Raman spectra of KTP crystal in an in situ electric field

Raman spectra of the KTP single crystal are recorded in electric fields (dc and ac) applied along the polar axis c. Spectra with the laser beam focused near the cathode end, anode end and the centre of the crystal are recorded. The cathode end of the crystal develops a spot ‘grey track’ where the laser beam is focused after a lapse of 5 h from the application of a dc electric field of 38 V/cm. The spectra recorded at the cathode end after the application of field show variations in intensity of bands. A new band appears at 177 cm21. Changes in band intensities are explained on the basis of changes in polarizability of the crystal due to the movement of K1 ions along the polar axis. K1 ions accumulate at the cathode end, where the ‘Grey track’ formation occurs. The intensity enhancement observed for almost all bands in the ac field is attributed to the improvement of crystalline quality.

Electric field induced short range to long range structural ordering and its influence on the Eu+3 photoluminescence in the lead-free ferroelectric Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3

Eu+3 was incorporated into the lattice of a lead-free ferroelectric Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 (NBT) as per the nominal formula Na0.5Bi0.5-xEuxTiO3. This system was investigated with regard to the Eu+3 photoluminescence (PL) and structural behaviour as a function of composition and electric field. Electric field was found to irreversibly change the features in the PL spectra and also in the x-ray diffraction patterns below the critical composition x = 0.025. Detailed analysis revealed that below the critical composition, electric field irreversibly suppresses the structural heterogeneity inherent of the host matrix NBT and brings about a long range ferroelectric state with rhombohedral (R3c) distortion. It is shown that the structural disorder on the nano-scale opens a new channel for radiative transition which manifests as a new emission line branching off from the main D-5(0)-> F-7(0) line along with a concomitant change in the relative intensity of the other crystal field induced Stark lines with different J values. The study suggests that Eu+3 luminescence can be used to probe the relative degree of field induced structural ordering in relaxor ferroelectrics and also in high performance piezoelectric alloys where electric field couples very strongly with the lattice and structural degrees of freedom. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

I. Electronic processes in α-sulfur. II. Polaron motion in a D.C. electric field

Part I: The mobilities of photo-generated electrons and holes in orthorhombic sulfur are determined by drift mobility techniques. At room temperature electron mobilities between 0.4 cm²/V-sec and 4.8 cm²/V-sec and hole mobilities of about 5.0 cm²/V-sec are reported. The temperature dependence of the electron mobility is attributed to a level of traps whose effective depth is about 0.12 eV. This value is further supported by both the voltage dependence of the space-charge-limited, D.C. photocurrents and the photocurrent versus photon energy measurements.

As the field is increased from 10 kV/cm to 30 kV/cm a second mechanism for electron transport becomes appreciable and eventually dominates. Evidence that this is due to impurity band conduction at an appreciably lower mobility (4.10^-4 cm²/V-sec) is presented. No low mobility hole current could be detected. When fields exceeding 30 kV/cm for electron transport and 35 kV/cm for hole transport are applied, avalanche phenomena are observed. The results obtained are consistent with recent energy gap studies in sulfur.

The theory of the transport of photo-generated carriers is modified to include the case of appreciable thermos-regeneration from the traps in one transit time.

Part II: An explicit formula for the electric field E necessary to accelerate an electron to a steady-state velocity v in a polarizable crystal at arbitrary temperature is determined via two methods utilizing Feynman Path Integrals. No approximation is made regarding the magnitude of the velocity or the strength of the field. However, the actual electron-lattice Coulombic interaction is approximated by a distribution of harmonic oscillator potentials. One may be able to find the “best possible” distribution of oscillators using a variational principle, but we have not been able to find the expected criterion. However, our result is relatively insensitive to the actual distribution of oscillators used, and our E-v relationship exhibits the physical behavior expected for the polaron. Threshold fields for ejecting the electron for the polaron state are calculated for several substances using numerical results for a simple oscillator distribution.

