Abstract: Condensation of spatially indirect excitons, with the electrons and holes confined in two separate layers, has recently been observed in two different double layer heterostructures. High transition temperatures were reported in a double Transition Metal Dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayer system. We briefly review electron-hole double layer systems that have been proposed as candidates for this interesting phenomenon. We investigate the double TMD system WSe2/hBN/MoSe2, using a mean-field approach that includes multiband effects due to the spin-orbit coupling and self-consistent screening of the electron-hole Coulomb interaction. We demonstrate that the transition temperature observed in the double TMD monolayers, which is remarkably high relative to the other systems, is the result of (i) the large electron and hole effective masses in TMDs, (ii) the large TMD band gaps, and (iii) the presence of multiple superfluid condensates in the TMD system. The net effect is that the superfluidity is strong across a wide range of densities, which leads to high transition temperatures that extend as high as TBKT=150 K.

Abstract: Solid-state ion conductors based on closo-polyborate anions combine high ionic conductivity with a rich array of tunable properties. Cation mobility in these systems is intimately related to the strength of the interaction with the neighboring anionic network and the energy for reorganizing the coordination polyhedra. Here, we explore such factors in solid electrolytes with two anions of the weakest coordinating ability, [HCB11H5Cl6](-) and [HCB11H5Br6](-), and a total of 11 polymorphs are identified for their lithium and sodium salts. Our approach combines ab initio molecular dynamics, synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and AC impedance measurements to investigate their structures, phase-transition behavior, anion orientational mobilities, and ionic conductivities. We find that M(HCB11H5X6) (M = Li, Na, X = Cl, Br) compounds exhibit order-disorder polymorphic transitions between 203 and 305 degrees C and display Li and Na superionic conductivity in the disordered state. Through detailed analysis, we illustrate how cation disordering in these compounds originates from a competitive interplay among the lattice symmetry, the anion reorientational mobility, the geometric and electronic asymmetry of the anion, and the polarizability of the halogen atoms. These factors are compared to other closo-polyborate-based ion conductors to suggest guidelines for optimizing the cation-anion interaction for fast ion mobility. This study expands the known solid-state poly(carba)borate-based materials capable of liquid-like ionic conductivities, unravels the mechanisms responsible for fast ion transport, and provides insights into the development of practical superionic solid electrolytes.

Abstract: A gel consists of a network of particles or molecules formed for example using the sol-gel process, by which a solution transforms into a porous solid. Particles or molecules in a gel are mainly organized on a scaffold that makes up a porous system. Quantized vortices in type-II superconductors mostly form spatially homogeneous ordered or amorphous solids. Here we present high-resolution imaging of the vortex lattice displaying dense vortex clusters separated by sparse or entirely vortex-free regions in beta-Bi2Pd superconductor. We find that the intervortex distance diverges upon decreasing the magnetic field and that vortex lattice images follow a multifractal behavior. These properties, characteristic of gels, establish the presence of a novel vortex distribution, distinctly different from the well-studied disordered and glassy phases observed in high-temperature and conventional superconductors. The observed behavior is caused by a scaffold of one-dimensional structural defects with enhanced stress close to the defects. The vortex gel might often occur in type-II superconductors at low magnetic fields. Such vortex distributions should allow to considerably simplify control over vortex positions and manipulation of quantum vortex states.

Abstract: Background Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in the developed world. In order to find developing cancers in an early stage, BC screening is commonly used. In Flanders, screening is performed in and outside an organized breast cancer screening program (BCSP). However, the determinants of BC screening coverage for both screening strategies are yet unknown. Objective To assess the determinants of BC screening coverage in Flanders. Methods Reimbursement data were used to attribute a screening status to each woman in the target population for the years 2008-2016. Yearly coverage data were categorized as screening inside or outside BCSP or no screening. Data were clustered by municipality level. A generalized linear equation model was used to assess the determinants of screening type. Results Over all years and municipalities, the median screening coverage rate inside and outside BCSP was 48.40% (IQR: 41.50-54.40%) and 14.10% (IQR: 9.80-19.80%) respectively. A higher coverage rate outside BSCP was statistically significantly (P < 0.001) associated with more crowded households (OR: 3.797, 95% CI: 3.199-4.508), younger age, higher population densities (OR: 2.528, 95% CI: 2.455-2.606), a lower proportion of unemployed job seekers (OR: 0.641, 95% CI: 0.624-0.658) and lower use of dental care (OR: 0.969, 95% CI: 0.967-0.972). Conclusion Coverage rate of BC screening is not optimal in Flanders. Women with low SES that are characterized by younger age, living in a high population density area, living in crowded households, or having low dental care are less likely to be screened for BC in Flanders. If screened, they are more likely to be screened outside the BCSP.

