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Time-Resolved Neutron Reflectometry and Photovoltaic Device Studies on Sequentially Deposited PCDTBT-Fullerene Layers
No full textWe have used steady-state and time-resolved neutron reflectometry to study the diffusion of fullerene derivatives into the narrow optical gap polymer poly[N-9″-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT) to explore the sequential processing of the donor and acceptor for the preparation of efficient organic solar cells. It was found that when [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric-acid-methyl-ester (60-PCBM) was deposited onto a thin film of PCDTBT from dichloromethane (DCM), a three-layer structure was formed that was stable below the glass-transition temperature of the polymer. When good solvents for the polymer were used in conjunction with DCM, both 60-PCBM and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric-acid-methyl-ester (70-PCBM) were seen to form films that had a thick fullerene layer containing little polymer and a PCDTBT-rich layer near the interface with the substrate. Devices composed of films prepared by sequential deposition of the polymer and fullerene had efficiencies of up to 5.3%, with those based on 60-PCBM close to optimized bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cells processed in the conventional manner. Sequential deposition of pure components to form the active layer is attractive for large-area device fabrication, and the results demonstrate that this processing method can give efficient solar cells. © 2014, American Chemical Society
Enhancement of the magnetic interfacial exchange energy at a specific interface in NiFe/CoO/Co trilayer thin films via ion-beam modification
No full textA series of ferromagnetic Ni 80Fe20(55 nm)/antiferromagnetic CoO (25 to 200 nm)/ferromagnetic Co (55 nm)/SiO2(substrate) trilayer thin films were fabricated by ion-beam assisted deposition in order to understand the role of ion beam modification on the interfacial and interlayer coupling. The microstructural study using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray reflectometry, and polarised neutron reflectometry showed that ion-beam modification during the deposition process led to an oxygen-rich Co/CoO nanocomposite interface region at the bottom layer. This interface caused a high exchange bias field for the ferromagnetic cobalt. However, the exchange bias for top permalloy ferromagnet remained low, in line with expectations from the literature for the typical interfacial energy. This suggest that the ion-beam enhancement of the magnetic exchange bias is localized to the Co/CoO interface where local microstructural effects provide the dominant mechanism. © 2020 AIP Publishing LL
Ion irradiated graphite exposed to fusion-relevant deuterium plasma
No full textGraphite samples were irradiated with 5 MeV carbon ions to simulate the damage caused by collision cascades from neutron irradiation in a fusion environment. The ion irradiated graphite samples were then exposed to a deuterium plasma in the linear plasma device, MAGPIE, for a total ion fluence of ∼1 × 1024 ions m−2. Raman and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy were used to characterize modifications to the graphitic structure. Ion irradiation was observed to decrease the graphitic content and induce disorder in the graphite. Subsequent plasma exposure decreased the graphitic content further. Structural and surface chemistry changes were observed to be greatest for the sample irradiated with the greatest fluence of MeV ions. D retention was measured using elastic recoil detection analysis and showed that ion irradiation increased the amount of retained deuterium in graphite by a factor of four. © 2014, Elsevier B.V
New Perovskite-Related Structure Family of Oxide-Ion Conducting Materials NdBaInO4
No full textOxide-ion conducting ceramic materials, which include
pure oxide-ion conductors and mixed oxide-ion and
electronic or hole conductors, have received considerable
attention because of their potential application for oxygen
separation membranes, oxygen sensors, and solid oxide fuel
cells (SOFCs) electrolytes and cathodes.1 Perovskite-type and
perovskite-related materials have been widely investigated as
oxide-ion conductors.2 For example, the K2NiF4-type compounds
are known to exhibit high oxide-ion conductivity.3
Because the oxide-ion conductivity is strongly dependent on
crystal structure, it is necessary to design and synthesize novel
materials belonging to a new structure family for further
innovative developments of the oxide-ion conductors. Herein,
we report a new perovskite-related structure family with
AA′BO4 composition, which exhibits oxide-ion conduction.