Hierarchical orientation of crystallinity by block-copolymer patterning and alignment in an electric field

Electron and hole conducting 10-nm-wide polymer morphologies hold great promise for organic electro-optical devices such as solar cells and light emitting diodes. The self-assembly of block-copolymers (BCPs) is often viewed as an efficient way to generate such materials. Here, a functional block copolymer that contains perylene bismide (PBI) side chains which can crystallize via π-π stacking to form an electron conducting microphase is patterned harnessing hierarchical electrohydrodynamic lithography (HEHL). HEHL film destabilization creates a hierarchical structure with three distinct length scales: (1) micrometer-sized polymer pillars, containing (2) a 10-nm BCP microphase morphology that is aligned perpendicular to the substrate surface and (3) on a molecular length scale (0.35-3 nm) PBI π-π-stacks traverse the HEHL-generated plugs in a continuous fashion. The good control over BCP and PBI alignment inside the generated vertical microstructures gives rise to liquid-crystal-like optical dichroism of the HEHL patterned films, and improves the electron conductivity across the film by 3 orders of magnitude. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Study on single crystals of butyl branched polyethylene in the presence of electric field

Single crystal of butyl branched polyethylene with various molecular weight formed from the melt in the presence of electric field was studied. It was found that electric field influenced morphology and structure of the butyl branched polyethylene single crystals formed. The lateral habits of the single crystals were circular shape, which was different from truncated lozenge or lenticular shape single crystals formed from the melt in the absence of electric field. The stems in the single crystals formed in the presence Of electric field were perpendicular to the basal plane of the single crystals, which was different from chain tilting in single crystals formed from the melt in the absence of electric field. The electron diffraction patterns showed that the structure of the circular single crystals was a quasi-hexagonal with looser chain packing. This looser chain packing was favorable to thickening growth of single crystals through chain sliding diffusion. The thickness of the single crystals was much larger and depended on molecular weight. It indicated that the single crystal in the presence of electric field should be an extended chain type Single crystal.

Melt crystallization of poly(ether ether ketone ketone) under strong electric field

In this paper, melt crystallization of poly(ether ether ketone ketone) (PEEKK) under strong electric field was investigated. In the crystal structure of PEEKK, the length of c axis was found to he 1.075 nm, increasing by 7% compared to that of PEEKK crystallized without strong electric field. The molecule chains might take a more extended conformation through the opening of the bridge bond angles by increasing from 124 degrees to 144 degrees under strong electric field in the crystal structure.

Is the electrochemically-induced crystallization in lead oxifluoroborate glasses indeed an electrode- or/and an electric field-promoted phenomenon?

While evidence of ion reduction at the cathode has been given, proof of anode activity, in order to account completely for the redox-type electrochemical mechanism so far postulated to originate the electric field-induced non-spontaneous crystallization observed in glasses, is still lacking. This study demonstrates that direct contact of both cathode and anode electrodes with the material is mandatory to promote crystal nucleation. The electrochemical process of concern is established here to involve a solid-state process, electrolytic in nature. (C) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temperature and electric field dependent mobility in poly„3-hexylthiophene diodes

Current-voltage (I-V) curves of Poly(3-hexyl-thiophene) (P3HT) diodes have been collected to investigate the polymer hole-dominated charge transport. At room temperature and at low electric fields the I-V characteristic is purely Ohmic whereas at medium-high electric fields, experimental data shows that the hole transport is Trap Dominated - Space Charge Limited Current (TD-SCLC). In this regime, it is possible to extract the I-V characteristic of the P3HT/Al junction showing the ideal Schottky diode behaviour over five orders of magnitude. At high-applied electric fields, holes’ transport is found to be in the trap free SCLC regime. We have measured and modelled in this regime the holes’ mobility to evaluate its dependence from the electric field applied and the temperature of the device.

Reversed bias Pt/nanostructured ZnO Schottky diode with enhanced electric field for hydrogen sensing

In this paper, the effect of electric field enhancement on Pt/nanostructured ZnO Schottky diode based hydrogen sensors under reverse bias condition has been investigated. Current-voltage characteristics of these diodes have been studied at temperatures from 25 to 620 °C and their free carrier density concentration was estimated by exposing the sensors to hydrogen gas. The experimental results show a significantly lower breakdown voltage in reversed bias current-voltage characteristics than the conventional Schottky diodes and also greater lateral voltage shift in reverse bias operation than the forward bias. This can be ascribed to the increased localized electric fields emanating from the sharp edges and corners of the nanostructured morphologies. At 620 °C, voltage shifts of 114 and 325 mV for 0.06% and 1% hydrogen have been recorded from dynamic response under the reverse bias condition. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The correlation between electric field emission phenomenon and Schottky contact reverse bias characteristics in nanostructured systems

Two different morphologies of nanotextured molybdenum oxide were deposited by thermal evaporation. By measuring their field emission (FE) properties, an enhancement factor was extracted. Subsequently, these films were coated with a thin layer of Pt to form Schottky contacts. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics showed low magnitude reverse breakdown voltages, which we attributed to the localized electric field enhancement. An enhancement factor was obtained from the I-V curves. We will show that the enhancement factor extracted from the I-V curves is in good agreement with the enhancement factor extracted from the FE measurements.

