Interface-induced enhanced room temperature ferromagnetism in hybrid transition metal dichalcogenides.

Magnetic semiconductors with both electron charge and spin features exhibit tremendous potential in spintronics. Although defective transition-metal dichalcogenides are promising with induced room temperature (RT) magnetic moments, impacts of the defect type and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, two strategies involving elemental substitution and epitaxial growth have been explored to synthesize alloyed and hybrid MoSe2-xSx with lattice distortion and artificial interfaces respectively. Both experimental measurements and first-principle calculations demonstrate induced magnetism in the resultant MoSe2-xSx with the magnetization intensity closely associated to the atomic structure. The alloyed MoSe2-xSx exhibits satisfactory structural stability and atomic magnetic moments due to the Mo 4d orbital splitting induced by lattice distortion. Nevertheless, both enhanced RT ferromagnetism and thermomagnetic stability can be achieved for the hybrid MoSe2-xSx resulted from stronger localized spin polarization at the MoSe2/MoS2 interfaces. As such the work not only sheds light on the mechanisms underlying defect-induced ferromagnetism in transition-metal dichalcogenides, but also proposes an interface engineering strategy to induce significant ferromagnetism for multi-fields including spintronics, multiferroics and valleytronics.

Classification and Prediction of Skyrmion Material Based on Machine Learning.

The discovery and study of skyrmion materials play an important role in basic frontier physics research and future information technology. The database of 196 materials, including 64 skyrmions, was established and predicted based on machine learning. A variety of intrinsic features are classified to optimize the model, and more than a dozen methods had been used to estimate the existence of skyrmion in magnetic materials, such as support vector machines, k-nearest neighbor, and ensembles of trees. It is found that magnetic materials can be more accurately divided into skyrmion and non-skyrmion classes by using the classification of electronic layer. Note that the rare earths are the key elements affecting the production of skyrmion. The accuracy and reliability of random undersampling bagged trees were 87.5% and 0.89, respectively, which have the potential to build a reliable machine learning model from small data. The existence of skyrmions in LaBaMnO is predicted by the trained model and verified by micromagnetic theory and experiments.

The Role of Empathic Communication in the Relationship between Servant Leadership and Workplace Loneliness: A Serial Mediation Model.

Researchers have increasingly concentrated on loneliness in the workplace as a crucial factor influencing the mental health of employees and the viability of telework. In contrast, the current understanding of the strategies mitigating workplace loneliness and how leaders utilize their behaviors to impact followers' loneliness remains limited. Since servant leadership values the emotional needs of followers and displays a high level of empathy, this study investigated the direct and indirect effects of servant leadership on workplace loneliness. In this study, 267 employees (mean age = 31.5 years) from 28 provinces in China were recruited to participate in this survey. We proposed that servant leaders motivate their own empathic communication and other followers' empathic communication to reduce lonely followers' workplace loneliness. This research further examined the relationship between the leader's and colleagues' empathic communication, and the two jointly mediate the connection between servant leadership and followers' workplace loneliness. We constructed a serial mediation model to examine the relationships between servant leadership, leader's empathic communication, colleagues' empathic communication, and workplace loneliness. The results indicate that servant leadership creates a cycle of empathy and provides insights into building a culture of empathy to improve employee well-being.

Fabrication of CdS/Ti3C2/g-C3N4NS Z-scheme composites with enhanced visible light-driven photocatalytic activity.

The Ti3C2 and g-C3N4NS were obtained first, and the CdS/Ti3C2/g-C3N4NS Z-scheme composites were prepared via a facile hydrothermal synthesis, and their photocatalytic properties were investigated. The g-C3N4NS with a high surface area displayed higher adsorption and degradation capacity. Compared with Ti3C2/g-C3N4NS and CdS, the visible light photocatalytic activity of CdS/Ti3C2/g-C3N4NS composites was improved. The as-synthesized CTN-4:1 composite exhibited outstanding photocatalytic performance for degradation of orange II, approximately 3.2 and 10.7 times higher than that of Ti3C2/g-C3N4NS and CdS, respectively. The fabrication of CdS/Ti3C2/g-C3N4NS Z-scheme heterostructure using Ti3C2 as electron transfer medium improved the separation ability of the photoinduced e--h+ pairs, thereby leading to the improvement of visible light-driven photocatalytic activity. This finding provides new insights into the construction of high efficiency Z-scheme heterostructure photocatalyst.

Development of Necrobia rufipes (De Geer, 1775) (Coleoptera: Cleridae) under constant temperatures and its implication in forensic entomology.