Abstract: As a size- and shape-selective catalyst, zeolites are widely used in petroleum and fine-chemicals processing. However, their small micropores severely hinder molecular diffusion and are sensitive to coke formation. Hierarchically porous zeolite single crystals with fully interconnected, ordered, and tunable multimodal porosity at macro-, meso-, and microlength scale, like in leaves, offer the ideal solution. However, their synthesis remains highly challenging. Here, we report a versatile confined zeolite crystallization process to achieve these superior properties. Such zeolite single crystals lead to significantly improved mass transport properties by shortening the diffusion length while maintaining shape-selective properties, endowing them with a high efficiency of zeolite crystals, enhanced catalytic activities and lifetime, highly reduced coke formation, and reduced deactivation rate in bulky-molecule reactions and methanol-to-olefins process. Their industrial utilization can lead to the design of innovative and intensified reactors and processes with highly enhanced efficiency and minimum energy consumption.

Abstract: CO2 dissociation and its subsequent conversion into added-value chemicals is a promising strategy for recycling CO2 gas into reusable products. One of the possible methods is direct plasma-induced dissociation. In this work we study the efficiency of CO2 dissociation in pulsed atmospheric-pressure gas discharge between two conducting electrodes by a 0-D numerical plasma model. The purpose of the study is to provide results on the optimal conditions of CO2 conversion with respect to the energy efficiency and dissociation by varying the maximum power density value and the pulse length. The power density is directly related to the discharge current and the reduced electric field in the discharge. We consider pulse lengths in the range from hundreds of nanosecond up to milliseconds. The results obtained show that the dissociation degree and energy efficiency are sensitive to the pulse length (duration) and the power density, so that a considerable improvement of the discharge performance can be achieved by fine-tuning these parameters. The study is intended to provide guidance in designing an experimental set-up and a power supply with the characteristics necessary to achieve optimal conversion.

Abstract: Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an ideal tool to investigate nanomaterials. The information from TEM experiments allows us to link the structure and composition of nanomaterials to their intrinsic physical properties. However, despite the significant evolution of the TEM field during the last two decades, major progress is still possible through the development of optimal TEM techniques and supports. The results presented in this thesis focus on the optimization of sample supports and their application. Among the different options, graphene has previously been reported as useful sample support for electron microscopy due to its unparalleled properties, for example, it is the thinnest known support and provides a protective effect to the sample under investigation. Unfortunately, commercial graphene grids show poor quality, in terms of intactness and cleanness, inhibiting their wide application within the field. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the application of optimized graphene TEM grids, obtained by transferring high quality graphene using an advanced procedure. This improvement on the transfer has enabled the visualization of materials with low contrast and high sensitivity towards the electron beam, such as surface ligands capping gold nanoparticles or metal halide perovskites. Furthermore, the implemented protocol is not only of interest for conventional TEM grids but also a major benefit for in situ TEM studies, where the sample is investigated in real time under certain stimuli. Hence, the same graphene transfer technology can be also applied to advanced in situ MEMS holders dedicated for both heating and gas experiments, where the thickness and insulating nature of the silicon nitride (Si3N4) support may hamper some applications. By engineering periodic arrays of holes in their Si3N4 membrane by focused ion beam, onto which the graphene is transferred, it has been possible to get proof-of-concept 3D in situ investigations of heat-induced morphological and compositional transformations of complex nanosystems. As an example, it has enabled the investigation of the possible phase-transition of metal halide perovskites upon heating using 2D and 3D structural characterization. Moreover, it has allowed the study of in situ three-dimensional nanoparticle dynamics during gas phase catalysis as well as the first steps that would lead towards the design and creation of the first Graphene Gas Cell. Consequently, implementation of the advanced graphene transfer technology described in this thesis is envisaged to impact a broad range of future experiments.

