Abstract: Nanocrystalline ZnO and ZnO(Ga) samples with different gallium content were prepared by wet-chemical method. Introduction of gallium leads to the increase of amount of weak acid sites such as surface hydroxyl groups. Gas sensing properties toward 0.22 ppm H2S and NO2 were studied at 100450 °C by DC conductance measurements. The optimal temperature for gas sensing experiments was determined. Sensor signal toward H2S decreases with increase of Ga concentration. The dependence of ZnO(Ga) sensor signal to NO2 on the gallium content has non-monotonous character, which correlates with the change of conductivity of the samples in air and concentration of paramagnetic donor states.

Abstract: Theranostic polymeric nanocarriers loaded with anticancer drug Taxol and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals have been developed for possible magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use and cancer therapy. Multifunctional nanocarriers with a coreshell structure have been prepared by coating superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles with block copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(propylene succinate) with variable molecular weights of the hydrophobic block poly(prolylene succinate). The multifunctional polymer nano-vehicles were prepared using a nanoprecipitation method. Scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed the encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles inside the polymeric matrix. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy mapping allowed us to determine the presence of the different material ingredients in a quantitative way. The diameter of the nanoparticles is below 250 nm yielding satisfactory encapsulation efficiency. The nanoparticles exhibit a biphasic drug release pattern in vitro over 15 days depending on the molecular weight of the hydrophobic part of the polymer matrix. These new systems where anti-cancer therapeutics like Taxol and iron oxide nanoparticles (IOs) are co-encapsulated into new facile polymeric nanoparticles, could be addressed as potential multifunctional vehicles for simultaneous drug delivery and targeting imaging as well as real time monitoring of therapeutic effects.

Abstract: The instability of a free-standing one-sided hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene nanoribbon, i.e., graphone/fluorographene, is studied using ab initio, semiempirical, and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. Free-standing semi-infinite armchairlike hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene (AC-GH/AC-GF) and boatlike hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene (B-GH/B-GF) (nanoribbons which are periodic along the zigzag direction) are unstable and spontaneously transform into spiral structures. We find that rolled, spiral B-GH and B-GF are energetically more favorable than spiral AC-GH and AC-GF which is opposite to the double-sided flat hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene, i.e., graphane/fluorographene. We found that the packed, spiral structures exhibit an unexpected localized highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest occupied molecular orbital at the edges with increasing energy gap during rolling. These rolled hydrocarbon structures are stable beyond room temperature up to at least T = 1000 K within our simulation time of 1 ns. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.075448

Abstract: Neutral excitons in strained axially symmetric In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots with a ringlike shape are investigated. Similar to experimental self-assembled quantum rings, the analyzed quantum dots have volcano-like shapes. The continuum mechanical model is employed to determine the strain distribution, and the single-band envelope function approach is adopted to compute the electron states. The hole states are determined by the axially symmetric multiband Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian, and the exciton states are obtained from an exact diagonalization. We found that the presence of the inner layer covering the ring opening enhances the excitonic Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations. The reason is that the hole becomes mainly localized in the inner part of the quantum dot due to strain, whereas the electron resides mainly inside the ring-shaped rim. Interestingly, larger AB oscillations are found in the analyzed quantum dot than in a fully opened quantum ring of the same width. Comparison with the unstrained ringlike quantum dot shows that the amplitude of the excitonic Aharonov-Bohm oscillations are almost doubled in the presence of strain. The computed oscillations of the exciton energy levels are comparable in magnitude to the oscillations measured in recent experiments. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.085314

Abstract: The adsorption characteristics of alkali, alkaline-earth, and transition metal adatoms on silicene, a graphene-like monolayer structure of silicon are analyzed by means of first-principles calculations. In contrast to graphene, interaction between the metal atoms and the silicene surface is quite strong due to its highly reactive buckled hexagonal structure. In addition to structural properties, we also calculate the electronic band dispersion, net magnetic moment, charge transfer, work function, and dipole moment of the metal adsorbed silicene sheets. Alkali metals, Li, Na, and K, adsorb to hollow sites without any lattice distortion. As a consequence of the significant charge transfer from alkalis to silicene, metalization of silicene takes place. Trends directly related to atomic size, adsorption height, work function, and dipole moment of the silicene/alkali adatom system are also revealed. We found that the adsorption of alkaline-earth metals on silicene is entirely different from their adsorption on graphene. The adsorption of Be, Mg, and Ca turns silicene into a narrow gap semiconductor. Adsorption characteristics of eight transition metals Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Mo, and W are also investigated. As a result of their partially occupied d orbital, transition metals show diverse structural, electronic, and magnetic properties. Upon the adsorption of transition metals, depending on the adatom type and atomic radius, the system can exhibit metal, half-metal, and semiconducting behavior. For all metal adsorbates, the direction of the charge transfer is from adsorbate to silicene, because of its high surface reactivity. Our results indicate that the reactive crystal structure of silicene provides a rich playground for functionalization at nanoscale. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.085423

Abstract: We propose a simple way of probing the number of modes contributing to the channeling in graphene waveguides which are formed by a gauge potential produced by mechanical strain. The energy mode structure for both homogeneous and non-homogeneous strain regimes is carefully studied using the continuum description of the Dirac equation. We found that high strain values privilege negative (instead of positive) group velocities throughout the guidance, sorting the types of modes flowing through it. We also show how the effect of a substrate-induced gap competes against the strain.

