Abstract: Mesoporous MIL-101(Cr) is used as host for a ship-in-a-bottle type adsorbent for selective U(VI) recovery from aqueous environments. The acid-resistant cage-type MOF is built in-situ around N,N-Diisobutyl-2-(octylphenylphosphoryl)acetamide (CMPO), a sterically demanding ligand with high U(VI) affinity. This one-step procedure yields an adsorbent which is an ideal compromise between homogeneous and heterogeneous systems, where the ligand can act freely within the pores of MIL-101, without leaching, while the adsorbent is easy separable and reusable. The adsorbent was characterized by XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption, XRF, ADF-STEM and EDX, to confirm and quantify the successful encapsulation of the CMPO in MIL-101, and the preservation of the host. Adsorption experiments with a central focus on U(VI) recovery were performed. Very high selectivity for U(VI) was observed, while competitive metal adsorption (rare earths, transition metals...) was almost negligible. The adsorption capacity was calculated at 5.32 mg U/g (pH 3) and 27.99 mg U/g (pH 4), by fitting equilibrium data to the Langmuir model. Adsorption kinetics correlated to the pseudo-second-order model, where more than 95% of maximum uptake is achieved within 375 min. The adsorbed U(VI) is easily recovered by desorption in 0.1 M HNO3. Three adsorption/desorption cycles were performed. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Supramolecular polymeric materials constitute a unique class of materials held together by non-covalent interactions. These dynamic supramolecular interactions can provide unique properties such as a strong decrease in viscosity upon relatively mild heating, as well as self-healing ability. In this study we demonstrate the unique mechanical properties of phase-separated electrostatic supramolecular materials based on mixing of low molar mass, oligomeric, ABA-triblock copolyacrylates with oppositely charged outer blocks. In case of well-chosen mixtures and block lengths, the charged blocks are phase separated from the uncharged matrix in a hexagonally packed nanomorphology as observed by transmission electron microscopy. Thermal and mechanical analysis of the material shows that the charged sections have a T-g closely beyond room temperature, whereas the material shows an elastic response at temperatures far above this T-g ascribed to the electrostatic supramolecular interactions. A broad set of materials having systematic variations in triblock copolymer structures was used to provide insights in the mechanical properties and and self-healing ability in correlation with the nanomorphology of the materials.

Abstract: Transition metal trichalcogenides form a class of layered materials with strong in-plane anisotropy. For example, titanium trisulfide (TiS3) whiskers are made out of weakly interacting TiS3 layers, where each layer is made of weakly interacting quasi-one-dimensional chains extending along the b axis. Here we establish the unusual vibrational properties of TiS3 both experimentally and theoretically. Unlike other two-dimensional systems, the Raman active peaks of TiS3 have only out-of-plane vibrational modes, and interestingly some of these vibrations involve unique rigid-chain vibrations and S-S molecular oscillations. High-pressure Raman studies further reveal that the A(g)(S-S) S-S molecular mode has an unconventional negative pressure dependence, whereas other peaks stiffen as anticipated. Various vibrational modes are doubly degenerate at ambient pressure, but the degeneracy is lifted at high pressures. These results establish the unusual vibrational properties of TiS3 with strong in-plane anisotropy, and may have relevance to understanding of vibrational properties in other anisotropic two-dimensional material systems.

Abstract: The optical properties of semiconductor quantum dots are greatly influenced by their strain state. Dark field electron holography has been used to measure the strain in InAsquantum dotsgrown in InP with a spatial resolution of 1 nm. A strain value of 5.4% ± 0.1% has been determined which is consistent with both measurements made by geometrical phase analysis of high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy images and with simulations.

