Abstract: We investigate the effect of the temperature dependence of many-body correlations on hole-hole Coulomb drag in strongly coupled GaAs/GaAlAs double quantum wells. For arbitrary temperatures, we obtained the correlations using the classical-map hypernetted-chain approach. We compare the temperature dependence of the resulting drag resistivities rho D(T) at different densities with rho D(T) calculated assuming correlations fixed at zero temperature. Comparing the results with those when correlations are completely neglected, we confirm that correlations significantly increase the drag. We find that the drag becomes sensitive to the temperature dependence of T greater than or similar to 2TF, twice the Fermi temperature. Our results show excellent agreement with available experimental data. Published under license by AIP Publishing.

Abstract: Na2C is a novel two-dimensional material with Dirac Half-metal (DHM) characteristic, exhibiting a combination of single-spin massless Dirac fermions and half-semimetal. In this paper based on the first-principles calculations, we studied the mechanical, electronic, magnetic and optical properties of Na2C nanosheet. The elastic modulus of Na2C was measured to 18.5 N/m and isotropic, whereas it shows anisotropic tensile strengths of 2.85 and 2.04 N/m, for the loading along the zigzag and armchair directions, respectively. We found that Na2C, is a DHM with band gap of 0.7 eV in the up-spin channel and has 2 mu(B) magnetic moment per unit cell. In addition, we investigated the effects of number of atomic layers (thickness), electric field and strain on the possibility of further tuning of the electronic and magnetic properties of Na2C. Our calculations show that by increasing the number of layers from monolayer to bulk, a transition from DHM to ferromagnetic metal occurs with a high magnetic moments in the range of 16-30 mu(B). With applying an electric field on the Na2C bilayer (within the ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic orders), energy band gap is slightly increased. In addition our results indicate that the electronic structure can be significantly modified by applying the mechanical straining. In this regard, under the biaxial strain (from 0% to – 8%) or large uniaxial strains (> – 6%), we observed the DHM to ferromagnetic-metal transition. Moreover, vacancy defects and atom substitutions can also effect the electronic and magnetic properties of Na2C nanosheet. Defective Na2C with single and double vacancies, was found to show the metallic response. With various atom substitutions this nanosheet exhibits; ferromagnetic-metal (Si and Be) with 5.2 and 3 mu(B); dilute-magnetic semiconductor (B and N) with 3 and 7 mu(B) magnetic moments, respectively. In the case of B or N atoms replacing the native C atom, the down-spin channel yields about 1 eV band gap. Interestingly, replacing the Na atoms in the native Na2C lattice with the Li can result in the formation of magnetic topological insulator phase with nontrivial band gap in the down-spin channel (25 meV and 0.15 eV) and up-spin channel (0.75 eV), in addition exhibit 8 mu(B) magnetic moment in the ground state.

Abstract: The generation of high-density plasmas on the surface of porous catalysts is very important for plasma catalysis, as it determines the active surface of the catalyst that is available for the reaction. In this work, we investigate the mechanism of surface and volume plasma streamer formation and propagation near micro-sized pores in dielectric barrier discharges operating in air at atmospheric pressure. A two-dimensional particle-in-cell/ Monte Carlo collision model is used to model the individual kinetic behavior of plasma species. Our calculations indicate that the surface discharge is enhanced on the surface of the catalyst pores compared with the microdischarge inside the catalyst pores. The reason is that the surface ionization wave induces surface charging along the catalyst pore sidewalls, leading to a strong electric field along the pore sidewalls, which in turn further enhances the surface discharge. Therefore, highly concentrated reactive species occur on the surfaces of the catalyst pores, indicating high-density plasmas on the surface of porous catalysts. Indeed, the maximum electron impact excitation and ionization rates occur on the pore surface, indicating the more pronounced production of excited state and electron-ion pairs on the pore surface than inside the pore, which may profoundly affect the plasma catalytic process. Published under license by AIP Publishing.

Abstract: Superfluidity has recently been reported in double electron-hole bilayer graphene. The multiband nature of the bilayers is important because of the very small band gaps between conduction and valence bands. The long-range nature of the superfluid pairing interaction means that screening must be fully taken into account. We have carried out a systematic mean-field investigation that includes (i) contributions to screening from both intraband and interband excitations, (ii) the low-energy band structure of bilayer graphene with its small band gap and flattened Mexican-hat-like low-energy bands, (iii) the large density of states at the bottom of the bands, (iv) electron-hole pairing in the multibands, and (v) electron-hole pair transfers between the conduction and valence band condensates. We find that the superfluidity strongly modifies the intraband contributions to the screening, but that the interband contributions are unaffected. Unexpectedly, a net effect of the screening is to suppress Josephson-like pair transfers and to confine the superfluid pairing entirely to the conduction-band condensate even for very small band gaps, making the system behave similarly to a one-band superfluid.

