Growth and studies of thiourea urea magnesium chloride (TUMC) single crystals

A new semi organic Non-linear optical (NLO) crystal thiourea urea magnesium chloride (TUMC) was grown by slow evaporation technique at room temperature. Good quality single crystals were grown within 20?days. The FTIR spectrum of title compound was recorded and vibrational assignments were made. The recorded UV?Cvis spectrum shows the optical transmission property of the crystal. The Second harmonic generation (SHG) of TUMC crystal was tested by Kurtz?CPerry method using Nd:YAG laser and the result confirms that the grown crystal exhibits NLO property. To analyse the thermal stability of the crystal TG/DTA analysis were made. Detailed structural analysis of the compound is under progress.     

丙三醇-变频微波-水热法制备氢氧化镁晶须

以MgCl₂·6H₂O和NaOH为原料, 采用丙三醇-变频微波-水热法制备了优质氢氧化镁晶须. 采用XRD, SEM和TEM进行了物相、粒度、晶体形貌和结构分析. 考察了丙三醇-变频微波-水热法工艺对氢氧化镁晶须晶形、结构及分散性的影响. 实验发现, 在水热反应体系中加入体积分数为15%的丙三醇, 用变频微波加热, 在180 ℃反应6 h, 可获得粒度分布均匀、晶形和分散性好、表面光滑及缺陷少的优质氢氧化镁晶须. 在透射电镜下估算晶须直径约为0.1～0.3 μm, 长度约为80～110 um. 初步分析了变频微波和丙三醇对氢氧化镁晶须生长的作用.     

Growing of wedge-like quartz crystals as a new method for fast definition of optimal conditions for obtaining high quality quartz

A study of the effects of quartz crystal growth conditions on their structural-morphological characteristics and physical properties was developed. According to this method, quartz crystals are grown in hydrothermal solutions by using a thermogradient field in the absence of a separation diaphragm between the zones of charge dissolution and of growth of crystals. The correlation between their structural-morphological characteristics and properties (morphology, types and density of dislocations, quantity of solid and gas-liquid inclusions, light transmission, color centers, etc.), and specific growing conditions and especially growth rates for all parts of a wedge-like crystal were determined. It allows to characterize rapidly the quality of quartz crystals and to select the optimum conditions of growth.     

Determination of the Crystal Structure of a New Polymorph of Theophylline

A new approach to crystal structure determination, combining crystal structure prediction and transmission electron microscopy, was used to identify a potential new crystal phase of the pharmaceutical compound theophylline. The crystal structure was determined despite the new polymorph occurring as a minor component in a mixture with Form II of theophylline, at a concentration below the limits of detection of analytical methods routinely used for pharmaceutical characterisation. Detection and characterisation of crystallites of this new form were achieved with transmission electron microscopy, exploiting the combination of high magnification imaging and electron diffraction measurements. A plausible crystal structure was identified by indexing experimental electron‐diffraction patterns from a single crystallite of the new polymorph against a reference set of putative crystal structures of theophylline generated by global lattice energy minimisation calculations.     

Evaluation of optical anisotropy in the pretransitional regime in antiferroelectric liquid crystals

By measuring the transmission through an antiferroelectric liquid crystal device (placed between crossed polarizers) as a function of both orientation and applied field in the so-called electroclinic-like, pretransitional regime the behaviour of the effective optic axis tilt angle (psi) and effective optic anisotropy (Delta n ) is determined. The relatively poor alignment obtained in antiferroelectric liquid crystal devices is allowed for in the data interpretation and high quality results are presented.     

Structural characterization of the epitaxially grown core–shell ZnTe/ZnMgTe nanowires

We report the method of the epitaxial growth of the core–shell ZnTe/ZnMgTe nanowires. The morphology and the crystal structure of several samples grown in different processes have been studied by scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. It was shown that the ZnMgTe shell growth was clearly epitaxial with a good crystal quality. The average lattice spacing of the ZnTe cores and ZnMgTe shells have been calculated and Mg content in the shells has been estimated. It was documented that growing the shell lattice mismatched to the core induces the strain in the core. The model of the strain creation mechanism has been proposed. The presence of a shell with a larger energy gap than that of the core results in a strong emission in the spectral region near the band edge.     

二氧化钛与碳化钨纳米复合材料制备及其对甲醇的电催化氧化活性

以市售纳米二氧化钛(TiO2)为载体,六氯化钨为钨源,将浸渍法与原位还原碳化技术相结合制备了核壳结构碳化钨(WC)/TiO2纳米复合材料;应用X射线衍射分析、透射电子显微镜、高分辨扫描透射成像和X射线能量散射谱等手段对样品晶相、形貌、微结构和化学组成等特征进行了表征.结果表明,样品的晶相由金红石型TiO2、Ti4O7、WC、W2C和WxC构成,钨碳化物负载于钛氧化物外表面,构成比较典型的核壳结构.采用三电极体系和循环伏安法测试了样品在碱性溶液中对甲醇的电催化氧化活性,结果表明,相比于纯碳化钨和二氧化钛,复合材料的电催化活性得到了明显的提升.样品电催化活性的提升与前驱体钨钛摩尔比、还原碳化时间、核壳结构壳层的完整性和晶相组成以及核壳结构中二氧化钛和碳化钨之间的协同效应有关.这说明金红石是能够提升碳化钨电催化氧化活性的载体材料之一.     

