Origin of the surface recombination centers in ZnO nanorods arrays by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

The surface composition of as-grown and annealed ZnO nanorods arrays (ZNAs) grown by a two-step chemical bath deposition method has been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS confirms the presence of OH bonds and specific chemisorbed oxygen on the surface of ZNAs, as well as H bonds on surfaces which has been first time observed in the XPS spectra. The experimental results indicated that the OH and H bonds play the dominant role in facilitating surface recombination but specific chemisorbed oxygen also likely affect the surface recombination. Annealing can largely remove the OH and H bonds and transform the composition of the other chemisorbed oxygen at the surface to more closely resemble that of high temperature grown ZNAs, all of which suppresses surface recombination according to time-resolved photoluminescence measurements.     

Microstructure and high-temperature corrosion behaviors of aluminide coatings by low-temperature pack aluminizing process

Aluminide coatings were produced on carbon steel and Fe-5Cr-Mo alloy at a relatively lower temperature below 600 °C in shorter treatment time by a combination of surface refinement process and pack aluminizing process. Repetitive ball impact, generated by mechanical vibration, caused the top-layer refinement of substrates in a conventional pack aluminizing process. The effects of temperature and treatment time on the formation of aluminide coatings were analyzed. The microstructure of the coatings was investigated by SEM, AFM and XRD. The aluminide coatings were one-layer, compacted structure with ultrafine grains and uniform elemental distribution. High-temperature oxidation and sulphidation tests were carried out at 600 °C in air for 200 h and 10% SO₂ + Ar gas mixture atmosphere for 50 h, respectively. The mass gains and spallation indicated that the aluminide coatings significantly improved the high-temperature oxidation and sulphidation resistance.     

Facile controlled synthesis of micro/nanostructure MCrO4 (M = Ba, Pb) by using Gemini surfactant C12-PEG-C12 as a soft template

Gemini surfactants, double sodium α-sulfonic polyethylene glycol laurate (abbreviated C₁₂-PEG-C₁₂), were prepared and applied as soft templates in the controlled synthesis of BaCrO₄ and PbCrO₄ micro/nanocrystals. The template effects were investigated by adjusting the length of the spacer, using PEG400 and PEG4000, of the Gemini surfactant. The results indicated that the size and morphology of BaCrO₄ and PbCrO₄ micro/nanocrystals varied with the change in spacer length of C₁₂-PEG-C₁₂, suggesting that the different lengths of the polyethylene glycol group spacers in the Gemini surfactants played a key role in determining the size and shape of the MCrO₄ micro/nanoparticles. The dynamic process of the formation of the novel morphology BaCrO₄ crystals showed that the morphology grew from a round-bar polyhedron, to regular polyhedron, to approximate octahedron to a uniform pistachio nut shape. The growth mechanism of the BaCrO₄ micro/nanocrystals was explained that C₁₂-PEG-C₁₂ had a greater interfacial adsorption and would effectively control the shape evolution during the crystal growth, while PbCrO₄ could be explained that the Gemini surfactants can undergo liquid-crystalline phase transitions with long channels providing a soft template effect and derived the nanorods formation. Room temperature fluorescence spectra were studied and these showed that the pistachio-shaped BaCrO₄ microcrystals and PbCrO₄ nanorods possess photoactive luminescence properties with emission peaks at 470 and 549 nm, respectively.     

A fluorine-contained copolymer ultra-thin film: Stability and electrochemical corrosion behavior

A novel fluorine-contained random copolymer (2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene)-r-poly(4-vinyl benzocyclobutene) (P(PFSt-r-4-VBCB)) was synthesized, and then spin-coated onto Si substrates followed by thermal cross-linking to produce the copolymer ultra-thin films. Although the surface modification with the P(PFSt-r-4-VBCB) film was simple and did not rely on special surface chemical reactions, the film could decrease the surface energy significantly, more importantly; the film demonstrated excellent stability and corrosion resistance. This random copolymer film could find broad applications in modifying various solid surfaces to enhance the properties such as corrosion resistance and solvent resistance.     

