Epitaxial growth of atomically flat gadolinia-doped ceria thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Epitaxial growth of Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O₂(CGO) films on (001) TiO₂-terminated SrTiO₃ substrates by pulsed laser deposition was investigated using in situ reflective high energy electron diffraction. The initial film growth shows a Stransky–Krastanov growth mode. However, this three-dimensional island formation is replaced by a two-dimensional island nucleation during further deposition, which results in atomically smooth CGO films. The obtained high-quality CGO films may be attractive for the electrolyte of solid-oxide fuel cells operating at low temperature.     

The effects of thermal annealing on the structure and the electrical transport properties of ultrathin gadolinia-doped ceria films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Ultrathin crystalline films of 10 mol% gadolinia-doped ceria (CGO10) are grown on MgO (100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition at a moderate temperature of 400°C. As-deposited CGO10 layers of approximately 4 nm, 14 nm, and 22 nm thickness consist of fine grains with dimensions ≤∼11 nm. The films show high density within the thickness probed in the X-ray reflectivity experiments. Thermally activated grain growth, density decrease, and film surface roughening, which may result in the formation of incoherent CGO10 islands by dewetting below a critical film thickness, are observed upon heat treatment at 400°C and 800°C. The effect of the grain coarsening on the electrical characteristics of the layers is investigated and discussed in the context of a variation of the number density of grain boundaries. The results are evaluated with regard to the use of ultrathin CGO10 films as seeding templates for the moderate temperature growth of thick solid electrolyte films with improved oxygen transport properties.     

A Surface Coordination Network Based on Copper Adatom Trimers

Surface coordination networks formed by co‐adsorption of metal atoms and organic ligands have interesting properties, for example regarding catalysis and data storage. Surface coordination networks studied to date have typically been based on single metal atom centers. The formation of a novel surface coordination network is now demonstrated that is based on network nodes in the form of clusters consisting of three Cu adatoms. The network forms by deposition of tetrahydroxybenzene (THB) on Cu(111) under UHV conditions. As shown from a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations, all four hydroxy groups of THB dehydrogenate upon thermal activation at 440 K. This highly reactive ligand binds to Cu adatom trimers, which are resolved by high‐resolution STM. The network creates an ordered array of mono‐dispersed metal clusters constituting a two‐dimensional analogue of metal–organic frameworks.     

Some results on the strength of relaxations of multilinear functions

We study approaches for obtaining convex relaxations of global optimization problems containing multilinear functions. Specifically, we compare the concave and convex envelopes of these functions with the relaxations that are obtained with a standard relaxation approach, due to McCormick. The standard approach reformulates the problem to contain only bilinear terms and then relaxes each term independently. We show that for a multilinear function having a single product term, this approach yields the convex and concave envelopes if the bounds on all variables are symmetric around zero. We then review and extend some results on conditions when the concave envelope of a multilinear function can be written as a sum of concave envelopes of its individual terms. Finally, for bilinear functions we prove that the difference between the concave upper bounding and convex lower bounding functions obtained from the McCormick relaxation approach is always within a constant of the difference between the concave and convex envelopes. These results, along with numerical examples we provide, give insight into how to construct strong relaxations of multilinear functions.     

Azobenzene on Cu(110): adsorption site-dependent diffusion

Azobenzene and its derivatives can undergo reversible trans-cis isomerizations when irradiated with light, making them potential candidates for optically sensitive materials and devices. The adsorption and diffusion of azobenzene on the Cu(110) surface was investigated with a variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The trans-isomer was observed and found to occupy two adsorption geometries-an energetically stable and a metastable state. Diffusion occurred along the closed-packed [1 -1 0] direction of the surface, and the diffusivity for the two adsorption states was found to differ by approximately 1 order of magnitude.     

Drug Delivery by an Enzyme‐Mediated Cyclization of a Lipid Prodrug with Unique Bilayer‐Formation Properties

Special delivery : Liposomal drug‐delivery systems in which prodrugs are activated specifically by disease‐associated enzymes have great potential for the treatment of severe diseases, such as cancer. A new type of phospholipid‐based prodrug has the ability to form stable small unilamellar vesicles (see picture). Activation of the prodrug vesicles by the enzyme sPLA₂ initiates a cyclization reaction, which leads to the release of the drug.