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To reveal the richer chemistry of CO oxidation by CeO2 supported Au Nanoclusters(NCs)/Nanoparticles, we design Au13 and Au12 supported on a flat and a stepped-CeO2 model (Au/CeO2) and study various kinds of CO oxidation mechanisms at the Au-CeO2 interface and the Au NC as well.
Highlights: • Robust PMA is demonstrated for thermally stable Mo/Co{sub 2}FeAl(CFA)/MgO/Mo multilayer. • Thickness of CFA and MgO over-layer plays a main role in achieving the strong PMA. • Significant PMA energy of K{sub eff} ≈ 1.67 × 10{sup 6} erg/cm{sup 3} is achieved for film annealed at 400 °C. • Co and/or Fe – 3d{sub Z}{sup 2} and O-2P{sub Z} orbital hybridization at interface is the origin for PMA. - Abstract: In this study, an interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is achieved in Mo/Co{sub 2}FeAl (CFA)/MgO/Mo multilayer with good thermal stability up to 400 °C by tuning the annealing temperature and film thickness of CFA and MgO. For an optimized CFA film thickness (1.0 nm) and annealing temperature (400 °C), the CFA/MgO interface plays a main role in achieving the strong PMA property when the MgO film thickness was tuned from 0.5 nm to 2.0 nm. The effective perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy density (K{sub eff}) is approximately 1.67 × 10{sup 6} erg/cc when t{sub MgO} = 2 nm. Surface morphology and surface roughness changes in the films are investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). An enhancement in surface smoothness is observed for the annealed films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals that the strong PMA in Mo/CFA/MgO is originated from the adequate oxidation of Co and Fe at CFA/MgO interface.
In this work, magnetoelectric properties of a co-sintered bilayered composite of non-lead based piezoelectric 0.97(Bi{sub 0.5}Na{sub 0.5}TiO{sub 3})–0.03(K{sub 0.47}Na{sub 0.47}Li{sub 0.06}Nb{sub 0.74}Sb{sub 0.06}Ta{sub 0.2}O{sub 3}) and magnetostrictive Co{sub 0.6}Zn{sub 0.4}Fe{sub 1.7}Mn{sub 0.3}O{sub 4} are presented. Similar optimal sintering conditions of the individual components lead to a very clean interface as evidenced in the scanning electron microscopy, angle dispersive X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) results. Clean interface results in strong intimate mechanical coupling between both components and causes a maximum transfer of induced strain, leading to a large magnetoelectric coupling ∼142 mV/cm·Oe measured in longitudinally magnetized-transversely polarized configuration (L-T mode). Remnant polarization ∼32 μC/cm{sup 2}, remnant magnetization ∼0.50 emu/g, and sufficiently high self biased magnetoelectricity ∼135 mV/cm Oe (L-T mode) were observed for this composite.
Over the course of CdTe photovoltaics development, many refinements to the device stack have been made. One area of current interest is the back contact interface, where surface passivation is critical to prevent recombination at the interface. One candidate material for achieving strong passivation is TeO 2 . Using scanning transmission electron microscopy, we investigate native oxide formations on CdTe and Mg x Cd 1−x Te substrates to better understand the oxides' chemical composition and the interface they form with the material they are grown on. We find that substoichiometric TeO x forms as a native oxide on CdTe, and on Mg x Cd 1−x Te, we found a MgO native oxide. Some TeO x appeared atop the MgO layer, though it was not consistently present. As a result, the native oxides had preferential interface terminations, with Cd terminations at the CdTe/TeO x interface and Te terminations at the Mg x Cd 1−x Te/MgO interface.
Epitaxial synthesis of complex oxides has stimulated considerable interest in creating novel functionalities and physical properties by controlling the interplay among the order parameters, i.e. lattice, spin, charge, and orbital order. Furthermore, heterostructures of oxide materials allow for well defined interfaces at which electronic and/or magnetic order can be coupled or tuned, as well as giving rise to emergent behavior distinct from the bulk properties of either material. Most studies on the epitaxial growth of complex oxides have focused on isostructural materials, e.g. perovskites on perovskites. While many binary oxides, such as TiO 2 and VO 2 , also offer intriguing physical properties, there are no substrates available with similar structures (lattice parameters and crystal symmetry). Thus, the ability to grow epitaxial thin films of binary oxides on lattice- and symmetry-mismatched substrates is of vital importance for exploring their unprecedented potential.