Deposition of Ni, Ag, and Pt-based Al-doped ZnO double films for the transparent conductive electrodes by RF magnetron sputtering

Ni, Ag, and Pt-based Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films have been deposited as transparent conductivity layers on quartz by RF magnetron sputtering and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Hall measurement, optical transmission spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The deposition of thicker metal layer in double layers resulted in lowering the effective electrical resistivity with a slight reduction of their optical transmittance. A film consisting of AZO (250 nm)/Ni (2 nm) double structure, exhibits a sheet resistance of 21.0 Ω/sq, a high transmittance of 76.5%, and characterize good adhesion to substrate. These results make the satisfactory for GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells with metal-based AZO double films as current spread layers.     

Improving mechanical properties of a-CNx films by Ti-TiN/CNx gradient multilayer

Amorphous carbon nitride (a-CN_x) films with functional gradient Ti-TiN/CN_x underlayer were deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering. Microstructure and composition of the films were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Mechanical and tribological properties were investigated by nanoindenter, scratch and ball-on-disk tribometer. The a-CN_x-based films suffer a graphitization process with the increasing deposition temperature, thus the hardness and elastic modulus decrease. With the design of the Ti-TiN/CN_x gradient underlayers, some important advantages of relatively thick CN_x films can be achieved, such as increased hardness, improved adhesion strength, and the wear resistance of the a-CN_x-based films can be also improved significantly.     

纳米微粒对低温保护剂溶液结晶性质的影响

为了研究纳米微粒对低温保护剂溶液结晶性质的影响,实验利用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)测量了加入不同粒径、不同质量分数的HA纳米微粒的乙二醇(EG)低温保护剂溶液的成核温度和结晶焓。实验结果表明:纳米微粒加入EG溶液后,成核温度明显升高,并且随着纳米微粒粒径的和质量浓度的增大而升高显著;加入一定质量浓度(>0.2%)的纳米微粒后,同浓度的低温保护剂溶液的结晶焓稳定地升高。成核温度与结晶焓的升高说明,纳米微粒能够促进低温保护剂溶液的结晶。     

负折射率材料对产生Casimir排斥力的影响

研究了负折射率材料对产生Casimir排斥效应的影响. 两材料板间的Casimir排斥力的发生取决于两板以及其间媒质的电磁特性,通过理论与数值结果的分析研究给出电磁特性所影响排斥力的产生趋势. 对于由Drude-Lorentz型色散关系描述等效介电常数和磁导率的负折射率材料,调节各特征频率参数可实现Casimir排斥效应. 关键词： Casimir排斥力 负折射率材料 Drude-Lorentz型色散关系     

Magnetic properties and large cryogenic low-field magnetocaloric effect of HoCo<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles without core/shell structure

The HoCo₂ nanoparticles are found to be stable in air without any shell protection. The HoCo₂ nanoparticles display superparamagnetic properties between their blocking temperature of 40 K and Curie temperature of 78 K. The magnetic-entropy change increases with decreasing temperature at a certain magnetic-field change, which is ascribed to the competition between the Zeeman energy and thermal-agitation energy at low temperatures. A large magnetic-entropy change of 19.4 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ was found at 7.5 K in an applied-field change from 1 to 7 T, while 6.1 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ was achieved in a low field change of 1 T. HoCo₂ nanoparticles are useful for application of magnetic refrigeration at low temperatures.     

η and η' mesons from lattice QCD

The large mass of the ninth pseudoscalar meson, the η', is believed to arise from the combined effects of the axial anomaly and the gauge field topology present in QCD. We report a realistic, 2+1-flavor, lattice QCD calculation of the η and η' masses and mixing which confirms this picture. The physical eigenstates show small octet-singlet mixing with a mixing angle of θ=-14.1(2.8)°. Extrapolation to the physical light quark mass gives, with statistical errors only, mη=573(6) MeV and mη'=947(142) MeV, consistent with the experimental values of 548 and 958 MeV.