0000000000172343
AUTHOR
Andrés Gómez
Large scale synthesis of nanostructured zirconia-based compounds from freeze-dried precursors
Nanocrystalline zirconia powders have been obtained at the multigram scale by thermal decomposition of precursors resulting from the freeze-drying of aqueous acetic solutions. This technique has equally made possible to synthesize a variety of nanostructured yttria or scandia doped zirconia compositions. SEM images, as well as the analysis of the XRD patterns, show the nanoparticulated character of those solids obtained at low temperature, with typical particle size in the 10–15 nm range when prepared at 673 K. The presence of the monoclinic, the tetragonal or both phases depends on the temperature of the thermal treatment, the doping concentration and the nature of the dopant. In addition,…
ZrTiO4 materials obtained by spark plasma reaction-sintering
Zirconium titanate (ZrTiO4), have many attractive properties such as high resistivity, high dielectric constant, high permittivity at microwave frequencies and excellent temperature stability for microwave properties. Zirconium titanate dense materials are proposed for many structural applications, but fully reacted and completely dense pieces are difficult to obtain by conventional routes. In this work, fully dense zirconium titanate materials (∼98%) were obtained at lower temperatures (1300-1400 C) and short processing time by non-conventional technique; spark plasma-reaction sintering (SPRS). Homogeneous and stable starting powders mixture with the adequate composition was prepared from …
Nanostructured Alumina from Freeze-Dried Precursors
Nanocrystalline alumina has been obtained on the 100 g scale by thermal decomposition of precursors resulting from the freeze-drying of aqueous solutions of different aluminum-containing products, namely aluminum acetate and aluminum L-lactate. Samples prepared at different temperatures (from 873 to 1573 K in steps of 100 K) were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and surface area measurements. In the acetate case, the transformation sequence involves the formation of θ-Al 2 O 3 as an intermediate phase between γ-Al 2 O 3 and α-Al 2 O 3 , whereas this θ phase is not observed in the lactate case. TEM…
Microstructure and mechanical properties of plasma spraying coatings from YSZ feedstocks comprising nano-and submicron-sized particles
Atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) is an attractive technique to obtain nanostructured coatings due to its versatility, simplicity and relatively low cost. However, nanoparticles cannot be fed into the plasma using conventional feeding systems, due to their low mass and poor flowability, and must be adequately reconstituted into sprayable micrometric agglomerates. In this work, nanostructured and submicron/nanostiuctured powders of yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) were deposited using APS, with a view to obtaining high-performance thermal bather coatings (IBC). All powders were reconstituted by spray-drying from different solid loading suspensions, followed by a thermal treatment of the spra…
Nanostructured alumina from freeze-dried precursors
Nanocrystalline alumina has been obtained on the 100 g scale by thermal decomposition of precursors resulting from the freeze-drying of aqueous solutions of different aluminum-containing products, namely aluminum acetate and aluminum l-lactate. Samples prepared at different temperatures (from 873 to 1573 K in steps of 100 K) were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and surface area measurements. In the acetate case, the transformation sequence involves the formation of θ-Al2O3 as an intermediate phase between γ-Al2O3 and α-Al2O3, whereas this θ phase is not observed in the lactate case. TEM and SEM i…
Nanostructured Solids from Freeze-Dried Precursors: Multigram Scale Synthesis of TiO2 -Based Powders
Nanocrystalline TiO2 and Ti1−xVxO2 (x = 0.01) powders have been prepared by thermal decomposition, in air, of amorphous precursors resulting from the freeze-drying of appropriate solutions. In addition, TiO2−xNy (anatase and rutile) and TiOxNy (rock-salt) have been prepared by thermal treatment in ammonia of a crystalline precursor (TiO2 obtained at 673 K). TEM and SEM images, as well as the analysis of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, show the nanoparticulated character of those solids obtained at low temperatures, with typical particle sizes in the 10–20 nm range when prepared at 673 K. The UV–Vis results indicate both the insertion of V in the anatase lattice and the feasibility of …
Reversible switching of the Au(111) work function by near infrared irradiation with a bistable SAM based on a radical donor–acceptor dyad
We describe the modification of the work function (WF) of Au(111) upon deposition of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with two donor–acceptor (D–A) systems, one based on a ferrocene-polychlorotriphenylmethyl radical (Fc–PTM) dyad and another on its non-radical dyad analogue. Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) has been used to measure the changes in the Contact Potential Difference (CPD) between the tip and the SAM under application of a cycling sweep of direct current (DC) voltage bias. These measurements showed that both SAMs exhibit a hysteretic behaviour in their WF changes. Interestingly, the hysteresis loop of the radical SAM is notably reduced when irradiated with NIR light, which w…
Measurement of the spin-dependent structure function g1(x) of the deuteron
We report on the first measurement of the spin-dependent structure function g1d of the deuteron in the deep inelastic scattering of polarised muons off polarised deuterons, in the kinematical range 0.006<x<0.6, 1 GeV2<Q2<30 GeV2. The first moment, Γ1d=sh{phonetic}01 g1d dx=0.023±0.020 (stat.) ± 0.015 (syst.), is smaller than the prediction of the Ellis-Jaffe sum rules. Using earlier measurements of g1p, we infer the first moment of the spin-dependent neutron structure function g1n. The difference Γ1p-Γ1n=0.20 ±0.05 (stat.) ± 0.04 (syst.) agrees with the prediction of the Bjorken sum rule, Γ1p-Γ1n=0.191 ±0.002.