Photoluminescence of the Eu-doped thin film heterojunction GaAs/SnO2 and rare-earth doping distribution

Tin dioxide (SnO2) thin films doped with Eu3+, are deposited by the sol-gel-dip-coating process on top of GaAs films, which is deposited by resistive evaporation on glass substrate. This heterojunction assembly presents luminescence from the rare-earth ion, unlike the SnO2 deposition directly on a glass substrate, where emissions from the Eu3+ transitions are absent. The Eu3+ transitions are clearly identified and are similar to the observation on SnO2 pressed powder (pellets), thermally treated at much higher temperatures. However, in the form of heterojunction films, the Eu emission comes along a broad band, located at higher energy compared to Eu3+ transitions, which is blue-shifted as the thermal annealing temperature increases. The size of nanocrystallites points toward quantum confinement or electron transfer between oxygen vacancies, originated from the disorder in the material, and trivalent rare-earth ions, which present acceptor-like character in this matrix. This electron transfer may relax for higher temperatures in the case of pellets, and the broad band is eliminated.

Crystal growth and photoluminescence of europium-doped strontium titanate prepared by a microwave hydrothermal method

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Pigments based on Cr and Sb doped TiO2 prepared by microemulsion-mediated solvothermal synthesis for inkjet printing on ceramics

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Color tunability in green, red and infra-red upconversion emission in Tm3+/Yb3+/Ho3+ co-doped CeO2 with potential application for improvement of efficiency in solar cells

The preparation of Tm3+/Yb3+/Ho3+ co-doped CeO2 prepared by the precipitation method using ammonium hydroxide as a precursor is presented. By X-ray diffraction the materials show the phase-type of fluorite structure and the crystallite sizes were calculated by the Scherrer's equation. No other phase was observed evincing that the rare earth ions were inserted into the fluorite phase as substitutional or interstitial dopants. The microstrain calculated by the Williamson-Hall method do not show significant changes in their values, indicating that the inclusion of rare earths does not causes structural changes in the CeO2 used as a host matrix. All material showed intense upconversion emission at red and green region under excitation with diode laser at 980 nm. The color of emission changes from green to red with increasing excitation power pump. The materials showed suitable photoluminescent properties for applications as a laser source, solar cells, and great emitter at 800 nm. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Studies on structural, morphological and electrical properties of Ce1-xErxO2-delta (x=0.05-0.20) as solid electrolyte for IT - SOFC

A series of four different powders ceria doped Ce1-xErxO2-delta (0.05 <= x <= 0.20) were synthesized by applying self-propagating reaction at room temperature (SPRT method). SPRT procedure is based on the self-propagating room temperature reaction between metal nitrates and sodium hydroxide, wherein the reaction is spontaneous and terminates extremely fast. The method is known to assure very precise stoichiometry of the final product in comparison with a tailored composition. XRPD, Raman spectroscopy, TEM and BET measurements were used to characterize the nanopowders at room temperature. It was shown that all obtained powders were single phase solid solutions with a fluorite-type crystal structure and all powder particles have nanometric size (about 3-4 nm). Densification was performed at 1550 degrees C, in an air atmosphere for 2 h. XRPD, SEM and complex impedance method measurements were carried out on sintered samples. Single phase form was evidenced for each sintered materials. The best value of conductivity at 700 degrees C amounted to 1.10 x 10(-2) Omega(-1) cm(-1) for Ce0.85Er0.O-3(2-delta) sample. Corresponding activation energies of conductivity amounted to 0.28 eV in the temperature range 500-700 degrees C. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Theoretical study of the stoichiometric and reduced Ce-Doped TiO2 anatase (001) surfaces

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Field-scale spatial correlation between contents of iron oxides and CO2 emission in an Oxisol cultivated with sugarcane

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Non ohmic gigahertz conductivity in pressed pellets of ClO4 doped poly(3-methylthiophene)

ESR measurements In pressed pellets of doped Poly(3-Methylthiophene)(P3MT) were performed at 10 K and 50 K after cooling the system slowly from room temperature to 110 K, quenching to 77 K and then to 10 K. ESR line asymmetry (A/B) as a function of microwave power was observed and 9.4 GHz conductivity was obtained from Dyson's theory. The data is discussed in terms of Charge-Density Wave (CDW) depinning. At 50 K the threshold electric field is estimated to be less than 1 V/cm. At 10 K a subtle pinning of the CDW was observed around 15 mW.

The crystal field strength parameter and the maximum splitting of the 7F1 manifold of the Eu3+ ion in oxides

We examine, from both the experimental and theoretical point of view, the behavior of the maximum splitting ΔE, of the 7F1 manifold of the Eu3+ ion as a function of the so-called crystal field strength parameter, Nv, in a series of oxides. In connection with the original theory that describes the relation between ΔE and Nv, a more consistent procedure to describe this relation is presented for the cases of small total angular momentum J. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment. © 1995.

Origin of spin incommensurability in hole-doped S=1 Y2-xCaxBaNiO5 chains

Spin incommensurability (IC) has been recently experimentally discovered in the hole-doped Ni-oxide chain compound Y2-xCaxBaNiO5 [G. Xu et al., Science 289, 419 (2000)]. Here a two orbital model for this material is studied using computational techniques. Spin IC is observed in a wide range of densities and couplings. The phenomenon originates in antiferromagnetic correlations across holes dynamically generated to improve hole movement, as it occurs in the one-dimensional Hubbard model and in recent studies of the two-dimensional extended t-J model. The close proximity of ferromagnetic and phase-separated states in parameter space is also discussed.

Structural characterization of Li-MN doped powders prepared by Pechini's method

Pechini's method has been successfully used to prepare Li-doped MgNb2O6(MN) at short time and low temperature. It consists in the preparation of metal citrate solution, which is polymerized at 250°C to form a high viscous resin. This resin was burned in a box type furnace at 400°C/2h and ground in a mortar. Successive steps of calcination up to 900°C were used to form a crystalline precursor. SEM, DTA and XRD were used to characterize the powders. MN precursor powders containing from 0.1 to 5.0 mol% of LiNbO3 additive was prepared aiming better dielectric properties and microstructural characteristics of the PMN prepared from columbite route. SEM analysis showed that particles increased by sintering, forming large agglomerates. The surface area is also substantially reduced with the increase in additive amount above 1.0 mol%. In XRD pattern of the precursor material with 5.0 mol% of additive was observed the LiNbO3 phase of trigonal structure. XRD data were used for Rietveld refinement and a decrease in microstrain and pronounced increase in crystallite size with the increase of LiNbO3 were observed. It is in agreement with the particle morphologies observed by SEM analysis.

Optical characterization of europium-doped indium hydroxide nanocubes obtained by Microwave-Assisted Hydrothermal method

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Detection of several carbohydrates using boron-doped diamond electrodes modified with nickel hydroxide nanoparticles

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Oxygen Interstitial Dynamics in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) Oxides Measured by Mechanical Spectroscopy

Many researchers became interested in the discovery of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) oxides with critical temperature of around 80 K. It is known that the critical temperature is related to the CuO2 planes of the material. For this reason, the study of the interstitial oxygen in these oxides is of great relevance. The samples were prepared by means of conventional solid state reactions, through the stoichiometric mixture of precursory powders. After the sinterization, the samples were submitted to measurements of density, electrical resistivity, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy, with the objective of performing their characterization. The measurements of mechanical spectroscopy were performed by a torsion pendulum. The results show three relaxation processes in the temperature range of 200 and 700 K, with activation energy of approximately 0.9 eV, which has been attributed to the dynamics of the interstitial oxygen present in the material.