Characterizing Phase Separation of Amorphous Solid Dispersions Containing Imidacloprid.

Amorphous-Amorphous phase separation (AAPS) is an important phenomenon that can impede the performance of amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs). The purpose of this study was to develop a sensitive approach relying on dielectric spectroscopy (DS) to characterize AAPS in ASDs. This includes detecting AAPS, determining the size of the active ingredient (AI) discrete domains in the phase-separated systems, and accessing the molecular mobility in each phase. Using a model system consisting of the insecticide imidacloprid (IMI) and the polymer polystyrene (PS), the dielectric results were further confirmed by confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM). The detection of AAPS by DS was accomplished by identifying the decoupled structural (α-)dynamics of the AI and the polymer phase. The α-relaxation times corresponding to each phase correlated reasonably well with those of the pure components, implying nearly complete macroscopic phase separation. Congruent with the DS results, the occurrence of the AAPS was detected by means of CFM, making use of the autofluorescent property of IMI. Oscillatory shear rheology and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) detected the glass transition of the polymer phase but not that of the AI phase. Furthermore, the otherwise undesired effects of interfacial and electrode polarization, which can appear in DS, were exploited to determine the effective domain size of the discrete AI phase in this work. Here, stereological analysis of CFM images probing the mean diameter of the phase-separated IMI domains directly stayed in reasonably good agreement with the DS-based estimates. The size of phase-separated microclusters showed little variation with AI loading, implying that the ASDs have presumably undergone AAPS upon manufacturing. DSC provided further support to the immiscibility of IMI and PS, as no discernible melting point depression of the corresponding physical mixtures was detected. Moreover, no signatures of strong attractive AI-polymer interactions could be detected by mid-infrared spectroscopy within this ASD system. Finally, dielectric cold crystallization experiments of the pure AI and the 60 wt % dispersion revealed comparable crystallization onset times, hinting at a poor inhibition of the AI crystallization within the ASD. These observations are in harmony with the occurrence of AAPS. In conclusion, our multifaceted experimental approach opens new venues for rationalizing the mechanisms and kinetics of phase separation in amorphous solid dispersions.

Exploring the interplay between fibrillization and amorphous aggregation channels on the energy landscapes of tau repeat isoforms.

Filaments made up of different isoforms of tau protein are associated with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. Filaments made up of the 4R-tau isoform, which has four repeat regions (R1 to R4), are found in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, while filaments made of the 3R-tau isoform, which contains only three repeat units (R1, R3, and R4), are found in patients with Pick's disease (frontotemporal dementia). In this work, a predictive coarse-grained protein force field, the associative memory water-mediated structure and energy model (AWSEM), is used to study the energy landscapes of nucleation of the two different fibrils derived from patients with Pick's and Alzheimer's diseases. The landscapes for nucleating both fibril types contain amorphous oligomers leading to branched structures as well as prefibrillar oligomers. These two classes of oligomers differ in their structural details: The prefibrillar oligomers have more parallel in-register ß-strands, which ultimately lead to amyloid fibrils, while the amorphous oligomers are characterized by a near random ß-strand stacking, leading to a distinct amorphous phase. The landscape topography suggests that there must be significant structural reordering, or "backtracking," to transit from the amorphous aggregation channel to the fibrillization channel. Statistical mechanical perturbation theory allows us to evaluate the effects of changing concentration on the aggregation free-energy landscapes and to predict the effects of phosphorylation, which is known to facilitate the aggregation of tau repeats.

Bismuth Ferrite as an Electrocatalyst for the Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction.

Electrochemical nitrate reduction has become an appealing "waste-to-wealth" approach for sustainable NH3 synthesis owing to its mild operating conditions. However, developing catalysts with high activities and Faradaic efficiencies for this complicated eight-electron reaction is a great challenge. Herein, bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) flakes, with a distorted perovskite-type structure, are demonstrated to be excellent catalysts for electrochemical NH3 synthesis via nitrate reduction, with a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 96.85%, NH3 yield of 90.45 mg h-1 mgcat-1, at -0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode. During the nitrate reduction reaction, the crystalline BiFeO3 rapidly converts into an amorphous phase, which is stable in the long term reaction. These results open a new window for rational design of more active and durable electrocatalysts.

Crystallization Selectivity of Ribavirin Solution and Amorphous Phase.

