Abstract Highly crystalline bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) powder was prepared by a template-free hydrothermal method under different pH (~ 2, 3, 5, 8, 11) reaction conditions and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, photoluminescence, and electron spin resonance techniques. It was found that variation in pH of the precursor

Abstract Cd0.9−xZn0.1MgxS (x = 0, 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06) nanoparticles were synthesized through chemical route. All the specimens had cubic structure, and it was proved from XRD results that the incorporation of Mg did not alter the cubic structure of Zn:CdS crystal structure. Doping was achieved without forming any secondary phase in the Zn:CdS host lattice. TEM results supported the XRD results for

Abstract In2S3 thin films were deposited onto soda lime glass substrates using thermal evaporation technique at a constant substrate temperature of 300 °C and the films were annealed in a sulfur ambient at 250 °C and 300 °C for 1 h. Light induced transient grating (LITG) technique was used to determine the carrier lifetime in In2S3 thin films. The determined carrier lifetime values for different excitation

Abstract We report a volatile liquid detector by engaging metal oxide sensor, which is further assisted by an Arduino kit to develop a prototype of alcohol detection. We have used ethanol as the main volatile liquid to design the prototype. To verify the most selective nature of the metal oxide sensor towards alcohol, we have compared with Methanol, Isopropyl alcohol, Acetone and Ammonia along with

Abstract A novel ITO/NiO/Cu2O structure served as photocathodes was applied in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for the first time. The NiO integration is found to slightly ameliorate the crystalline structure of Cu2O. PEC measurements showed that NiO-modified Cu2O photocathodes can deliver a higher PEC performance, as the photocurrent density was up to − 1.68 mA/cm2 at − 0.6 V versus RHE

Abstract The dual-wavelength UV photodetector (PD) with sandwich structure of ZnO/Au/MgZnO/SiO2 was fabricated and investigated with an emphasis on the effects of the Ag nanoparticles localized surface plasmons (LSPs). The results demonstrated that the modification in Ag nanoparticle (NP) position played a remarkable influence on the performance of dual-wavelength UV photodetectors. In comparison with

Abstract The contribution deals with growth of ZnO nanowires on metal catalysts by using of pulsed laser deposition and with the influence of growth temperature. The process of nanowires preparation comprised two technological steps—both were based on pulsed laser ablation processes: (1) production of metal nanoparticles by laser ablation in liquids and (2) pulsed laser deposition of ZnO nanowires

Abstract This study presents the effect of Ta addition on martensitic transformation behavior and shape memory properties of Cu82.6−xAl12.4Ni4Mn1Tax (x = 0, 1, 2 and 3 wt%) high-temperature shape memory alloys. The results indicated that martensite structure, phase components, transformation characteristics and shape recovery ratios of the Cu82.6−xAl12.4Ni4Mn1Tax alloys remarkably changed with the

Abstract The Cu-doped ZnO nanocrystallites have transpired as one of the most economical multifunctional semiconducting materials. A comprehensive and precision study of crystallographic, structural and compositional parameters of Cu-doped ZnO nanocrystallites synthesized by microwave-assisted aqueous solution method at 0%, 1%, 3% and 5% doping concentrations is presented. The XRD analysis confirmed

Abstract This study aims to investigate the dependence of crystalline structure and piezoelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride stretched films (up to four times their initial length) as a function of temperature, polarization under constant field as well as varying electric field at constant polarization temperature. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that α → β phase transformation occurs

Abstract A dual-band asymmetric transmission device based on the nonlinear electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect is presented in this paper. The device structure is composed of two P-type branches and two split ring resonators (SRRs). Dual-band EIT effect is induced based on the destructive interferences between scattering fields of the SRRs and branches in a microstrip transmission

Abstract Double-pulsed laser ablation with two targets and lasers in a background gas is a method to form nanoparticle complex. Effects of pulse delay between two lasers on plume expansion dynamics are discussed. The germanium and silicon targets were set parallel to each other and irradiated by two YAG lasers. The germanium target was irradiated followed by irradiation of the silicon target with delay