Abstract: Strain engineering in the conduction channel is a cost effective method of boosting the performance in state-of-the-art semiconductor devices. However, given the small dimensions of these devices, it is difficult to quantitatively measure the strain with the required spatial resolution. Three different transmission electron microscopy techniques, high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy, dark field electron holography, and nanobeam electron diffraction have been applied to measure the strain in simple bulk and SOI calibration specimens. These techniques are then applied to different gate length SiGe SOI pFET devices in order to measure the strain in the conduction channel. For these devices, improved spatial resolution is required, and strain maps with spatial resolutions as good as 1 nm have been achieved. Finally, we discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of using these three different techniques when used for strain measurement.

Abstract: NanoBeam Electron Diffraction is a simple and efficient technique to measure strain in nanostructures. Here, we show that improved results can be obtained by precessing the electron beam while maintaining a few nanometer probe size, i.e., by doing Nanobeam Precession Electron Diffraction (N-PED). The precession of the beam makes the diffraction spots more uniform and numerous, making N-PED more robust and precise. In N-PED, smaller probe size and better precision are achieved by having diffraction disks instead of diffraction dots. Precision in the strain measurement better than 2 × 10−4 is obtained with a probe size approaching 1 nm in diameter.

Abstract: Nanocomposites CoOx/SnO2 based on tin oxide powders with different crystallinity have been prepared by wet chemical synthesis and characterized in detail by ICP-MS, XPS, EPR, XRD, HAADF-STEM imaging and EDX-STEM mapping. It was shown that cobalt is distributed differently between the bulk and surface of SnO2 nanocrystals, which depends on the crystallinity of the SnO2 matrix. The measurements of gas sensor properties have been carried out during exposure to CO (10 ppm), and H2S (2 ppm) in dry air. The decrease of sensor signal toward CO was attributed to high catalytic activity of Co3O4 leading to oxidation of carbon monoxide entirely on the surface of catalyst particles. The formation of a p-CoOx/n-SnO2 heterojunction results in high sensitivity of nanocomposites in H2S detection. The conductance significantly changed in the presence of H2S, which was attributed to the formation of metallic cobalt sulfide and removal of the p – n junction. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Knowing the exact number of particles N, and taking this knowledge into account, the quantum canonical ensemble imposes a constraint on the occupation number operators. The constraint particularly hampers the systematic calculation of the partition function and any relevant thermodynamic expectation value for arbitrary but fixed N. On the other hand, fixing only the average number of particles, one may remove the above constraint and simply factorize the traces in Fock space into traces over single-particle states. As is well known, that would be the strategy of the grand-canonical ensemble which, however, comes with an additional Lagrange multiplier to impose the average number of particles. The appearance of this multiplier can be avoided by invoking a projection operator that enables a constraint-free computation of the partition function and its derived quantities in the canonical ensemble, at the price of an angular or contour integration. Introduced in the recent past to handle various issues related to particle-number projected statistics, the projection operator approach proves beneficial to a wide variety of problems in condensed matter physics for which the canonical ensemble offers a natural and appropriate environment. In this light, we present a systematic treatment of the canonical ensemble that embeds the projection operator into the formalism of second quantization while explicitly fixing N, the very number of particles rather than the average. Being applicable to both bosonic and fermionic systems in arbitrary dimensions, transparent integral representations are provided for the partition function Z(N) and the Helmholtz free energy F-N as well as for two- and four-point correlation functions. The chemical potential is not a Lagrange multiplier regulating the average particle number but can be extracted from FN+1 – F-N, as illustrated for a two-dimensional fermion gas. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: Recently proposed accurate correlation energies are used to determine the phase diagram of strongly coupled electron-hole graphene bilayers. The control parameters of the phase diagram are the charge carrier density and the insulating barrier thickness separating the bilayers. In addition to the electron-hole superfluid phase we find two new inhomogeneous ground states, a one dimensional charge density wave phase and a coupled electron-hole Wigner crystal. The elementary crystal structure of bilayer graphene plays no role in generating these new quantum phases, which are completely determined by the electrons and holes interacting through the Coulomb interaction. The experimental parameters for the new phases lie within attainable ranges and therefore coupled electron-hole bilayer graphene presents itself as an experimental system where novel emergent many-body phases can be realized.