The Polyol Process and the Synthesis of ζ Intermetallic Compound AgSn.

The present work concerns the intermetallic compound (IMC) existing in the Ag-Sn system and its potential use in electronics as attachment materials allowing the adhesion of the chip to the substrate forming the power module. First, we present the synthesis protocol in polyol medium of a compound with the chemical formula AgSn belonging to the solid solution of composition located between 9 and 16 at.% Sn, known as solid solution ζ (or ζ-AgSn).

Introducing cobalt as a potential plasmonic candidate combining optical and magnetic functionalities within the same nanostructure.

The control of magnetic properties at the nanoscale is a current topic of intense research. It was shown that combining both magnetic and plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) led to the improvement of their magneto-optical signal. In this context, common strategies consist of the design of bimetallic NPs.

Spin Coating and Micro-Patterning Optimization of Composite Thin Films Based on PVDF.

We optimize the elaboration of very thin film of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer presenting a well-controlled thickness, roughness, and nano-inclusions amount. We focused our effort on the spin coating elaboration technique which is easy to transfer to an industrial process. We show that it is possible to obtain continuous and smooth thin films with mean thicknesses of 90 nm by properly adjusting the concentration and the viscosity of the PVDF solution as well as the spin rate and the substrate temperature of the elaboration process.

Tailoring the magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using the polyol process.

In extrinsically magnetoelectric materials made of two components, the direct magnetoelectric coupling arises from a mechanical strain transmission at the interface due to the shape change of the magnetostrictive component under an external magnetic field. Here, the size of the interface between the two components plays a crucial role. Therefore, the development of nanomaterials exhibiting large surface-to-volume ratios can help to respond to such a requirement.

Synthesis and characterisation of the vibrational and electrical properties of antiferromagnetic 6L-BaCoTeO ceramics.

Optimal processing conditions for fabrication of dense single-phase 6L-BaCoTeO ceramics via the solid-state reaction method were determined. These ceramics possess a room-temperature crystal structure described by the centrosymmetric P3[combining macron]m1 space group. Polarized Raman spectroscopy enabled the observation of all the 25 predicted Raman modes and assignment of their symmetries.

Real-time sensing of enteropathogenic E. coli-induced effects on epithelial host cell height, cell-substrate interactions, and endocytic processes by infrared surface plasmon spectroscopy.

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is an important, generally non-invasive, bacterial pathogen that causes diarrhea in humans. The microbe infects mainly the enterocytes of the small intestine. Here we have applied our newly developed infrared surface plasmon resonance (IR-SPR) spectroscopy approach to study how EPEC infection affects epithelial host cells.