Abstract: Pulsed laser deposition has been used to artificially construct the n = 3 Ruddlesden Popper structure La2Sr2Mn3O10 in epitaxial thin film form by sequentially layering La1-xSrxMnO3 and SrO unit cells aided by in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction monitoring. The interval deposition technique was used to promote two-dimensional SrO growth. X-ray diffraction and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy indicated that the trilayer structure had been formed. A site ordering was found to differ from that expected thermodynamically, with the smaller Sr2+ predominantly on the R site due to kinetic trapping of the deposited cation sequence. A dependence of the out-of-plane lattice parameter on growth pressure was interpreted as changing the oxygen content of the films. Magnetic and transport measurements on fully oxygenated films indicated a frustrated magnetic ground state characterized as a spin glass-like magnetic phase with the glass temperature T-g approximate to 34 K. The magnetic frustration has a clear in-plane (ab) magnetic anisotropy, which is maintained up to temperatures of 150 K. Density functional theory calculations suggest competing antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic long-range orders, which are proposed as the origin of the low-temperature glassy state.

Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nowadays routinely grown in a thermal CVD setup. State-of-the-art plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) growth, however, offers advantages over thermal CVD. A lower growth temperature and the growth of aligned freestanding single-walled CNTs (SWNTs) makes the technique very attractive. The atomic scale growth mechanisms of PECVD CNT growth, however, remain currently entirely unexplored. In this contribution, we employed molecular dynamics simulations to focus on the effect of applying an electric field on the SWNT growth process, as one of the effects coming into play in PECVD. Using sufficiently strong fields results in (a) alignment of the growing SWNTs, (b) a better ordering of the carbon network, and (c) a higher growth rate relative to thermal growth rate. We suggest that these effects are due to the small charge transfer occurring in the Ni/C system. These simulations constitute the first study of PECVD growth of SWNTs on the atomic level.

Abstract: Combining long-range magnetic order with polarity in the same structure is a prerequisite for the design of (magnetoelectric) multiferroic materials. There are now several demonstrated strategies to achieve this goal, but retaining magnetic order above room temperature remains a difficult target. Iron oxides in the +3 oxidation state have high magnetic ordering temperatures due to the size of the coupled moments. Here we prepare and characterize ScFeO3 (SFO), which under pressure and in strain-stabilized thin films adopts a polar variant of the corundum structure, one of the archetypal binary oxide structures. Polar corundum ScFeO3 has a weak ferromagnetic ground state below 356 K-this is in contrast to the purely antiferromagnetic ground state adopted by the well-studied ferroelectric BiFeO3.

Abstract: The development of new electrode materials, which are composed of Earth-abundant elements and that can be made via eco-efficient processes, is becoming absolutely necessary for reasons of sustainable production. The 3.9 V triplite-phase of LiFeSO4F, compared to the 3.6 V tavorite-phase, could satisfy this requirement provided the currently complex synthetic pathway can be simplified. Here, we present our work aiming at better understanding the reaction mechanism that govern its formation as a way to optimize its preparation. We first demonstrate, using complementary X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies, that triplite-LiFeSO4F can nucleate from tavorite-LiFeSO4F via a reconstructive process whose kinetics are significantly influenced by moisture and particle morphology. Perhaps the most spectacular finding is that it is possible to prepare electrochemically active triplite-LiFeSO4F from anhydrous precursors using either reactive spark plasma sintering (SPS) synthesis in a mere 20 min at 320 degrees C or room temperature ball milling for 3 h. These new pathways appear to be strongly driven by the easy formation of a disordered phase with higher entropy, as both techniques trigger disorder via rapid annealing steps or defect creation. Although a huge number of phases adopts the tavorite structure-type, this new finding offers both a potential way to prepare new compositions in the triplite structure and a wealth of opportunities for the synthesis of new materials which could benefit many domains beyond energy storage.

