Coarsening-resistant Ag nanoparticles stabilized on amorphous TiO<Subscript>x</Subscript> nanoparticles

Bare Ag nanoparticles (～10 nm) and Ag nanoparticles (1–20 nm) on the surfaces of larger TiO_x nanoparticles were prepared by laser ablation of microparticle aerosols (LAMA). The behaviors of the nanoparticles during high temperature annealing were then studied with ex situ and in situ transmission electron microscopy. For the ex situ heating experiments, Ag and Ag-on-TiO_x NPs were collected onto gold TEM grids and subjected to annealing treatments at 500 °C in argon, vacuum, and air. At this temperature, bare Ag NPs on carbon TEM supports coarsened rapidly in both air and argon atmospheres. In contrast, Ag-on-TiO_x NPs that were heated to 500 °C in flowing argon or in a vacuum did not coarsen significantly and were remarkably stable. Ag-on-TiO_x NPs that were heated to 500 °C in air, however, behaved quite differently. The TiO_x crystallized upon heating and a significant loss of Ag were observed from the surfaces of the TiO_x, likely due to sublimation. These results demonstrate that the surface defect structure and chemistry of the oxide support strongly influence the thermal stability of Ag NPs produced by LAMA.     

Seed-mediated synthesis of acanthosphere-like gold microstructures with tunable LSPR in the NIR region using gemini surfactants as directing agents for SERS applications

Acanthosphere-like gold microstructures (AGMs) were synthesized using a facile, two-step, seed-mediated method and butanediyl-1,4-bis(dimethylhexadecylammonium bromide) (16-4-16) as a structure-directing agent. The morphologies and sizes of the products were controlled during the synthesis process by adjusting the concentrations of 16-4-16, the AgNO₃ feed, HAuCl₄, ascorbic acid, the amount of Ag seeds and the types of gemini surfactants used through systematic inquiry; particle sizes ranging from 130 to 800 nm were well prepared. Correspondingly, the morphology of the products changed between regular and irregular AGMs, and the products presented a number of new morphologies, such as open-mouthed submicrostructures and ribbon nanowires. In particular, with the increase in the 16-4-16 concentration, the structural morphology of the thorns clearly changed from a tip to a lamellar structure. A UV-vis spectroscopic analysis indicated that the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak of the AGMs could be adjusted by changing the above factors, which extended from 500 to 1350 nm in the near-infrared (NIR) region, enabling a tremendous potential for using the AGMs as platforms for various biomedical applications. Based on the intermediate products, we propose a two-stage growth mechanism for the AGMs in which their solid cores and tips are generated successively. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurements indicate that the AGMs can serve as sensitive SERS substrates; a SERS detection limit of 5 × 10^?7 M is presented for rhodamine B molecules.

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Symbiotic organism search algorithm for simulation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">V</Emphasis> characteristics and optimizing internal parameters of DSSC developed using electrospun TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanofibers

In the present investigation, the recently developed, simple, robust, and powerful metaheuristic symbiotic organism search (SOS) algorithm was used for simulation of J-V characteristics and optimizing the internal parameters of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabricated using electrospun 1-D mesoporous TiO₂ nanofibers as photoanode. The efficiency (η =?5.80%) of the DSSC made up of TiO₂ nanofibers as photoanode is found to be ～ 21.59% higher compared to the efficiency (η =?4.77%) of the DSSC made up of TiO₂ nanoparticles as photoanode. The observed high efficiency can be attributed to high dye loading as well as high electron transport in the mesoporous 1-D TiO₂ nanofibers. Further, the validity and advantage of SOS algorithm are verified by simulating J-V characteristics of DSSC with Lambert-W function.     