Abstract The effects of severe plastic deformation on properties of AA1100 and AA2024 including the ultrasound velocity and the shear strength during multi-axial compression (MAC) are studied. Additionally, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy are utilized. For both AA1100 and AA2024, an opposite trend is reported in the shear strength and the sound

Abstract CrTiO2 nanotube, tungsten-modified CrTiO2, iron-modified CrTiO2 and tungsten–iron-modified CrTiO2 have been prepared by facile one-step anodization coupled with chemical bath deposition method. XRD, FE-SEM, EDX mapping and UV–Vis spectroscopy were used to characterize the synthetic samples. The impacts of these compounds on the photoelectrochemical activities of modified CrTiO2 photoelectrodes

Abstract This paper investigates the radiation shielding properties, such as linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half and tenth value layers, effective atomic number and electron density, and radiation protection efficiency as a function of photon energy, of a new composite, PbI2-doped polyester. The mentioned polyester composite was prepared with different proportions of lead(II) iodide (5%

Abstract The growing popularity of metasurfaces and their exceptional physical phenomena has gained remarkable interest in terms of propagation and electromagnetic wave control. Particularly, for the case of retroreflection, retrodirective gradient metasurfaces are well known for their reciprocal responses in terms of retroreflection specially for subwavelength super-cell periodicity designs. Recently

Abstract Pure SnO2 and La-doped SnO2 nanocomposite were prepared through hydrothermal method, and their gas sensing performances were studied. Results indicate that the sensing response of the 5 wt% La-doped SnO2 nanocomposite reached 29.5 when exposed to 75 ppm methanol at the optimal operating temperature of 220 °C, which was over seven times larger than that of pure SnO2 nanoparticles. In addition

Abstract Equal-Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) was carried out on 7075 aluminum alloy with a process route of Bc mode, thus, achieving the aims of refining crystal grains and improving alloy plasticity. To save cost and optimize the ECAP process, DEFORM finite element simulation of the ECAP extrusion process was conducted to determine the ratio of die shear Angle to extrusion. The results show that

Abstract In the current investigation, various mass fractions (0, 0.5, 1.5, 5 and 10 wt%) of Ni were doped into Cu substrate, and influences of Ni addition on the microstructure evolution and mechanical property of the Sn–58Bi/Cu–xNi solder joint were investigated. Results showed that the growth rate of intermetallic compound (IMC) would increase with the Ni addition added from 0 to 5 wt% and remarkably

Abstract A rectifying behavior is achieved by means of boron doping in defected armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR). In the proposed AGNR device, the effect of line edge roughness (LER) is investigated on the electronic and transport characteristics. Moreover, the width of AGNR is changed by 6, 7 and 8 atoms in the fixed length, and the position of the boron doping is changed in the center or edge

Abstract Tetragonal-phase BaTiO3 powders of particle size 370 nm were synthesized by microwave sintering at 850 °C. The raw materials were BaCO3, TiO2, and alanine. SiC microspheres were used as microwave conductors. The effects of the holding time, sintering aids, and SiC addition on the preparation of BaTiO3 were investigated. The results indicate that the addition of SiC as a microwave acceptor

Abstract Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is an ideal material for smart windows, which can initiate an automatic reversible metal-to-insulator transition from tetragonal to monoclinic structure at the transition temperature (Tc) of 68 °C, resulting in a large difference in near-infrared transmittance, but its application is limited by the poor luminous transmittance (Tlum) and low solar modulation ability (ΔTsol)

Abstract This work provides a facile strategy to induce crystallization of polycarbonate (PC) through solvent casting method. Pristine fullerene (C60) and PC-modified C60 nanoparticles are applied as nucleating agents for PC, and the crystallization behavior of PC nanocomposite films is controlled by solvent casting preparation conditions. To investigate the relationship between crystallization behavior

Abstract During the synthesis of h-BN nano-material, there unavoidably exist some N vacancies that will largely affect its physicochemical properties. Therefore, it is full of necessity to repair these defects before further investigations and applications. In this paper, we propose the use of NO molecules to heal the N vacancy in a h-BN monolayer through the NO disproportionation based on DFT calculation

