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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Computational Study Of Grain Structure Evolution In Cdte/Cds Via Molecular Dynamics, Sharmin Abdullah Dec 2021

Computational Study Of Grain Structure Evolution In Cdte/Cds Via Molecular Dynamics, Sharmin Abdullah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Grain structure analysis plays an important role in the identification of grain boundary characteristics, which can affect the efficiency of Cadmium Telluride/Cadmium Sulfide (CdTe/CdS) solar cells since they can act as recombination centers for carriers. Computer simulations such as molecular dynamics (MD) can be a very convenient and cost- effective method of investigating the growth evolution and grain structure of materials. The recently reported and experimentally validated MD simulated growth of polycrystalline CdTe/CdS films shows that these materials mostly consist of zinc blende (ZB) and wurtzite (WZ) structures, along with highly disordered atoms. However, little information about the semiconductor compound …


Study Of Barrier Heights And Magnetic Property Using Locally Scaled And Perdew-Zunger Self-Interaction Methods, Prakash Mishra Dec 2021

Study Of Barrier Heights And Magnetic Property Using Locally Scaled And Perdew-Zunger Self-Interaction Methods, Prakash Mishra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Kohn-Sham density functional theory is a widely used method to estimate the ground state total energies and densities of interacting correlated electronic structures of atoms, molecules, clusters, solids, and liquids. In theory, exact solutions for these properties can be obtained by solving self-consistent one-electron Schrodinger equations based on density functionals for the energy.The practical application of KS DFT require approximation to the exchange-correlation energy functional. Many density functional approximations (DFAs) have been developed with various degree of sophistication and complexity by the satisfaction of exact constraints. Depending on the complexity, these functionals include electron density, density gradients, density Laplacian, kinetic …


Structural Microheterogeneity In Ionic Liquid/Solvent Mixtures Influenced By Solvent Polarity And Ion Concentration, Babatunde Falola Aug 2021

Structural Microheterogeneity In Ionic Liquid/Solvent Mixtures Influenced By Solvent Polarity And Ion Concentration, Babatunde Falola

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) and organic solvent mixtures, in supercapacitors, have desirable properties in comparison to conventional electrolytes. We studied the nanostructural properties of mixtures of the RTIL: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (trifluoromethyl sulfonyl) imide (abbreviated to BMIM+[TSI]-), with organic solvents: acetonitrile, dichloromethane, benzene, toluene, and tetrahydrofuran. The mass percentage at which macroscopic phase separation is visible in each RTIL and solvent mixture was determined by slowly increasing the solvent concentration. Small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements, at RTIL mass percentage lower than the phase separation concentrations, were carried out to determine whether nanoheterogeneity is presently leading up to macroscopic phase separation. …


Sawtooth-Based Chromate Multiferroic - Insight Into Structure And Magnetism, Hector Cein Mandujano Aug 2021

Sawtooth-Based Chromate Multiferroic - Insight Into Structure And Magnetism, Hector Cein Mandujano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The coexistence of two order parameters is a particular occurrence in bulk single-phase materials. Such materials possessing (anti)ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, and ferroelasticity are known as multiferroics. In this work we revisit BeCr2O4, which is one of the oldest material to be studied in this context. Cr3+ occupies octahedral 4a site and Be2+ occupies tetrahedral 4c site in this compound, forming a close packing structure with a 90° and 138° Cr-O-Cr bonds allowing magnetic superexchange interactions. In the present work, BeCr2O4 powder was prepared using solid-state reaction method and the crystal structure was studied in detail using laboratory and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. …


Study Of Weakly Bound Cluster Anions Using Self Interaction Corrected Density Functional Scheme, Peter Obinna Ufondu Aug 2021

Study Of Weakly Bound Cluster Anions Using Self Interaction Corrected Density Functional Scheme, Peter Obinna Ufondu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Kohn–Sham formulation of density functional theory (DFT) is a widely used quantum mechanical theory to study chemical and materials properties. The practical application of DFT requires an approximation to the exchange–correlation (XC) functional. These approximations suffer from self-interaction errors due to the incomplete cancellation of the self-Coulomb energy with the approximate self-exchange and correlation energy for one-electron densities. Systems with weakly-bound electrons impose great challenges to semi-local density functional approximations. We use recently developed local scaled self-interaction correction (LSIC) by Zope et al and the Perdew-Zunger SIC method using the Fermi-Löwdin orbitals to calculate the vertical detachment energies (VDEs) …


