Preparation of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

Tetrahedrally bonded amorphous carbon (ta-C) and nitrogen doped (ta-C:N) films were obtained at room temperature in a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) system incorporating an off-plane double bend (S-bend) magnetic filter. The influence of the negative bias voltage applied to substrates (from -20 to -350 V) and the nitrogen background pressure (up to 10-3 Torr) on film properties was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR). The ta-C films showed sp3 fractions between 84% and 88%, and mass densities around 3.2 g/cm3 in the wide range of bias voltage studied. In contrast, the compressive stress showed a maximum value of 11 GPa for bias voltages around -90 V, whereas for lower and higher bias voltages the stress decreased to 6 GPa. As for the ta-C:N films grown at bias voltages below -200 V and with N contents up to 7%, it has been found that the N atoms were preferentially sp3 bonded to the carbon network with a reduction in stress below 8 GPa. Further increase in bias voltage or N content increased the sp2 fraction, leading to a reduction in film density to 2.7 g/cm3.

Properties of tetrahedral amorphous carbon prepared by vacuum arc deposition

The structural, optical, electrical and physical properties of amorphous carbon deposited from the filtered plasma stream of a vacuum arc were investigated. The structure was determined by electron diffraction, neutron diffraction and energy loss spectroscopy and the tetrahedral coordination of the material was confirmed. The measurements gave a nearest neighbour distance of 1.53 Å, a bond angle of 110 and a coordination number of four. A model is proposed in which the compressive stress generated in the film by energetic ion impact produces pressure and temperature conditions lying well inside the region of the carbon phase diagram within which diamond is stable. The model is confirmed by measurements of stress and plasmon energy as a function of ion energy. The model also predicts the formation of sp2-rich materials on the surface owing to stress relaxation and this is confirmed by a study of the surface plasmon energy. Some nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared and optical properties are reported and the behaviour of diodes using tetrahedral amorphous carbon is discussed. © 1991.

Tetrahedral instability in superheavy nuclei

The present study reports the possibility that the tetrahedral symmetry may manifest itself in superheavy elements through the nortaxial octupole Y-32 deformation. The calculations of nortaxial octupole bands are performed by using the Reflection Asymmetric Shell Model for some transfermium nuclei where the spectroscopic data are available, and a very good agreement between theory and experiment has been achieved.

Electrochemical studies of a lanthanide heteropoly tungstate/molybdate complex in polypyrrole film electrode and its electrocatalytic reduction of bromate

An electrode modified with a polybasic lanthanide heteropoly tungstate/molybdate complex K10H3[Nd(SiMo7W4O39)(2)] entrapped into polypyrrole (PPy) film, denoted as Nd(SiMo7W4)(2)-PPy, exhibits three couples of two-electron redox waves in pH 1-5 buffer solutions. The redox waves are surface-controlled at lower scan rates and diffusion-controlled at higher scan rates. The effects of pH on the electrochemical behavior of Nd(SiMo7W4)(2) in PPy film were investigated in detail and compared with that of Nd(SiMo7W4)(2) in aqueous solution. The various charge states of PPy during its redox process have peculiar effects on the relationship between pH and formal potentials of Nd(SiMo7W4)(2)-PPy at different acidities. The Nd(SiMo7W4)(2)-PPy cme can remarkably catalyze the electrochemical reduction of bromate with good stability. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Stable tetrahedral aluminum sites in hexagonal mesoporous aluminosilicates

A unique templating approach for the synthesis of hexagonal mesoporous aluminosilicates via self-assembly of pre-formed aluminosilcate nanoclusters with the templating micella formed by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is described. The obtained materials of MAS-5 are hydrothermally stable, which is shown by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Furthermore, as characterized by NMR technique, MAS-5 has stable tetrahedral aluminum sites that is the major contributions to the acidity of aluminosilicate molecular sieve, and on non-framework aluminium species in the samples was observed.

Heterogeneous molybdate catalysts for the generation of singlet molecular oxygen (1Δg) from H2O2

The immobilisation of molybdate on Mg,Al-LDH leads to an active, heterogeneous catalyst that generates singlet molecular oxygen from hydrogen peroxide in the absence of soluble base