The density functional theory and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are applied to investigate the migration of Mn(II) ions to above-surface sites on spinel Li x Mn 2 O 4 (001) surfaces, the subsequent Mn dissolution into the organic liquid electrolyte, and the detrimental effects on graphite anode solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) passivating films after Mn(II) ions diffuse through the separator. The dissolution mechanism proves complex; the much-quoted Hunter disproportionation of Mn(III) to form Mn(II) is far from sufficient. Key steps that facilitate Mn(II) loss include concerted liquid/solid-state motions; proton-induced weakening of Mn–O bonds forming mobile OH – surface groups; and chemical reactions of adsorbed decomposed organic fragments. Mn(II) lodged between the inorganic Li 2 CO 3 and organic lithium ethylene dicarbonate (LEDC) anode SEI components facilitate electrochemical reduction and decomposition of LEDC. Our findings help inform future design of protective coatings, electrolytes, additives, and interfaces.
Profiles of oxygen, soluble and particulate manganese and iron, organic carbon and nitrogen were examined in Lake Superior sediment cores, along with the distribution and abundance of heterotrophic and manganese oxidizing bacteria. Analyses were performed using cores collected with the submersible Johnson Sea Link II. Three cores, exhibiting a range of organic carbon content, were collected from the deepest basin in Lake Superior and the north and south ends of the Caribou trough, and brought to the surface for immediate analysis. Minielectrode profiles of oxygen concentration of the three cores were carried out using a commercially available minielectrode apparatus. Oxygen depletion to less than 1% occurred within 4 cm of the surface for two of the cores, but not until approximately 15 cm for the core from the south basin of the Caribou trough. The three cores exhibited very different profiles of soluble, as well as leachable, manganese and iron, suggesting different degrees of remobilization of these metals in the sediments. Vertical profiles of viable bacteria and Mn oxidizing bacteria, determined by plating and counting, showed that aerobic (and facultatively aerobic) heterotrophic bacteria were present at the highest concentrations near the surface and decreased steadily with depth, while Mn oxidizing bacteria were concentrations primarily at and above the oxic/anoxic interface. Soluble manganese in the pore waters, along with abundant organic carbon, appeared to enhance the presence of manganese oxidizing bacteria, even below the oxic/anoxic interface. Profiles of solid-phase leachable manganese suggested a microbial role in manganese reprecipitation in these sediments.
The effect of SiO{sub 2} layers during the thermal oxidation of a 4H-SiC(0001) substrate is examined by performing the first-principles total-energy calculations. Although it is expected that a CO molecule is the most preferable product during the oxidation, CO{sub 2} molecules are mainly emitted from the SiC surface at the initial stage of the oxidation. As the oxidation proceeds, CO{sub 2} emission becomes less favorable and CO molecules are emitted from the interface. We conclude that the interface stress due to the lattice constant mismatch between 4H-SiC(0001) and SiO{sub 2} is responsible for the removal of C during the oxidation, resulting in the characteristic electronic property of the interface fabricated by the thermal oxidation.
Demonstration of a tunable conductivity of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces drew significant attention to the development of oxide electronic structures where electronic confinement can be reduced to the nanometer range. While the mechanisms for the conductivity modulation are quite different and include metal insulator phase transition and surface charge writing, generally it is implied that this effect is a result of electrical modification of the LaAlO3 surface (either due to electrochemical dissociation of surface adsorbates or free charge deposition) leading to the change in the twodimensional electron gas (2DEG) density at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface. In this paper, using piezoresponse force microscopy we demonstrate a switchable electromechanical response of the LAO overlayer, which we attribute to the motion of oxygen vacancies through the LAO layer thickness. These electrically induced reversible changes in bulk stoichiometry of the LAO layer are a signature of a possible additional mechanism for nanoscale oxide 2DEG control on LAO/STO interfaces.