Abstract: The strong correlated oxide systems attract a lot of attentions of scientists recently, the coexistence and interplay between various degrees of freedom, such as charge, spin and orbital, has been demonstrated to induce some fancy physical properties and phenomenon, including metal-insulator transition, high temperature superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance. As a part of the strong correlated oxide systems, the ferroelectrics is abundant in both physical properties and application. First, if the electric dipole continuously rotating around a stable core then a topological structure is produced. If people could manipulate the topological structure and simultaneously observe the structure evolution, with external field applied on the topological structure, then it is very likely for such kind of ferroelectrics to be the next generation of storage, for it is reported to need low power input and produce high density of storage. In the other hand, in solids, charge polarity can one-to-one correspond to spin polarity phenomenologically, such as ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, antiferroelectricity and antiferromagnetism, but ferrielectricity and ferrimagnetism kept telling a disparate story in microscopic level. The claimed “ferrielectrics” in existing research is equivalent to ferroelectric ones, thus the findings of such a real irreducible solids would complete the last piece of the ferroelectrics family. While solving the above two questions remain challengeable: the size of topological structure is small (typically below 10 nm), general characterization methods are insufficient for such high demand on space resolution, not to mention manipulating and observing its dynamic behavior at an atomic level. Here, employing the spherical aberration corrected electron microscope, we applied external field (heating and bias) on ferroelectrics. Combined with high-end characterization methods including the high-angle annular dark field (HAADF-STEM) image, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and integrated differential phase contrast (iDPC), the dynamic evolution of ferroelectrics are observed and analyzed. The main findings of this paper could be concluded as listed here: (1) PbTiO3(001)// SrTiO3(001) is grown on DyScO3 and SrRuO3 by pusled laser deposition, the atomical EDS mapping results reveal that the interface between PTO and STO is atomically sharp. Increasing the thickness of PTO from 1 uc to 21 uc, the topological structure wihtin PTO layer would transform from a/c domain to wave, vortex and finally flux closure domain. The geometric phase analysis results (GPA) reveal that above topological structures are corresponding to various strain. (2) Combined with in-situ biasing holder, the electric bias was applied on polar vortex, and it evolved from vortex (0 V) to polar wave (2 V) and finally polar down (5 V). EELS analysis was performed and we find that negative charge is gathered at vortex core, which turns the Ti4+ to Ti3+ there. The oxygen vacancy at negative polarization surface and the negative charge at the positive polarization surface realized the polarization screening of polar down domain. (3) Through the atomic inspection and analysis on lattice structure of BaFe2Se3, the near ladders within single unit are found to be different in degree of tetramerization, thus leading to a residual polarization along the a-axis. The further in-situ heating and biasing experiment was conducted on BaFe2Se3, and the strong and weak ladders are proved to be independent for their behavior under external field. This findings distinguishes ferrielectrics from ferroelectrics in solids.

Abstract: Precipitation is accompanied by the formation and migration of heterophase interfaces. Using the combined approach of advanced imaging and atomistic simulations, we studied the precipitate-matrix interfaces in various aluminium alloy systems, aiming to resolve their detailed atomic structures and illuminate their role in phase transformations.

Abstract: Nanomaterialen kunnen uiterst interessante eigenschappen vertonen voor een verscheidenheid aan veelbelovende toepassingen, gaande van zonnecrème tot batterijen voor elektrische auto’s. Een nanometer is een miljard keer kleiner dan een meter. Op deze schaal kunnen de materiaaleigenschappen volledig verschillen van bulkmaterialen op grotere schaal. Bovendien hangen de eigenschappen van nanomaterialen sterk af van hun exacte grootte en vorm. Kleine verschillen in de posities van de atomen, in de grootte-orde van een picometer (nog eens duizend maal kleiner dan een nanometer), kunnen de fysische eigenschappen al drastisch beïnvloeden. Daarom is een betrouwbare kwantificering van de atomaire structuur van kritisch belang om de evolutie naar materiaalontwerp mogelijk te maken en inzicht te verwerven in de relatie tussen de fysische eigenschappen en de structuur van nanomaterialen. Daarnaast kan de atomaire structuur van nanomaterialen ook veranderen in de loop van de tijd ten gevolge van verschillende fysische processen. Het onderzoek dat in deze thesis gepresenteerd wordt, maakt het mogelijk om de dynamische structuurveranderingen van nanomaterialen betrouwbaar te kwantificeren op atomaire schaal door gebruik te maken van raster transmissie elektronenmicroscopie (STEM). Ik heb dit gerealiseerd door methodes te ontwikkelen waarmee ik het aantal atomen “achter elkaar” kan tellen in elke atoomkolom van een nanomateriaal, en dit op basis van beelden opgenomen met een elektronenmicroscoop. Een belangrijk verschil met telmethodes voor de analyse van een enkel beeld is het schatten van de kans dat een atoomkolom atomen zal verliezen of bijkrijgen van het ene naar het andere beeld in de tijdreeks. Deze kwantitatieve methode kan het ontrafelen van de tijdsafhankelijke structuur-eigenschappen relatie van een nanomateriaal mogelijk maken, wat uiteindelijk kan leiden tot efficiënter design en productie van nanomaterialen voor innovatieve toepassingen.