Nano structured carbon nitrides prepared by chemical vapour deposition

Nanostructured carbon nitride films were prepared by pyrolysis assisted chemical vapour deposition(CVD). A two zone furnace with a temperature profile having a uniform temperature over a length of 20 cm length has been designed and developed. The precursor Azabenzimidazole was taken in a quartz tube and evaporated at 400 degrees C. The dense vapours enter the pyrolysis zone kept at a desired temperature and deposit on the quartz substrates. The FTIR spectrum of the prepared samples shows peaks at 1272 cm(-1) (C-N stretching) and 1600 cm(-1) (C=N) confirms the bonding of nitrogen with carbon. Raman D and G peaks, are observed at 1360 cm(-1) and 1576 cm(-1) respectively. XPS core level spectra of C 1s and N 1s show the formation of pi bonding between carbon and nitrogen atoms. The size of the nano crystals estimated from the SEM images and XRD is similar to 100 nm. In some regions of the sample a maximum of 57 atom % of nitrogen has been observed.

Synthesis of Nano Structured Carbon Nitride by Pyrolysis Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition

Nanostructured carbon nitride films were prepared by pyrolysis assisted chemical vapour deposition. A two zone furnace with a uniform temperature over a length of 20 cm in both the zones was built. The precursor Azabenzimidazole (C6H5N3) taken in a quartz tube was evaporated at zone A and pyrolysed at zone B at a temperature of 800 degrees C. The FTIR spectrum of the prepared sample shows peaks at 1272 cm(-1) and 1591 cm(-1) corresponding to C-N stretching and C=N respectively, which confirms the bonding of nitrogen with carbon. Raman D and G peaks are observed at 1357 cm(-1) and 1560 cm(-1) respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows the formation of pi bonding between carbon and nitrogen atoms. These observations along with XRD analysis show the formation of crystallites of alpha-C3N4 and beta-C3N4 in the background of graphitic C3N4. The size of the nanocrystals estimated from the SEM images is similar to 100 nm.

Synthesis from zinc oxalate, growth mechanism and optical properties of ZnO nano/micro structures

We report the synthesis of various morphological micro to nano structured zinc oxide crystals via simple precipitation technique. The growth mechanisms of the zinc oxide nanostructures such as snowflake, rose, platelets, porous pyramid and rectangular shapes were studied in detail under various growth conditions. The precursor powders were prepared using several zinc counter ions such as chloride, nitrate and sulphate along with oxalic acid as a precipitating agent. The precursors were decomposed by heating in air resulting in the formation of different shapes of zinc oxide crystals. Variations in ZnO nanostructural shapes were possibly due to the counter ion effect. Sulphate counter ion led to unusual rose-shape morphology. Strong ultrasonic treatment on ZnO rose shows that it was formed by irregular arrangement of micro to nano size hexagonal zinc oxide platelets. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the wurzite structure of all zinc oxide samples synthesized using different zinc counter ions. Functional groups of the zinc oxalate precursor and zinc oxide were identified using micro Raman studies. The blue light emission spectra of the various morphologies were recorded using luminescence spectrometer. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Optical and structural properties of highly porous shell structured Fe doped TiO2 thin films

TiO2 thin films with 0.2 wt%, 0.4 wt%, 0.6 wt%, and 0.8 wt% Fe were prepared on glass and silicon substrates using sol-gel spin coating technique. The optical cut-off points are increasingly red-shifted and the absorption edge is shifted over the higher wavelength region with Fe content increasing. As Fe content increases, the optical band gap decreases from 3.03 to 2.48 eV whereas the tail width increases from 0.26 to 1.43 eV. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for doped films at 0.2 wt% and 0.8 wt% Fe reveal no characteristic peaks, indicating that the film is amorphous whereas undoped TiO2 exhibits (101) orientation with anatase phase. Thin films of higher Fe content exhibit a homogeneous, uniform, and nano-structured highly porous shell morphology.

Surface modifications in single crystal surfaces of YBa2Cu3O7-delta upon high energy ion irradiation

Atomic force microscopy investigations on swift heavy ion (200 MeV An) irradiated surfaces of a high T-c single crystal YBa2Cu3O7-delta are presented. Results obtained revealed an ion-induced erosion/sputtering clearly confirming our earlier observation on grain boundary dominated thin films. Apart from sputtering, notable effects were seen with many defect structures like dikes/hillocks surrounded by craters, dikes, holes, pearl like structures and ripple formation of sub-micron undulations, all in one crystal. Results are discussed in the light of co-operative phenomena of material re-distribution mechanism related to mass transfer and crater formations.