The effect of high voltage, high frequency pulsed electric field on slain ovine cortical bone

High power, high frequency pulsed electric fields known as pulsed power (PP) has been applied recently in biology and medicine. However, little attention has been paid to investigate the application of pulse power in musculoskeletal system and its possible effect on functional behavior and biomechanical properties of bone tissue. This paper presents the first research investigating whether or not PP can be applied safely on bone tissue as a stimuli and what will be the possible effect of these signals on the characteristics of cortical bone by comparing the mechanical properties of this type of bone pre and post expose to PP and in comparison with the control samples. A positive buck‑boost converter was applied to generate adjustable high voltage, high frequency pulses (up to 500 V and 10 kHz). The functional behavior of bone in response to pulse power excitation was elucidated by applying compressive loading until failure. The stiffness, failure stress (strength) and the total fracture energy (bone toughness) were determined as a measure of the main bone characteristics. Furthermore, an ultrasonic technique was applied to determine and comprise bone elasticity before and after pulse power stimulation. The elastic property of cortical bone samples appeared to remain unchanged following exposure to pulse power excitation for all three orthogonal directions obtained from ultrasonic technique and similarly from the compression test. Nevertheless, the compressive strength and toughness of bone samples were increased when they were exposed to 66 h of high power pulsed electromagnetic field compared to the control samples. As the toughness and the strength of the cortical bone tissue are directly associated with the quality and integrity of the collagen matrix whereas its stiffness is primarily related to bone mineral content these overall results may address that although, the pulse power stimulation can influence the arrangement or the quality of the collagen network causing the bone strength and toughness augmentation, it apparently did not affect the mineral phase of the cortical bone material. The results also confirmed that the indirect application of high power pulsed electric field at 500 V and 10 kHz through capacitive coupling method was safe and did not destroy the bone tissue construction.

Tunable electric field enhancement and redox chemistry on TiO2 island films via covalent attachment to Ag or Au nanostructures

Abstract Ag-TiO2 and Au-TiO2 hybrid electrodes were designed by covalent attachment of TiO2 nanoparticles to Ag or Au electrodes via an organic linker. The optical and electronic properties of these systems were investigated using the cytochrome b5 (Cyt b5) domain of sulfite oxidase, exclusively attached to the TiO2 surface, as a Raman marker and model redox enzyme. Very strong SERR signals of Cyt b 5 were obtained for Ag-supported systems due to plasmonic field enhancement of Ag. Time-resolved surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopic measurements yielded a remarkably fast electron transfer kinetic (k = 60 s -1) of Cyt b5 to Ag. A much lower Raman intensity was observed for Au-supported systems with undefined and slow redox behavior. We explain this phenomenon on the basis of the different potential of zero charge of the two metals that largely influence the electronic properties of the TiO2 island film. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Improved fabrication of melt electrospun tissue engineering scaffolds using direct writing and advanced electric field control

Direct writing melt electrospinning is an additive manufacturing technique capable of the layer-by-layer fabrication of highly ordered 3d tissue engineering scaffolds from micron-diameter fibres. The utility of these scaffolds, however, is limited by the maximum achievable height of controlled fibre deposition, beyond which the structure becomes increasingly disordered. A source of this disorder is charge build-up on the deposited polymer producing unwanted coulombic forces. In this study we introduce a novel melt electrospinning platform with dual voltage power supplies to reduce undesirable charge effects and improve fibre deposition control. We produced and characterised several 90° cross-hatched fibre scaffolds using a range of needle/collector plate voltages. Fibre thickness was found to be sensitive only to overall potential and invariant to specific tip/collector voltage. We also produced ordered scaffolds up to 200 layers thick (fibre spacing 1 mm, diameter 40 μm) and characterised structure in terms of three distinct zones; ordered, semi-ordered and disordered. Our in vitro analysis indicates successful cell attachment and distribution throughout the scaffolds, with little evidence of cell death after seven days. This study demonstrates the importance of electrostatic control for reducing destabilising polymer charge effects and enabling the fabrication of morphologically suitable scaffolds for tissue engineering.

The relation between polarisation and electric field for trissarcosine calcium chloride

Measurement of the relation between polarisation and electric field for ferroelectric trissarcosine calcium chloride (TSCC) was made in the pressure range up to 6 kbar. The pressure dependence of the spontaneous polarisation and the coercive field were obtained, and the existence of a new pressure-induced phase and the paraelectric- ferroelectric-new phase triple point were found.