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Author Lukyanchuk, I.; Vinokur, V.M.; Rydh, A.; Xie, R.; Milošević, M.V.; Welp, U.; Zach, M.; Xiao, Z.L.; Crabtree, G.W.; Bending, S.J.; Peeters, F.M.; Kwok, W.K.
Title Rayleigh instability of confined vortex droplets in critical superconductors Type A1 Journal article
Year 2015 Publication Nature physics Abbreviated Journal Nat Phys
Volume 11 Issue 11 Pages 21-25
Keywords A1 Journal article; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Abstract Depending on the Ginzburg-Landau parameter kappa, superconductors can either be fully diamagnetic if kappa < 1/root 2 (type I superconductors) or allow magnetic flux to penetrate through Abrikosov vortices if kappa > 1/root 2 (type II superconductors; refs 1,2). At the Bogomolny critical point, kappa = kappa(c) = 1/root 2, a state that is infinitely degenerate with respect to vortex spatial configurations arises(3,4). Despite in-depth investigations of conventional type I and type II superconductors, a thorough understanding of the magnetic behaviour in the near-Bogomolny critical regime at kappa similar to kappa(c) remains lacking. Here we report that in confined systems the critical regime expands over a finite interval of kappa forming a critical superconducting state. We show that in this state, in a sample with dimensions comparable to the vortex core size, vortices merge into a multi-quanta droplet, which undergoes Rayleigh instability(5) on increasing kappa and decays by emitting single vortices. Superconducting vortices realize Nielsen-Olesen singular solutions of the Abelian Higgs model, which is pervasive in phenomena ranging from quantum electrodynamics to cosmology(6-9). Our study of the transient dynamics of Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortices in systems with boundaries promises access to non-trivial effects in quantum field theory by means of bench-top laboratory experiments.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000346831100018 Publication Date 2014-11-06
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1745-2473;1745-2481; ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor (up) 22.806 Times cited 20 Open Access
Notes ; We would like to thank N. Nekrasov for illuminating discussions. The work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (V.M.V., W.K.K., U.W., R.X., M.Z., Z.L.X., G.W.C. and partially I.L. through the Materials Theory Institute), by FP7-IRSES-SIMTECH and ITN-NOTEDEV programs (I.L.), and by the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vlaanderen) (M.V.M. and F.M.P.). ; Approved Most recent IF: 22.806; 2015 IF: 20.147
Call Number c:irua:122791 c:irua:122791 Serial 2815
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Author Zhou, Y.; Che, F.; Liu, M.; Zou, C.; Liang, Z.; De Luna, P.; Yuan, H.; Li, J.; Wang, Z.; Xie, H.; Li, H.; Chen, P.; Bladt, E.; Quintero-Bermudez, R.; Sham, T.-K.; Bals, S.; Hofkens, J.; Sinton, D.; Chen, G.; Sargent, E.H.
Title Dopant-induced electron localization drives CO2 reduction to C2 hydrocarbons Type A1 Journal article
Year 2018 Publication Nature chemistry Abbreviated Journal Nat Chem
Volume 10 Issue 10 Pages 974-980
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to multi-carbon products has attracted much attention because it provides an avenue to the synthesis of value-added carbon-based fuels and feedstocks using renewable electricity. Unfortunately, the efficiency of CO2 conversion to C-2 products remains below that necessary for its implementation at scale. Modifying the local electronic structure of copper with positive valence sites has been predicted to boost conversion to C-2 products. Here, we use boron to tune the ratio of Cu delta+ to Cu-0 active sites and improve both stability and C-2-product generation. Simulations show that the ability to tune the average oxidation state of copper enables control over CO adsorption and dimerization, and makes it possible to implement a preference for the electrosynthesis of C-2 products. We report experimentally a C-2 Faradaic efficiency of 79 +/- 2% on boron-doped copper catalysts and further show that boron doping leads to catalysts that are stable for in excess of similar to 40 hours while electrochemically reducing CO2 to multi-carbon hydrocarbons.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000442395200013 Publication Date 2018-07-13
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1755-4330; 1755-4349 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor (up) 25.87 Times cited 700 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes ; This work was supported financially by funding from TOTAL S.A., the Ontario Research Fund: Research Excellence Program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the CIFAR Bio-Inspired Solar Energy programme, a University of Toronto Connaught grant, the Ministry of Science, Natural Science Foundation of China (21471040, 21271055 and 21501035), the Innovation-Driven Plan in Central South University project (2017CX003), a project from State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy in Central South University, the Thousand Youth Talents Plan of China and Hundred Youth Talents Program of Hunan and the China Scholarship Council programme. This work benefited from the soft X-ray microcharacterization beamline at CLS, sector 20BM at the APS and the Ontario Centre for the Characterisation of Advanced Materials at the University of Toronto. H.Y. acknowledges financial support from the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO postdoctoral fellowship). C.Z. acknowledges support from the International Academic Exchange Fund for Joint PhD Students from Tianjin University. P.D.L. acknowledges financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council in the form of the Canada Graduate Scholarship-Doctoral award. S.B. and E.B. acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant # 335078-COLOURATOMS). The authors thank B. Zhang, N. Wang, C. T. Dinh, T. Zhuang, J. Li and Y. Zhao for fruitful discussions, as well as Y. Hu and Q. Xiao from CLS, and Z. Finfrock and M. Ward from APS for their help during the course of study. Computations were performed on the SOSCIP Consortium's Blue Gene/Q computing platform. SOSCIP is funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario, the Province of Ontario, IBM Canada, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Mitacs and 15 Ontario academic member institutions. ; ecas_sara Approved Most recent IF: 25.87
Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:153693UA @ admin @ c:irua:153693 Serial 5091
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Author Lizin, S.; Van Passel, S.; De Schepper, E.; Maes, W.; Lutsen, L.; Manca, J.; Vanderzande, D.