Abstract: Using first-principles calculations, we study the structural, electronic, and optical properties of pristine BC3. Our results show that BC3 is a semiconductor which can be useful in optoelectronic device applications. Furthermore, we found that the electronic properties of BC3 can be modified by strain and the type of edge states. With increasing thickness, the indirect bandgap decreases from 0.7 eV (monolayer) to 0.27 eV (bulk). Upon uniaxial tensile strain along the armchair and zigzag directions, the bandgap slightly decreases, and with increasing uniaxial strain, the bandgap decreases, and when reaching -8%, a semiconductor-to-metal transition occurs. By contrast, under biaxial strain, the bandgap increases to 1.2 eV in +8% and decreases to zero in -8%. BC3 nanoribbons with different widths exhibit magnetism at the zigzag edges, while, at the armchair edges, they become semiconductor, and the bandgap is in the range of 1.0-1.2 eV. Moreover, we systematically investigated the effects of adatoms/molecule adsorption and defects on the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of BC3. The adsorption of various adatoms and molecules as well as topological defects (vacancies and Stone-Wales defects) can modify the electronic properties. Using these methods, one can tune BC3 into a metal, half-metal, ferromagnetic-metal, and dilute-magnetic semiconductor or preserve its semiconducting character. Published under license by AIP Publishing.

Abstract: The ever increasing global production and dispersion of methane requires novel chemistry to transform it into easily condensable energy carriers that can be integrated into the chemical infrastructure. In this context, single atom catalysts have attracted considerable interest due to their outstanding catalytic activity. We here use density functional theory (DFT) computations to compare the reaction and activation energies of M and MN4 embedded graphene (M = Ni and Si) on the methane-to-methanol conversion near room temperature. Thermodynamically, conversion of methane to methanol is energetically favorable at ambient conditions. Both singlet and triplet spin state of the studied systems are considered in all of the calculations. The DFT results show that the barriers are significantly lower when the complexes are in the triplet state than in the singlet state. In particular, Si-G with the preferred spin multiplicity of triplet seems to be viable catalysts for methane oxidation thanks to the corresponding lower energy barriers and higher stability of the obtained configurations. Our results provide insights into the nature of methane conversion and may serve as guidance for fabricating cost-effective graphene-based single atom catalysts.

Abstract: Selective laser melting (SLM) manufactured AlSi10Mg alloys present a fine silicon-rich network and precipitates which grant high mechanical strength but low ductility. Post-treatments, aiming at eliminating inherent defects related to SLM such as residual stresses, porosity or inhomogeneity, result in significant changes in the microstructure and impact both the hardening and the damage mechanisms of the post-treated material. The present work is dedicated to the investigation of the fracture of SLM AlSi10Mg under as built and three post-treatment conditions, namely two stress relieve heat treatments and friction stir processing (FSP). It is found that the interconnected Si network fosters damage at low strain due to the brittleness of the Si phase. The onset of damage transfers load to the enclosed Al phase which then fractures quickly under high stress, thus leading to low material ductility. In contrast, when the Si network is globularized into Si particles, the ductility is highly increased even in the case where the porosity and inhomogeneity of the microstructure remain after the post-treatment. The ductility enhancement results from the delay in void nucleation on the Si particles as well as from the tolerance for void growth in the Al matrix.

Abstract: A biomimetic sensor for cefquinome (CFQ) was designed at multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified graphite screen-printed electrodes (MWCNTs-G-SPEs) as a proof-of-concept for the creation of a sensors array for beta-lactam antibiotics detection in milk. The sensitive and selective detection of antibiotic residues in food and environment is a fundamental step in the elaboration of prevention strategies to fight the insurgence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as recommended by authorities around the world (EU, WHO, FDA). The detection strategy is based on the characteristic electrochemical fingerprint of the target antibiotic cefquinome. A conducive electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coupled with MWCNTs was found to be the optimal electrode modifier, able to provide an increased selectivity and sensitivity for CFQ detection. The design of CFQ-MIP was facilitated by the rational selection of the monomer, 4-aminobenzoic acid (4-ABA). The electropolymerization process of 4-ABA have not been fully elucidated yet; for this reason a thorough study and optimization of electropolymerization conditions was performed to obtain a conducive and stable poly(4-ABA) film. The modified electrodes were characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). CFQ-MIP were synthesized at MWCNT-G-SPEs by electropolyrnerization in pH approximate to 1 (0.1 M sulphuric acid) with a monomer:template ratio of 5:1. Two different analytical protocols were tested (single and double step detection) to minimize unspecific adsorptions and improve the sensitivity. Under optimal conditions, the lowest CFQ concentration detectable by square wave voltammetry (SWV) at the modified sensor was 50 nM in 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 2.

Abstract: Coupled electron-hole states are realized in a system consisting of a combination of an electrostatic potential barrier and ring-shaped potential well, which resembles a circular dipole. A perpendicular magnetic field induces confined states inside the Landau gaps which are mainly located at the barrier or ring. Hybridizations between the barrier and ring states are seen as anticrossings in the energy spectrum. As a consequence, the energy levels show an oscillating dependence on the electrostatic potential strength in combination with an oscillating migration of the wave functions between the barrier and ring. At the anticrossing points the quantum state consists of a mixture of electron and hole. The present system mimics closely the behavior of a relativistic dipole on gapped graphene.

