0000000000072729

AUTHOR

Enzo Cazzanelli

Disorder-induced Raman scattering in rhenium trioxide (ReO3)

Raman scattering in cubic metallic perovskite (ReO3) was studied at room temperature for well-crystallized monolith, polycrystalline powder and thin film samples. Defect-induced first-order Raman scattering was detected from the sub-surface region, given by the penetration depth of a 633 nm laser, and its origin was explained on the basis of a rigid-ion vibrational model for bulk ReO3. A quenching of the Raman intensity was observed in crystalline monolithic ReO3 upon increasing the temperature up to 250 °C and was related to crystal surface reconstruction/annealing.

research product

Raman study of the phase transitions sequence in pure WO3 at high temperature and in HxWO3 with variable hydrogen content

Abstract An extensive investigation of the temperature dependence of Raman spectra has been carried out on WO 3 powders from room temperature to 800°C. In particular the orthorhombic-to-tetragonal phase transition occurring at about 740°C has been studied for the first time. The Raman active mode at 710 cm −1 of the orthorhombic phase disappears from the spectrum at temperature below the phase transition point and the Raman activity in the tetragonal phase results very low. A comparative study of hydrogenated tungsten bronzes H x WO 3 ( x ≤0.23), where the same transition sequence is driven by an increase of the proton concentration from x =0 to 0.23, reveals similar behaviour of the high f…

research product

Structural characterization of mixed Ta–Re oxide films

Thin films of mixed Ta and Re oxides have been produced by reactive dc magnetron co-sputtering of pure Ta and Re metal targets in Ar–O2 atmosphere. The structural evolution of these films has been studied as a function of the composition, starting from a pure tantalum oxide film up to about 82% rhenium content. The composition and the structure of the films have been investigated by using X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy. For low Re content (20%), islands of a well crystallized phase, based on ReO4 groups, appear in the films still composed by pure amorphous tantalum oxide, while a mixed disordered solid phase is found for the highest Re concentration (82%). © 2006 Elsevier B.…

research product

Proton presence and motion in rhenium-oxide films and their application to liquid-crystalline cells

Disordered solid phases, containing appreciable amounts of hydrogen ions, are grown at the surface of rhenium oxide crystals, because of the high reactivity of this compound with ambient moisture. To investigate such phenomena, a comparative study is performed on ground powder and thermally evaporated or sputtered films using x-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Two types of solid phases were found in the films: HxReO3 distorted perovskite structures, based on corner-sharing ReO6 octahedra as in the bulk crystals, and ordered HReO4 crystalline structures, based on tetrahedral perrhenate ions. The complex impedance measurements on ReO3 films support the hypothesis of mobile hydrog…

research product

Low-temperature polymorphism in tungsten trioxide powders and its dependence on mechanical treatments

The polymorphism of WO3 powder samples, resulting from mild mechanical treatments and from temperature changes between 30 K and room temperature, has been investigated by using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray di⁄raction. A transition from the monoclinic (I) c-phase to the triclinic d-phase after moderate mechanical treatments has been observed for untreated powder, just what happens when the same samples are rapidly cooled to low-temperature. Evidences of the low temperature monoclinic (II) polar e-phase have been found at room temperature in samples after a stronger milling treatment. The sequence of the low-temperature phase transitions appears to be strongly dependent on the mechanical hist…

research product

Characterization of rhenium oxide films and their application to liquid crystal cells

Rhenium trioxide exhibits high electronic conductivity, while its open cubic crystal structure allows an appreciable hydrogen intercalation, generating disordered solid phases, with protonic conductivity. Rhenium oxide thin films have been obtained by thermal evaporation of ReO3 powders on different substrates, maintained at different temperatures, and also by reactive magnetron sputtering of a Re metallic target. A comparative investigation has been carried out on these films, by using micro-Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. Two basic types of solid phases appear to grow in the films: a red metallic HxReO3 compound, with distorted perovskite structures, like in the bulk material, a…

research product

Sputtering deposition and characterization of Ru-doped WO3 thin films for electrochromic applications

Mixed tungsten-ruthenium oxide thin films were prepared for the first time by dc magnetron co-sputtering technique and were studied by cyclic voltammetry, optical transmission measurements, Raman spectroscopy and the W L3 and Ru K edges X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in comparison with pure WO3 films. The Ru concentration was varied in the range from 0 to 28 at.%. XAS results suggest that the average local structure around both tungsten and ruthenium ions remains unchanged within experimental accuracy in all samples, moreover, for tungsten ions, it resembles that of pure WO3 films. However, the presence of the ruthenium ions affects the electrochemical and optical properties of the fil…

research product

Magnetic Ion Exchange Interactions in NiO—MgO Solid Solutions

In this work, a review of recent experimental data and their interpretation for NicMg1−c O solid solutions is given. In particular, the influence of exchange interactions between Ni2+ ions on the structural, optical, magnetic, and vibrational properties is discussed.

research product

Preparation of photocatalytic brookite thin films

Pure brookite films were deposited from a brookite dispersion obtained by peptizing a mixture brookite–rutile prepared by thermolysis of TiCl4 in a HCl solution. The films were characterised by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The photoactivity of the samples was tested by using the photo-oxidation of 2-propanol in gas–solid regime as a probe reaction. The brookite films efficiently degraded 2-propanol under UV illumination.

research product

One‐magnon Raman scattering in Ni c Mg 1–c O solid solutions

The one-magnon Raman scattering was studied for the first time in antiferromagnetic NicMg1–cO solid solutions as a function of temperature and composition. We found that (i) the one-magnon frequency extrapolated to T = 0 K experiences an abrupt change between c = 0.99 and c = 0.9 and (ii) the one-magnon energy for highly diluted nickel oxide vanishes significantly below the Neel temperature. The obtained dependences are compared to the theoretical predictions within the mean field approximation. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

research product

Behavior of one-magnon frequency in antiferromagneticNicMg1−cOsolid solutions

The one-magnon scattering was studied in antiferromagnetic ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{c}{\mathrm{Mg}}_{1\ensuremath{-}c}\mathrm{O}$ solid solutions. We observed unpredicted behavior of both temperature and composition dependences of one-magnon excitation energies. First, the abrupt change of the one-magnon frequency by $7--8\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ occurs between $c=0.98$ and $c=0.9$ in the limit of $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$. Second, upon increasing temperature, the one-magnon energy for highly diluted nickel oxide vanishes significantly below the N\'eel temperature.

research product