Title Life cycle analyses of organic photovoltaics : a review Type A1 Journal article
Year 2013 Publication Energy & Environmental Science Abbreviated Journal Energ Environ Sci
Volume 6 Issue 11 Pages 3136-3149
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Engineering Management (ENM)
Abstract This paper reviews the available life cycle analysis (LCA) literature on organic photovoltaics (OPVs). This branch of OPV research has focused on the environmental impact of single-junction bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells using a P3HT/PC60BM active layer blend processed on semi-industrial pilot lines in ambient surroundings. The environmental impact was found to be strongly decreasing through continuous innovation of the manufacturing procedures. The current top performing cell regarding environmental performance has a cumulative energy demand of 37.58 MJp m(-2) and an energy payback time in the order of months for cells having 2% efficiency, thereby rendering OPV cells one of the best performing PV technologies from an environmental point of view. Nevertheless, we find that LCA literature is lagging behind on the main body of OPV literature due to the lack of readily available input data. Still, LCA research has led us to believe that in the quest for higher efficiencies, environmental sustainability is being disregarded on the materials' side. Hence, we advise the scientific community to take the progress made on environmental sustainability aspects of OPV preparations into account not only because standard procedures put a bigger strain on the environment, but also because these methods may not be transferrable to an industrial process. Consequently, we recommend policy makers to subsidize research that bridges the gaps between fundamental materials research, stability, and scalability given that these constraints have to be fulfilled simultaneously if OPVs are ever to be successful on the market. Additionally, environmental sustainability will have to keep on being monitored to steer future developments in the right direction.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000325946400002 Publication Date 2013-10-11
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1754-5692; 1754-5706 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor (up) 29.518 Times cited 124 Open Access
Notes ; The authors are much obliged to both the INTERREG ORGAN-EXT project and FP7 MOLESOL project for their financial support, without which it would have been impossible to conduct this research. ; Approved Most recent IF: 29.518; 2013 IF: 15.490
Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:127548 Serial 6223
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Author Lundeberg, M.B.; Gao, Y.; Asgari, R.; Tan, C.; Van Duppen, B.; Autore, M.; Alonso-Gonzalez, P.; Woessner, A.; Watanabe, K.; Taniguchi, T.; Hillenbrand, R.; Hone, J.; Polini, M.; Koppens, F.H.L.
Title Tuning quantum nonlocal effects in graphene plasmonics Type A1 Journal article
Year 2017 Publication Science Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 357 Issue 6347 Pages 187-190
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Abstract The response of electron systems to electrodynamic fields that change rapidly in space is endowed by unique features, including an exquisite spatial nonlocality. This can reveal much about the materials' electronic structure that is invisible in standard probes that use gradually varying fields. Here, we use graphene plasmons, propagating at extremely slow velocities close to the electron Fermi velocity, to probe the nonlocal response of the graphene electron liquid. The near-field imaging experiments reveal a parameter-free match with the full quantum description of the massless Dirac electron gas, which involves three types of nonlocal quantum effects: single-particle velocity matching, interaction-enhanced Fermi velocity, and interaction-reduced compressibility. Our experimental approach can determine the full spatiotemporal response of an electron system.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Washington, D.C. Editor
Language Wos 000405391700042 Publication Date 2017-07-19
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0036-8075; 1095-9203 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor (up) 37.205 Times cited 87 Open Access
Notes ; F.H.L.K., M.P., and R.H. acknowledge support by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 696656 Graphene Flagship. M. P. acknowledges support by Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. F. H. L. K. acknowledges financial support from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under the ERC starting grant (307806, CarbonLight) and project GRASP (FP7-ICT-2013-613024-GRASP). F. H. L. K. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the “ Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R& D (SEV-2015-0522), support by Fundacio Cellex Barcelona, CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, the Mineco grants Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2012-12281), Plan Nacional (FIS2013-47161-P and FIS2014-59639-JIN), and support from the Government of Catalonia through the SGR grant (2014-SGR-1535). R. H. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (national project MAT-2015-65525-R). P. A-G. acknowledges financial support from the national project FIS2014-60195-JIN and the ERC starting grant 715496, 2DNANOPTICA. K. W. and T. T. acknowledge support from the Elemental Strategy Initiative conducted by the MEXT, Japan, and JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers JP26248061, JP15K21722, and JP25106006. Y. G., C. T., and J. H. acknowledge support from the U. S. Office of Naval Research N00014-13-1-0662. C. T. was supported under contract FA9550-11-C-0028 and awarded by the Department of Defense, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, 32 CFR 168a. This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is a U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract no. DE-SC0012704. B. V. D. acknowledges support from the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl) by a postdoctoral fellowship. M. P. is extremely grateful for the financial support granted by ICFO during a visit in August 2016. This work used open source software (www. python. org, www. matplotlib. org, and www. blender. org). R. H. is cofounder of Neaspec GmbH, a company producing scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope systems such as the ones used in this study. All other authors declare no competing financial interests. ; Approved Most recent IF: 37.205
Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:144833 Serial 4730
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