Abstract: La1-xCaxMnO3-delta (LCMO) thin films are grown by pulsed laser deposition on a (100) SrTiO3 substrate at temperatures between 530 degrees C and 890 degrees C. The magnetotransport properties show a high negative magnetoresistance and a shift of the maximum of the R(T) curve as function of temperature. The Curie temperature changes with deposition temperature and film quality in the range of 100-220K. The film quality is characterised by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM); film and target compositions were verified by atomic emission spectroscopy. The local structure of the film depends on the growth conditions and substrate temperature. TEM reveals a slight distortion of the film leading to a breakdown of the symmetry from orthorhombic to monoclinic. At the highest growth temperatures, a well defined interface is observed within the LCMO film, parallel to the substrate surface; this interface divides the film into two lamellae with a different microstructure. The lamella close to the substrate is perfectly coherent with the substrate, suggesting that it is strained as a result of the lattice parameter mismatch; the upper lamella shows a typical domain structure with unusual translation interfaces characterised by a displacement vector of the type 1/2[010](m) and 1/2[001](m) when referred ten the monoclinic lattice.

Abstract: The surface of commercial Nitinol wires with original oxides and a thickness in the 30-190 nm range was investigated by different state of art TEM techniques. The oxide surface layer was identified as a combination of TiO and TiO2 depending on the processing of the wire. Between the core of the wires and the oxidized surface, an interfacial Ni3Ti nanolayer was observed while Ni nanoparticles are found inside the original oxide. The particle sizes, their distribution in the surface and the Ti-O stoichiometry were deduced from the analysis of the obtained data. Molecular dynamics calculations performed for evaluation of the stability of Ni particles relative to the atomic state revealed that a pure Ni particle has a lower energy than free Ni atoms inside the TiO2 lattice. The obtained results are discussed with respect to surface stability and Ni release in the human body.

Abstract: The pinning mechanism of MOCVD-grown YBCO coated conductors with Y2O3 precipitates was investigated by angle-resolved transport measurement of Je in a wide range of temperature and magnetic fields. Aside from the Y2O3 nanoprecipitates, a-axis grains and threading dislocation along the c-axis were found in the YBCO layer. The Y2O3 precipitates are less effective pinning centers at lower temperature. The tapes with precipitates show a higher anisotropy with larger J(c) at H parallel to ab than H parallel to c. This behavior was attributed to the preferred alignment of the nanoprecipitates along the ab-plane.

Abstract: In this work, electronic properties of individual TiOx-pristine nanoribbons (NR) prepared by hydrothermal treatment of anatase TiO(2) micro-particles were studied using the HZB transmission x-ray microscope (TXM) at the BESSY II undulator beamline U41-FSGM. NEXAFS is ideally suited to study TiO(2)-based materials because both the O K-edge and Ti L-edge features are very sensitive to the local bonding environment, providing diagnostic information about the crystal structures and oxidation states of various forms of titanium oxides and sub-oxides. TXM-NEXAFS combines full-field x-ray microscopy with spectroscopy, allowing the study of the electronic structure of individual nanostructures with spatial resolution better than 25 nm and a spectral resolution of up to E/Delta E = 10000. The typical image field in TXM-NEXAFS measurements is about 10 mu m. 10 mu m, which is large compared to the individual nanoparticle. Therefore, one image stack already contains statistically significant data. In addition, the directional electric field vector ((E) over bar) of the x-rays can be used as a “search tool” for the direction of chemical bonds of the atom selected by its absorption edge.

Abstract: Porous Ni50.8Ti49.2 bulk material was prepared by powder metallurgy sintering. Solid solution and aging treatments were applied to improve the phase homogeneity and phase transformation behavior. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy, aided by energy dispersive X-ray analysis, were used to study the microstructure and chemical phase content of the alloys. In-situ cooling was carried out to observe the phase transformation behavior. As-received material contains dispersed Ni2Ti4O particles while Ni4Ti3 precipitates appear after aging. Close to pore edges, the latter have a preferential orientation due to the induced stress fields in the matrix.

Abstract: Ag nanocluster-doped glasses have been prepared by a conventional melt-quenching method. The effect of melt temperature and dwell time on the formation of Ag nanoclusters and Ag nanoparticles in simple host oxyfluoride glasses has been studied. The increase of melt temperature and dwell time results in the dissolution of Ag nanoparticles and substantial red-shift of absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the prepared glasses. The quantum yield of the glasses is similar to 5% and does not depend on melt temperature and dwell time. The prepared glasses may be used as red phosphors or down-conversion layers for solar-cells.

Abstract: The growth of MoS2 layer near the Mo/CZTS interface during sulphurization process can have an impact on back contact cell parameters (series resistance and fill factor) depending upon the thickness or quality of MoS2. This study reports the dependence of the thickness of interfacial MoS2 layer on the growth of graphene at the interface between molybdenum back contact and deposited CZTS layer. The graphene layer reduces the accumulation of Zn/ZnS, Sn/SnO2 and formation of pores near the MoS2-CZTS interface. The use of graphene as interface layer can be potentially useful for improving the quality of Mo/MoS2/CZTS interface.