Abstract Fe–Si–B amorphous alloy ribbons (Fe–Si–BAR) are widely investigated recently due to its high efficiency in remediation of wastewater containing azo dyes and other organic pollutants. In this paper, the effects of Fe–Si–BAR on the remediation of water containing high levels of Cu2+ ions were discussed. Results show that the reaction mechanism of Fe–Si–BAR with Cu2+ ions solution is the same

Abstract Ag–ZnO thin films were prepared by a two-step method and then annealed in a vacuum atmosphere at different temperature. It could be seen from the scanning electron microscopy images that the ZnO nanorods collapsed rapidly for the sample annealed at 400 °C (Ag–ZnO-400) and the average diameter of Ag nanoparticles increases with the increasing of annealing temperature. Compared to Ag–ZnO, the

Abstract Al20Te75X5 (X = Si, Ge, As, Sb) glasses prepared by the melt quenching method exhibit threshold switching. Local structure of these glasses studied by 27Al MAS-NMR measurements reveals that Al is in four-, five- and sixfold coordination. For Al to be in higher coordination states, Te transfers its lone pair electrons. Due to the higher coordinated Al and Te, the cross-linking in the network

Abstract Surface modification of pure Ti is performed with the addition of aminopropyl trimethoxy-silane (APS) in the anodic electrolyte to obtain plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) ceramic films at a median voltage of 200 V. The addition of silane in Na2SiO3 solution does not change the phase compositions of the PEO films while promoting the faster growth of both rutile and anatase, meanwhile smoother

Abstract Laminated glass has a wide range of applications, but the cutting process is too cumbersome. In this paper, a novel laser composite separation method was proposed to separate the laminated glass by one time and simplify the cutting process from five steps to two steps for the first time by skillfully combining laser-induced thermal-crack propagation and laser thermal melting. This method generated

Abstract Biexcitons localized at ZnxCd1−xS quantum dots (x = 0.37 or 0.45) with a diameter of ~ 45 Å synthesized by two different methods were studied by femtosecond laser spectroscopy. The spectral features of ultrafast transient absorption spectra at the short-time delay of 70 fs are associated with the three lowest energy transitions of quantum dots. The shapes of the transient absorption bands

Abstract Two-dimensional Bi2Se3 TIs were recently found to be the most promising room-temperature topological insulators for its relatively large bulk gap, but its surface frictional response is little investigated. Here, we prepared single-crystalline Bi2Se3 nanoplates with a lateral dimension up to ~ 1 μm and a thickness of less than 200 nm via a simple polyol method, and the molecular structure

Abstract Nanostructured zinc oxide sensing film was deposited on the Si/SiO2/Pt substrate by the RF magnetron sputtering process. The film was characterized by FESEM (field-emission scanning electron microscope) and XRD (X-ray diffraction) for their morphology and structural analysis. The FESEM results show that the film morphology is in nanophase with an average nanostructure size of ~ 50 nm. XRD

Abstract The present work deals with the development of new metal-based nanocomposites reinforced by multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for nanotechnology field. Samples are prepared in situ and contain a ratio of 4:1 Fe–Cu, with MWCNT additions of 0 vol%, 0.25 vol%, 0.75 vol% and 1 vol%, respectively. The materials are characterized using thermodynamic and structural techniques like dilatometry,

Abstract Effects of Sn and Nb additions on the microstructure and wear behavior of a gray cast iron (GCI) have been investigated in details. The results showed that the combined additions of Sn and Nb not only promote the generation of pearlite and type-A graphite but also refine the graphite flakes size and the pearlite lamellar spacing. The analysis results of wear test indicated that the GCI-Sn–Nb

Abstract For cost-effective synthesis of Cu2FeSnS4 (CFTS) thin films, a chemical bath deposition technique was carried out at temperature of 343 K. The formation of tetragonal phase and highly oriented CFTS thin films was confirmed by XRD technique. The morphology and composition of the CFTS thin films were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and EDX techniques. Linear and

Abstract In this study, the optical properties and gamma-ray competence of barium–lead borate glasses with chemical form BaO–B2O3–PbO have been investigated. The optical features such as optical energy gap (Eoptical), linear refractive index (n), molar refraction (Rmolar), molar polarizability (αmolar), metallization criterion (M), dielectric constants (static and optical), reflection loss (Rloss)