Abstract: Over the past few decades, superconducting circuits have been used to realize various novel electronic devices such as quantum bits, SQUIDs, parametric amplifiers, etc. One domain, however, where superconducting circuits fall short is information storage. Superconducting memories are based on the quantization of magnetic flux in superconducting loops. Standard implementations store information as magnetic flux quanta in a superconducting loop interrupted by two Josephson junctions (i.e., a SQUID). However, due to the large inductance required, the size of the SQUID loop cannot be scaled below several micrometers, resulting in low-density memory chips. Here, we propose a scalable memory consisting of a voltage-biased superconducting ring threaded by a half-quantum flux bias. By numerically solving the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations, we show that applying a time-dependent bias voltage in the microwave range constitutes a writing mechanism to change the number of stored flux quanta within the ring. Since the proposed device does not require a large loop inductance, it can be scaled down, enabling a high-density memory technology. (C) 2019 Author(s).

Abstract: Magnetic field mapping in transmission electron microscopy is commonplace, but all conventional methods provide only a projection of the components of the magnetic induction perpendicular to the electron trajectory. Recent experimental advances with electron vortices have shown that it is possible to map the out of plane magnetic induction in a TEM setup via interferometry with a specifically prepared electron vortex state carrying high orbital angular momentum (OAM). The method relies on the Aharonov?Bohm phase shift that the electron undergoes when going through a longitudinal field. Here we show how the same effect naturally occurs for any electron wave function, which can always be described as a superposition of OAM modes. This leads to a clear connection between the occurrence of high-OAM partial waves and the amount of azimuthal rotation in the far field angular distribution of the beam. We show that out of plane magnetic field measurement can thus be obtained with a much simpler setup consisting of a ring-like aperture with azimuthal spokes. We demonstrate the experimental setup and explore the achievable sensitivity of the magnetic field measurement.

Abstract: High-rate activated sludge (HRAS) systems typically generate diluted sludge which requires further thickening prior to anaerobic digestion (AD), besides the need to add considerable coagulant and flocculant for the solids separation. As an alternative to conventional gravitational settling, a dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit was coupled to a HRAS system or a high-rate contact stabilization (HiCS) system. The HRAS-DAF system allowed up to 78% removal of the influent solids, and the HiCS-DAF 67%. Both were within the range of values typically obtained for HRAS-settler systems, albeit at a lower chemical requirement. The separated sludge had a high concentration of up to 47 g COD L−1, suppressing the need of further thickening before AD. Methanation tests showed a biogas yield of up to 68% on a COD basis. The use of a DAF separation system can thus enable direct organics removal at high sludge concentration and with low chemical needs.

Abstract: A four-band exciton Hamiltonian is constructed starting from the single-particle Dirac Hamiltonian for charge carriers in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). The angular part of the exciton wave function can be separated from the radial part, in the case of zero center of mass momentum excitons, by exploiting the eigenstates of the total exciton angular momentum operator with which the Hamiltonian commutes. We explain why this approach fails for excitons with finite center of mass momentum or in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and present an approximation to resolve this issue. We calculate the (binding) energy and average interparticle distance of different excited exciton states in different TMDs and compare these with results available in the literature. Remarkably, we find that the intervalley exciton ground state in the -/+ K valley has angular momentum j = +/- 1, which is due to the pseudospin of the separate particles. The exciton mass and the exciton Landau levels are calculated and we find that the degeneracy of exciton states with opposite relative angular momentum is altered by a magnetic field.

Abstract: An effective tight-binding (TB) Hamiltonian for monolayer GeSnH2 is constructed which has an inversion-asymmetric honeycomb structure. The low-energy band structure of our TB model agrees very well with previous ab initio calculations even under biaxial tensile strain. Our model predicts a phase transition at 7.5% biaxial tensile strain in agreement with DFT calculations. Upon 8.5% strain the system exhibits a band gap of 134 meV, suitable for room temperature applications. It is shown that an external applied magnetic field produces a special phase which is a combination of the quantum Hall (QH) and quantum spin Hall (QSH) phases; and at a critical magnetic field strength the QSH phase completely disappears. The topological nature of the phase transition is confirmed from: (1) the calculation of the Z(2) topological invariant, and (2) quantum transport properties of disordered GeSnH2 nanoribbons which allows us to determine the universality class of the conductance fluctuations. The application of an external applied magnetic field reduces the conductance fluctuations by a factor of root 2.

Abstract: We theoretically investigate, through Ginzburg?Landau simulations, the possibility to induce an open circuit voltage in absence of applied current, by dragging superconducting vortices with a dynamic pinning array as for instance that created by a nearby sliding vortex lattice or moving laser spots. Different dynamic regimes, such as synchronous vortex motion or dynamic vortex chains consisting of laggard vortices, can be observed by varying the velocity of the sliding pinning potential and the applied magnetic field. Additionally, due to the edge barrier, significantly different induced voltage is found depending on whether the vortices are dragged along the superconducting strip or perpendicular to the lateral edges. The output voltage in the proposed mesoscopic superconducting dynamo can be tuned by varying size, density and directions of the sliding pinning potential.