Crystallization selectivity is an important principle in polymorph control. Ribavirin Form I, Form II, DMSO solvate, and amorphous ribavirin are prepared, and the short-range order similarities between these solid forms and ribavirin aqueous solution and DMSO solution are compared via mid-frequency Raman difference spectra (MFRDS). The crystallization process from amorphous ribavirin to Form I and from solution to amorphous phase is explained. Reasons for the difficulty in preparing the DMSO solvate are proposed. The rationale provided for the crystallization selectivity provides a foundation for the synthesis of metastable phases with a robust and convenient method.

Heterogeneous Hollow Multi-Shelled Structures with Amorphous-Crystalline Outer-Shells for Sequential Photoreduction of CO2.

Constructing delicate nano-/microreactors with tandem active sites in hierarchical architectures is a promising strategy for designing photocatalysts to realize the challenging but attractive CO2 reduction. Herein, hollow multi-shelled structure (HoMS) based microreactors with spatial ordered hetero-shells are fabricated, which achieve two-step CO2 -to-CH4 photoreduction. The multiple inner CeO2 shells increase the number of active catalytic sites to ensure efficient first-step reaction for generating CO, along with enriching the local CO concentration. The second-step CO-to-CH4 reaction is consequently induced by amorphous TiO2 (A-TiO2 ) composites on the adjacent outer-most shell, thus realizing the CO2 -to-CH4 conversion capability using one CeO2 @CeO2 /A-TiO2 HoMS. In-depth explorations in the microreactors provide compositional, structural, and interfacial guidance for engineering HoMS-based microreactors with temporally-spatially ordered shells toward efficient tandem catalysis.

Revealing the Simultaneous Effects of Conductivity and Amorphous Nature of Atomic-Layer-Deposited Double-Anion-Based Zinc Oxysulfide as Superior Anodes in Na-Ion Batteries.

Although sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are considered promising alternatives to their Li counterparts, they still suffer from challenges like slow kinetics of the sodiation process, large volume change, and inferior cycling stability. On the other hand, the presence of additional reversible conversion reactions makes the metal compounds the preferred anode materials over carbon. However, conductivity and crystallinity of such materials often play the pivotal role in this regard. To address these issues, atomic layer deposited double-anion-based ternary zinc oxysulfide (ZnOS) thin films as an anode material in SIBs are reported. Electrochemical studies are carried out with different O/(O+S) ratios, including O-rich and S-rich crystalline ZnOS along with the amorphous phase. Amorphous ZnOS with the O/(O+S) ratio of ≈0.4 delivers the most stable and considerably high specific (and volumetric) capacities of 271.9 (≈1315.6 mAh cm-3 ) and 173.1 mAh g-1 (≈837.7 mAh cm-3 ) at the current densities of 500 and 1000 mA g-1 , respectively. A dominant capacitive-controlled contribution of the amorphous ZnOS anode indicates faster electrochemical reaction kinetics. An electrochemical reaction mechanism is also proposed via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. A comparison of the cycling stability further establishes the advantage of this double-anion-based material over pristine ZnO and ZnS anodes.

A Single Hydrogen to Fluorine Substitution Reverses the Trend of Surface Composition Enrichment of Sorafenib Amorphous Solid Dispersion upon Moisture Exposure.

PURPOSE: To reveal the underlying mechanism inducing the opposite trends of surface composition enrichment of spray dried amorphous solid dispersions (ASD) of sorafenib and regorafenib, two compounds only differ in hydrogen to fluorine substitution. METHODS: Sorafenib/PVP and regorafenib/PVP ASDs were prepared by spray drying. Morphology of ASDs was visually inspected and examined by SEM. The surface compositions of ASDs were analyzed by XPS. Glass transition temperature (Tg) of ASDs was determined by DSC. Water vapor sorption isotherms of ASDs were studied by moisture sorption analyzer. Molecular interaction between the drug and the polymer was analyzed by solution NMR. RESULTS: In 10% and 20% drug loading sorafenib/PVP ASDs, short time moisture exposure induced PVP enrichment on the surface, and the appearance of initial ASDs powder became gel-like after water uptake. While in 30% sorafenib/PVP and any regorafenib/PVP ASDs regardless of drug loading, moisture exposure induced surface drug enrichment, while their powder-like appearance and average particle size remained unchanged. Meanwhile, sorafenib/PVP had similar water vapor sorption isotherms as regorafenib/PVP, before and after moisture induced phase separation. NMR study demonstrated a hex atomic ring H-bonding interaction between the drug and PVP, with a 1:1 drug: monomer stoichiometry molar ratio, which persisted in sorafenib/PVP but not regorafenib/PVP system under 95%RH moisture. CONCLUSIONS: Moisture exposure could lead to drug or polymer enrichment on the surface of ASDs, while the viability of drug-polymer interaction persisting in water environment contributed to such surface composition enrichment.

