A Strain-Driven Antiferroelectric-to-Ferroelectric Phase Transition in La-Doped BiFeO3 Thin Films on Si.

A strain-driven orthorhombic (O) to rhombohedral (R) phase transition is reported in La-doped BiFeO3 thin films on silicon substrates. Biaxial compressive epitaxial strain is found to stabilize the rhombohedral phase at La concentrations beyond the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). By tailoring the residual strain with film thickness, we demonstrate a mixed O/R phase structure consisting of O phase domains measuring tens of nanometers wide within a predominant R phase matrix. A combination of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), polarization-electric field hysteresis loop (P-E loop), and polarization maps reveal that the O-R structural change is an antiferroelectric to ferroelectric (AFE-FE) phase transition. Using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), an atomically sharp O/R MPB is observed. Moreover, X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) and X-ray linear dichroism (XLD) measurements reveal a change in the antiferromagnetic axis orientation from out of plane (R-phase) to in plane (O-phase). These findings provide direct evidence of spin-charge-lattice coupling in La-doped BiFeO3 thin films. Furthermore, this study opens a new pathway to drive the AFE-FE O-R phase transition and provides a route to study the O/R MPB in these films.

Interface Engineering of Domain Structures in BiFeO3 Thin Films.

A wealth of fascinating phenomena have been discovered at the BiFeO3 domain walls, examples such as domain wall conductivity, photovoltaic effects, and magnetoelectric coupling. Thus, the ability to precisely control the domain structures and accurately study their switching behaviors is critical to realize the next generation of novel devices based on domain wall functionalities. In this work, the introduction of a dielectric layer leads to the tunability of the depolarization field both in the multilayers and superlattices, which provides a novel approach to control the domain patterns of BiFeO3 films. Moreover, we are able to study the switching behavior of the first time obtained periodic 109° stripe domains with a thick bottom electrode. Besides, the precise controlling of pure 71° and 109° periodic stripe domain walls enable us to make a clear demonstration that the exchange bias in the ferromagnet/BiFeO3 system originates from 109° domain walls. Our findings provide future directions to study the room temperature electric field control of exchange bias and open a new pathway to explore the room temperature multiferroic vortices in the BiFeO3 system.

Improved adsorption of Congo red by nanostructured flower-like Fe(II)-Fe(III) hydroxy complex.

Amorphous Fe(II)-Fe(III) hydroxy complex with flower-like nanostructure was synthesized by ferric reduction using a microwave-assisted ethylene glycol approach. Here we investigated the correlation between its chemical composition and the removal rate for Congo red (CR) dye. The results showed that the amorphous complex had similar reduction and anion exchange capacities to the green rust. Due to the synergistic effect of attractive electrostatic interaction, anion exchange, ferrous redox and hydrogen bonding, the Fe(II)-Fe(III) hydroxy complex exhibited strong adsorption of CR with an estimated adsorption capacity up to 513 mg g-1. In contrast, the Fe(III) hydroxy complex had an adsorption capacity of 296 mg g-1 because of the predominant mechanism based on the electrostatic interaction. The present study provides a facile synthesis of nanostructured iron hydroxy complex, with superior performance in adsorbing CR.

Effect of Pt on Stress Rupture Properties of Pt-Modified Nickel Aluminide Coatings at 1100 °C.

Platinum plays a crucial role in the superior high-temperature oxidation resistance of Pt-modified nickel aluminide (PtAl) coatings. However, PtAl coatings usually serve in thermo-mechanical coupling environments. To investigate whether Pt contributes to the high-temperature mechanical properties of PtAl coating, stress rupture tests under 1100 °C/100 MPa were performed on PtAl coatings with varying Pt contents. The different coatings were obtained by changing the thickness of the electroplated Pt layer, followed by a diffusion heat treatment and the aluminizing process in the present work. The results of the stress rupture tests indicated that an increasing Pt content resulted in a significant decrease in the stress rupture life of PtAl-coated superalloys under 1100 °C/100 MPa. Theoretical calculations and microstructural analysis suggested that an increased coating thickness due to the Pt content is not the main reason for this decline. It was found that the cracks generated close to the substrate in high-Pt-coated superalloys accelerated the fracture failure.

Low-temperature synthesis and nanomagnetism of large-area alpha-Fe2O3 nanobelts.

Large-area one dimensional (1D) alpha-Fe2O3 nanostructures were grown on iron substrates by catalyst-free thermal oxidation process at low temperatures in air. The structure characterization revealed that the nanostructures are single crystalline alpha-Fe2O3. Two kinds of alpha-Fe2O3 nanostructures, nanobelts and nanoflakes, were obtained due to the different growth temperature range. A surface diffusion mechanism is proposed to account for the nanobelts and nanoflakes growth. The Morin temperature T(M) of pure 1D alpha-Fe2O3 nanostructures is 121 K, which is far below their bulk counterparts. The coercive field depends on temperature, and takes values 471 Oe at 5 K and about 260 Oe when the temperature is greater than T(M), respectively.