Abstract In this research work, graphene/cobalt nanocomposites are functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to be a platform for theranostics application and antibacterial activity. The non-covalent functionalization of PEG on the surfaces of nanocomposites improved their stability and diminished their cytotoxicity. The PEGylated nanocomposites are demonstrated to allow simultaneous administration

Abstract The multi-layers of nanomaterials, for the time being, are materials of great significance in the field of nanoscience. In this work, some of the physical, morphological and structural properties of multi-coatings for solar energy applications have been studied. We investigated the impact of surface roughness with the number of layers on the optical and structural properties. Decreasing surface

Abstract In the current study, we numerically investigate the optical properties of interdiffused GaAs/AlwGa1−wAs multiple quantum well systems under the influence of an external electric field. We solve the resulting Schrodinger equation by using a finite element method and present the algorithm. Here, our motivation was that the interdiffusion effect leads to a non-square more realistic confining

Abstract A comprehensive study aimed to investigate the role of sodium hydroxide precursor concentration on the physical properties of the ZnO nanoparticles. A simple wet chemical approach was employed to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles by keeping the Zn precursor concentration constant and sodium hydroxide concentration varied. XRD analysis confirms the prepared ZnO nanoparticles having a hexagonal wurtzite

Abstract BaCoxFe2−x W-type hexagonal ferrites with nominal composition \( {\text{BaCo}}_{x} {\text{Fe}}_{2 - x}^{2 + } {\text{Fe}}_{16}^{3 + } {\text{O}}_{27} \) (x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction in nitrogen at high annealing temperature of 1350 °C. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to find out the structural and physical properties

Abstract In this study, we investigated AlGaN/GaN metal–insulator–semiconductor high-electron-mobility transistors (MISHEMTs) with single-metal gate (SMG) and dual-metal gate (DMG) structures through experimental measurements and technology computer-aided design simulation. The DMG structure consists of nickel (Ni) in the source-side gate and titanium (Ti) in the drain-side gate metals for the distribution

Abstract Due to the energy crisis, the development of high-performance photoelectrocatalysts is becoming a hot research area in recent years. Among the materials studied, BiFeO3 (BFO) exhibits excellent photoelectrocatalytic performance due to its moderate bandgap and unique band structure. In this paper, both pure BFO and La-doped BFO were synthesized by solgel method. The average size of the BFO

Abstract This work presents an investigation on the structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of the pure and gadolinium-doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by co-precipitation method. Three methods including Debye–Scherrer, Williamson–Hall and Rietveld were used to determine the phase and structural parameters of nanoparticles with more accuracy. FESEM images were used to show the morphology

Abstract The structural and crystallization kinetics of (As50Se50)100−xAgx (x = 0, 5, 10 and 15 at.%) glasses are reported. The glass transition activation energy, Et, decreased from 185.19 to 179.94 eV with increasing the Ag content. The crystalline phases AsSe, AgAsSe2 and Ag2Se phases were found in the annealed glasses. The structure of the annealed samples at different temperatures was examined

Abstract The role of B-site ions of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) on its complex phase transition remains unclear due to its polarization attributing to both Bi and Ti. In this paper, the phase transition of (Bi0.5Na0.5)0.94Ba0.06(Ti1−0.01b/4B0.01)O3 (BNT6BT) (B = Nb, Mn, Fe, and Cu) ceramics was modified by low-concentration donor doping (Nb) and acceptor doping (Mn, Fe, and Cu) in order to determine the origin

Abstract Glasses in the xAl2O3·(40 − x)Ag2O·60P2O5 system were prepared using melt quenching rout, where x varies between 0 and 20 mol%. Scanning electron microscopy indicates that the addition of Al2O3 has changed the morphology of the samples under investigation. The density of the glasses and the corresponding molar volume are both decreased linearly with increasing content of Al2O3. The dissolution

Abstract Cadmium sulfide/anodic alumina nanoporous bi-layer film was designed for the first time by two-step anodization followed by a sol–gel spin coating method. The chemical composition, morphological, electrical and structural properties of the AA and Cd/AA nanoporous membranes have been examined. The morphological investigation of AA layer demonstrates the development of an exceptionally ordered

