Abstract: A series of BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites have been synthesized and their photocatalytic activity was investigated under visible light irradiation using the RhB dye as model pollutant molecule in an aqueous solution. The effect of the amount of BiVO4 as visible light sensitizer on the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites was highlighted. The heterostructured composite system leads to much higher photocatalytic efficiencies than bare 3DOM TiO2 and BiVO4 nanoparticles. As the proportion of BiVO4 in BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites increases from 0.04 to 0.6, the photocatalytic performance of the BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites increases and then decreases after reaching a maximum at 0.2. This improvement in photocatalytic perfomance is related to 1) the interfacial electron transfer efficiency between the coupled materials, 2) the 3DOM TiO2 inverse opal structure with interconnected pores providing an easy mass transfer of the reactant molecules and high accessibility to the active sites and large surface area and 3) the effect of light sensitizer of BiVO4. Intensive studies on structural, textural, optical and surface properties reveal that the electronic interactions between BiVO4 and TiO2 lead to an improved charge separation of the coupled BiVO4/TiO2 system. The photogenerated charge carrier densities increase with increasing the BiVO4 content, which acts as visible light sensitizer to the TiO2 and is responsible for the enhancement in the rate of photocatalytic degradation. However, the photocatalytic activity is reduced when the BiVO4 amount is much higher than that of 3DOM TiO2. Two reasons could account for this behavior. First, with increasing BiVO4 content, the photogenerated electron/hole pairs are accumulated at the surface of the BiVO4 nanoparticles and the recombination rate increases as shown by the PL results. Second, decreasing the amount of 3DOM TiO2 in the nanocomposite decreases the surface area as shown by the BET results. Moreover, the poor adsorptive properties of the BiVO4 photocatalyst also affect the photocatalytic performance, in particular at higher BiVO4 content. The present work demonstrates that BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 is a very promising heterojunction system for visible light photocatalytic applications.

Abstract: <script type='text/javascript'>document.write(unpmarked('We show the possibility to tune the pore size of mesoporous TiO2 templated by non-ionic block copolymers by adding different inorganic acids at well-chosen concentration. The effect of the inorganic anions on both the TiO2 cluster formation and the non-ionic block copolymers micelles is investigated to explain the experimental results.'));

Abstract: Nanocrystalline ZnO:Al nanoparticles are suitable building blocks for transparent conductive layers. As the concentration of substitutional tetrahedral Al is an important factor for improving conductivity, here we aim to increase the fraction of substitutional Al. To this end, synthesis parameters of a solvothermal reaction yielding ZnO:Al nanorods were varied. A unique set of complementary techniques was combined to reveal the exact position of the aluminium ions in the ZnO lattice and demonstrated its importance in order to evaluate the potential of ZnO:Al nanocrystals as optimal building blocks for solution deposited transparent conductive oxide layers. Both an extension of the solvothermal reaction time and stirring during solvothermal treatment result in a higher total tetrahedral aluminium content in the ZnO lattice. However, only the longer solvothermal treatment effectively results in an increase of the substitutional positions aimed for.

Abstract: We study the effect of electron confinement on the superconducting-to-normal phase transition driven by a magnetic field and/or on the current-carrying state of the superconducting condensate in nanowires. Our investigation is based on a self-consistent numerical solution of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We show that in a parallel magnetic field and/or in the presence of supercurrent the transition from superconducting to normal phase occurs as a cascade of discontinuous jumps in the superconducting order parameter for diameters D < 10 divided by 15 nm at T = 0. The critical magnetic field exhibits quantum-size oscillations with pronounced resonant enhancements.

Abstract: Solid solutions of BiFe1xMnxO3 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) were prepared at ambient pressure and at 6 GPa. The ambient-pressure (AP) phases crystallize in space group R3c similarly to BiFeO3. The high-pressure (HP) phases crystallize in space group R3c for x = 0.05 and in space group Pnma for 0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.4. The structure of HP-BiFe0.75Mn0.25O3 was investigated using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, electron diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. HP-BiFe0.75Mn0.25O3 has a PbZrO3-related √2ap × 4ap × 2√2ap (ap is the parameter of the cubic perovskite subcell) superstructure with a = 5.60125(9) Å, b = 15.6610(2) Å, and c = 11.2515(2) Å similar to that of Bi0.82La0.18FeO3. A remarkable feature of this structure is the unconventional octahedral tilt system, with the primary ab0a tilt superimposed on pairwise clockwise and counterclockwise rotations around the b-axis according to the oioi sequence (o stands for out-of-phase tilt, and i stands for in-phase tilt). The (FeMn)O6 octahedra are distorted, with one longer metaloxygen bond (2.222.23 Å) that can be attributed to a compensation for covalent BiO bonding. Such bonding results in the localization of the lone electron pair on Bi3+ cations, as confirmed by electron localization function analysis. The relationship between HP-BiFe0.75Mn0.25O3 and antiferroelectric structures of PbZrO3 and NaNbO3 is discussed. On heating in air, HP-BiFe0.75Mn0.25O3 irreversibly transforms to AP-BiFe0.75Mn0.25O3 starting from about 600 K. Both AP and HP phases undergo an antiferromagnetic ordering at TN ≈ 485 and 520 K, respectively, and develop a weak net magnetic moment at low temperatures. Additionally, ceramic samples of AP-BiFe0.75Mn0.25O3 show a peculiar phenomenon of magnetization reversal.