Mesoporous MnO2 synthesized by hydrothermal route for electrochemical supercapacitor studies

Poorly crystalline mesoporous MnO2, which is suitable for supercapacitor studies, is synthesized from neutral KMnO4 aqueous solution by hydrothermal route. But it requires a high temperature (180 A degrees C) and also a long reaction time (24 h). Addition of a tri-block copolymer, namely, poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (P123), which is generally used as a soft template for the synthesis of nano-structured porous materials, reduces the hydrothermal temperature to 140 A degrees C and also reaction time to 2 h. When the reaction time is increased, the product morphology changes from nanoparticles to nanorods with a concomitant decrease in BET surface area. Also, the product tends to attain crystallinity. The electrochemical capacitance properties of MnO2 synthesized under varied hydrothermal conditions are studied in 0.1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. A specific capacitance of 193 F g(-1) is obtained for the mesoporous MnO2 sample consisting of nanoparticle and nanorod mixed morphology synthesized in 6 h using P123 at 140 A degrees C.

Precursors for carbon nitride synthesis

Nano structured carbon nitride films were prepared by pyrolysis assisted chemical vapour deposition. Pyrrole (C4H5N), Pyrrolidine (C4H9N), Azabenzimidazole (C6H5N3) and Triazine (C6H15N3) were used as precursors. The vibrational modes observed for C–N and C  =  N from FTIR spectra confirms the bonding of nitrogen with carbon. XPS core level spectra of C 1s and N 1s also show the formation of bonding between carbon and nitrogen atoms. The nitrogen content in the prepared samples was found to be around 25 atomic %.

Molecular Dynamics Study of Phonon Screening in Graphene

Phonon interaction with electrons or phonons or with structural defects result in a phonon mode conversion. The mode conversion is governed by the frequency wave-vector dispersion relation. The control over phonon mode or the screening of phonon in graphene is studied using the propagation of amplitude modulated phonon wave-packet. Control over phonon properties like frequency and velocity opens up several wave guiding, energy transport and thermo-electric applications of graphene. One way to achieve this control is with the introduction of nano-structured scattering in the phonon path. Atomistic model of thermal energy transport is developed which is applicable to devices consisting of source, channel and drain parts. Longitudinal acoustic phonon mode is excited from one end of the device. Molecular dynamics based time integration is adopted for the propagation of excited phonon to the other end of the device. The amount of energy transfer is estimated from the relative change of kinetic energy. Increase in the phonon frequency decreases the kinetic energy transmission linearly in the frequency band of interest. Further reduction in transmission is observed with the tuning of channel height of the device by increasing the boundary scattering. Phonon mode selective transmission control have potential application in thermal insulation or thermo-electric application or photo-thermal amplification.

Anomalous magnetic behavior of La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 nano-tubes constituted with 3-12 nm particles

Uniform La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 (LSMO) nanotubes of an average diameter 180 nm were synthesized by a modified sol-gel method employing nanochannel porous anodic alumina templates. The nanotubes were characterized chemically and structurally by XRD, SEM, EDX, and TEM. Postannealed (700 degrees C for 1 h hour) nanotubes were found to be polycrystalline from XRD and SAED studies. To get further insight into the nanotube structure, HRTEM studies were done, which revealed that obtained LSMO nanotubes were structurally constituted with nanoparticles of 3-12 nm size. These constituent nanoparticles were randomly aligned and self-knitted to build the nanotube wall. Investigation of magnetic properties at this structured nanoscale revealed remarkable irreversibility between the zero field cooling (ZFC) and field cooling (FC) magnetization curves accompanied with a peak in the ZFC curve indicating spin-glass-like behavior. Structural defects and compositional variations at surfaces and grain-boundaries of constituent nanoparticles might be responsible for this anomalous magnetic behavior.

