Morphological Tuning of Nanostructured Hydroxyapatite (HAp) Porous Microgranules by Evaporation-Induced Assembly.

Porous biocompatible microgranules, such as hydroxyapatite (HAp), are potential candidates for various bio-medical applications including drug delivery and remediation. Using the principle of evaporation-induced assembly in contact free dispersion droplets, we have synthesized porous micrometric HAp granules consist of interlocked ellipsoidal nanoparticles. We have shown that the shape of the microgranules can be tuned from spherical to doughnut solely by controlling the drying temperature during assembly.

Neutron diffraction evidence for kinetic arrest of first order magneto-structural phase transitions in some functional magnetic materials.

Neutron diffraction measurements, performed in the presence of an external magnetic field, have been used to show structural evidence for the kinetic arrest of the first order phase transition from (i) the high temperature austenite phase to the low temperature martensite phase in the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni37Co11Mn42.5Sn9.5, (ii) the higher temperature ferromagnetic phase to the lower temperature antiferromagnetic phase in the half-doped charge ordered compound La0.