Search results for " NANO"

Unravelling the Intertwined Atomic and Bulk Nature of Localised Excitons by Attosecond Spectroscopy

2021

The electro-optical properties of most semiconductors and insulators of technological interest are dominated by the presence of electron-hole quasi-particles, called excitons. The manipulation of excitons in dielectrics has recently received great attention, with possible applications in different fields including optoelectronics and photonics. Here, we apply attosecond transient reflection spectroscopy in a sequential two-foci geometry and observe sub-femtosecond dynamics of a core-level exciton in bulk MgF2 single crystals. Furthermore, we access absolute phase delays, which allow for an unambiguous comparison with theoretical calculations. Our results show that excitons surprisingly exhi…

3D-ORDERED NANOSCALE HETEROJUNCTIONS IN MOLECULAR THIN FILMS FOR ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS

2011

Merging Features from Green's Functions and Time Dependent Density Functional Theory: A Route to the Description of Correlated Materials out of Equil…

2016

We propose a description of nonequilibrium systems via a simple protocol that combines exchange-correlation potentials from density functional theory with self-energies of many-body perturbation theory. The approach, aimed to avoid double counting of interactions, is tested against exact results in Hubbard-type systems, with respect to interaction strength, perturbation speed and inhomogeneity, and system dimensionality and size. In many regimes, we find significant improvement over adiabatic time dependent density functional theory or second Born nonequilibrium Green's function approximations. We briefly discuss the reasons for the residual discrepancies, and directions for future work.

DFT Prediction of Enhanced Reducibility of Monoclinic Zirconia upon Rhodium Deposition.

2018

Oxides are an important class of materials and are widely used, for example, as supports in heterogeneous catalysis. In a number of industrial catalytic processes, oxide supports actively participate in chemical transformations by releasing lattice oxygen anions. While this is intuitively understood for reducible oxides, the reducibility of irreducible oxides may be modified via nanoengineering or upon inclusion of foreign species. Our calculations predict that the ability of irreducible monoclinic zirconia to release oxygen improves substantially upon deposition of rhodium. Through a comprehensive screening of Rh/ZrO2 with different size of the rhodium species, we find that a Rh adatom and…

Application of Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy to Cultural Heritage: characterization and preservation of ancient paper artwork

2016

Within the cultural heritage the characterization and conservation of artworks based on paper represents a significant issue for both restorers and scientists. The paper deterioration is affected by the degree of hydrolytic and oxidative reactions which occur upon aging. Moreover, the durability of cellulose fibers depends on the intrinsic composition/structure of the paper as well as on the conservation conditions, such as temperature and humidity. The structural and dynamical characterization of the cellulose matrix and of the water confined within its pores is therefore of central interest. Our working hypothesis is that WATER DYNAMICS is one of the main determinants of paper degradation…

Hexagonal Microparticles from Hierarchical Self-Organization of Chiral Trigonal Pd3L6 Macrotetracycles

2021

Construction of structurally complex architectures using inherently chiral, asymmetric, or multi-heterotopic ligands is a major challenge in metallosupramolecular chemistry. Moreover, the hierarchical self-organization of such complexes is unique. Here, we introduce a water-soluble, facially amphiphilic, amphoteric, chiral, asymmetric, and hetero-tritopic ligand derived from natural bile acid, ursodeoxycholic acid. We show that via the supramolecular transmetalation reaction, using nitrates of Cu(II) or Fe(III), and subsequently Pd(II), a superchiral Pd3L6 complex can be obtained. Even though several possible constitutional isomers of Pd3L6 could be formed, because of the ligand asymmetry a…

Protein Arrays for Sensing Applications: Relationship beetween Printing Conditions and Pattern Properties

2009

Optical Amplification in Hollow-Core Negative-Curvature Fibers Doped with Perovskite CsPbBr

2019

We report a hollow-core negative-curvature fiber (HC-NCF) optical signal amplifier fabricated by the filling of the air microchannels of the fiber with all-inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs). The optimum fabrication conditions were found to enhance the optical gain, up to +3 dB in the best device. Experimental results were approximately reproduced by a gain assisted mechanism based on the nonlinear optical properties of the PNCs, indicating that signal regeneration can be achieved under low pump powers, much below the threshold of stimulated emission. The results can pave the road for new functionalities of the HC-NCF with PNCs, such as optical amplification, nonlinear frequen…

Asymmetric hysteresis for probing Dzyalohsinskii-Moriya interaction

2016

The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is intimately related to the prospect of superior domain-wall dynamics and the formation of magnetic skyrmions. Although some experimental efforts have been recently proposed to quantify these interactions and the underlying physics, it is still far from trivial to address the interfacial DMI. Inspired by the reported tilt of the magnetization of the side edge of a thin film structure, we here present a quasi-static, straightforward measurement tool. By using laterally asymmetric triangular-shaped microstructures, it is demonstrated that interfacial DMI combined with an in-plane magnetic field yields a unique and significant shift in m…

Antibacterial Efficiency of Surface-Immobilized Flavobacterium-Infecting Bacteriophage

2019

Control of bacterial diseases by bacteriophages (phages) is gaining more interest due to increasing antibiotic resistance. This has led to technologies to attach phages on surfaces to form a biomaterial that can functionally display phages that interact with bacteria, to carry out successful infection cycles. Such a material could be applied in many environments, where the target pathogens are expected. Although this approach has been applied successfully in a few studies already, the basis of the antibacterial effect by the immobilized phages is unclear, and the interpretation of the results depends on the study. Here, we studied the phage attachment density, their detachment rate and infe…