Growth and surface alloying of Fe on Pt(9 9 7)

The growth of ultra-thin layers of Fe on the vicinal Pt(9 9 7) surface is studied by thermal energy He atom scattering (TEAS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) in the temperature range between 175 K and 800 K. We find three distinct regimes of qualitatively different growth type. Below 450 K the formation of a smooth first monolayer, at and above 600 K the onset of bulk alloy formation, and at intermediate temperature 500-550 K the formation of a surface alloy. Monatomic Fe rows are observed to decorate the substrate steps between 175 K and 500 K. The importance of the high step density is discussed with respect to the promotion of smooth layer growth and with respect to the alloying process and its kinetics.     

Infrared spectra of oxalate, malonate and succinate adsorbed on the aqueous surface of rutile, anatase and lepidocrocite measured with in situ ATR-FTIR

The adsorption of oxalate, malonate and succinate on anatase, rutile and lepidocrocite, was studied by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) at aqueous concentrations of 200 μM between pH 9 and 3. Clear spectral differences between the aqueous species and the surface adsorbed species for all three dicarboxylates are taken as strong evidence for inner-sphere adsorption. The characteristically different spectra on each oxide reveal surface specific interactions and could be used as a diagnostic tool, e.g., to probe the relative abundance of anatase and rutile on the surface of TiO₂ samples. Spectral changes between pH 7.0 and 3.0 show that two to three different surface complexes of oxalate and one to three surface complexes of malonate and succinate are formed on each of the three surfaces. While the exact structures of each complex can currently not be derived, important differences between the dicarboxylates can be identified. Only adsorbed oxalate exhibits two strong bands above 1670 cm⁻¹, as expected for a five- (bidentate chelating) or six-membered (bidentate bridging) ring structure with one oxygen of each carboxylic group coordinated to surface sites and two CO double bonds pointing away from the surface. The absence of clear CO double bond vibrations above 1620 cm⁻¹ show that malonate and succinate adsorb differently, with one or both of the carboxylic groups independently forming monodentate hydrogen bonded, bidentate chelating (four-ring) or bidentate bridging (five-ring) structures. Oxalate is the only one of the three dicarboxylates that formed additional surface complexes at low pH on rutile and anatase and lead to rapid dissolution of lepidocrocite below pH 5.0.     

Shock-induced phase transformation and vortex instabilities in shock loaded titanium alloys

Spall-tests of four kinds of high-strength titanium alloys (VT-6, VT-14, VT-20 and VT-23) have been performed by using a two-channel velocity interferometer for recording free surface velocity profiles and a SEM-technique for microstructure investigations of post-shocked specimens. Screw rotational structures in the spall zone are thought to be responsible for the more effective shock-wave energy scattering during spallation. Free surface velocity profiles display forward and reverse phase transitions in the all alloys under investigation. The threshold stress for the forward and reverse phase transitions turns out to be practically independent of the chemical and phase compositions of specimens, and monotonously increases with strain rate. Received 7 February 1999 / Accepted 3 November 1999     

Visible photocurrent response of TiO2 anode

The photoelectrochemical response to the electromagnetic radiation over the visible range is particularly sought for from the point of view of the efficiency of hydrogen generation by water photolysis in a photoelectrochemical solar cell, PEC. The PEC used in this work comprises thin film TiO₂ - based photoanode, Pt foil covered with Pt black as a cathode and SCE as a reference electrode, immersed in an electrolyte solution. Titanium dioxide thin films are deposited by means of rf reactive sputtering and modified, when necessary, by Au or Ag ultra-thin overcoatings. Here we show that even unmodified TiO₂ photoanode, shows a photocurrent peak over the visible range of the light spectrum (λ = 500-650 nm). The effect of the surface modification by noble metals and properties of the aqueous electrolyte on the visible photocurrent are studied. The optical spectra indicate an increased absorption due to noble metal deposits at 410 nm for Ag and at 600 nm for Au. In contrast, the photocurrent peak over the visible range (500 nm < λ < 650 nm) changes its symmetry and decreases in intensity with the increasing thickness of noble metals layers. The visible photoresponse is explained in terms of OH formation at the interface between TiO₂ electrode and aqueous electrolyte.     

Reactions of dicarbanion equivalents generated from complexation of 1,3-dienes on Ti(II) moiety

Conjugated dienes are able to react as 1,2- or 1,4-dicarbanions by coordination on Ti(II) moiety. These two possibilities are exemplified in this letter with isoprene, myrcene and several aldehydes to give 1,4- and 1,6-diols. When allowed to react with esters at room temperature, the titanium-diene complexes lead to cyclopentenol derivatives. Surprisingly, when this reaction is performed at lower temperature (−40 °C), allylic ketones are formed with high regio and diastereoselectivities.     

