Search

Room-temperature ferromagnetism has been experimentally observed in annealed rutile TiO2 single crystals when a magnetic field is applied parallel to the sample plane. By combining X-ray absorption near the edge structure spectrum and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, Ti3+-VO defect complexes (or clusters) have been identified in annealed crystals at a high vacuum. We elucidate that the unpaired 3d electrons in Ti3+ ions provide the observed room-temperature ferromagnetism. In addition, excess oxygen ions in the TiO2llattice could induce a number of Ti vacancies which obviously increase magnetic moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CS/PVA/Fe3O4 nanocomposite membranes with chainlike arrangement of Fe3O4 nanoparticles are prepared by a magnetic-field-assisted solution casting method. The aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between the microstructure of the magnetic anisotropic CS/PVA/Fe3O4 membrane and the evolved macroscopic physicochemical property. With the same doping content, the relative crystallinity of CS/PVA/Fe3O4-M is lower than that of CS/PVA/Fe3O4. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-TR) measurements indicate that there is no chemical bonding between polymer molecule and Fe3O4 nanoparticle. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles in CS/PVA/Fe3O4 and CS/PVA/Fe3O4-M are wrapped by the chains of CS/PVA, which is also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The saturation magnetization value of CS/PVA/Fe3O4-M obviously increases compared with that of non-magnetic aligned membrane, meanwhile the transmittance decreases in the UV-visible region. The o-Ps lifetime distribution provides information about the free-volume nanoholes present in the amorphous region. It is suggested that the microstructure of CS/PVA/Fe3O4 membrane can be modified in its curing process under a magnetic field, which could affect the magnetic properties and the transmittance of nanocomposite membrane. In brief, a full understanding of the relationship between the microstructure and the macroscopic property of CS/PVA/Fe3O4 nanocomposite plays a vital role in exploring and designing the novel multifunctional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doppler broadening and coincidence Doppler broadening of annihilation radiation experiments have been performed in three kinds of polyethylene glycol (PEG) membrane formed with different average molecular weight using the tunable monoenergy slow positron probe as a function of implantion energy. The obtained positron annihilation parameters are interpreted from two aspects: surface effect and differences in micro-structure or chemical environment of positron annihilation. The experimental results show that the regulation of densification of PEG molecular packing and distribution uniformity from the near surface layer to the bulk region in the film forming process can be well realized by changing its molecular weight. Combining a variable monoenergetic slow positron beam and these two positron annihilation spectroscopy methods is a powerful tool to study positron annihilation characteristics and for polymeric thin-film fine structure analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic properties and defect types of virgin and N-doped TiO2 single crystals are probed by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and positron annihilation analysis (PAS). Upon N doping, a twofold enhancement of the saturation magnetization is observed. Apparently, this enhancement is not related to an increase in oxygen vacancy, rather to unpaired 3d electrons in Ti3+, arising from titanium vacancies and the replacement of O with N atoms in the rutile structure. The production of titanium vacancies can enhance the room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM), and substitution of O with N is the onset of ferromagnetism by inducing relatively strong ferromagnetic ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is irradiated with 2.0-MeV Au2+ ions and 30-keV He+ ions. Three types of He, Au, Au + He (successively) ion irradiation are performed. The maximum damage level of a sequential dual ion beam implanted sample is smaller than single Au ion implanted sample. A comparable volume swelling is found in a sequential dual ion beam irradiated sample and it is also found in a single Au ion implanted sample. Both effects can be explained by the partial reorganization of the dislocation network into weakly damaged regions in the dual ion beam implanted YSZ. A vacancy-assisted helium trapping/diffusion mechanism in the dual ion beam irradiated condition is discussed. No phase transformation or amorphization behavior happens in all types of ion irradiated YSZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]