinic structure of ZrFeO3 nanoparticles synthesized by sol-gel method. Thin films of ZrFeO3 nanoparticles are deposited on glass substrates by thermal evaporation method. The results suggest that ZrFeO3 films could be a promising material for future applications in multiferroic and nonlinear optical devices.
JOURNAL OF SOL-GEL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xue Chen, Jiaxian Wan, Hao Wu, Chang Liu
Summary: Passivation of oxide-based thin film transistors still poses a challenge due to the need for thermal treatments, which can impact the transistor characteristics. By reducing the growth temperatures of passivation layers, the performance of TFTs can be maintained within an acceptable range. Among all devices, TFTs with Al2O3 PVLs deposited at 100 degrees C using H2O as oxidant exhibit high mobility, proper threshold voltage, low subthreshold swing, and excellent stability.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yadong Han, Junhong Yu, Hang Zhang, Fang Xu, Kunlin Peng, Xiaoyuan Zhou, Liang Qiao, Oleg Misochko, Kazutaka G. Nakamura, Giovanni M. Vanacore, Jianbo Hu
Summary: In this study, an ultrafast and non-equilibrium Cmcm phase was generated in SnSe at room temperature through optical excitation, and it was found to be driven by displacive excitation of coherent A(g) phonons. This finding provides an important insight into the non-equilibrium thermoelectric properties of SnSe.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Physics, Applied
Menglu Li, Ning Wang, Sa Zhang, Jutao Hu, Haiyan Xiao, Hengfeng Gong, Zijiang Liu, Liang Qiao, Xiaotao Zu
Summary: The study highlights the unique optical and electronic properties of lanthanum copper oxychalcogenides, which also exhibit good thermoelectric properties for high energy conversion efficiency. Researchers have analyzed the crystal and electronic structure, thermoelectric properties, and practical applications of LaCuOX, as well as proposed strategies for optimizing their transport properties.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Coatings & Films
Jingjing Liu, Sa Zhang, Ming Jiang, Haiyan Xiao, Shan Feng, Liang Qiao
Summary: This study demonstrates an anion engineering approach to reduce the bandgap of barium titanate by replacing oxygen atoms with sulfur atoms. The resulting materials, BaTiOS2 and BaTiS3, showed significantly lower bandgaps and improved optical absorption compared to BaTiO3, making them promising candidates for photovoltaic applications.
JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
William E. Frazier, Lei Li, Bharat Gwalani, Joshua Silverstein, Arun Devaraj, Ayoub Soulami, Peter V. Sushko
Summary: In this work, a combination of Finite Element Method and the Kinetic Monte Carlo Potts Model is used to simulate the microstructural response of Al-Si alloys under friction-assisted shear deformation. The study reveals that an increase in Si composition leads to larger heterogeneities in strain distribution under shear and commensurately causes tepid recrystallization, providing a plausible physical explanation for variations in grain size observed in tribometric experiments.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A-PHYSICAL METALLURGY AND MATERIALS SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chao Cai, Shaobo Han, Xiaotao Zhang, Jingxia Yu, Xia Xiang, Jack Yang, Liang Qiao, Xiaotao Zu, Yuanzheng Chen, Sean Li
Summary: The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been a focus of research in water electrolysis. In this study, the authors used single-atom Au doped Co-based nanosheets to evaluate the OER activity and the interaction between Co and Au. The results showed that Au-Co(OH)(2) nanosheets exhibited superior performance compared to state-of-the-art Co-based catalysts. The authors also provided new insights into the mechanisms of OER activity and the synthesis of efficient OER electrocatalysts.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
S. A. Chambers, M. Chrysler, J. H. Ngai, T-L Lee, J. Gabel, B. E. Matthews, S. R. Spurgeon, M. E. Bowden, Z. Zhu, P. Sushko
Summary: The electronic structures of semiconducting heterojunctions depend on the composition and concentration of dopants. Core-level photoelectron line shapes excited with hard x rays can provide information about electric fields resulting from internal charge transfer. Hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy and related modeling are powerful tools for studying the electronic structure of material systems with limited insight from traditional transport measurements.
PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ning Wang, Chen Shen, Zhehao Sun, Haiyan Xiao, Hongbin Zhang, Zongyou Yin, Liang Qiao
Summary: This study investigates the thermal and electrical transport properties of 2D Bi2TeSe2 material using first-principles calculations. The results show that the Bi2TeSe2 monolayer has a low lattice thermal conductivity and enhanced Seebeck coefficient, resulting in a high power factor and optimal ZT value. The findings provide new insights for the application of bismuth-based materials in the high-temperature thermoelectric field.