It has been established that gold, when in nanoparticle (NP) form and in contact with reducible oxides, can promote oxidation reactions under mild conditions. Here, we report results from our exploration of the catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide using catalysts where Au NPs were combined with thin titanium oxide films deposited on SBA-15 using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Both orders of deposition, with TiO2 added either before or after Au dispersion, were tested for two titania film thicknesses amounting to about half and full TiO2 monolayers. The resulting catalysts were characterized using various techniques, mainly electron microscopy and N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, and the kinetics of the oxidation of CO with O2 were followed using infrared absorption spectroscopy. A synergy between the Au and TiO2 phases as it relates to the bonding and conversion of CO was identified, the tuning of which could be controlled by varying the synthetic parameters. The ALD of TiO2 films proved to be an effective way to maximize the Au-TiO2 interface sites, and with that help with the activation of molecular oxygen.
Ellipsometry, which is the study of optical systems through their effect on polarized light, is a nondestructive technique offering extremely high sensitivity and in situ operation. One of the intriguing possibilities is to make use of the high sensitivity of ellipsometry for studying the very thin interface between an insulating film and a semiconductor substrate. Researchers have been especially interested in native or anodic oxides. In a recent study, Aspnes and Theeten used ellipsometry to study the interface between silicon and its thermally grown oxide, SiO2. These authors were able to conclude that the interface consisted of a 7 +/- 2 A graded region of atomically mixed silicon and oxygen. In this paper we report both analysis and experimental results for the system: sputtered silicon nitride on (100) n-type gallium arsenide.
We have synthesized and investigated the heterointerfaces of KTaO{sub 3} (KTO) and GdScO{sub 3} (GSO), which are both polar complex-oxides along the pseudo-cubic [001] direction. Since their layers have the same, conflicting net charges at interfaces, i.e., KO(−1)/ScO{sub 2}(−1) or TaO{sub 2}(+1)/GdO(+1), forming the heterointerface of KTO/GSO should be forbidden due to strong Coulomb repulsion, the so-called polarity conflict. However, we have discovered that atomic reconstruction occurs at the heterointerfaces between KTO thin-films and GSO substrates, which effectively alleviates the polarity conflict without destroying the hetero-epitaxy. Our result demonstrates one of the important ways to create artificial heterostructures from polar complex-oxides.
Despite significant interest toward solid-state electrolytes owing to their superior safety in comparison to liquid-based electrolytes, sluggish ion diffusion and high interfacial resistance limit their application in durable and high-power density batteries. Here, a novel quasi-solid Li + ion conductive nanocomposite polymer electrolyte containing black phosphorous (BP) nanosheets is reported. The developed electrolyte is successfully cycled against Li metal (over 550 h cycling) at 1 mA cm -2 at room temperature. The cycling overpotential is dropped by 75% in comparison to BP-free polymer composite electrolyte indicating lower interfacial resistance at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the coordination number of Li + ions around (trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI - ) pairs and ethylene-oxide chains decreases at the Li metal/electrolyte interface, which facilitates the Li + transport through the polymer host. Here, density functional theory calculations confirm that the adsorption of the LiTFSI molecules at the BP surface leads to the weakening of N and Li atomic bonding and enhances the dissociation of Li + ions. This work offers a new potential mechanism to tune the bulk and interfacial ionic conductivity of solid-state electrolytes that may lead to a new generation of lithium polymer batteries with high ionic conduction kinetics and stable long-life cycling.
