Self-assembled composite nano-materials exploiting a thermo reversible n-acene fibrillar scaffold and organic-capped ZnO nanoparticles

An organic-inorganic composite material is obtained by self-assembly of 2,3-didecyloxy-anthracene (DDOA), an organogelator of butanol, and organic-capped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The ligand 3, 2,3-di(6-oxy-n-hexanoic acid)-anthracene, designed to cap ZnO and interact with the DDOA nanofibers by structural similarity, improves the dispersion of the NPs into the organogel. The composite material displays mechanical properties similar to those of the pristine DDOA organogel, but gelates at a lower critical concentration and emits significantly less, even in the presence of very small amounts of ZnO NPs. The ligand 3 could also act as a relay to promote the photo-induced quenching process.

Chemical Approaches to the Design of Oxide Materials.

Chemical methods of synthesis play a crucial role in designing and discovering new and novel materials and in providing less cumbersome methods for preparing known materials. Chemical methods also enable the synthesis of metastable materials which are otherwise difficult to prepare. In this presentation, the various innovative chemical methods of synthesising oxide materials will be briefly reviewed with emphasis on soft-chemical routes. Electrochemical synthesis, ion-exchange method, alkali-flux method and some of the interaction reactions will be highlighted, besides topochemical aspects of solid state synthesis. Cuprate superconductors as well as intergrowth structures will also be examined.

Combustion synthesis of oxide materials for nuclear waste immobilization

Oxide materials like perovskite, zirconolite, hollandite, pyrochlore, NASICON and sphene which are used for nuclear waste immobilization have been prepared by a solution combustion process. The process involves the combustion of stoichiometric amount of corresponding metal nitrates and carbohydrazide/tetraformyl trisazine/diformyl hydrazide at 450 degrees C. The combustion products have been characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and Si-29 MAS-NMR. The fine particle nature of the combustion derived powders has been studied using density, particle size, BET surface area measurements and scanning electron microscopy. Sintering of combustion derived powder yields 85-95% dense ceramics in the temperature range 1000 degrees-1300 degrees C.

Controlled combustion synthesis and properties of fine-particle NASICON materials

Fine-particle NASICON materials, Na1+xZr2P3-xSixO12 (where x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5), have been prepared by controlled combustion of an aqueous solution containing stoicthiometric amounts of sodium nitrate, zirconyl nitrate, ammonium perchlorate, diammonium hydrogen phosphate, fumed silica and carbonohydrazide. Formation of NASICON has been confirmed by powder XRD, Si-29 NMR and IR spectroscopy. These NASICON powders are fine (average agglomerate size 5-12 mum) with a surface area varying from 8 to 30 m2 g-1. NASICON powders pelletized and sintered at 1100-1200-degrees-C for 5 h achieved 90-95% theoretical density and show fine-grain microstructure. The coefficient of thermal expansion of sintered NASICON compact was measured up to 500-degrees-C and changes f rom -3.4 x 10(-6) to 4.1 x 10(-6) K-1. The conductivity of Sintered Na3Zr2PSi2O12 compact at 300-degrees-C is 0.236 OMEGA-1 cm-1.

Study of Texture Evolution at High Strain Rates in FCC Materials

Evolution of crystallographic texture during high strain rate deformation in FCC materials with different stacking fault energy (Ni, Cu, and Cu-10Zn alloy) has been studied. The texture evolved in FCC materials at these strain rates show little dependence on the Stacking Fault Energy and the amount of deformation. Copper shows an anomalous behavior that is attributed to the ease of cross slip and continuous Dynamic Recrystallization that are operative under the experimental conditions.

Non-resonant RF and microwave response: A novel technique for the characterization of superconducting materials

When examined using continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, the high T-c superconductors give rise to intense, low field, 'non-resonant' absorption signals in the superconducting state. This phenomenon can be used as a highly sensitive, contactless technique for the detection and characterization of superconductivity even in samples containing only minute amounts of the superconducting phase. Further, it can also be applied to the determination of material parameters of interest such as J(c) and H-c2 in addition to being a powerful way of distinguishing between weak-link superconductivity and bulk superconductivity. The details of these aspects are discussed