After the death of humans or animals, the odors released at different stages of decay attract various insects, and other arthropods, to the corpses. Therefore, the development of insects, and other arthropods present on corpses, can be assessed to estimate the minimum postmortem interval since death. In general, necrophagous blow flies are the insects that first colonize corpses. With progressing decay, other necrophagous and predatory insects arrive at the corpses, which will develop on or around these either by feeding directly on the corpses or by prey on other immature insects. Beetles (Coleoptera) mainly arrive at the corpses during the later stages of decay, and play important roles in cases with longer postmortem intervals. Necrobia rufipes (De Geer, 1755) (Coleoptera: Cleridae) is an important stored-product species with world-wide distribution. Moreover, it is also a forensically important insect species. At temperatures of 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, and 36°C (±0.5°C), the developmental periods from egg to adult were 113.20±2.96, 66.16±3.22, 50.61±1.95, 38.26±2.48, 37.97±2.40, and 31.20±2.11 days, respectively. In vivo measurements obtained the morphological indexes of larvae. The growth curve and the equation of the relationship between development time, body lengths, and mesonotum widths were simulated. The isomorphen diagram model, the isomegalen diagram model, and the thermal summation model were established. In addition, the widths of head capsules and pronota of larvae at different instars were determined by cluster analysis. Classifiers were created and validated by linear discriminant analysis.

Chemically Inhomogeneous RE-Fe-B Permanent Magnets with High Figure of Merit: Solution to Global Rare Earth Criticality.

The global rare earth (RE) criticality, especially for those closely-relied Nd/Pr/Dy/Tb in the 2:14:1-typed permanent magnets (PMs), has triggered tremendous attempts to develop new alternatives. Prospective candidates La/Ce with high abundance, however, cannot provide an equivalent performance due to inferior magnetic properties of (La/Ce)2Fe14B to Nd2Fe14B. Here we report high figure-of-merit La/Ce-rich RE-Fe-B PMs, where La/Ce are inhomogeneously distributed among the 2:14:1 phase. The resultant exchange coupling within an individual grain and magnetostatic interactions across grains ensure much superior performance to the La/Ce homogeneously distributed magnet. Maximum energy product (BH)max of 42.2 MGOe is achieved even with 36 wt. % La-Ce incorporation. The cost performance, (BH)max/cost, has been raised by 27.1% compared to a 48.9 MGOe La/Ce-free commercial magnet. The construction of chemical heterogeneity offers recipes to develop commercial-grade PMs using the less risky La/Ce, and also provides a promising solution to the REs availability constraints.

Manipulating Ce Valence in RE2Fe14B Tetragonal Compounds by La-Ce Co-doping: Resultant Crystallographic and Magnetic Anomaly.

Abundant and low-cost Ce has attracted considerable interest as a prospective alternative for those critically relied Nd/Pr/Dy/Tb in the 2:14:1-type permanent magnets. The (Nd, Ce)2Fe14B compound with inferior intrinsic magnetic properties to Nd2Fe14B, however, cannot provide an equivalent magnetic performance. Since Ce valence is sensitive to local steric environment, manipulating it towards the favorable trivalent state provides a way to enhance the magnetic properties. Here we report that such a desirable Ce valence can be induced by La-Ce co-doping into [(Pr, Nd)1-x(La, Ce)x]2.14Fe14B (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) compounds via strip casting. As verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results, Ce valence shifts towards the magnetically favorable Ce(3+) state in the composition range of x > 0.3, owing to the co-doping of large radius La(3+) into 2:14:1 phase lattice. As a result, both crystallographic and magnetic anomalies are observed in the same vicinity of x = 0.3, above which lattice parameters a and c, and saturation magnetization Ms increase simultaneously. Over the whole doping range, 2:14:1 tetragonal structure forms and keeps stable even at 1250 K. This finding may shed light on obtaining a favorable Ce valence via La-Ce co-doping, thus maintaining the intrinsic magnetic properties of 2:14:1-type permanent magnets.

Structural, electron transportation and magnetic behavior transition of metastable FeAlO granular films.

Metal-insulator granular film is technologically important for microwave applications. It has been challenging to obtain simultaneous high electrical resistivity and large saturation magnetization due to the balance of insulating non-magnetic and metallic magnetic components. FeAlO granular films satisfying both requirements have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The as-deposited film exhibits a high resistivity of 3700 µΩ∙cm with a negative temperature coefficient despite that Fe content (0.77) exceeds the percolation threshold. This originates from its unique microstructure containing amorphous Fe nanoparticles embedded in Al2O3 network. By optimizing the annealing conditions, superior electromagnetic properties with enhanced saturation magnetization (>1.05 T), high resistivity (>1200 µΩ∙cm) and broadened Δf (>3.0 GHz) are obtained. Phase separation with Al2O3 aggregating as inclusions in crystallized Fe(Al) matrix is observed after annealing at 673 K, resulting in a metallic-like resistivity. We provide a feasible way to achieve both high resistivity and large saturation magnetization for the FeAlO films with dominating metallic component and show that the microstructure can be tuned for desirable performance.