Examining The Quality Of Life In Transgender Women Following Gender Affirming Voice Treatment, Georgina L. Salas May 2021

Examining The Quality Of Life In Transgender Women Following Gender Affirming Voice Treatment, Georgina L. Salas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Transgender women are reported to have a lower quality of life. Gender affirming voice treatment is reported to increase quality of life in transgender women. This study examined 3 participants and their quality of life after gender affirming voice treatment. The results of this study indicated gender affirming therapy did not improve participants' quality of life.


High Frequency Electron Spin Resonance Investigations On Quasi-Two-Dimensional Chromium Halide Magnets, Christian Saiz May 2021

High Frequency Electron Spin Resonance Investigations On Quasi-Two-Dimensional Chromium Halide Magnets, Christian Saiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Broadening the knowledge and understanding on the magnetic correlations in van der Waals layered magnets is critical in realizing their potential next-generation applications in devices such as spintronics. In this study, we employ high frequency (ν = 120 GHz, 240 GHz) electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy on plate-like CrX3 (where X = Cl, Br, I) to gain insight into the magnetic interactions as a function of temperature (200 – 4.4 K) and the angle of rotation θ (degrees). We find that the temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth is well described by the Ginzburg-Landau critical model, indicative of antiferromagnetic correlations …


Impact Of Various Hydrophobic Cargoes On The Structural Properties Of Pluronic-F127 Based Micelles Near The Standard Critical Transition Zone, Tahmida Raheen Iqbal May 2021

Impact Of Various Hydrophobic Cargoes On The Structural Properties Of Pluronic-F127 Based Micelles Near The Standard Critical Transition Zone, Tahmida Raheen Iqbal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pluronic F-127 is a triblock copolymer (PEO-PPO-PEO) that can form a micelle at critical micelle concentration (CMC). CMC for Pluronic F-127 is 0.7% at 25 0C. Micelles are lipid molecules that can arrange themselves in a spherical form in an aqueous solution with a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic shell. Pluronic F-127 can encapsulate poor water-soluble drugs and administrate the medicine to the targeted area with a controlled drug release rate and low toxicity. The purpose of this study is to understand the structural variation in Pluronic F-127 micelles after loading with different hydrophobic cargoes (alkanes, fatty acids, anticancer therapeutic agents). …


Two Developments For Efficient And Accurate Density Functional Theory Calculations, Zachary John Buschmann May 2021

Two Developments For Efficient And Accurate Density Functional Theory Calculations, Zachary John Buschmann

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Density functional theory (DFT) has long been the workhorse of quantum chemists and materials scientists. As the ability of modern DFT codes to address larger and more complex molecular systems has grown, so too has the computational cost, with cutting edge simulations requiring thousands of hours of wall time on the worldâ??s fastest supercomputers.For this reason, efficiency in both memory and time is critical at every step of the process. In fact, the increasing scope of physical systems that can be modeled is as much a function of computational elegance as of the physical fidelity of the simulation. The continuing …


A Study Of The Frustrated Honeycomb Battery Material Na2ni2teo6, Nathan Christopher Episcopo May 2021

A Study Of The Frustrated Honeycomb Battery Material Na2ni2teo6, Nathan Christopher Episcopo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The P2-type layered hexagonal compound Na2Ni2TeO6 with Ni2+ on a honeycomb lattice was synthesized by the standard solid-state route. Structural characterization chemical phase purity was confirmed by Rietveld refinement of laboratory and synchrotron data. The crystal structure refines well in the P63/mcm space group. Single crystal growth trials using the self-flux-melt method were conducted with limited success. The magnetic transition temperature pertaining to Ni2+ lattice was confirmed by analysis of specific heat capacity to be . The magnetic susceptibility remains largely unchanged in magnetic field of and external pressure of . There is an almost linear response in isothermal magnetization …