Choosing Appropriate Solvents for ASD Preparation.

Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are often used for formulating poorly water-soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). In an ASD, the amorphous API is embedded in a suitable matrix excipient in order to stabilize the amorphous state and control the dissolution performance. ASDs can be prepared by commonly dissolving the API and the polymer in a suitable organic solvent which is evaporated afterward (e.g., via spray drying) aiming at a homogeneous API distribution in the polymer matrix. Sometimes, unexpected solvent influences on the heterogeneity of the dry ASD are observed. Thermodynamic predictions using the Perturbed-Chain Statistical Associating Fluid Theory combined with experimental investigations via Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and microscopy performed in this work revealed the amorphous phase separation (APS) between the solvent and the polymer as causing the ASD heterogeneities. It will be shown that thermodynamic modeling allows for identifying appropriate solvents that will neither show APS with the polymeric excipient nor at any time of the drying process of ASD formulations.

Mutual Impact of Phase Separation/Crystallization and Water Sorption in Amorphous Solid Dispersions.

The molecular integration of poorly water soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in a suitable polymeric matrix is a possible approach to enhance the dissolution behavior and solubility of these APIs. Like all newly developed pharmaceutical formulations, these formulations (often denoted as amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs)) need to undergo storage stability tests at defined relative humidity (RH) and temperature conditions. In a previous work ( Int. J. Pharm. 2017 ; 532 , 635 - 646 ), it was shown that thermodynamic modeling can be successfully used to predict the long-term stability of ASDs against API crystallization and moisture-induced amorphous-amorphous phase separation (MIAPS). This work in turn demonstrates the prediction of water sorption in ASDs accounting for the potential occurrence of API crystallization and MIAPS. The water sorption and phase behavior of ASDs containing the APIs felodipine and ibuprofen incorporated in three different hydrophilic polymers poly(vinylpyrrolidone), poly(vinyl acetate), and poly(vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) at the conditions 25 °C/60% RH and 40 °C/75% RH were predicted using the perturbed-chain statistical-associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT). The predictions were successfully validated via two-year-lasting water sorption experiments. It was shown that crystallization of the API and MIAPS on the one hand and water sorption in the ASDs on the other hand dramatically influence each other and that this behavior can even be quantitatively predicted by PC-SAFT, which already provides valuable insights at early stages of formulation development.

Characterization of Phase Separation Propensity for Amorphous Spray Dried Dispersions.

A generalized screening approach, applying isothermal calorimetry at 37 °C 100% RH, to formulations of spray dried dispersions (SDDs) for two active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) (BMS-903452 and BMS-986034) is demonstrated. APIs 452 and 034, with similar chemotypes, were synthesized and promoted during development for oral dosing. Both APIs were formulated as SDDs for animal exposure studies using the polymer hydroxypropylmethlycellulose acetyl succinate M grade (HPMCAS-M). 452 formulated at 30% (wt/wt %) was an extremely robust SDD that was able to withstand 40 °C 75% RH open storage conditions for 6 months with no physical evidence of crystallization or loss of dissolution performance. Though 034 was a chemical analogue with similar physical chemical properties to 452, a physically stable SDD of 034 could not be formulated in HPMCAS-M at any of the drug loads attempted. This study was used to develop experience with specific physical characterization laboratory techniques to evaluate the physical stability of SDDs and to characterize the propensity of SDDs to phase separate and possibly crystallize. The screening strategy adopted was to stress the formulated SDDs with a temperature humidity screen, within the calorimeter, and to apply orthogonal analytical techniques to gain a more informed understanding of why these SDDs formulated with HPMCAS-M demonstrated such different physical stability. Isothermal calorimetry (thermal activity monitor, TAM) was employed as a primary stress screen wherein the SDD formulations were monitored for 3 days at 37 °C 100% RH for signs of phase separation and possible crystallization of API. Powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), modulated differential scanning calorimetry (mDSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) were all used to examine formulated SDDs and neat amorphous drug. 452 SDDs formulated at 30% (wt/wt %) or less did not show phase separation behavior upon exposure to 37 °C 100% RH for 3 days. 034 SDD formulations from 10 through 50% (wt/wt %) all demonstrated thermal traces consistent with exothermic phase separation events over 3 days at 37 °C 100% RH in the TAM. However, only the 15, 30, and 50% containing 034 samples showed pXRD patterns consistent with crystalline material in post-TAM samples. Isothermal calorimetry is a useful screening tool to probe robust SDD physical performance and help investigate the level of drug polymer miscibility under a humid stress. Orthogonal analytical techniques such as pXRD, ssNMR, and FTIR were key in this SDD formulation screening to gain physical understanding and confirm or refute whether physical changes occur during the observed thermal events characterized by the calorimetric screening experiments.