Synthesis and characterization of titania-based monodisperse fluorescent europium nanoparticles for biolabeling

Inorganic-organic hybrid titania-based nanoparticles covalently bound to a fluorescent Eu³⁺ chelate of 4,4′-bis(1′′,1′′,1′′,2′′,2′′,3′′,3′′-heptafluoro-4′′,6′′-hexanedion-6′′-yl)chlorosulfo-o-terphenyl (BHHCT-Eu³⁺) were synthesized by a sol-gel technique. A conjugate of BHHCT with 3-[2-(2-aminoethylamino) ethylamino]propyl-trimethoxysilane (APTS) was used as a precursor for the nanoparticle preparation and monodisperse nanoparticles consisting of titania network and silica sub-network covalently bound to the Eu³⁺ chelate were prepared by the copolymerization of APTS-BHHCT conjugate, titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and free APTS in EuCl₃ water-alcohol solution. The effects of reaction conditions on size and fluorescence lifetime of the nanoparticles were investigated. The characterizations by transmission electron microscopy and fluorometric methods indicate that the nanoparticles are near spherical and strongly fluorescent having a fluorescence quantum yield of 11.6% and a long fluorescence lifetime of ∼0.4 ms. The direct-introduced amino groups on the nanoparticle's surface by using free APTS in nanoparticle preparation facilitated the biolabeling process of the nanoparticles. The nanoparticle-labeled streptavidin (SA) was prepared and used in a sandwich-type time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TR-FIA) of human prostate-specific antigen (PSA) by using a 96-well microtiter plate as the solid phase carrier. The method gives a detection limit of 66 pg/ml for the PSA assay.     

Structural and electronic properties of the TiC nanotubes: Density functional-based tight binding calculations

Atomic models of the hypothetical single- and multi-walled cylindrical- and prismatic-like TiC nanotubes have been constructed and their structural and electronic properties have been studied by means of density functional-based tight binding (DFTB) method. The electronic bands, densities of states and binding energies are analyzed as a function of the TiC tubes sizes. Our calculations showed that TiC nanotubes are semiconducting, in contrary to the metallic-like crystalline TiC, and the band gaps tend to vanish as the number of tube walls increase.     

A spatially resolved investigation of oxygen adsorption on polycrystalline copper and titanium by means of photoemission electron microscopy

The interaction of oxygen with polycrystalline copper and titanium surfaces was studied by means of photoemission electron microscopy. Variations in the image brightness were used to determine the work function of different Cu crystallites. The change of the work function was monitored during oxygen adsorption on both, Cu and Ti. Those changes are smooth for Cu whereas different Ti crystallites exhibit a rather complicated behavior during oxygen adsorption. The transformation of brightness versus exposure curves into work function versus coverage curves allows to determine the initial dipole moment of the adsorbed oxygen atoms. A value of about 20 mD was found for O on Cu(1 1 0). Variations of the initial sticking probability of oxygen on different copper crystallites were directly mapped.     

Comparative study of silanisation reactions for the biofunctionalisation of Ti-surfaces

In the present work, we report on the biofunctionalisation of silanised Ti-surfaces with gelatin. In recent years, a large number of papers have been published about the silanisation of different substrates including Ti-surfaces for biomedical applications. However, a comparative study evaluating the effects of different pre-treatment methods (cleaning and/or oxidation) and the efficiency of different silanisation reactions has to our information not yet been published. Since a clean and reproducible surface is required for studying structure-property relations, all Ti-surfaces were subjected to a three step procedure including a cleaning step, an oxidation step and a silanisation step. XPS analysis and contact angle measurements revealed that the pre-treatment of the Ti samples (cleaning + oxidation) had a drastic effect both on the surface composition and its wettability. A detailed study on the effect of different silanisation parameters indicated that the siloxane concentration, the siloxane type, the solvent and a catalyst affect the coupling efficiency of siloxanes to Ti-surfaces. Stability studies revealed a dependency between the siloxane type and the stability of the siloxane coating against hydrolytic cleavage from a Ti-surface. Since Ti-surfaces modified with a methacrylate containing silane possessed the highest hydrolytic stability, these surfaces were selected for the subsequent immobilisation of methacrylamide-modified gelatin via high energy irradiation induced cross-linking. The present work clearly demonstrates the need of a proper reaction strategy for immobilising ligands on Ti-surfaces.     

掺钴氧化钛电极的制备、表征及其光电性能

采用溶胶 凝胶法在纯钛片上制备了掺Co氧化钛薄膜光电极 ,运用扫描电子显微镜 (SEM )、X射线衍射 (XRD)等分析手段对其进行表征 ,并对其结构和性能的相互关系进行了研究 .结果表明 ,掺 5 %Co ,5 0 0℃热处理的TiO2 电极具有最大的可见光响应 .过量的Co掺入将析出新相CoTiO3 ,并促使TiO2 由锐钛矿型转变为金红石型 ,使电极光电效应减低 .而高温处理的掺钴TiO2 也将析出CoTiO3 ,对电极光电性能有阻碍作用