Here, A and A′ are relatively larger cations and B is a smaller cation. In this work we have succeeded in solving the crystal structure of NdBaInO4 and show oxide-ion conduction in NdBaInO4. © 2014, American Chemical Society
Novel chemical synthesis and characterization of CeTi2O6 Brannerite
No full textCerium titanate CeTi2O6 was prepared by a new soft chemistry route in aqueous solution. A suite of characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, and scanning and transmission electron spectroscopy, were employed to investigate the brannerite structure formation and its bulk properties. The synthesized powder formed the brannerite crystal structure upon calcination at temperatures as low as 800 °C. Samples sintered at 1350 °C possess a high level of crystallinity. X-ray absorption near-edge structure results indicate the presence of six-coordinated Ce4+ in the brannerite samples. © 2014, American Chemical Society
The role of Th-U minerals in assessing the performance of nuclear waste forms
No full textMaterials designed for nuclear waste disposal include a range of ceramics, glass ceramics and glass waste forms. Those with crystalline phases have provided the momentum for studies of minerals as a means to understand aspects of waste-form crystal chemistry, behaviour in aqueous systems and radiation damage over geological periods of time. Although the utility of natural analogue studies varies, depending upon the degree of analogy to the proposed geological repository and other factors such as chemical composition, the available data suggest that Th-U host phases such as brannerite, monazite, pyrochlore, zircon and zirconolite are resistant generally to dissolution in aqueous fluids at low temperatures. Geochemical durability may or may not extend to hydrothermal systems depending on the specifics of fluid composition, temperature and pressure. At elevated temperatures, for example, davidite may break down to new phase assemblages including titanite, ilmenite and rutile. Perovskite is generally less resistant to dissolution at low temperatures and breaks down to TiO2, releasing A-site cations to the aqueous fluid. Studies of radiation damage indicate that the oxide and silicate phases become amorphous as a result of the gradual accumulation of alpha-recoil collision cascades. Monazite tends to remain crystalline on geological time scales, a very attractive property that potentially eliminates major changes in physical properties such as density and volume, thereby reducing the potential for cracking, which is a major concern for zircon. In spite of recent success in describing the behaviour of Th-U minerals in geological systems, considerable work remains in order to understand the P-T-X conditions during alteration and T-t history of the host rocks.© The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain & Ireland
Characterisation of trace metals in atmospheric particles in the vicinity of iron and steelmaking industries in Australia
No full textThe aims of this work are to provide a detailed physicochemical assessment of atmospheric particles collected in the vicinity of three iron and steelmaking plants and to indicate the importance of chemical characterisation of the particles, in addition to the assessment of the particle size and concentrations. In this study, atmospheric sampling sites were selected downstream of three iron and steel processing operations in Australia and one background site in an urban area with little industrial activity. The collected particles were analysed for a range of particle size mass concentrations and detailed chemical analysis of the trace metals Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn in the corresponding particle size ranges was carried out. The PM2.5 fractions in the PM10 particles at all sampling sites ranged from 35 to 62% indicating fine particles made a significant contribution to this size fraction at these sampling sites. Similarly, PM1 to the total PM10 at all sites varied from 20 to 46% and contributed significantly to the PM10 mass loading. When compared to the background sampling site, all detected metals in the particles collected near the iron and steelmaking operations had 3.4–14 times higher concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1. Iron (Fe) was found to be the dominant metal in the particles collected in vicinity of the iron and steel processing industries contributing up to 12% of the total particle mass loading. This study suggests that the metal composition of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 varies significantly between sites and the associated metal exposure value is considerably higher in the vicinity of iron and steel processing industries than in the urban area for the same particle concentration level. © 2013, Elsevier Ltd
Electrochemistry and structure of the cobalt-free Li1+xMO2 (M = Li, Ni, Mn, Fe) composite cathode