ACS APPLIED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Jenna A. Bilbrey, Nanjun Chen, Shenyang Hu, Peter Sushko
Summary: This article introduces a method for analyzing the evolution of defect configurations in polycrystalline aluminum using graph theory. The method can automatically identify, track, and characterize defect regions in large-scale atomic data and elucidate the relationship between external stimuli and defect distributions.
COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Widitha S. Samarakoon, Peter V. Sushko, Dooyong Lee, Bharat Jalan, Hua Zhou, Yingge Du, Zhenxing Feng, Scott A. Chambers
Summary: This study demonstrates the use of transient electron scavengers to control the carrier concentration at polar/nonpolar perovskite interfaces. By combining experimental analysis and computational modeling, the formation of Nd vacancies and Nd adatoms stabilized by oxygen scavengers was found to explain the decreased carrier concentration at the heterojunction. This provides insights into the growth mechanisms and the impact of transient species and defects on the electronic properties of oxide heterojunctions.
PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Henry W. Sprueill, Jenna A. Bilbrey, Qin Pang, Peter V. Sushko
Summary: Neural network potentials (NNPs) can accelerate atomistic simulations and allow broader sampling of structural outcomes and transformation pathways. In this study, an active sampling algorithm is demonstrated to train an accurate NNP for microstructural evolutions. The NNP is then used with a perturbation scheme to stochastically sample structural and energetic changes caused by shear-induced deformation, revealing a range of possible intermixing and vacancy migration pathways. The code for the active learning strategy and NNP-driven shear simulations is openly available.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Guangdong Liu, Yang He, Zhixiao Liu, Hui Wan, Yaobin Xu, Huiqiu Deng, Hui Yang, Ji-Guang Zhang, Peter V. V. Sushko, Fei Gao, Chongmin Wang, Yingge Du
Summary: By using in situ transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory calculations, the influence of planar defects on the diffusion pathways and transport kinetics of Li ions in a tungsten trioxide lattice is revealed. It is found that planar defects disrupt the continuity of ion conduction channels by altering the charge distribution and lattice spacing, leading to a significant increase in energy barrier for Li diffusion. This atomic-level understanding has important implications for rational interface design in solid-state batteries and solid oxide fuel cells.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Fang Li, Xiaoyang Yue, Yulong Liao, Liang Qiao, Kangle Lv, Quanjun Xiang
Summary: In this work, the authors demonstrate the interfacial electron-transfer mechanism in a crystalline triazine/heptazine carbon nitride homojunction. They use surface bimetallic cocatalysts as sensitive probes and conduct in situ photoemission to trace the S-scheme transfer of interfacial photogenerated electrons. The experimental and theoretical results reveal the dynamic nature of the charge transfer and its potential for enhancing CO2 photoreduction.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Matthew Chrysler, Judith Gabel, Tien-Lin Lee, Zihua Zhu, Tiffany C. Kaspar, Mark Bowden, Peter V. Sushko, Scott A. Chambers, Joseph H. Ngai
Summary: Charge redistribution across heterojunctions influences the functionality of materials systems. The composition of the terminating surface affects charge transfer across a Si/SrTiO3 heterojunction. Surface depletion in Si causes itinerant electrons to migrate across the interface and modify the interfacial dipole. This leads to a change in band alignment, which can be weakened by capping the SrTiO3 surface.
PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS
(2023)
Review
Energy & Fuels
Fazli Wahid, Sajjad Ali, Pir Muhammad Ismail, Fazal Raziq, Sharafat Ali, Jiabao Yi, Liang Qiao
Summary: With the increase in energy crisis and greenhouse effect, the development of efficient solar-driven photocatalytic systems for fuels/chemicals production is crucial. Single atom photocatalytic (SAP) systems, consisting of isolated single atoms (SAs) coordinated with a suitable support, have shown superior catalytic efficiency. This review discusses SAPs and the confining of metal SAs on 2D supports, highlighting recent advances, challenges, and future perspectives, aiming to provide ideas for the discovery of novel photocatalytic systems.
PROGRESS IN ENERGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Prescott E. Evans, Yang Wang, Peter V. Sushko, Zdenek Dohnalek
Summary: This study investigates the deposition of palladium (Pd) on WTe2(001) and finds that Pd nucleation is driven by the interaction with excess tellurium (Te) atoms. The formation of Pd-Te clusters is not affected by surface defects and remains stable at elevated temperatures. These findings are important for the manufacturing of novel quantum and microelectronics devices and catalytically active nano-alloy centers.