Optical intensity gradient by colloidal photonic crystals with a graded thickness distribution

Gradient colloidal crystals with a thickness gradient were prepared by the vertical deposition technique with vertically graded concentration suspensions. The thickness of the gradient colloidal crystal gradually changes at different positions along the specific gradient direction of the crystal. The thickness gradient was determined by the concentration gradient, depending on the initial colloidal concentration and the settling time. The optical transmission intensity at the dip wavelength can be tuned by changing the thickness of the colloidal crystals. The gradient colloidal crystals lead to a gradient of optical intensity at the dip in transmission light. The gradient of optical intensity at the dip increases as the thickness gradient of the colloidal crystal increases.     

Influence of the composition of the polymer matrix on the electrooptical properties of films with a dispersed liquid crystal

Polymer films with a dispersed liquid crystal were prepared by photopolymerization of (meth)acrylic monomers. The electrooptical properties of these films were studied. The influence exerted by the composition of the monomer mixture, cross-linking agents, and chain-transfer agent on the liquid crystal drop size and on the transmission of the polymer-liquid crystal films was examined.     

Growth, structural, vibrational, optical, laser and dielectric aspects of L-alanine alaninium nitrate single crystal

Bulk single crystals of l-alanine alaninium nitrate [abbreviated as LAAN], an intriguing material for frequency conversion has been grown from its aqueous solution by both slow solvent evaporation and by slow cooling techniques. The optimized pH value to grow good quality LAAN single crystal was found to be 2.5. The grown crystals were subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction studies to determine the unit cell dimensions and morphology. Vibrational frequencies of the grown crystals by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic technique were investigated. Also, the presence of hydrogen and carbon atoms in the grown sample was confirmed using proton and carbon NMR analyses. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss measurements of the as grown crystal at different temperatures and frequencies of the applied field are measured and reported. LAAN has good optical transmission in the entire visible region with cutoff wavelength within the UV region confirms its suitability for device fabrications. The existence of second harmonic generation signals was observed using Nd:YAG laser with fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm. Its Laser Damage Threshold (LDT) was measured and also tested by using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and the value of LDT of LAAN is 17.76GW/cm2 respectively, is found to be better than certain organic and semiorganic materials.     

Growth, Band Structure and Optical Properties of LiSrBO3 Crystal

The bulk crystal of LiSrBO3 (8.39 g) with a size of 21mm×20mm×15mm was grown by high temperature solution growth method. The relationship between growth habit and crystal structure was discussed. The transmission spectrum shows an UV absorption edge at about 300 nm. The melting temperature of this crystal was determined to be 942 ℃ by DTA-TG measurement. The band structure of the LiSrBO3 crystal was studied by means of the first principle method. An indirect band gap was found to be about 4.0 eV,and a low dielectric constant was estimated to be about 1.9 in terms of theoretical results.     

Temperature dependence of electro-optical characteristics of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films consist of microdroplets of a liquid crystal dispersed in a polymer matrix. Their applications are based on the electrically controllable light scattering properties of the liquid crystal droplets. The effects of temperature on the electro-optical properties of PDLC films have been rarely investigated. In this work, we studied the light transmission on varying the temperature and frequency. It was observed that the transmission at a fixed voltage decreased with increasing temperature above 43°C, independent of frequency. We examined possible origins of this unusual dependence of the transmission on the temperature. It was concluded that conductivity effects due to free ions newly created at high temperatures could be responsible for the unusual behaviour observed.     

Temperature dependence of electro-optical characteristics of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films consist of microdroplets of a liquid crystal dispersed in a polymer matrix. Their applications are based on the electrically controllable light scattering properties of the liquid crystal droplets. The effects of temperature on the electro-optical properties of PDLC films have been rarely investigated. In this work, we studied the light transmission on varying the temperature and frequency. It was observed that the transmission at a fixed voltage decreased with increasing temperature above 43°C, independent of frequency. We examined possible origins of this unusual dependence of the transmission on the temperature. It was concluded that conductivity effects due to free ions newly created at high temperatures could be responsible for the unusual behaviour observed.     

三维SiO2欧泊模板溶剂热法制备硫化锌光子晶体

以单分散二氧化硅微球在重力场下自组装得到的三维有序欧泊(opal)为模板，采用溶剂热法在模板空隙内生长ZnS晶体，从而制备高质量的硫化锌基光子晶体. 通过X射线衍射(XRD)和Raman光谱证明ZnS晶体为闪锌矿结构且晶体质量较好，并对其生长机理进行了讨论. 通过场发射扫描电子显微镜(FESEM)和紫外-可见分光光度计对所合成的ZnS/opal复合物与ZnS反欧泊结构进行了表征，结果表明两种结构都保持了欧泊三维有序性，并且在Г-L方向(垂直于(111)方向)上出现了布拉格衍射峰，说明其具有良好的光子晶体特性.     