Phase Behavior of Ritonavir Amorphous Solid Dispersions during Hydration and Dissolution.

PURPOSE: The aim of this research was to study the interplay of solid and solution state phase transformations during the dissolution of ritonavir (RTV) amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs). METHODS: RTV ASDs with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinylpyrrolidone vinyl acetate (PVPVA) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMCAS) were prepared at 10-50% drug loading by solvent evaporation. The miscibility of RTV ASDs was studied before and after exposure to 97% relative humidity (RH). Non-sink dissolution studies were performed on fresh and moisture-exposed ASDs. RTV and polymer release were monitored using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Techniques including fluorescence spectroscopy, confocal imaging, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) were utilized to monitor solid and the solution state phase transformations. RESULTS: All RTV-PVP and RTV-PVPVA ASDs underwent moisture-induced amorphous-amorphous phase separation (AAPS) on high RH storage whereas RTV-HPMCAS ASDs remained miscible. Non-sink dissolution of PVP- and PVPVA-based ASDs at low drug loadings led to rapid RTV and polymer release resulting in concentrations in excess of amorphous solubility, liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and amorphous nanodroplet formation. High drug loading PVP- and PVPVA-based ASDs did not exhibit LLPS upon dissolution as a consequence of extensive AAPS in the hydrated ASD matrix. All RTV-HPMCAS ASDs led to LLPS upon dissolution. CONCLUSIONS: RTV ASD dissolution is governed by a competition between the dissolution rate and the rate of phase separation in the hydrated ASD matrix. LLPS was observed for ASDs where the drug release was polymer controlled and only ASDs that remained miscible during the initial phase of dissolution led to LLPS. Techniques such as fluorescence spectroscopy, confocal imaging and SEM were useful in understanding the phase behavior of ASDs upon hydration and dissolution and were helpful in elucidating the mechanism of generation of amorphous nanodroplets.

Amorphous-Amorphous Phase Separation in API/Polymer Formulations.

The long-term stability of pharmaceutical formulations of poorly-soluble drugs in polymers determines their bioavailability and therapeutic applicability. However, these formulations do not only often tend to crystallize during storage, but also tend to undergo unwanted amorphous-amorphous phase separations (APS). Whereas the crystallization behavior of APIs in polymers has been measured and modeled during the last years, the APS phenomenon is still poorly understood. In this study, the crystallization behavior, APS, and glass-transition temperatures formulations of ibuprofen and felodipine in polymeric PLGA excipients exhibiting different ratios of lactic acid and glycolic acid monomers in the PLGA chain were investigated by means of hot-stage microscopy and DSC. APS and recrystallization was observed in ibuprofen/PLGA formulations, while only recrystallization occurred in felodipine/PLGA formulations. Based on a successful modeling of the crystallization behavior using the Perturbed-Chain Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (PC-SAFT), the occurrence of APS was predicted in agreement with experimental findings.

Extensively Reversible Thermal Transformations of a Bistable, Fluorescence-Switchable Molecular Solid: Entry into Functional Molecular Phase-Change Materials.

