Metamorphic InAs(Sb)/InGaAs/InAlAs nanoheterostructures grown on GaAs for efficient mid-IR emitters

High-efficiency semiconductor lasers and light-emitting diodes operating in the 3–5?μm mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range are currently of great demand for a wide variety of applications, in particular, gas sensing, noninvasive medical tests, IR spectroscopy etc. III-V compounds with a lattice constant of about 6.1?Å are traditionally used for this spectral range. The attractive idea to fabricate such emitters on GaAs substrates by using In(Ga,Al)As compounds is restricted by either the minimum operating wavelength of ～8?μm in case of pseudomorphic AlGaAs-based quantum cascade lasers or requires utilization of thick metamorphic In_xAl_1-xAs buffer layers (MBLs) playing a key role in reducing the density of threading dislocations (TDs) in an active region, which otherwise result in a strong decay of the quantum efficiency of such mid-IR emitters. In this review we present the results of careful investigations of employing the convex-graded In_xAl_1-xAs MBLs for fabrication by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (001) substrates of In(Ga,Al)As heterostructures with a combined type-II/type-I InSb/InAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW) for efficient mid-IR emitters (3–3.6?μm). The issues of strain relaxation, elastic stress balance, efficiency of radiative and non-radiative recombination at T?=?10–300?K are discussed in relation to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth conditions and designs of the structures. A wide complex of techniques including in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning and transmission electron microscopies, X-ray diffractometry, reciprocal space mapping, selective area electron diffraction, as well as photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy was used to study in detail structural and optical properties of the metamorphic QW structures. Optimization of the growth conditions (the substrate temperature, the As₄/III ratio) and elastic strain profiles governed by variation of an inverse step in the In content profile between the MBL and the InAlAs virtual substrate results in decrease in the TD density (down to 3?×?10⁷ cm^?2), increase of the thickness of the low-TD-density near-surface MBL region to 250–300?nm, the extremely low surface roughness with the RMS value of 1.6–2.4?nm, measured by AFM, as well as rather high 3.5?μm-PL intensity at temperatures up to 300?K in such structures. The obtained results indicate that the metamorphic InSb/In(Ga,Al)As QW heterostructures of proper design, grown under the optimum MBE conditions, are very promising for fabricating the efficient mid-IR emitters on a GaAs platform.     

Sonication-Assisted Synthesis of Bimetallic Hg/Pd Alloy Nanoparticles for Catalytic Reduction of Nitrophenol and its Derivatives

In this article, we report a facile approach for the synthesis of an inexpensive catalyst of bimetallic Hg/Pd alloys comprising nanoparticles with various structures using a unique ultrasonic reaction that is conducted without the use of any reducing agent. The nanoparticles of Hg/Pd alloys (HgPd and Hg₂Pd₅) were achieved for the first time by sonicating an aqueous solution of Palladium (II) nitrate with metallic liquid mercury, as evidenced by XRD. EDS further confirmed the presence of Pd and Hg elements in the alloy. The surface morphology and structure of the nanoparticles have been systematically investigated by HRSEM, HRTEM and SAED pattern. In order to explore the catalytic activity of the as-synthesized nanoalloys, the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and a few other nitrophenol derivatives were investigated. Excellent catalytic activity was obtained for Hg/Pd (1:1) alloy, and the rate constant for the reduction of 4-NP with Hg/Pd at room temperature was found to be 58.4 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹, which is possibly the highest ever reported. The catalyst exhibited superior stability and reusability when compared with those reported in the literature for other catalysts based on noble metals.     

智能蜂窝状有序多孔薄膜：体系构建、响应性能及应用探索

蜂窝状有序多孔膜是一种典型的具有微、纳米尺寸的图案化高分子薄膜材料,在超疏水表面、光电材料、组织工程、生物医学、传感器等领域都具有良好的应用前景。表面形貌或性质具有可逆刺激响应特性的智能型多孔膜不仅拥有常规多孔膜的性能,而且还拥有独特的"开-关"功能,因此受到广泛关注。本文回顾了智能有序多孔膜近年的研究进展,重点对其体系构建、响应方式、机理、性能和相关应用进行了归纳与分析,评述了不同刺激响应多孔膜的特点及优劣势,探讨了智能多孔膜的优化设计及提高响应性能等问题,指出了目前面临的挑战,并展望了未来的发展方向。     

Enhanced Dual Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis with Trimetallic PtPdCo Mesoporous Nanoparticles

The facile preparation of platinum‐based catalysts with designed compositions and structures is of great importance for fuel cells. In this work, a one‐pot method is developed to synthesize monodispersed trimetallic PtPdCo mesoporous nanoparticles (PtPdCo MNs) with uniform morphology and size. The proposed synthetic method does not require any hard template or organic solvent, which greatly simplifies the preparation procedure. PtPdCo MNs, with a highly porous structure, exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activities and excellent stabilities for both the formic acid oxidation reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction, relative to bimetallic PtPd MNs and commercial Pt/C catalyst. The proposed synthetic method is highly valuable for the design of mesoporous multimetallic catalysts for fuel cells.     