Abstract: The Ni(1+)/Ni(2+) states of nickelates have the identical (3d(9)/3d(8)) electronic configuration as Cu(2+)/Cu(3+) in the high temperature superconducting cuprates, and are expected to show interesting properties. An intriguing question is whether mimicking the electronic and structural features of cuprates would also result in superconductivity in nickelates. Here we report experimental evidence for a bulklike magnetic transition in La(4)Ni(3)O(8) at 105 K. Density functional theory calculations relate the transition to a spin density wave nesting instability of the Fermi surface.

Abstract: We study the flux flow state in superconducting materials characterized by rather strong intrinsic pinning, such as Nb, NbN, and nanostructured Al thin films, in which we drag the superconducting dissipative state into the normal state by current biasing. We modify the vortex pinning strength either by ion irradiation, by tuning the measuring temperature or by including artificial pinning centers. We measure critical flux flow voltages for all materials and the same effect is observed: switching to low flux flow dissipations at low fields for an intermediate pinning regime. This mechanism offers a way to additionally promote the stability of the superconducting state. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718309]

Abstract: The transmission T and conductance G through one or multiple one-dimensional, ä-function barriers of two-dimensional fermions with a linear energy spectrum are studied. T and G are periodic functions of the strength P of the ä-function barrier V(x,y)/ℏvF=Pä(x). The dispersion relation of a Kronig-Penney (KP) model of a superlattice is also a periodic function of P and causes collimation of an incident electron beam for P=2ðn and n integer. For a KP superlattice with alternating sign of the height of the barriers the Dirac point becomes a Dirac line for P=(n+1/2)ð.

Abstract: An analytical approach, using the Dirac-Weyl equation, is implemented to obtain the energy spectrum and optical absorption of a circular graphene quantum dot in the presence of an external magnetic field. Results are obtained for the infinite-massand zigzag boundary conditions. We found that the energy spectrum of a dot with the zigzag boundary condition exhibits a zero-energy band regardless of the value of the magnetic field, while for the infinite-mass boundary condition, the zero-energy states appear only for high magnetic fields. The analytical results are compared to those obtained from the tight-binding model: (i) we show the validity range of the continuum model and (ii) we find that the continuum model with the infinite-mass boundary condition describes rather well its tight-binding analog, which can be partially attributed to the blurring of the mixed edges by the staggered potential.

Abstract: The conductance, the transmission, and the reflection probabilities through rectangular potential barriers and p-n junctions are obtained for bilayer graphene taking into account the four bands of the energy spectrum. We have evaluated the importance of the skew hopping parameters gamma(3) and gamma(4) to these properties and show that for energies E > gamma(1)/100 their effect is negligible. For high energies two modes of propagation exist and we investigate scattering between these modes. For perpendicular incidence both propagation modes are decoupled, and scattering between them is forbidden. This extends the concept of pseudospin as defined within the two-band approximation to a four-band model and corresponds to the (anti) symmetry of the wave functions under in-plane mirroring. New transmission resonances are found that appear as sharp peaks in the conductance which are absent in the two-band approximation. The application of an interlayer bias to the system (1) breaks the pseudospin structure, (2) opens a band gap that results in a distinct feature of suppressed transmission in the conductance, and (3) breaks the angular symmetry with respect to normal incidence in the transmission and reflection.

Abstract: The electronic spectrum of three coupled graphene layers (graphene trilayers) is investigated in the presence of an external magnetic field. We obtain analytical expressions for the Landau level spectrum for both the ABA and ABC type of stacking, which exhibit very different dependence on the magnetic field. We show that layer asymmetry and an external gate voltage can strongly influence the properties of the system.

Abstract: Using density functional theory, we obtain the mechanical and thermal properties of MX2 monolayers (where M = Cr, Mo, W and X = O, S, Se, Te). The C-centered phonon frequencies (i.e., A(1), A(2)'', E ', and E ''), relative frequency values of A(1), and E ' modes, and mechanical properties (i.e., elastic constants, Young modulus, and Poisson's ratio) display a strong dependence on the type of metal and chalcogenide atoms. In each chalcogenide (metal) group, transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with W (O) atom are found to be much stiffer. Consistent with their stability, the thermal expansion of lattice constants for TMDCs with O (Te) is much slower (faster). Furthermore, in a heterostructure of these materials, the difference of the thermal expansion of lattice constants between the individual components becomes quite tiny over the whole temperature range. The calculated mechanical and thermal properties show that TMDCs are promising materials for heterostructures. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.