Isolated Rh atoms in dehydrogenation catalysis.

Isolated active sites have great potential to be highly efficient and stable in heterogeneous catalysis, while enabling low costs due to the low transition metal content. Herein, we present results on the synthesis, first catalytic trials, and characterization of the GaRh phase and the hitherto not-studied GaRh phase. We used XRD and TEM for structural characterization, and with XPS, EDX we accessed the chemical composition and electronic structure of the intermetallic compounds.

X-ray characterization of physical-vapor-transport-grown bulk AlN single crystals.

AlN slices from bulk crystals grown under low thermomechanical stress conditions via the physical vapor transport (PVT) method were analyzed by X-ray methods to study the influence of the growth mode on the crystal quality. Defect types and densities were analyzed along axial [0001] as well as lateral growth directions. X-ray diffraction (0110) rocking-curve mappings of representative wafer cuts reveal a low mean FWHM of 13.

Complementary Molecular Dynamics and X-ray Reflectivity Study of an Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquid at a Neutral Sapphire Interface.

Understanding the molecular-level behavior of ionic liquids (ILs) at IL-solid interfaces is of fundamental importance with respect to their application in, for example, electrochemical systems and electronic devices. Using a model system, consisting of an imidazolium-based IL ([C2Mim][NTf2]) in contact with a sapphire substrate, we have approached this problem using a complementary combination of high-resolution X-ray reflectivity measurements and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Our strategy enabled us to compare experimental and theoretically calculated reflectivities in a direct manner, thereby critically assessing the applicability of several force-field variants.