Investigation of the Defect Structure of Congruent and Fe-Doped LiNbO₃ Powders Synthesized by the Combustion Method.
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ABSTRACT: Fe-doped LiNbO₃ synthesized by the combustion method to seek new multiferroic materials exhibits room-temperature ferromagnetism, as reported in our previous work [1]. In this work, the defect structure of congruent and Fe-doped LiNbO₃ (0.57-3.3 mol %) powders was investigated in detail by several methods. The molar ratio of [Li]/([Li]+[Nb]) was determined by the Curie temperature (Tc) via DSC. Two peaks of Tc were observed due to phase splitting [2], and the phase at lower Tc disappears as the Fe doping concentration increases. The coexistence of two different oxidation states of Fe ions in LiNbO₃ was probed by XPS and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The Raman spectra exhibit displacements along the c axis of Li and Nb ions, and a deformation of the NbO₆ framework owing to Fe doping. Several doping models were applied in the Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction collected by synchrotron radiation. The fitting by the Nb vacancy model leads to an improbably distorted structure of congruent LiNbO₃. In Fe-doped LiNbO₃, we conjecture that Li and Nb vacancies coexist in the lattice structure; Fe+2/Fe+3 ions are substituted for Li ions at the regular Li site and may push the anti-site NbLi ion back to the regular Nb site.
Project description:This work reports on the spark plasma sintering (SPS) of self-propagating high-temperature-synthesis (SHS)-derived Ni-W and Ni-W-2wt%hBN (4:1 molar ratio of metals) powders. The synthesis was carried out from a mixture of NiO and WO3 using Mg + C combined reducers through a thermo-kinetic coupling approach. Experiments performed in the thermodynamically optimal area demonstrated the high sensitivity of combustion parameters and product phase composition to the amount of reducers and hBN powder. The powder precursors with and without the addition of hBN were consolidated using SPS at a temperature and pressure of 1300 °C and 50 MPa, respectively, followed by a thorough phase and microstructural characterization of the obtained specimens. SHS-derived powders comprised the nano-sized agglomerates and were characterized by a high sinterability. The specimens of >95% density were subjected to ball-on-plate dry sliding wear tests at a sliding speed of 0.1 ms-1 and a distance of 1000 m utilizing an alumina ball of 10 mm in diameter under a 15 N normal load. The tests were performed at a temperature of 800 °C. A significant improvement in wear behavior was demonstrated for SHS-processed composites in comparison with their counterparts produced via conventional high-energy ball milling technique owing to the phenomena of 'micro-polishing', cyclic 'self-healing' and fatigue. However, the decisive effect of hBN addition in imparting lubrication during an HT wear test was not confirmed.
Project description:With mounting concerns over climate change, the utilisation or conversion of carbon dioxide into sustainable, synthetic hydrocarbons fuels, most notably for transportation purposes, continues to attract worldwide interest. This is particularly true in the search for sustainable or renewable aviation fuels. These offer considerable potential since, instead of consuming fossil crude oil, the fuels are produced from carbon dioxide using sustainable renewable hydrogen and energy. We report here a synthetic protocol to the fixation of carbon dioxide by converting it directly into aviation jet fuel using novel, inexpensive iron-based catalysts. We prepare the Fe-Mn-K catalyst by the so-called Organic Combustion Method, and the catalyst shows a carbon dioxide conversion through hydrogenation to hydrocarbons in the aviation jet fuel range of 38.2%, with a yield of 17.2%, and a selectivity of 47.8%, and with an attendant low carbon monoxide (5.6%) and methane selectivity (10.4%). The conversion reaction also produces light olefins ethylene, propylene, and butenes, totalling a yield of 8.7%, which are important raw materials for the petrochemical industry and are presently also only obtained from fossil crude oil. As this carbon dioxide is extracted from air, and re-emitted from jet fuels when combusted in flight, the overall effect is a carbon-neutral fuel. This contrasts with jet fuels produced from hydrocarbon fossil sources where the combustion process unlocks the fossil carbon and places it into the atmosphere, in longevity, as aerial carbon - carbon dioxide.
