From silicon to silica: a green chemistry approach for hollow sphere nanoparticle formation.

Herein we report on an environmentally friendly and scalable production route for hollow silica spheres (HSSs). The process is based on close to 100% conversion of non-crystalline solid Si nanoparticles ( = 40 ± 9 nm) in mild alkaline solutions (pH ≤ 9.0) at ambient temperature.

Prediction of intermediate band in Ti/V doped γ-InS.

Materials with an intermediate energy band (IB) introduced in the forbidden gap are viable alternatives to tandem configurations of solar cells for increasing the photon-conversion efficiency. One of the aspiring designs proposed for the intermediate band concept is hyperdoped (Ti, V):InS. Being very important in copper indium gallium sulfide (CIGS) solar cells, indium thiospinel (InS) is known for its three different temperature as well as pressure, polymorphs.

Efficient Exfoliation of Layered Double Hydroxides; Effect of Cationic Ratio, Hydration State, Anions and Their Orientations.

The exfoliation ability of nitrate based MgAl(OH)(NO)·HO layered double hydroxides (Mg-Al LDH) in formamide into single or multilayer nanosheets depends strongly on nitrate anion orientation and layer charge. Our systematic studies used materials that were likely to disclose differences with respect to anion type and their concentrations in the interlayer gallery. We assured to avoid any carbonate incorporation into the galleries for nitrate, chloride, iodide, and sulfate based Mg-Al LDHs.

Atomic Layer Deposition of GdCoO and GdCaCoO.

Thin films of the catalytically interesting ternary and quaternary perovskites GdCoO and GdCaCoO are fabricated by atomic layer deposition using metal β-diketonates and ozone as precursors. The resulting thin films are amorphous as deposited and become single-oriented crystalline on LaAlO(100) and YAlO(100/010) after post-annealing at 650 °C in air. The crystal orientations of the films are tunable by choice and the orientation of the substrate, mitigated through the interface via solid face epitaxy upon annealing.

Advances in the LiCl salt flux method and the preparation of phase pure LaNdLiHO (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) oxyhydrides.

The LiCl salt flux method is an established aid in oxyhydride synthesis. By operating the flux below its melting point, we have obtained phase pure Nd2LiHO3 for the first time. Further, the suitability of the flux method is shown to be dictated by a delicate balance between the thermal stability of the oxyhydride in question and the ionic mobility of the reactants.

Stacking Faults and Polytypes for Layered Double Hydroxides: What Can We Learn from Simulated and Experimental X-ray Powder Diffraction Data?

Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are a broad group of widely studied materials. The layered character of those materials and their high flexibility for accommodating different metals and anions make them technologically interesting. The general formula for the LDH compound is [MM(OH)][A]·mHO, where M is a divalent metal cation which can be substituted by M trivalent cation, and A is a charge compensating anion located between positively charged layers.

Burst nucleation by hot injection for size controlled synthesis of ε-cobalt nanoparticles.

Background: Reproducible growth of narrow size distributed ε-Co nanoparticles with a specific size requires full understanding and identification of the role of essential synthesis parameters for the applied synthesis method. For the hot injection methodology, a significant discrepancy with respect to obtained sizes and applied reaction conditions is reported. Currently, a systematic investigation controlling key synthesis parameters as injection-temperature and time, metal to surfactant ratio and reaction holding time in terms of their impact on mean ([Formula: see text]mean) and median ([Formula: see text]median) particle diameter using dichlorobenzene (DCB), Co2(CO)8 and oleic acid (OA) as the reactant matrix is lacking.