The Development of a Green Innovative Bioactive Film for Industrial Application as a New Emerging Technology to Protect the Quality of Fruits

Today, the most significant challenge encountered by food manufacturers is degradation in the food quality during storage, which is countered by expensive packing, which causes enormous monetary and environmental costs. Edible packaging is a potential alternative for protecting food quality and improving shelf life by delaying microbial growth and providing moisture and gas barrier properties. For the first time, the current article reports the preparation of the new films from Ditriterpenoids and Secomeliacins isolated from Melia azedarach (Dharek) Azadirachta indica plants to protect the quality of fruits. After evaluating these films, their mechanical, specific respirational, coating crystal elongation, elastic, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), film thickness, and nanoindentation test properties are applied to apple fruit for several storage periods: 0, 3, 6, 9 days. The fruits were evaluated for postharvest quality by screening several essential phytochemical, physiological responses under film coating and storage conditions. It was observed that prepared films were highly active during storage periods. Coated fruits showed improved quality due to the protection of the film, which lowered the transmission rate and enhanced the diffusion rate, followed by an increase in the shelf life. The coating crystals were higher in Film-5 and lower activity in untreated films. It was observed that the application of films through dipping was a simple technique at a laboratory scale, whereas extrusion and spraying were preferred on a commercial scale. The phytochemicals screening of treated fruits during the storage period showed that a maximum of eight important bioactive compounds were present in fruits after the treatment of films. It was resolved that new active films (1–5) were helpful in the effective maintenance of fruit quality and all essential compounds during storage periods. It was concluded that these films could be helpful for fruits growers and the processing industry to maintain fruit quality during the storage period as a new emerging technology.     

Guest-host colloid crystals: experimental study and simulations

Disorder in colloid crystals was induced by doping them with a different number of large or small guest particles, which had a different deviation in size from the host colloids. The change in optical properties of the guest-host colloid crystals was assessed by using optical transmission spectroscopy while the variation in crystal structure was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The disruption in the crystalline lattices depended on the relative deviation in sizes of the guest and host particles and the concentration of the guest colloids. In parallel with experiments, the packing of spheres in guest-host crystals was modeled with a simulated annealing algorithm. A good correlation was found between the changes in crystal structure observed by SEM imaging and the simulated sphere packing. The experimental and simulated changes in the transmission spectra of guest-host colloid crystals were in good agreement.     

Studies on crystal growth, vibrational and optical properties of organic nonlinear optical crystal: p-aminoazobenzene

p-Aminoazobenzene (p-AAZB), an organic nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal having good optical quality has been grown by slow evaporation solution technique using ethanol as a solvent. Solubility studies were performed at different temperatures. The structural characterization of the grown crystals was carried out by X-ray diffraction. Group theoretical analysis was carried out to calculate the number of modes of vibration. The lowering of the wave numbers of azo group suggests the existence of strong intermolecular N-H...H hydrogen bonding. This has been analysed based on the vibrational spectral features. Optical absorption studies show the effective transmission in the entire UV-vis region. The second harmonic generation results show the suitability of this material for NLO applications.     

Synthesis growth and characterization of L-Valinium Picrate a new nonlinear optical crystal

New nonlinear optical (NLO) single crystal of l-Valinium Picrate (LVP) was grown by slow evaporation solution growth technique at room temperature. The cell parameters of the grown crystal were estimated by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The presence of functional groups was identified from Fourier transform infrared spectrum. The transmission and absorption spectra of this crystal show that the lower cut-off wavelength lies at 380nm. Thermal analysis was performed to study the thermal stability of the grown crystal. The powder second harmonic generation efficiency of the grown crystal measured by Kurtz technique is 2 times efficient of Potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (KDP).     

Electrochemical Exfoliation of Layered Black Phosphorus into Phosphorene

Among 2D materials that recently have attracted enormous interest, black phosphorus (BP) is gaining a rising popularity due to its tunable band‐gap structure, which is strongly correlated to the thickness and can enable its use in optoelectronic and electronic applications. It is therefore important to provide a facile and scalable methodology to prepare single or few‐layer BP nanosheets. We propose herein a simple and fast top‐down method to exfoliate a BP crystal into nanosheets of reduced thickness by using electrochemistry. The application of an anodic potential to the crystal in an acidic aqueous solution allows control over the exfoliation efficiency and quality of the nanosheets produced. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) have been applied to fully characterize the exfoliated material, which presented significantly reduced layer thickness compared to the starting bulk material.     

Crystal growth and vibrational spectroscopic studies of the semiorganic non-linear optical crystal--bisthiourea magnesium sulphate

The semiorganic non-linear optical crystal bisthiourea magnesium sulphate (BTMS) was grown by slow evaporation technique using water as solvent. Vibrational spectra were recorded to determine the symmetries of molecular vibrations. The observed Raman and infrared bands were also assigned and discussed. The optical transmission spectral study was carried out to test the transmitting ability of the crystal in the visible range. The second harmonic generation test of BTMS revealed the non-linear nature of the crystal. The TGA/DTA curve was also recorded for the experimental crystal.