Nano-indentation studies on polymer matrix composites reinforced by few-layer graphene

The mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-matrix composites reinforced by functionalized few-layer graphene (FG) have been evaluated using the nano-indentation technique. A significant increase in both the elastic modulus and hardness is observed with the addition of 0.6 wt% of graphene. The crystallinity of PVA also increases with the addition of FG. This and the good mechanical interaction between the polymer and the FG, which provides better load transfer between the matrix and the fiber, are suggested to be responsible for the observed improvement in mechanical properties of the polymers.

Reduction of Permittivity in Epoxy Nanocomposites at Low Nano-filler Loadings

Experimental studies reveal a reduction in the values of permittivity for epoxy nanocomposites; at low filler loadings as compared to neat epoxy over a wide frequency range. This permittivity reduction is attributed to the interaction dynamics between nanoparticles: and epoxy chains at the interface region and interestingly, this interaction has also been found to influence the glass transition temperatures (T-g) of the examined nanocomposite systems. Accordingly, a dual nanolayer interface model for an epoxy based nanocomposite system is analyzed to explain the obtained permittivity characteristics.

Structured model-following neuro-adaptive design for attitude maneuver of rigid bodies

A new structured model-following adaptive approach is presented in this paper to achieve large attitude maneuvers of rigid bodies. First, a nominal controller is designed using the dynamic inversion philosophy. Next, a neuro- adaptive design is proposed to augment the nominal design in order to assure robust performance in the presence of parameter inaccuracies as well as unknown constant external disturbances. The structured approach proposed in this paper (where kinematic and dynamic equations are handled separately), reduces the complexity of the controller structure. From simulation studies, this adaptive controller is found to be very effective in assuring robust performance.

Evolution of cooperation by reciprocation within structured demes

The iterative two-person Prisoners’ Dilemma game has been generalised to theN-person case. The evolution of cooperation is explored by matching the Tit For Tat (TFT) strategy (Axelrod and Hamilton 1981) against the selfish strategy. Extension of TFT toN-person situations yields a graded set of strategies from the softest TFT, which continues cooperation even if only one of the opponents reciprocates it, to the hardest, which would do so only when all the remaining opponents cooperate. The hardest TFT can go to fixation against the selfish strategy provided it crosses a threshold frequencypc. All the other TFT are invadable by the selfish (D) or the pure defector strategy, while none can invadeD. Yet, provided a thresholdpc is crossed, they can coexist stably withD. AsN, the size of the group increases, the threshold pc also increases, indicating that the evolution of cooperation is more difficult for larger groups. Under certain conditions, only the soft TFT can coexist stably against the selfish strategyD, while the harder ones cannot. An interesting possibility of a complete takeover of the selfish population by successive invasions by harder and harder TFT strategies is also presented.

On the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of structured plasma layers in the magnetosphere

The hydromagnetic Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability problem is studied for a three-layered system analytically by arriving at the marginal instability condition. As the magnetic field directions are taken to vary in the three regions, both the angle and finite thickness effects are seen on the instability criterion. When the relative flow speed of the plasmas on the two sides of the interfaces separating the inner and the surrounding layers is U < Uc, where Uc is the critical speed, the system is stable both for symmetric and asymmetric perturbations. However, unlike the case of the interface bounded by two semiinfinite media, Uc is no longer the minimum critical speed above which the system will be unstable for all wavenumbers; another critical speed U* > Uc is introduced due to the finiteness of the system. When Uc < U < U*, the instability can set in either through the symmetric or asymmetric mode, depending on the ratio of the plasma parameters and angle between the magnetic field directions across the boundaries. The instability arises for a finite range of wavenumbers, thus giving rise to the upper and lower cut-off frequencies for the spectra of hydromagnetic surface waves generated by the K-H instability mechanism. When U > U*, both the modes are unstable for short wavelengths. The results are finally used to explain some observational features of the dependence of hydromagnetic energy spectra in the magnetosphere on the interplanetary parameters.

Study of Structural Stability and Electronic Structure of Nonstoichiometric CdS Nano Clusters from First Principles

Structural stability of small sized nonstoichiometric CdS nano clusters between zincblende and wurtzite structures has been investigated using first-principles density functional calculations. Our study shows that the relative stability of these two structures depends sensitively on whether the surface is S-terminated or Cd-terminated. The associated band gap also exhibits non-monotonic behavior as a function of cluster size. Our findings may shed light on contradictory reports of experimentally observed structures of CdS nano clusters found in the literature.