Effect of Current on Diffusivity in Metal Hexaborides: A Spark Plasma Sintering Study.

We present the effect of pulsed direct current on metal ion diffusion in CaB-SrB diffusion couples, showing that the diffusivity of Ca and Sr across the diffusion couple interface is higher toward the positive electrode when subjected to a current flow of 2.2 kA at a temperature of 2007 K. We attribute this enhanced mobility to the movement of negatively charged metal vacancies toward the positive electrode in the system.

The critical role of point defects in improving the specific capacitance of δ-MnO nanosheets.

3D porous nanostructures built from 2D δ-MnO nanosheets are an environmentally friendly and industrially scalable class of supercapacitor electrode material. While both the electrochemistry and defects of this material have been studied, the role of defects in improving the energy storage density of these materials has not been addressed. In this work, δ-MnO nanosheet assemblies with 150 m g specific surface area are prepared by exfoliation of crystalline KMnO and subsequent reassembly.

Atomic force microscopy study of the interaction of DNA and nanostructured beta-Gallia rutile.

The ability to attach DNA molecules to solid planar substrates is desired for imaging the molecule and for building DNA-mediated nanostructures. The deposition of DNA on [001] rutile and beta-gallia rutile (BGR) substrates from buffer solutions containing various divalent cations was studied using tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). beta-Gallia rutile intergrowths were prepared by spin-coating gallium isopropoxide onto [001]-oriented TiO2 single-crystal slabs and heating above 1350 degrees C for >24 h, resulting in the formation of intergrowth lines along the {210} planes in the parent rutile structure.