Abstract: The appearance of massless Dirac fermions in graphene requires two equivalent carbon sublattices of trigonal shape. While the generation of an effective mass and a band gap at the Dirac point remains an unresolved problem for freestanding extended graphene, it is well established by breaking translational symmetry by confinement and by breaking sublattice symmetry by interaction with a substrate. One of the strongest sublattice-symmetry-breaking interactions with predicted and measured band gaps ranging from 400 meV to more than 3 eV has been attributed to the interfaces of graphene with Ni and Co, which are also promising spin-filter interfaces. Here, we apply angle-resolved photoemission to epitaxial graphene on Ni (111) and Co(0001) to show the presence of intact Dirac cones 2.8 eV below the Fermi level. Our results challenge the common belief that the breaking of sublattice symmetry by a substrate and the opening of the band gap at the Dirac energy are in a straightforward relation. A simple effective model of a biased bilayer structure composed of graphene and a sublattice-symmetry-broken layer, corroborated by density-functional-theory calculations, demonstrates the general validity of our conclusions.

Abstract: In the formation of colloidal molecules, directional interactions are crucial for controlling the spatial distribution of the building blocks. Anisotropic nanoparticles facilitate directional clustering via steric constraints imposed by each specific shape, thereby restricting assembly along certain directions. We show in this Letter that the combination of patchiness (attraction) and shape (steric hindrance) allows assembling gold nanodumbbell building blocks into crosslike dimers with well-controlled interparticle distance and relative orientation. Steric hindrance between interacting dumbbell-like particles opens up a new synthetic approach toward low-symmetry plasmonic clusters, which may significantly contribute to understand complex plasmonic phenomena.

Abstract: Starting from the gas phase, small clusters can be produced and deposited with huge flexibility with regard to composition, materials choice and cluster size. Despite many advances in experimental characterization, a detailed morphology of such clusters is still lacking. Here we present an atomic scale observation as well as the dynamical behaviour of ultrasmall germanium clusters. Using quantitative scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with ab initio calculations, we are able to characterize the transition between different equilibrium geometries of a germanium cluster consisting of less than 25 atoms. Seven-membered rings, trigonal prisms and some smaller subunits are identified as possible building blocks that stabilize the structure.

Abstract: This paper discusses the possibility of retrieving the electron distribution (with highlighted valence electron distribution information) of materials from recorded HREM images. This process can be achieved by solving two inverse problems: reconstruction of the exit wave and reconstruction of the electron distribution from exit waves. The first inverse problem can be solved using a focal series reconstruction method. We show that the second inverse problem can be solved by combining a series of exit waves recorded at different thickness conditions. This process is designed based on an improved understanding of the dynamical scattering process. It also explains the fundamental difficulty of obtaining the valence electron distribution information and the basis of our solution.

Abstract: RuCp2 (ruthenocene) and RuCpPy (cyclopentadienyl pyrrolyl ruthenium) complexes are used in ruthenium (Ru) atomic layer deposition (ALD) but exhibit a markedly different reactivity with respect to the substrate and co-reactant. In search of an explanation, we report here the results of a comparative study of the heterolytic and homolytic dissociation enthalpy of these two ruthenium complexes, making use of either density functional theory (DFT) or multiconfigurational perturbation theory (CASPT2). While both methods predict distinctly different absolute dissociation enthalpies, they agree on the relative values between both molecules. A reduced heterolytic dissociation enthalpy is obtained for RuCpPy compared to RuCp2, although the difference obtained from CASPT2 (19.9 kcal/mol) is slightly larger than the one obtained with any of the DFT functionals (around 17 kcal/mol). Both methods also agree on the more pronounced stability of the Cp- ligand in RuCpPy than in RuCp2 (by around 9 kcal/mol with DFT and by 6 kcal/mol with CASPT2).

Abstract: Copper deposited by thermal evaporation onto pristine and oxygen plasma treated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) diffuse over the CNT surface, coalescing and forming crystalline islands. The nucleation sites of the islands are preferentially defects, and more homogeneous island dispersion was observed at the CNT oxygen functionalized surface. The presence of weakly bound oxygen atoms at the CNT surface induces the formation of CuO bonds at the Cu/CNT interface, as described through density functional calculations. Exposure to air allows further oxidation to facetted crystalline Cu2O. Oxygen plasma pre-treatment represents a promising route for homogenous disperse Cu2O nanoparticle decoration of CNTs.