Abstract: Positrons can be trapped in localized states at the surface of a material, and thus quite selectively interact with core or valence surface electrons. Hence, advanced surface positron spectroscopy techniques can present the ideal tools to study a topological insulator, where surface states play a fundamental role. We analyze the problem of a positron at a TI surface, assuming that it is a weakly physisorbed positronium (Ps) atom. To determine if the surface of interest in a material can sustain such a physisorption, an accurate description of the underlying van der Waals (vdW) interaction is essential. We have developed a first-principles parameterfree method, based on the density functional theory, to extract key parameters determining the vdW interaction potential between a Ps atom and the surface of a given material. The method has been successfully applied to quartz and preliminary results on Bi2Te2Se indicate the existence of a positron surface state. We discuss the robustness of our predictions versus the most relevant approximations involved in our approach.

Abstract: An efficient model-based estimation algorithm is introduced in order to quantify the atomic column positions and intensities from atomic resolution (scanning) transmission electron microscopy ((S)TEM) images. This algorithm uses the least squares estimator on image segments containing individual columns fully accounting for the overlap between neighbouring columns, enabling the analysis of a large field of view. For this algorithm, the accuracy and precision with which measurements for the atomic column positions and scattering cross-sections from annular dark field (ADF) STEM images can be estimated, is investigated. The highest attainable precision is reached even for low dose images. Furthermore, advantages of the model- based approach taking into account overlap between neighbouring columns are highlighted. To provide end-users this well-established quantification method, a user friendly program, StatSTEM, is developed which is freely available under a GNU public license.

Abstract: Defects in AgG tabular crystals with {111} surfaces are characterised by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and their influence on the growth process is discussed. In the tabular crystals, twins parallel to the tabular face as well as dislocations along different directions are observed. The twins induce the tabular growth, while the dislocations do not influence the morphology. In 10 to 30% of the crystals that have been characterised, thickness growth is observed and it is shown that in all cases twins on other planes than the tabular ones are present. Two configurations occur more frequently and are analysed in detail. For the first group, twins parallel to the tabular face as well as a microtwin along a non-parallel {111} plane and ending inside the crystal are present. In the crystals of the second group only one extra non-parallel twin occurs giving rise to a bicrystal built up by a tetrahedral shaped part and a flat triangular or trapezoidal part. More complex twin configurations give rise to various, less characteristic morphologies.

Abstract: The interest in 2-dimensional systems with a honeycomb lattice and related Dirac-­type electronic bands has exceeded the prototype graphene1. Currently, 2-­dimensional atomic2,3 and nanoscale4-­8 systems are extensively investigated in the search for materials with novel electronic properties that can be tailored by geometry. The immediate question that arises is how to fabricate 2-­D semiconductors that have a honeycomb nanogeometry, and as a consequence of that, display a Dirac-­type band structure? Here, we show that atomically coherent honeycomb superlattices of rocksalt (PbSe, PbTe) and zincblende (CdSe, CdTe) semiconductors can be obtained by nanocrystal self-­assembly and facet-­to-­facet atomic bonding, and subsequent cation exchange. We present a extended structural analysis of atomically coherent 2-­D honeycomb structures that were recently obtained with self-assembly and facet-­to-­facet bonding9. We show that this process may in principle lead to three different types of honeycomb structures, one with a graphene type-­, and two others with a silicene-­type structure. Using TEM, electron diffraction, STM and GISAXS it is convincingly shown that the structures are from the silicene-­type. In the second part of this work, we describe the electronic structure of graphene-­type and silicene type honeycomb semiconductors. We present the results of advanced electronic structure calculations using the sp3d5s* atomistic tight-­binding method10. For simplicity, we focus on semiconductors with a simple and single conduction band for the native bulk semiconductor. When the 3-­D geometry is changed into 2-­D honeycomb, a conduction band structure transformation to two types of Dirac cones, one for S-­ and one for P-­orbitals, is observed. The width of the bands depends on the honeycomb period and the coupling between the nanocrystals. Furthermore, there is a dispersionless P-­orbital band, which also forms a landmark of the honeycomb structure. The effects of considerable intrinsic spin-­orbit coupling are briefly considered. For heavy-­element compounds such as CdTe, strong intrinsic spin-­‐orbit coupling opens a non-­trivial gap at the P-­orbital Dirac point, leading to a quantum Spin Hall effect10-­12. Our work shows that well known semiconductor crystals, known for centuries, can lead to systems with entirely new electronic properties, by the simple action of nanogeometry. It can be foreseen that such structures will play a key role in future opto-­electronic applications, provided that they can be fabricated in a straightforward way.