Abstract: We report on the crystal structure and magnetism of the iron-based oxyfluoride Bi4Fe5O13F, a material prototype of the Cairo pentagonal spin lattice. The crystal structure of Bi4Fe5O13F is determined by a combination of neutron diffraction, synchrotron x-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. It comprises layers of FeO6 octahedra and FeO4 tetrahedra forming deformed pentagonal units. The topology of these layers resembles a pentagonal least-perimeter tiling, which is known as the Cairo lattice. This topology gives rise to frustrated exchange couplings and underlies a sequence of magnetic transitions at T-1 = 62 K, T-2 = 71 K, and T-N = 178 K, as determined by thermodynamic measurements and neutron diffraction. Below T-1, Bi4Fe5O13F forms a fully ordered non-collinear antiferromagnetic structure, whereas the magnetic state between T-1 and T-N may be partially disordered according to the sizable increase in the magnetic entropy at T-1 and T-2. Bi4Fe5O13F reveals unanticipated magnetic transitions on the pentagonal Cairo spin lattice and calls for a further work on finite-temperature properties of this strongly frustrated spin model. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.024423

Abstract: The crystal structure of SrCo0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O2.72 was determined using a combination of precession electron diffraction (PED), high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS). The structure has a tetragonal P4/mmm symmetry with cell parameters a = b = a(p), c = 2a(p) (a(p) being the cell parameter of the perovskite parent structure). Octahedral BO2 layers alternate with the anion-deficient BO1.4 layers, the different B cations are randomly distributed over both layers. The specific feature of the SrCo0.7Fe0.2NB0.1O2.72 microstructure is a presence of extensive nanoscale twinning resulting in domains with alignment of the tetragonal c-axis along all three cubic direction of the perovskite subcell.

Abstract: A highly reproducible photoresponse is observed in nanocrystalline SnO2 thick films sensitized with CdSe quantum dots. The effect of the SnO2 matrix microstructure on the photoconductivity kinetics and photoresponse amplitude is demonstrated. The photoresponse of the sensitized SnO2 thick films reaches more than two orders of magnitude under illumination with the wavelength of the excitonic transition of the quantum dots. Long-term photoconductivity kinetics and photoresponse dependence on illumination intensity reveal power-law behavior inherent to the disordered nature of SnO2. The photoconductivity of the samples rises with the coarsening of the granular structure of the SnO2 matrix. At the saturation region, the photoresponse amplitude remains stable under 10(4) pulses of illumination switching, demonstrating a remarkably high stability.

Abstract: Continued miniaturization of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) requires an ever-decreasing thickness of the gate oxide. The structure of ultrathin silicon oxide films, however, critically depends on the oxidation mechanism. Using reactive atomistic simulations, we here demonstrate how the oxidation mechanism in hyperthermal oxidation of such structures may be controlled by the oxidation temperature and the oxidant energy. Specifically, we study the interaction of hyperthermal oxygen with energies of 15 eV with thin SiOx (x ≤ 2) films with a native oxide thickness of about 10 Å. We analyze the oxygen penetration depth probability and compare with results of the hyperthermal oxidation of a bare Si(100){2 × 1} (c-Si) surface. The temperature-dependent oxidation mechanisms are discussed in detail. Our results demonstrate that, at low (i.e., room) temperature, the penetrated oxygen mostly resides in the oxide region rather than at the SiOx|c-Si interface. However, at higher temperatures, starting at around 700 K, oxygen atoms are found to penetrate and to diffuse through the oxide layer followed by reaction at the c-Si boundary. We demonstrate that hyperthermal oxidation resembles thermal oxidation, which can be described by the DealGrove model at high temperatures. Furthermore, defect creation mechanisms that occur during the oxidation process are also analyzed. This study is useful for the fabrication of ultrathin silicon oxide gate oxides for metal-oxide-semiconductor devices as it links parameters that can be straightforwardly controlled in experiment (oxygen temperature, velocity) with the silicon oxide structure.

Abstract: We consider a junction between two topological insulators and calculate the properties of the interface states with an effective low-energy Hamiltonian for topological insulators with a single cone on the surface. This system bears a close resemblance to bilayer graphene, as both result from the hybridization of Dirac cones. We find gapless interface states not only when the helicity directions of the topological surface states are oppositely oriented, but they can also exist if they are equally oriented. Furthermore, we find that the existence of the interface states can be understood from the closing of the bulk gap when the helicity changes orientation. Recently superluminal tachyonic excitations were also claimed to exist at the interface between topological insulators. However, here we show that these interface states do not exist. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115113

Abstract: Native wheat starch was oxidized by benign acidic bromate in water at room temperature. HPLC-ELSD study indicated that starch degraded in the course of oxidation but it still had a polymeric structure characterized by H-1, C-13, HSQC and HMBC NMR measurements. Products were generally water-soluble fragments but the use of a short reaction time and dilute reaction mixture yielded water-insoluble products. Titration of the products showed, that the increase of the starch content and reaction time increased the content of carbonyl and carboxyl groups in the range of 0.5-2.5% and 1.7-17.2%, respectively, in the product fragments. A mechanism for the oxidation reaction was proposed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Sputtered nanocrystalline palladium thin films with nanoscale growth twins have been subjected to hydriding cycles. The evolution of the twin boundaries has been investigated using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Surprisingly, the Sigma 3{112} incoherent twin boundaries dissociate after hydriding into two phase boundaries bounding a 9R phase. This phase which corresponds to single stacking faults located every three {111} planes in the fcc Pd structure was not expected because of the high stacking fault energy of Pd. This observation is connected to the influence of the Hydrogen on the stacking fault energy of palladium and the high compressive stresses building up during hydriding. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4793512]