Abstract: In this work, a detailed structural and spectroscopic study of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) thin films grown by a continuous bias assisted CVD growth technique is reported. This technique allows the tuning of grain size and phase purity in the deposited material. The crystalline properties of the films are characterized by SEM, TEM, EELS, and Raman spectroscopy. A clear improvement of the crystalline structure of the nanograined diamond film is observed for low negative bias voltages, while high bias voltages lead to thin films consisting of diamond grains of only ∼10 nm nanometer in size, showing remarkable similarities with so-called ultrananocrystalline diamond. These layers arecharacterized by an increasing amount of sp2-bonded carbon content of the matrix in which the diamond grains are embedded. Classical molecular dynamics simulations support the observed experimental data, giving insight in the underlying mechanism for the observed increase in deposition rate with bias voltage. Furthermore, a high atomic concentration of hydrogen has been determined in these films. Finally, Raman scattering analyses confirm that the Raman line observed at ∼1150 cm−1 cannot be attributed to trans-poly-acetylene, which continues to be reported in literature, reassigning it to a deformation mode of CHx bonds in NCD.

Abstract: The propagator of the Wigner function is constructed from the WignerLiouville equation as a phase space path integral over a new effective Lagrangian. In contrast to a paper by Barker and Murray (1983) [1], we show that the path integral can in general not be written as a linear superposition of classical phase space trajectories over a family of non-local forces. Instead, we adopt a saddle point expansion to show that the semiclassical Wigner function is a linear superposition of classical solutions for a different set of non-local time dependent forces. As shown by a simple example the specific form of the path integral makes the formulation ideal for Monte Carlo simulation.

Abstract: Context: Asthma affects 20 million Americans resulting in an economic burden of approximately $18 billion in the US alone (Allergies and Asthma Foundation 2000; National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) 1999). Research studies based on differences in patient-specific airway morphology for asthma and the associated effect on deposition of inhaled aerosols are currently not available in the literature. Therefore, the role of morphological variations such as upper airway (extrathoracic) occlusion is not well documented. Objective: Functional imaging based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of the respiratory airways for five asthmatic subjects is performed in this study using computed tomography (CT) based patient-specific airway models and boundary conditions. Methods: CT scans for 5 asthma patients were used to reconstruct 3D lung models using segmentation software. An averaged inhalation profile and patient-specific lobar flow distribution were used to perform the simulation. The simulations were used to obtain deposition for BDP/Formoterol (R) HFA pMDI in the patient-specific airway models. Results: The lung deposition obtained using CFD was in excellent agreement with available in vivo data using the same product. Specifically, CFD resulted in 30% lung deposition, whereas in vivo lung deposition was reported to be approximately 31%. Conclusion: It was concluded that a combination of patient-specific airway models and lobar boundary conditions can be used to obtain accurate lung deposition estimates. Lower lung deposition can be expected for patients with higher extrathoracic resistance. Novel respiratory drug delivery devices need to accommodate population subgroups based on these morphological and anatomical differences in addition to subject age.

Abstract: Based on a facile one-pot templating synthesis, using a TS-1 zeolite recipe whereby part of the zeolite structure directing agent is replaced by a mesopore templating agent, a trimodal material is formed. The resulting meso-TSM material combines mesoporosity (Ti-MCM-41) with zeolitic features (TS-1) and a unique sheet-like morphology with uniform macroporous voids (macroholes). Moreover, the macrohole formation, mesoporosity and zeolitic properties of the meso-TSM material can be controlled in a straightforward way by adjusting the length of the hydrothermal treatment. This newly developed material may imply great potential for catalytic redox applications and diffusion limitated processes because of its highly tunable character in all three dimensions (micro-, meso- and macroporous scale).