No full textThe development of cathode materials with high capacity and cycle stability is essential to emerging electric-vehicle technologies, however, of serious environmental concern is that materials with these properties developed so far contain the toxic and expensive Co. We report here the Li-rich, Co-free Li1+xMO2 (M = Li, Ni, Mn, Fe) composite cathode material, prepared via a template-free, one-step wet-chemical method followed by conventional annealing in an oxygen atmosphere. The cathode has an unprecedented level of cation mixing, where the electrochemically-active component contains four elements at the transition-metal (3a) site and 20% Ni at the active Li site (3b). We find Ni2+/Ni3+/Ni4+ to be the active redox-center of the cathode with lithiation/delithiation occurring via a solid-solution reaction where the lattice responds approximately linearly with cycling, differing to that observed for iso-structural commercial cathodes with a lower level of cation mixing. The composite cathode has ∼75% active material and delivers an initial discharge-capacity of ∼103 mA h g−1 with a reasonable capacity retention of ∼84.4% after 100 cycles. Notably, the electrochemically-active component possesses a capacity of ∼139 mA h g−1, approaching that of the commercialized LiCoO2 and Li(Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3)O2 materials. Importantly, our operando neutron powder-diffraction results suggest excellent structural stability of this active component, which exhibits ∼80% less change in its stacking-axis than for LiCoO2 with approximately the same capacity, a characteristic that may be exploited to enhance significantly the capacity retention of this and similar materials
Evaluation of the boundary layer dynamics of the TM5 model over Europe,
Get PDFWe evaluate the capability of the global atmospheric transport model TM5 to simulate the boundary layer dynamics and associated variability of trace gases close to the surface, using radon (222Rn). Focusing on the European scale, we compare the boundary layer height (BLH) in the TM5 model with observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admnistration (NOAA) Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) and also with ceilometer and lidar (light detection and ranging) BLH retrievals at two stations. Furthermore, we compare TM5 simulations of 222Rn activity concentrations, using a novel, process-based 222Rn flux map over Europe (Karstens et al., 2015), with harmonised 222Rn measurements at 10 stations.
The TM5 model reproduces relatively well the daytime BLH (within 10–20 % for most of the stations), except for coastal sites, for which differences are usually larger due to model representation errors. During night, however, TM5 overestimates the shallow nocturnal BLHs, especially for the very low observed BLHs (< 100 m) during summer.
The 222Rn activity concentration simulations based on the new 222Rn flux map show significant improvements especially regarding the average seasonal variability, compared to simulations using constant 222Rn fluxes. Nevertheless, the (relative) differences between simulated and observed daytime minimum 222Rn activity concentrations are larger for several stations (on the order of 50 %) than the (relative) differences between simulated and observed BLH at noon. Although the nocturnal BLH is often higher in the model than observed, simulated 222Rn nighttime maxima are actually larger at several continental stations. This counterintuitive behaviour points to potential deficiencies of TM5 to correctly simulate the vertical gradients within the nocturnal boundary layer, limitations of the 222Rn flux map, or issues related to the definition of the nocturnal BLH.
At several stations the simulated decrease of 222Rn activity concentrations in the morning is faster than observed. In addition, simulated vertical 222Rn activity concentration gradients at Cabauw decrease faster than observations during the morning transition period, and are in general lower than observed gradients during daytime. Although these effects may be partially due to the slow response time of the radon detectors, they clearly point to too fast vertical mixing in the TM5 boundary layer during daytime. Furthermore, the capability of the TM5 model to simulate the diurnal BLH cycle is limited by the current coarse temporal resolution (3 h/6 h) of the TM5 input meteorology
Reconstitution of a nanomachine driving the assembly of proteins into bacterial outer membranes
No full textIn biological membranes, various protein secretion devices function as nanomachines, and measuring the internal movements of their component parts is a major technological challenge. The translocation and assembly module (TAM) is a nanomachine required for virulence of bacterial pathogens. We have reconstituted a membrane containing the TAM onto a gold surface for characterization by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and magnetic contrast neutron reflectrometry (MCNR). The MCNR studies provided structural resolution down to 1 Å, enabling accurate measurement of protein domains projecting from the membrane layer. Here we show that dynamic movements within the TamA component of the TAM are initiated in the presence of a substrate protein, Ag43, and that these movements recapitulate an initial stage in membrane protein assembly. The reconstituted system provides a powerful new means to study molecular movements in biological membranes, and the technology is widely applicable to studying the dynamics of diverse cellular nanomachines. © Macmillan Publishers Limite