Experimental determination of interfacial energy for solid Al in the Al-Sn-Mg eutectic system with Bridgman-type apparatus

The equilibrated grain boundary groove shape of solid Al in equilibrium with Al-Sn-Mg eutectic liquid was observed by using a Bridgman type directional solidification apparatus. The ratio of the thermal conductivity of the equilibrated liquid to the thermal conductivity of solid Al has been obtained as 0.91. In addition, the average Gibbs-Thomson coefficient, $\bar{\mathrm{\Gamma }}=(4.20\pm 0.35)\times {10}^{-8}\mathrm{Km}$, the solid-liquid interfacial energy, ${\sigma }_{SL}=180.68\pm 23.48\text{mJ}/{\text{m}}^2$ and the grain boundary energy, ${\sigma }_{GB}=309.30\pm 29.47\text{mJ}/{\text{m}}^2$, in the Al/Al-Sn-Mg system have been calculated from the measured grain boundary shapes.     

AuPt Bipyramid Nanoframes as Multifunctional Platforms for In Situ Monitoring of the Reduction of Nitrobenzene and Enhanced Electrocatalytic Methanol Oxidation

Multifunctional metal nanostructures with a hollow feature, especially for nanoframes, are highly attractive owing to their high surface-to-volume ratios. However, pre-grown metal nanocrystals are always involved during the preparation procedure, and a synthetic strategy without the use of a pre-grown template is still a challenge. In this article, a template-free strategy is reported for the preparation of novel AuPt alloy nanoframes through simply mixing HAuCl₄ and H₂PtCl₆ under mild conditions. The alloy nanostructures show a bipyramid-frame hollow architecture with the existence of only the ten ridges and absence of their side faces. This is the first report of bipyramid-like nanoframes and a template-free method under mild conditions. This configuration merges the plasmonic features of Au and highly active catalytic sites of Pt in a single nanostructure, making it an ideal multifunctional platform for catalyzing and monitoring the catalytic reaction in real time. The superior catalytic activity is demonstrated by using the reduction of nitrobenzene to the corresponding aminobenzene as a model reaction. More importantly, the AuPt nanoframes can track the reduction process on the basis of the SERS signals of the reactants, intermediates, and products, which helps to reveal the reaction mechanism. In addition, the AuPt nanoframes show much higher electrocatalytic properties toward the methanol oxidation reaction than commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts.     

Instantaneous work hardening behaviour of two-phase tungsten heavy alloys: a phenomenological approach

ABSTRACT

The present work describes a phenomenological approach to explain the instantaneous behaviour of tungsten heavy alloys (WHAs) in heat-treated and swaged conditions. The strengths and elongation values of heat-treated materials are lower and higher than those of the swaged samples respectively. The heat-treated materials exhibit two slopes in true stress–true plastic strain curves and follow the Ludwigson constitutive equation. On the other hand, swaged materials display a single slope and adhere to typical Swift constitutive equation. The latter reflect the presence of pre-strain in the materials due to swaging deformation. The fracture surfaces in heat-treated materials consist of W-W decohesion along with matrix rupture and W-cleavage, while swaged samples consist of mainly W-cleavage. Both the materials display three typical stages (I, II and III) of work hardening. The second derivatives of true stress–true plastic strain curves of these alloys exhibit a perfect parabola although the nature of true stress–true strain as well as true stress–true plastic strain curves is quite different in heat-treated and swaged materials. This has been observed for the first time in WHAs consisting of matrix and W-grains. The shape of the parabola is simple and easy to fit. The fitting parameters of parabolas have been successfully employed to explain the flow behaviour of a large number of tungsten heavy alloys having two-phase microstructure in different processing conditions.     

Influence of temperature and alloying elements on the threshold displacement energies in concentrated Ni–Fe–Cr alloys

Concentrated solid-solution alloys(CSAs) have demonstrated promising irradiation resistance depending on their compositions. Under irradiation, various defects can be produced. One of the most important parameters characterizing the defect production and the resulting defect number is the threshold displacement energies(E_d). In this work, we report the results of E_dvalues in a series of Ni–Fe–Cr concentrated solid solution alloys through molecular dynamics(MD)simulations. Based on several different empirical potentials, we show that the differences in the E_dvalues and its angular dependence are mainly due to the stiffness of the potential in the intermediate regime. The influences of different alloying elements and temperatures on E_dvalues in different CSAs are further evaluated by calculating the defect production probabilities. Our results suggest a limited influence of alloying elements and temperature on E_dvalues in concentrated alloys. Finally, we discuss the relationship between the primary damage and E_dvalues in different alloys. Overall, this work presents a thorough study on the E_dvalues in concentrated alloys, including the influence of empirical potentials,their angular dependence, temperature dependence, and effects on primary defect production.