Functional phase-change materials (PCMs) are conspicuously absent among molecular materials in which the various attributes of inorganic solids have been realized. While organic PCMs are primarily limited to thermal storage systems, the amorphous-crystalline transformation of materials like Ge-Sb-Te find use in advanced applications such as information storage. Reversible amorphous-crystalline transformations in molecular solids require a subtle balance between robust supramolecular assembly and flexible structural elements. We report novel diaminodicyanoquinodimethanes that achieve this transformation by interlinked helical assemblies coupled with conformationally flexible alkoxyalkyl chains. They exhibit highly reversible thermal transformations between bistable (crystalline/amorphous) forms, along with a prominent switching of the fluorescence emission energy and intensity.

In Situ Phase Separation-Induced Self-Healing Catalyst for Efficient Direct Seawater Electrolysis.

Direct seawater electrolysis technology for sustainable hydrogen production has garnered significant attention, owing to its abundant resource supply and economic potential. However, the complex composition and high chloride concentration of seawater have hindered its practical implementation. In this study, we report an in situ-synthesized dual-phase electrocatalyst (HPS-NiMo), comprising an amorphous phosphide protective outer phase and a crystalline alloy inner phase with supplementary sulfur active sites, to improve the kinetics of direct seawater electrolysis. The HPS-NiMo exhibits long-term stability, remaining stable for periods exceeding 120 h at 200 mA cm-2; moreover, it lowers the required operating voltage to ∼1.8 V in natural seawater. The chlorine chemistry, corrosion during direct natural seawater electrolysis, and mechanism behind the high-performing catalysts are discussed. We also investigated the possibility of recovering the anode precipitates, which inevitably occurs during seawater electrolysis.

Nature of Thermal Hysteresis of Thermoelectric Properties in Ag2TexS1-x Compounds.

Ag2TexS1-x usually undergo various phase structures upon heating or cooling processes; however, the correlation between the heat treatment, the phase structure, and the physical properties is still a controversy. Herein, three different phases are realized for Ag2TexS1-x (0.35 ≤ x ≤ 0.65) samples during the heat treatment, including the low-temperature crystalline phase, amorphous phase, and high-temperature cubic phase. The metastable amorphous phase is an intermediate phase formed during transition from the high-temperature cubic phase to the low-temperature crystalline phase upon cooling via a solid-state conversion rather than the conventional liquid quenching process. The relative content of these three phases is highly sensitive to the heat treatment process. This as-formed low-temperature crystalline phase, amorphous phase, and high-temperature cubic phase convert into the low-temperature crystalline phase and high-temperature cubic phase through long-time dwelling at the temperature below or above the transition temperature around 567 K, respectively. The status of the low-temperature crystalline phase, amorphous phase, and high-temperature cubic phase significantly affects the thermoelectric properties, resulting in the thermal hysteresis of thermoelectric properties. Below the phase transition temperature (TM), the electrical conductivity of the amorphous phase surpasses that of the low-temperature crystalline phase, which shows a growth of 112% for the Ag2Te0.60S0.40 sample annealed at 823 K in comparison with that of the sample annealed at 473 K. For Ag2Te0.50S0.50 samples annealed at 473 K, the maximum ZT value reaches 1.02 at 623 K during the initial test, while the maximum ZT value is improved to 1.34 at 523 K in the second-round test.

Electrospun Polylactide-Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Fibers: Structure Characterization and Segmental Dynamic Response.

Electrospun ultrathin fibers based on binary compositions of polylactide (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with the various content from the polymer ratio from 0/100 to 100/0 have been explored. Combining thermal (DSC) and spectropy (ESR) techniques, the effect of biopolymer content on the characteristics of the crystal structure of PLA and PCL and the rotative diffusion of the stable TEMPO radical in the intercrystallite areas of PLA/PCL compositions was shown. It was revealed that after PLA and PCL blending, significant changes in the degree of crystallinity of PLA, PCL segment mobility, sorption of the Tempo probe, as well as its activation energy of rotation in the intercrystalline areas of PLA/PCL fibers, were evaluated. The characteristic region of biopolymers' composition from 50/50 to 30/70% PLA/PCL blend ratio was found, where the inversion transition of PLA from dispersive medium to dispersive phase where an inversion transition is assumed when the continuous medium of the PLA transforms into a discrete phase. The performed studies made it possible, firstly, to carry out a detailed study of the effect of the system component ratio on the structural and dynamic characteristics of the PLA/PCL film material at the molecular level.

Comparative Study of Microstructure and Phase Composition of Amorphous-Nanocrystalline Fe-Based Composite Material Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion in Argon and Helium Atmosphere.