Project description:ZnO and Ti-doped ZnO (Ti-ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized using rapid combustion. The morphology of ZnO and Ti-ZnO featured nanoparticles within cluster-like structures. The ZnO and Ti-ZnO structures exhibited similar hexagonal wurtzite structures and crystal sizes. This behavior occurred because Zn2+ sites of the ZnO lattice were substituted by Ti4+ ions. The chemical structure characterization implied the major vibration of the ZnO structure. The physisorption analysis showed similar mesoporous and non-rigid aggregation structures for ZnO and Ti-ZnO using N2 adsorption-desorption. However, Ti-ZnO demonstrated a specific surface area two times higher than that of ZnO. This was a major factor in improving the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB). The photocatalytic degradation analysis showed a kinetic degradation rate constant of 2.54 × 10-3 min-1 for Ti-ZnO, which was almost 80% higher than that of ZnO (1.40 × 10-3 min-1). The transformation mechanism of MB molecules into other products, including carbon dioxide, aldehyde, and sulfate ions, was also examined.
Project description:Fe3+/Nb5+ co-doped TiO2 (FeNb-TO) nanocrystalline powders were prepared by a combustion process. A pure rutile-TiO2 phase of powders and sintered ceramics with a dense microstructure was achieved. Both co-dopants were homogeneously dispersed in the ceramic microstructure. The presence of oxygen vacancies was confirmed by Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. The low-frequency dielectric permittivity enhanced as co-doping concentration increased. The thermally activated giant-dielectric relaxation of FeNb-TO ceramics was observed. Removing the outer-surface layer had a slight effect on the dielectric properties of FeNb-TO ceramics. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation showed that, in the energy preferable configuration, the 2Fe atoms are located near the oxygen vacancy, forming a triangle-shaped FeVoTi defect complex. This defect cluster was far away from the diamond-shaped 2Nb2Ti defect complex. Thus, the electron-pinned defect-dipoles (EPDD) cannot be formed. The giant-dielectric relaxation process of the FeNb-TO ceramics might be attributed to the interfacial polarization associated with electron hopping between Ti3+/Ti4+ ions inside the grains, rather than due to the surface barrier layer capacitor (SBLC) or EPDD effect.
Project description:Zirconium phosphide (ZrP) powders were synthesized by elemental combination method via the direct reaction of zirconium powders with red phosphorus, and characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, XRF, SAED and TEM measurements. The obtained ZrP powders were found to exhibit apparent activity in the ready eliminateion of nitric oxide (NO) via facile redox reactions, and the elimination dynamics was evaluated within the context of various important experimental parameters, such as reaction temperature and gas concentration. At a fixed amount of ZrP powders, an increasing amount of NO would be eliminated with increasing reaction temperature, and complete conversion of NO to N2 could be reached in the range of 700 to 800 °C. The addition of NH3 also facilitated NO elimination at a fixed reaction temperature. Furthermore, of the products of the elimination process, zirconia (ZrO2) powder is a kind of biocompatible material, red phosphorus can be used to produce safety matches, organophosphorous pesticide and phosphor bronze, and the produced N2 might be collected and used as a protective gas or be converted into liquid nitrogen for other purposes.
Project description:The stoichiometry of titanium carbide (TiCx) particles is important in determining particle properties. Spherical TiCx powders with particle sizes of 1-5 μm were produced by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) in 30 wt.% Al-, 30 wt.% Cu-, and 30 wt.% Fe-Ti-C systems, respectively. To measure the compositions of the carbide powders, atom probe tomography (APT) tip specimens were carefully prepared by using a focus ion-beam milling method. APT analysis revealed that the TiCx particles formed in Al-, Cu-, and Fe-Ti-C systems are highly substoichiometric. The results are consistent with observations of the TiCx particles with a high content of oxygen and a certain amount of secondary metallic elements (Al, Cu, and Fe).