Abstract CaTi4(PO4)6:xEu3+ phosphors are successfully synthesized under air condition by high-temperature solid-state method. The crystal structure, morphology, energy spectrum, atomic percentage, elemental mapping, and luminescence properties are investigated, respectively. Monitored at 594 nm, the excitation spectral bands of CaTi4(PO4)6:Eu3+ phosphor in the range of 210–550 nm are assigned to the

Abstract In this contribution, chemical, structural, and mechanical alterations in various types of femtosecond laser-generated surface structures, i.e., laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS, ripples), Grooves, and Spikes on titanium alloy, are characterized by various surface analytical techniques, including X-ray diffraction and glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy. The formation

Abstract Herein, the nanocomposite films of Nylon-6 with reinforced nano-TiO2 were explored for their charge storage capacity. The high dielectric constant (ε) of TiO2, along with its compatibility with Nylon-6, formed the basis for the present study. TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized initially using hydrothermal technique. The microscopic uniformity and anatase-phase purity of the TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract We determine the laser-induced ablation threshold fluence in air of aluminum and tungsten excited by single near-infrared laser pulses with duration ranging from 15 to 100 fs. The ablation threshold fluence is shown to be constant for both metals, extending the corresponding scaling metrics to few-optical-cycle laser pulses. Meanwhile, the reflectivity is measured providing access to the deposited

Abstract Pure and alkaline earth metal (Ba2+, Ca2+ and Mg2+)-doped tin oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by simple co-precipitation, and their structural, optical, functional, morphological and compositional properties were analyzed in detail using powder X-ray diffraction, UV–visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron

Abstract In this study, it is aimed to investigate alloys that can replace lead and its derivatives in terms of radiation shielding. A new alternative shielding material must have optimum properties that should be present in a protective material. For this purpose, this study focused on the determination of the radiation-shielding characteristics of five different alloys named Tin-Silver, Manganin-R

Abstract The glass samples with Li2B4O7 (100 − x) Tincalx (x = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%) composition were synthesized by melt-quenching technique (Tincal = Na2B4O7·10H2O). The elemental analysis of Tincal with different compositions is tested using energy-dispersive X-ray technique. Moreover, the surface morphology of fabricated glasses was investigated with scanning electron microscopy. Further, optical

Abstract In order to protect the articles in buildings from ultraviolet radiation and save air-conditioning energy, polyvinyl butyral laminated glass are employed and produced in large quantities. Several inorganic particles with blocking effect have been doped into PVB, such as TiO2, ZnO, and ATO. T-ZnOw is a widely used functional structural material with excellent absorption properties. Herein,

Abstract A series of Dy3+ and Eu3+ co-doped Sr3Gd(PO4)3 phosphors were synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state method. The crystal structure, optical band gap energy, luminescence properties, concentration quenching, energy transfer process and thermal stability were investigated. All the phosphors are pure eulytite-type Sr3Gd(PO4)3 in structure. Under different wavelengths’ excitation, the Sr3Gd(PO4)3:Dy3+

Abstract Chalcogenide glasses are which include germanium, antimony, and sulfur in its structure. The high physical, dielectric, optical, mechanical, and thermal features of the chalcogenide glasses lead to the occasion to evaluate its radiation shielding characteristics. Gamma ray and neutron shielding parameters were evaluated for five chalcogenide glasses doped with CdCl2 according to the formu

Abstract In this study, Ni1−xZnxFe2O4 (x = 0, 0.25, and 0.5) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized via microwave-assisted combustion method and characterized by XRD, FTIR, and SEM–EDAX. XRD results enunciate that the nanoparticle crystallizes in cubic spinel structure with an average crystallite size (40.2, 37.2, 35.1 nm), and also, the lattice strain, specific surface area, X-ray density were

Abstract This study has widely described the fabrication and performance of a series of Ag–CeO2 Schottky plasmonic photocatalysts under visible light irradiation. A conventional wetness incipient impregnation technique has been utilized to load Ag metal on the surface of CeO2 nanoparticles synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The as-synthesized photocatalysts have been identified using combined