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a prospective and promising technique of additive manufacturing of which there is a growing interest for the development and production of Fe-based bulk metallic glasses and amorphous-nanocrystalline composites. Many factors affect the quality and properties of the resulting material, and these factors are being actively investigated by many researchers, however, the factor of the inert gas atmosphere used in the process remains virtually unexplored for Fe-based metallic glasses and composites at this time. Here, we present the results of producing amorphous-nanocrystalline composites from amorphous Fe-based powder via LPBF using argon and helium atmospheres. The analysis of the microstructures and phase compositions demonstrated that using helium as an inert gas in the LPBF resulted in a nearly three-fold increase in the amorphization degree of the material. Additionally, it had a beneficial impact on phase composition and structure in a heat-affected zone. The received results may help to develop approaches to control and improve the structural-phase state of amorphous-nanocrystalline compositional materials obtained via LPBF.

System-agnostic prediction of pharmaceutical excipient miscibility via computing-as-a-service and experimental validation.

We applied computing-as-a-service to the unattended system-agnostic miscibility prediction of the pharmaceutical surfactants, Vitamin E TPGS and Tween 80, with Copovidone VA64 polymer at temperature relevant for the pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion process. The computations were performed in lieu of running exhaustive hot melt extrusion experiments to identify surfactant-polymer miscibility limits. The computing scheme involved a massively parallelized architecture for molecular dynamics and free energy perturbation from which binodal, spinodal, and mechanical mixture critical points were detected on molar Gibbs free energy profiles at 180 °C. We established tight agreement between the computed stability (miscibility) limits of 9.0 and 10.0 wt% vs. the experimental 7 and 9 wt% for the Vitamin E TPGS and Tween 80 systems, respectively, and identified different destabilizing mechanisms applicable to each system. This paradigm supports that computational stability prediction may serve as a physically meaningful, resource-efficient, and operationally sensible digital twin to experimental screening tests of pharmaceutical systems. This approach is also relevant to amorphous solid dispersion drug delivery systems, as it can identify critical stability points of active pharmaceutical ingredient/excipient mixtures.

One-step cladding metal oxide nanowires with a carbon-dots-embedded ZnO amorphous layer toward boosted photoelectrochemical water oxidation.

An effective method was proposed for constructing carbon dots (CDs)-sensitized multijunction composite photoelectrodes via one-step cladding a CDs-embedded ZnO amorphous overlayer on vertically aligned metal oxide nanowires. This strategy involved the double role of hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) in the ethylene glycol (EG) solvent mixed with a controllable trace amount of water. In the water-deficient synthetic system, a limited portion of HMTA served as the pH buffer and hydroxyl source to force the hydrolytic process of zinc ions for the production of ZnO. The precipitated ZnO clusters were instantly capped by EG molecules through the activated alkoxidation reaction, and further crosslinked into an amorphous network surrounding the individual nanowires. Meanwhile, the excess HMTA was simultaneously depleted as the precursor for producing CDs in the EG solution through thermal condensation, which were packed in the gradually formed aggregates. We revealed that a CDs-embedded amorphous ZnO overlayer with an appropriate proportion of ingredient could be tailored through an optimal tradeoff between hydrolysis and condensation of HMTA. Benefiting from the synergy of the amorphous ZnO layer and the embedded CDs, the multijunction composite photoanodes exhibited significantly improved PEC performance and stability for water oxidation.

Spin Glass Behavior in Amorphous Cr2 Ge2 Te6 Phase-Change Alloy.

The layered crystal structure of Cr2 Ge2 Te6 shows ferromagnetic ordering at the two-dimensional limit, which holds promise for spintronic applications. However, external voltage pulses can trigger amorphization of the material in nanoscale electronic devices, and it is unclear whether the loss of structural ordering leads to a change in magnetic properties. Here, it is demonstrated that Cr2 Ge2 Te6 preserves the spin-polarized nature in the amorphous phase, but undergoes a magnetic transition to a spin glass state below 20 K. Quantum-mechanical computations reveal the microscopic origin of this transition in spin configuration: it is due to strong distortions of the CrTeCr bonds, connecting chromium-centered octahedra, and to the overall increase in disorder upon amorphization. The tunable magnetic properties of Cr2 Ge2 Te6 can be exploited for multifunctional, magnetic phase-change devices that switch between crystalline and amorphous states.