Radiofrequency Induction Heating for Green Chemicals Manufacture: A Systematic Model of Energy Losses and a Scale-Up Case-Study.

Radiofrequency (RF) induction heating has generated much interest for the abatement of carbon emissions from the chemicals sector as a direct electrification technology. Three challenges have held back its deployment at scale: reactors must be built from nonconductive materials which eliminates steel as a design choice; the viability of scale-up is uncertain; and to date the reported energy efficiency has been too low. This paper presents a model that for the first time makes a comprehensive analysis of energy losses that arise from RF induction heating.

Unconventional localization of electrons inside of a nematic electronic phase.

The magnetotransport behavior inside the nematic phase of bulk FeSe reveals unusual multiband effects that cannot be reconciled with a simple two-band approximation proposed by surface-sensitive spectroscopic probes. In order to understand the role played by the multiband electronic structure and the degree of two-dimensionality, we have investigated the electronic properties of exfoliated flakes of FeSe by reducing their thickness. Based on magnetotransport and Hall resistivity measurements, we assess the mobility spectrum that suggests an unusual asymmetry between the mobilities of the electrons and holes, with the electron carriers becoming localized inside the nematic phase.

Manipulation of the crystalline phase diagram of hydrogen through nanoscale confinement effects in porous carbons.

Condensed phases of molecular hydrogen (H) are highly desired for clean energy applications ranging from hydrogen storage to nuclear fusion and superconductive energy storage. However, in bulk hydrogen, such dense phases typically only form at exceedingly low temperatures or extremely high (typically hundreds of GPa) pressures. Here, confinement of H within nanoporous materials is shown to significantly manipulate the hydrogen phase diagram leading to preferential stabilization of unusual crystalline H phases.

Superconducting Quantum Interference in Twisted van der Waals Heterostructures.

We demonstrate the formation of both Josephson junctions and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) using a dry transfer technique to stack and deterministically misalign mechanically exfoliated flakes of NbSe. The current-voltage characteristics of the resulting twisted NbSe-NbSe junctions are found to be sensitive to the misalignment angle of the crystallographic axes, opening up a new control parameter for optimization of the device performance, which is not available in thin-film-deposited junctions. A single lithographic process has then been implemented to shape Josephson junctions into SQUID geometries with typical loop areas of ∼25 μm and weak links ∼600 nm wide.

Imaging of Strong Nanoscale Vortex Pinning in GdBaCuO High-Temperature Superconducting Tapes.

The high critical current density of second-generation high-temperature superconducting (2G-HTS) tapes is the result of the systematic optimisation of the pinning landscape for superconducting vortices through careful engineering of the size and density of defects and non-superconducting second phases. Here, we use scanning Hall probe microscopy to conduct a vortex-resolved study of commercial GdBaCuO tapes in low fields for the first time and complement this work with "local" magnetisation and transport measurements. Magnetic imaging reveals highly disordered vortex patterns reflecting the presence of strong pinning from a dense distribution of nanoscale GdO secondphase inclusions in the superconducting film.

Nanoscale graphene Hall sensors for high-resolution ambient magnetic imaging.

A major challenge to routine non-invasive, nanoscale magnetic imaging is the development of Hall sensors that are stable under ambient conditions and retain low minimum detectable fields down to nanoscale dimensions. To address these issues we have fabricated and characterised chemical vapour deposition (CVD) graphene Hall sensors with wire widths between 50 nm and 1500 nm, in order to exploit the high carrier mobility and tuneability of this material. The measured Hall voltage noise is in good agreement with theoretical models and we demonstrate that minimum detectable fields at fixed drive current are lowest in the vicinity of the charge neutrality point.

Electronic bandstructure and van der Waals coupling of ReSe revealed by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

ReSe and ReS are unusual compounds amongst the layered transition metal dichalcogenides as a result of their low symmetry, with a characteristic in-plane anisotropy due to in-plane rhenium 'chains'. They preserve inversion symmetry independent of the number of layers and, in contrast to more well-known transition metal dichalcogenides, bulk and few-monolayer Re-TMD compounds have been proposed to behave as electronically and vibrational decoupled layers. Here, we probe for the first time the electronic band structure of bulk ReSe by direct nanoscale angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Reconfigurable superconducting vortex pinning potential for magnetic disks in hybrid structures.

High resolution scanning Hall probe microscopy has been used to directly visualise the superconducting vortex behavior in hybrid structures consisting of a square array of micrometer-sized Py ferromagnetic disks covered by a superconducting Nb thin film. At remanence the disks exist in almost fully flux-closed magnetic vortex states, but the observed cloverleaf-like stray fields indicate the presence of weak in-plane anisotropy. Micromagnetic simulations suggest that the most likely origin is an unintentional shape anisotropy.

Raman spectra of monolayer, few-layer, and bulk ReSe₂: an anisotropic layered semiconductor.

Rhenium diselenide (ReSe2) is a layered indirect gap semiconductor for which micromechanical cleavage can produce monolayers consisting of a plane of rhenium atoms with selenium atoms above and below. ReSe2 is unusual among the transition-metal dichalcogenides in having a low symmetry; it is triclinic, with four formula units per unit cell, and has the bulk space group P1̅. Experimental studies of Raman scattering in monolayer, few-layer, and bulk ReSe2 show a rich spectrum consisting of up to 16 of the 18 expected lines with good signal strength, pronounced in-plane anisotropy of the intensities, and no evidence of degradation of the sample during typical measurements.

Magnetization measurements and Ginzburg-Landau simulations of micron-size β-tin samples: evidence for an unusual critical behavior of mesoscopic type-I superconductors.

We describe investigations of the largely unexplored field of mesoscopic type-I superconductors. Micromagnetometry and 3D Ginzburg-Landau simulations of our single crystal β-tin samples in this regime reveal size- and temperature-dependent supercritical fields whose behavior is radically different from the bulk critical field H(c)(B). We find that complete suppression of the intermediate state in medium-size samples can result in a surprising reduction of the critical field significantly below H(c)(B).

Real-time in situ atomic force microscopy imaging of bismuth crystal growth.

We have performed real-time atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging of bismuth crystals that were grown under electrochemical control at low overpotentials to ensure a slow growth rate and allow in situ observation of the growth. A two step chronoamperometric potential was applied to a boron-doped diamond (BDD) working electrode with a short high overpotential, -0.4 V (2 s), to nucleate the bismuth, and then a long low overpotential for slow growth, -0.