Crystallization and phase transformation behaviour of electroless nickel-phosphorus deposits with low and medium phosphorus contents under continuous heating

Electroless nickel-phosphorus deposits with 5-8 wt% P and 3-5 wt% P were analysed for the effects of continuous heating on the crystallization kinetics and phase transformation behaviour of the deposits. The as-deposited coatings consist of a mixture of amorphous and microcrystalline nickel phases, featuring in their X-ray diffraction patterns. Continuous heating processes to 300C-800C at 20C/min were carried out on the deposits in a differential scanning calorimetric apparatus. The subsequent X-ray diffraction analyses show that the sequence of phase transformation process was: amorphous phase + microcrystalline nickel, f.c.c. nickel + Ni3P stable phases. Preferred orientation of nickel {200} plane developed in the deposits after the heating processes. Differential scanning calorimetry of the deposits indicates that the crystallization temperatures increased with decreasing phosphorus content, and increasing heating rate. Crystallization activation energies of the deposits (230 and 322 kJ/mol, respectively) were calculated using the peak temperatures of crystallization process, from the differential scanning calorimetric curves at the heating rates ranging from 5 to 50C/min. It was found that the deposit with lower phosphorus content has higher activation energy.

Phase transitions in epitaxial Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films

Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) thin-film capacitor structures with various thicknesses, (50-1200 nm) and different strain conditions (on lanthanum strontium cobalt oxide La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 and strontium ruthenate SrRuO3 buffer layers) were made using pulsed laser deposition, and characterized by x-ray diffraction. The out-of-plane lattice parameter was followed as a function of temperature within the 100-300 K temperature interval. The phase sequence (cubic-tetragonal-orthorhombic-rhombohedral) known to exist in the bulk analog is shown to be strongly affected by both the stress conditions imposed by the buffer layer and the thickness of the BST film itself. Thus, no phase transition was found for the in-plane compressed BST films. On the stress-free BST films, on the contrary, more phase transitions were observed. It appeared that the complexity of structural phase transitions increased as the film thickness in this system was reduced.

Strain gradients in epitaxial ferroelectrics

X-ray analysis of ferroelectric thin layers of Ba1/2Sr1/2TiO3 with different thicknesses reveals the presence of strain gradients across the films and allows us to propose a functional form for the internal strain profile. We use this to calculate the influence of strain gradient, through flexoelectric coupling, on the degradation of the ferroelectric properties of films with decreasing thickness, in excellent agreement with the observed behavior. This paper shows that strain relaxation can lead to smooth, continuous gradients across hundreds of nanometers, and it highlights the pressing need to avoid such strain gradients in order to obtain ferroelectric films with bulklike properties.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of naphthalene dioxygenase from Rhodococcus sp strain NCIMB 12038

The three-component naphthalene dioxygenase (NDO) enzyme system carries out the first step in the aerobic degradation of naphthalene to (+)-cis-(1R,2S)-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydronaphthalene by Rhodococcus sp. strain NCIMB 12038. The terminal oxygenase component (naphthalene 1,2-dioxygenase) that catalyzes this reaction belongs to the aromatic ring hydroxylating dioxygenase family and has been crystallized. These enzymes utilize a mononuclear nonheme iron centre to catalyze the addition of dioxygen to their respective substrates. In this reaction, two electrons, two protons and a dioxygen molecule are consumed. The Rhodococcus enzyme has only 33 and 29% sequence identity to the corresponding alpha- and beta-subunits of the NDO system of Pseudomonas putida NCIMB 9816-4, for which the tertiary structure has been reported. In order to determine the three-dimensional structure of the Rhodococcus NDO, diffraction-quality crystals have been prepared by the hanging-drop method. The crystals belongs to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 87.5, b = 144, c = 185.6 Angstrom, alpha = beta = gamma = 90degrees, and diffract to 2.3 Angstrom resolution.

Changes in surface stress caused by the adsorption of an epitaxial metal monolayer

The adsorption of a metal monolayer on a foreign substrate generates a change in the surface stress. We calculate this change for a number of substrate/adsorbate systems using the embedded-atom method. The results are compared with those obtained from a continuum model. A cycle, in which the stretching of a substrate/adsorbate system is decomposed into several steps, helps in understanding the numerical results. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Crystal polymorphism in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium halides: supporting ionic liquid formation by inhibition of crystallization

Crystallization of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride from mixed ionic liquid or ionic liquid-aromatic solution, and from the melt yields different crystalline polymorphs, the first direct evidence for inhibition of crystallization in ionic liquids by polymorphism.

The structure of [Co(H-tptz)Cl-3] center dot H2O (tptz=2,4,6-tri(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine) prepared by crystallization from the ionic liquid, N-butyl-N-methyl-pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide

The structure of tris-chloro[2,6-bis(2'-pyridyl)-4-(2'-pyridinium)-1,3,5-triazine]cobalt(II) monohydrate, [Co(C18H13N6)Cl-3]center dot H2O (C2/c (No. 15), a = 7.783(11), b = 22.42(3), c = 11.001(15) angstrom, beta = 90.05(2)degrees), crystallized from the open air reaction of CoCl2 and 2,4,6-tri(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine in the ionic liquid, N-butyl-N-methyl-pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide is reported. The structure consists of six coordinate cobalt in an octahedral geometry bonded to the tridentate tptz ligand and three chlorines. The non-coordinating pyridyl group in the tptz ligand is protonated (with the protonated nitrogen crystallographically disordered over two possible sites), providing overall charge neutrality for the complex.