Enhanced degradation performance of Fe75B12.5Si12.5 amorphous alloys on azo dye.

The Fe75B12.5Si12.5 and Fe75B12.5C12.5 amorphous alloy ribbons were prepared by the melt spinning method. The decolorization performances of these ribbons were investigated in details. It is found that the Fe75B12.5C12.5 amorphous ribbons and Fe75B12.5Si12.5 annealed ribbons only adsorbed the azo dye molecules, with no chemical degradation process. However, the Fe75B12.5Si12.5 amorphous ribbons can reduce -N = N- to -NH2 because of their high reactivity and the local galvanic effect that occurred during the reaction to accelerate electron transfer. The reaction rate constant kobs is 0.0872 min-1, 0.0474 min-1, and 0.0064 min-1 for Fe75B12.5Si12.5 amorphous ribbons, Fe75B12.5C12.5 amorphous ribbons, and Fe75B12.5Si12.5 annealed ribbons in the same condition, respectively. Fe75B12.5Si12.5 amorphous ribbons can effectively degrade Acid Orange II (AO II) azo dyes and achieve decolorization by breaking azo bonds in the dye in a short time, indicating the prominent capacity of Fe75B12.5Si12.5 ribbons on the degradation of AO II. Furthermore, the influence of chemical factors such as ribbons thickness, reaction temperature, initial pH, and AO II concentration of the solution on the reaction rate constant kobs of Fe75B12.5Si12.5 amorphous ribbons had also been studied. The kobs can reach 0.177 min-1 under optimal conditions. In addition, all the degradation processes in this work were fitted well with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The results are guidance for the practical applications, and they have important implications in developing Fe-based amorphous alloys for functional application materials in the field of wastewater treatment.

The Preparation of High Saturation Magnetization and Low Coercivity Feco Soft Magnetic Thin Films via Controlling the Thickness and Deposition Temperature.

FeCo thin films with high saturation magnetization (4 πMs) can be applied in high-frequency electronic devices such as thin film inductors and microwave noise suppressors. However, due to its large magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant and magnetostrictive coefficient of FeCo, the coercivity (Hc) of FeCo films is generally high, which is detrimental to the soft magnetic properties. Meanwhile, the thickness and deposition temperature have significant effects on the coercivity and saturation magnetization of FeCo films. In this paper, FeCo thin films with different thicknesses were prepared by magnetron sputtering at different temperatures. The effects of thickness and deposition temperature on the microstructure and magnetic properties of FeCo thin films were systematically studied. When the film thickness increases from 50 nm to 800 nm, the coercivity would decrease from 309 Oe to 160 Oe. However, the saturation magnetization decreases from 22.1 kG to 15.3 kG. After that, we try to further increase the deposition temperature from room temperature (RT) to 475 °C. It is intriguing to find that the coercivity greatly decreased from 160 Oe to 3 Oe (decreased by 98%), and the saturation magnetization increased from 15.3 kG to 23.5 kG (increased by 53%) for the film with thickness of 800 nm. For the film with thickness of 50 nm, the coercivity also greatly decreased from 309 Oe to 10 Oe (decreased by 96%), but the saturation magnetization did not change significantly. It is contributed to the increase of deposition temperature, which will lead to the increase of grain size and the decrease of the number of grain boundaries. And the coercivity decreases as the number of grain boundaries decreases. Meanwhile, for the thicker films, when increasing the deposition temperature the thermal stress increases, which changes the appearance of (200) texture, and the saturation magnetization increases. Whereas, it has a negligible effect on the orientation of thin films with small thickness (50 nm). This indicates that high-temperature deposition is beneficial to the soft magnetic properties of FeCo thin films, particularly for the films with larger thickness. This FeCo thin film with high saturation magnetization and low coercivity could be an ideal candidate for high-frequency electronic devices.

Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of Ca3-xAgxCo4O9 by the Sol⁻Gel Method with Spontaneous Combustion and Cold Isostatic Pressing.

In this study, Ca3-xAgxCo4O9 ceramics were synthesized by the sol⁻gel method combined with spontaneous combustion and cold isostatic pressing. The Ca3-xAgxCo4O9 ceramics were characterized via X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Thermoelectric properties of the ceramics were measured from 323 to 673 K. The results indicated that Ag doping significantly affected the microstructure and thermoelectric properties. With the increase in Ag content and gradual increase in electrical conductivity, the Seebeck coefficient first increased and then decreased, whereas the thermal conductivity exhibited the opposite case. The figure of merit, ZT, was 0.17 at 673 K for the Ca2.8Ag0.2Co4O9 sample. These results indicated that the thermoelectric properties could be optimized remarkably with the substitution of Ag.