Role of organic fluorine in crystal engineering

The design of compounds with novel and improved physico-chemical properties as advanced functional materials with a specific application spectrum requires the knowledge about possible supramolecular packing motifs and their experimental control in crystalline lattice. Besides the structure of the individual molecule, non-covalent interactions play a significant role in the determination of molecular conformation, along with the formation of three-dimensional supramolecular architecture in a crystal as a requirement for molecular recognition processes, and the related bioactivity. Involvement of functional groups will contribute to the formation of a predefined packing motif due to their well-defined interactions. The strength and directionality of these interactions create characteristic packing motifs, which can be used for the design of supramolecular arrangements by the development of appropriate strategies for the precise control of their topology. Most relevant of these non-covalent interactions are stacking interactions and hydrogen bonds, which have been subjects of extensive study in the last two decades. In recent literature, substantial efforts have been put in by various researchers towards the understanding of interactions involving organic fluorine and the role they play in generating different packing motifs which guides assembling of molecules in the crystal lattice.

Soft-chemical routes to synthesis of solid oxide materials

We describe three different families of metal oxides, viz., (i) protonated layered perovskites, (ii) framework phosphates of NASICON and KTiOPO4 (KTP) structures and (iii) layered and three-dimensional oxides in the H-V-W-O system, synthesized by 'soft-chemical' routes involving respectively ion-exchange, redox deinteracalation and acid-leaching from appropriate parent oxides. Oxides of the first family, HyA2B3O10(A = La/Ca; B = Ti/Nb), exhibit variable Bronsted acidity and intercalation behaviour that depend on the interlayer structure. V2(PO4)3 prepared by oxidative deintercalation from Na3V2(PO4)3 is a new host material exhibiting reductive insertion of lithium/hydrogen, while K0.5Nb0.5 M0.5OPO4(M = Ti, V) are novel KTP-like materials exhibiting second harmonic generation of 1064 nm radiation. HxVxW1-xO3 for x = 0.125 and 0.33 possessing alpha-MoO3 and hexagonal WO3 structures, prepared by acid-leaching of LiVWO6, represent functionalized oxide materials exhibiting redox and acid-base intercalation reactivity.

Soft-chemical synthesis of new non-linear optical materials, K0.5M0.5Ti0.5OPO4(M = Nb, Ta),related to KTiOPO4

Soft-chemical oxidation of KTiOPO4-like KM(0.5)(V)Ti(0.5)(III)OPO(4) (M = Nb, Ta) using chlorine in CHCl3 is accompanied by partial deintercalation of potassium, yielding K(0.5)MV(0.5)Ti(0.5)(IV)OPO(4) compounds which are new non-linear optical materials that exhibit efficient second-harmonic generation of 1064 nm radiation, as does KTiOPO4.

Evidence for supramolecular organization of alkane and surfactant molecules in the process of forming mesoporous silica

Investigations of the pore expansion in mesoporous silica in the presence of n-alkanes suggest a cooperative organization of the surfactant and alkane molecules, involving additivity of chain lengths.

Materials processing under microgravity conditions using drop tubes

Drop tube provides a low-cost alternative to study the influence of microgravity in materials processing. In the present paper, the current status of the drop tubes and associated experiments on materials processing are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the advantages and limitations of these studies. It is pointed out that despite size limitation, large opportunities exist to study the fundamental aspects of the influence of gravity in materials processing.

Generation of novel materials for nonlinear optics: Analysis of hydrogen-bonded networks in haloaromatic and aliphatic amine-tartrate complexes

Five tartrate-amine complexes have been studied in terms of crystal packing and hydrogen bonding frameworks. The salts are 3-bromoanilinium-L-monohydrogen tartrate 1, 3-fluoroanilinium-D-dibenzoylmonohydrogen tartrate 2, 1-nonylium-D-dibenzoylmonohydrogen tartrate 3, 1 -decylium-D-dibenzoylmonohydrogen tartrate 4, and 1,4-diaminobutanium-D-dibenzoyl tartrate trihydrate 5. The results indicate that there are no halogen-halogen interactions in the haloaromatic-tartrate complexes. The anionic framework allows accomodation of ammonium ions that bear alkyl chain residues of variable lengths. The long chain amines in these structures remain disordered while the short chain amines form multidirectional hydrogen bonds on either side.

Multifractal analysis, a method to investigate the morphology of materials

Using the multifractal formalism, we discuss the results obtained to characterized the morphology of polymer alloys and granular discontinuous metallic thin films. In the first case we have found a correlation between the multifractality and the mechanical properties of the alloys. In the second case, we have found that it is possible to measure the differences between the morphology of thin films induced by a growth process on a subtrate and that of percolation clusters of the classical theory of percolation.