Physics Commons^™

Photothermal Deflection Spectroscopy Of Amorphous, Nanostructured And Nanocomposite Thin Films, Muhammad Shafiq Ahmed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The energy needs of the modern world are growing day by day, while sources of non-renewable fossil fuels are limited, so there is a need to efficiently use the existing resources and explore renewable energy sources. In order to harvest, store and efficiently utilize renewable energy, we need to explore new materials and improve the performance of existing ones. Among others, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) with high optical absorption in the visible range of electromagnetic spectrum, is a low cost material for solar cells. But the efficiency of such solar cells is comparatively low because of intrinsic defects associated with …

Length Scales Of Interactions In Magnetic, Dielectric, And Mechanical Nanocomposites, Ralph Skomski, Balamurugan Balamurugan, Eva Schubert, Axel Enders, David J. Sellmyer

Axel Enders

It is investigated how figures of merits of nanocomposites are affected by structural and interaction length scales, Aside from macroscopic effects without characteristic lengths scales and atomic-scale quantum-mechanical interactions there are nanoscale interactions that reflect a competition between different energy contributions. We consider three systems, namely dielectric media, carbon-black reinforced rubbers and magnetic composites. In all cases, it is relatively easy to determine effective materials constants, which do not involve specific length scales. Nucleation and breakdown phenomena tend to occur on a nanoscale and yield a logarithmic dependence of figures of merit on the macroscopic system size. Essential system-specific differences …

Multiscale Study Of Batio3 Nanostructures And Nanocomposites, Lydie Louis Louis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Advancements in integrated nanoelectronics will continue to require the use of unique materials or systems of materials with diverse functionalities in increasingly confined spaces.

Hence, research on finite-dimensional systems strive to unearth and expand the knowledge of fundamental physical properties in certain key materials which exhibit numerous concurrent and exploitable functions.

Correspondingly, ferroelectric nanostructures, which particularly display a plethora of complex phenomena, prevalent in countless fields of research, are noteworthy candidates. Presently, however, the assimilation of zero-(0D) and one-dimensional (1D) ferroelectric into micro- or nano-electronics has been lagging, in part due to a lack of applied and fundamental studies but …

One-Pot Synthesis Of Urchin-Like Fepd−Fe3O4 And Their Conversion Into Exchange-Coupled L10−Fepd−Fe Nanocomposite Magnets, Yongsheng Yu, Kewei Sun, Yuan Tian, Xingzhong Li, Matthew J. Kramer, David J. Sellmyer, Jeffrey E. Shield, Shouheng Sun

David Sellmyer Publications

We report a one-pot synthesis of urchin-like FePd−Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites, spherical clusters of FePd nanoparticles (NPs) with spikes of Fe₃O₄ nanorods (NRs), via controlled thermal decomposition of Fe(CO)₅ and reduction of Pd(acac)₂. The FePd NPs with sizes between 6 and 9 nm self-aggregate into 60 nm superparticles (SPs), and Fe₃O₄ NRs grow on the surface of these SPs. Reductive annealing at 500°C converts the FePd−Fe₃O₄ into exchange-coupled nanocomposites L1₀−FePd−Fe with their Hc tunable from 0.8 to 2.6 kOe and Ms controlled from 90 to …