Project description:The development of new strategies for the mass synthesis of SiC nanocrystals with high structure perfection and narrow particle size distribution remains in demand for high-tech applications. In this work, the size-controllable synthesis of the SiC 3C polytype, free of sp2 carbon, with high structure quality nanocrystals, was realized for the first time by the pyrolysis of organosilane C12H36Si6 at 8 GPa and temperatures up to 2000 °C. It is shown that the average particle size can be monotonically changed from ~2 nm to ~500 nm by increasing the synthesis temperature from 800 °C to 1400 °C. At higher temperatures, further enlargement of the crystals is impeded, which is consistent with the recrystallization mechanism driven by a decrease in the surface energy of the particles. The optical properties investigated by IR transmission spectroscopy, Raman scattering, and low-temperature photoluminescence provided information about the concentration and distribution of carriers in nanoparticles, as well as the dominant type of internal point defects. It is shown that changing the growth modes in combination with heat treatment enables control over not only the average crystal size, but also the LO phonon-plasmon coupled modes in the crystals, which is of interest for applications related to IR photonics.
Project description:Sol-gel technique is used to synthesize as-grown zinc oxide (ZnO) and iron-nickel (Fe-Ni) co-doped ZnO thin films deposited on glass substrates using dip coating technique. The structural properties and crystal imperfections of as-prepared thin films are investigated. We performed the structural analysis of films using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD analysis reveal that the as-prepared films exhibit wurtzite structure. Furthermore, XRD-line profile analysis is performed to study the correlation between structural properties and imperfections of the nanocomposite thin films. The crystallite size and microstrains parameters are predicted using the Williamson-Hall method. We found that the crystallites size increases as the co-doped (Fe-Ni) concentration is increased. However, microstrains of the nanocomposite films decreases as (Fe-Ni) concentration is increased. The optical properties of the (Fe-Ni) co-doped nanocomposite films are investigated by performing UV-Vis (250 nm-700 nm) spectrophotometer measurements. We found that as the (Fe-Ni) concentration level is steadily increased, transmittance of the undoped ZnO thin films is decreased. Remarkably, refractive index of undoped ZnO thin films is found to exhibit values extending from 1.55 to1.88 that would increase as (Fe-Ni) concentration is increased.
Project description:Pure and Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by the sol-gel method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, BET, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results show a dependence between the crystallite size and the amount of dopant, which decreases from 13.02 to 12.81 nm. The same behavior was observed in the optical properties, where the band gap decreased from 3.2 to 2.86 eV. The arsenic (V) adsorption was tested in aqueous solution containing 5 mg/L of arsenic and 0.5 g/L of adsorbent at pH 7 and in dark conditions. The results indicate that the TiO2-B sample shows a higher arsenic removal, reaching 88% arsenic removal from the water at pH 7. Thus, it is also shown that the best performance occurs at pH 5, where it reaches an arsenic removal of 94%. Ion competition studies show that arsenic removal capacity is slightly affected by chloride, carbonate, nitrate, and sulfate ions. According to the results, the synthesized samples are a promising material for treating arsenic-contaminated water.
Project description:ZnO-based diluted magnetic semiconductors have high prospects in spintronics applications. In this study, the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe-doped MgZnO are studied by density functional theory calculations. The investigations of the band structure, total density of states, and projected density of states revealed a strong correlation between Mg and O atoms in addition to the magnetism and impurity level generated by the Fe atoms. In the spin charge density and band structure of 2.78% Fe-doped MgZnO, Fe atoms always cause paramagnetic coupling with oxygen atoms bonded around them, and when the initial magnetic moments were parallel, the band gap is broadened in the opposite channel. On the contrary, when the initial magnetic moments are anti-parallel, the band gap is narrowed in both the spin-up and spin-down channels. This shows that the initial magnetic moments have a great influence on the band structure, giving another way to tune the gap dynamically.