Ab-initio optical properties and dielectric response of open-shell spinel zinc ferrite

In the present work, we predict the optical properties and the dielectric response spectrum of the spinel zinc ferrite Zn₂Fe₄O₈, and show in particular the impact of many-body effects on the absorption spectrum, using advanced many-body perturbation approach. The excitonic effects remarkably redistribute the spectral weights causing a red-shift of 1.6 eV of the maximum of the independent particle G ₀ W ₀?(IP-G ₀ W ₀) towards the electron-hole affected spectrum. The excitation spectrum of the zinc ferrite exhibits a low lying doubly degenerated bound dark exciton at 1.84 eV with a fully symmetric excited-state density, and a narrow optical gap setting on at 1.93 eV. We further analyse the electronic transitions and exciton density distributions giving insights to the nature of excitations. The dielectric response of Zn₂Fe₄O₈ shows a particular sensitivity to the excitations higher than the electronic band gap, however it abruptly becomes passive to the incoming electro-magnetic wave and propagates to the negative regions at high energy regimes.     

Perfect valley polarization in MoS<Subscript>2</Subscript>

We study perfect valley polarization in a molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanoribbon monolayer using two bands Hamiltonian model and non-equilibrium Green’s function method. The device consists of a one-dimensional quantum wire of MoS₂ monolayer sandwiched between two zigzag MoS₂ nanoribbons such that the sites A and B of the honeycomb lattice are constructed by the molecular orbital of Mo atoms, only. Spin-valley coupling is seen in energy dispersion curve due to the inversion asymmetry and time-reversal symmetry. Although, the time reversal symmetry is broken by applying an external magnetic field, the valley polarization is very small. A valley polarization equal to 46% can be achieved using an exchange field of 0.13 eV. It is shown that a particular spin-valley combination with perfect valley polarization can be selected based on a given set of exchange field and gate voltage as input parameters. Therefore, the valley polarization can be detected by detecting the spin degree of freedom.     

Random graph models for dynamic networks

Recent theoretical work on the modeling of network structure has focused primarily on networks that are static and unchanging, but many real-world networks change their structure over time. There exist natural generalizations to the dynamic case of many static network models, including the classic random graph, the configuration model, and the stochastic block model, where one assumes that the appearance and disappearance of edges are governed by continuous-time Markov processes with rate parameters that can depend on properties of the nodes. Here we give an introduction to this class of models, showing for instance how one can compute their equilibrium properties. We also demonstrate their use in data analysis and statistical inference, giving efficient algorithms for fitting them to observed network data using the method of maximum likelihood. This allows us, for example, to estimate the time constants of network evolution or infer community structure from temporal network data using cues embedded both in the probabilities over time that node pairs are connected by edges and in the characteristic dynamics of edge appearance and disappearance. We illustrate these methods with a selection of applications, both to computer-generated test networks and real-world examples.     

Magnetic field control of absorption coefficient and group index in an impurity doped quantum disc

The electronic properties and optical characteristics – absorption coefficient, refractive index and group index – in an impurity doped pseudo-harmonic quantum disc subjected to an applied magnetic field are investigated. Numerical calculations are performed using the exact diagonalization technique and the compact density-matrix formalism. It is found that the chosen structure could be switched between a lambda-type and a ladder-type configuration by a proper tailoring of the magnetic field strength. Furthermore, the absorption profile and the associated slow light frequency range can be controlled not only by varying the control field amplitude and its detuning but also by changing the impurity position and the magnetic field strength.     

First-order transitions and thermodynamic properties in the 2D Blume-Capel model: the transfer-matrix method revisited

We investigate the first-order transition in the spin-1 two-dimensional Blume-Capel model in square lattices by revisiting the transfer-matrix method. With large strip widths increased up to the size of 18 sites, we construct the detailed phase coexistence curve which shows excellent quantitative agreement with the recent advanced Monte Carlo results. In the deep first-order area, we observe the exponential system-size scaling of the spectral gap of the transfer matrix from which linearly increasing interfacial tension is deduced with decreasing temperature. We find that the first-order signature at low temperatures is strongly pronounced with much suppressed finite-size influence in the examined thermodynamic properties of entropy, non-zero spin population, and specific heat. It turns out that the jump at the transition becomes increasingly sharp as it goes deep into the first-order area, which is in contrast to the Wang–Landau results where finite-size smoothing gets more severe at lower temperatures.