Nanoscale heterostructures composed of standing copper oxide nanowires decorated with Au nanoparticles and shells of titania and indium tin oxide were fabricated. The fabrication process involved surfactant-free and wet-chemical nucleation of gold nanoparticles on copper oxide nanowires followed by a line-of-sight sputtering of titania or indium tin oxide. The heterostructures were characterized using high resolution electron microscopy, diffraction, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The interfaces, morphologies, crystallinity, phases, and chemical compositions were analyzed. The process of direct nucleation of gold nanoparticles on copper oxide nanoparticles resulted in low energy interface with aligned lattice for both the components. Coatings of polycrystalline titania or amorphous indium tin oxide were deposited on standing copper oxide nanowire–gold nanoparticle heterostructures. Self-shadowing effect due to standing nanowire heterostructures was observed for line-of-sight sputter deposition of titania or indium tin oxide coatings. Finally, the heterostructures were studied using Raman spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, including band gap energy analysis. Tailing in the band gap energy at longer wavelengths (or lower energies) was observed for the nanowire heterostructures. - Highlights: • Heterostructures comprised of CuO nanowires coated with Au nanoparticles. • Au nanoparticles exhibited nearly flat and low energy interface with nanowire. • Heterostructures were further sputter-coated with oxide shell of TiO{sub 2} or ITO. • The process resulted in coating of polycrystalline TiO{sub 2} and amorphous ITO shell.
In this work, we are using a gated Hall method for measurement of free carrier density and electron mobility in buried InGaAs quantum well metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor channels. At room temperature, mobility over 8000 cm{sup 2}/Vs is observed at ∼1.4 × 10{sup 12} cm{sup −2}. Temperature dependence of the electron mobility gives the evidence that remote Coulomb scattering dominates at electron density <2 × 10{sup 11} cm{sup −2}. Spectrum of the interface/border traps is quantified from comparison of Hall data with capacitance-voltage measurements or electrostatic modeling. Above the threshold voltage, gate control is strongly limited by fast traps that cannot be distinguished from free channel carriers just by capacitance-based methods and can be the reason for significant overestimation of channel density and underestimation of carrier mobility from transistor measurements.
In this work, the band alignment, interface, and electrical characteristics of HfO{sub 2}/InSb metal-oxide-semiconductor structure have been investigated. By using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, the conduction band offset of 1.78 ± 0.1 eV and valence band offset of 3.35 ± 0.1 eV have been extracted. The transmission electron microscopy analysis has shown that HfO{sub 2} layer would be a good diffusion barrier for InSb. As a result, 1 nm equivalent-oxide-thickness in the 4 nm HfO{sub 2}/InSb structure has been demonstrated with unpinning Fermi level and low leakage current of 10{sup −4} A/cm{sup −2}. The D{sub it} value of smaller than 10{sup 12} eV{sup −1}cm{sup −2} has been obtained using conduction method.
The process of surface texturing of single-crystal silicon oxidized under a V{sub 2}O{sub 5} layer is studied. Intense silicon oxidation at the Si–V{sub 2}O{sub 5} interface begins at a temperature of 903 K which is 200 K below than upon silicon thermal oxidation in an oxygen atmosphere. A silicon dioxide layer 30–50 nm thick with SiO{sub 2} inclusions in silicon depth up to 400 nm is formed at the V{sub 2}O{sub 5}–Si interface. The diffusion coefficient of atomic oxygen through the silicon-dioxide layer at 903 K is determined (D ≥ 2 × 10{sup –15} cm{sup 2} s{sup –1}). A model of low-temperature silicon oxidation, based on atomic oxygen diffusion from V{sub 2}O{sub 5} through the SiO{sub 2} layer to silicon, and SiO{sub x} precipitate formation in silicon is proposed. After removing the V{sub 2}O{sub 5} and silicon-dioxide layers, texture is formed on the silicon surface, which intensely scatters light in the wavelength range of 300–550 nm and is important in the texturing of the front and rear surfaces of solar cells.
We describe an approach to reduce the contact resistance at compositional conducting/semiconducting indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) homojunctions used for contacts in thin film transistors (TFTs). By introducing silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) at the homojunction interface between the conducting IZO electrodes and the amorphous IZO channel, we reduce the specific contact resistance, obtained by transmission line model measurements, down to ∼10{sup −2 }Ω cm{sup 2}, ∼3 orders of magnitude lower than either NP-free homojunction contacts or solid Ag metal contacts. The resulting back-gated TFTs with Ag NP contacts exhibit good field effect mobility of ∼27 cm{sup 2}/V s and an on/off ratio >10{sup 7}. We attribute the improved contact resistance to electric field concentration by the Ag NPs.