Search results for "25"
showing 10 items of 3263 documents
Dynamical properties of myoglobin in an ultraviscous water-glycerol solvent investigated with elastic neutron scattering and FTIR spectroscopy
2018
Abstract Proteins have distinctive dynamical properties, characterized by the fluctuations of protein molecules among the different minima of their energy landscape. These fluctuations, progressively activated for temperature values larger than ~180 K, lead to a steep increase in the temperature dependence of all measurable dynamical properties. This phenomenon is known as Protein Dynamical Transition and, in spite of the intense studies due to its importance in protein function and to the relation with the fascinating fundamental thermodynamics of complex systems, many aspects of it are not yet clearly understood. Among these, the relationship with the properties of the external solvent an…
Pressure stability field of Mg-perovskite under deep mantle conditions: A topological approach based on Bader's analysis coupled with catastrophe the…
2019
Abstract The pressure stability field of the Mg-perovskite phase was investigated by characterizing the evolution of the electron arrangement in the crystal. Ab initio calculations of the perovskite structures in the range 0–185 GPa were performed at the HF/DFT (Hartree-Fock/Density Functional Theory) exchange–correlation terms level. The electron densities, calculated throughout the ab-initio wave functions, were analysed by means of the Bader's theory, coupled with Thom's catastrophe theory. To the best of our knowledge the approach is used for the first time. The topological results show the occurrence of two topological anomalies at P~20 GPa and P~110 GPa which delineate the pressure ra…
Critical Review—Photocurrent Spectroscopy in Corrosion and Passivity Studies: A Critical Assessment of the Use of Band Gap Value to Estimate the Oxid…
2017
A critical assessment of the Photocurrent Spectroscopy (PCS) Technique for the semi-quantitative characterization of passive film and corrosion layers composition is carried out. We take into account more than three decades of PCS usage as "in-situ" analytical technique and related results as well as the criticism of the underlying semi-empirical correlation relating the measured optical bandgap (Eg) to the passive film composition. The discrepancies between the experimental data, gathered by PCS measurements, and Egestimates originating from recently developed Density Functional Theory based modeling of solid state properties are stressed with particular emphasis on the case of anodic pass…
Cu-substituted lanthanum ferrite perovskites: Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activity in gas-solid regime under simulated solar lig…
2016
Lanthanum orthoferrites LaFeO3 nanopowders doped with 20 mol% of Sr and 0-10-20 mol% of Cu were prepared by citrate auto-combustion synthesis and investigated in terms of crystal structure, morphology, surface area and optical properties by using several characterization techniques. The band gap energy values were found to range from 2.35 eV for LaFeO3 to 1.86 eV for the samples with the highest content of copper, this trend reflects the decrease of the particle size. All powders showed photocurrent response, the highest photocurrent was obtained for undoped orthoferrite calcined at 600°C. Their physical-chemical properties were related to photoelectrochemical behaviour. The the position of…
Influence of post-treatment time of trivalent chromium protection coating on aluminium alloy 2024-T3 on improved corrosion resistance
2019
Abstract Low corrosion protection performances of Trivalent Chromium Process (TCP) coatings with reference to Chromium Conversion Coatings (CCC) deposited on aluminium alloys can be overcome by application of post-treatment processes. This work shows the effect of post-treatment bath (containing hydrogen peroxide and lanthanum salt) on the chemical composition, structure and the corrosion performances of TCP coating deposited on AA 2024-T3 aluminium alloy. Different times of post-treatment bath were applied on the TCP coating and the samples were analyzed by Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Glow Discharge-Optical Emission …
Low-temperature growth of n ++-GaN by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition to achieve low-resistivity tunnel junctions on blue light emitting diodes
2018
We report on low-resistivity GaN tunnel junctions (TJ) on blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Si-doped n ++-GaN layers are grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition directly on LED epiwafers. Low growth temperature (<800 °C) was used to hinder Mg-passivation by hydrogen in the p ++-GaN top surface. This allows achieving low-resistivity TJs without the need for post-growth Mg activation. TJs are further improved by inserting a 5 nm thick In0.15Ga0.85N interlayer (IL) within the GaN TJ thanks to piezoelectric polarization induced band bending. Eventually, the impact of InGaN IL on the internal quantum efficiency of blue LEDs is discussed.
Synthesis of yttrium aluminum garnet nanoparticles in confined environment II: Role of the thermal treatment on the composition and microstructural e…
2017
Abstract Nanoparticles of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG, Y 3 Al 5 O 12 ) have been obtained by thermal treatments, at several temperature in the range 400–950 °C, of the precursors synthetized via co-precipitation in water in oil microemulsion. The obtained nanoparticles have been characterized by means of X-ray Diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Select Area Electron Diffraction (SAED). Results show the phase evolution occurring to obtain not aggregated nanoparticles of YAG phase. A possible growth mechanism of YAG nanoparticles is discussed on the basis of observed particle microstructure and morphology. The results i…
Light-Induced Formation of Pb3+Paramagnetic Species in Lead Halide Perovskites
2018
Hybrid halide perovskites are soft materials processed at room temperature, revolutionary players in the photovoltaic field. Nowadays, investigation of the nature and role of defects is seen as one of the key challenges toward full comprehension of their behavior and achievement of high device stability under working conditions. We reveal the reversible generation, under illumination, of paramagnetic Pb3+ defects in CH3NH3PbI3, synthesized in ambient conditions, induced by the presence of Pb-O defects in the perovskite structure that may trap photogenerated holes, possibly mediated by the concomitant oxidation and migration of ions. According to the mechanism that we hypothesize, one charge…
Silanol-POSS as dispersing agents for carbon nanotubes in polyamide
2017
Silanol polyhedrad oligomeric silsesquiosane terminated with phenyl rings (phPOSS) has been considered as dispersing agent for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in polyamide (PA) matrix. Two different approaches have been followed for the introduction of the phPOSS molecules: a âclassicalâ approach which involves the introduction of the dispersing agent during the melt mixing, and an âinnovativeâ approach, consisting in the immobilization, either covalent and non-covalent, of phPOSS molecules onto CNTs surface. The properties of PA-based nanocomposites, containing free phPOSS molecules and phPOSS molecules immobilized onto the CNTs outer surface, have been evaluated through rheological, mecha…
Novel strategic approach for the thermo- and photo- oxidative stabilization of polyolefin/clay nanocomposites
2017
Polyolefin/clay nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing and their oxidative stability was studied under long-term thermo- and photo-oxidative test conditions in the absence and presence of a modified organo montmorillonite clay (OM-MMt) containing a chemically-bound hindered phenol antioxidant function, (AO)OM-Mt. It was found that nanocomposites based on both polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene-grafted-maleic anhydride (PEgMA) containing the (AO)OM-Mt gave a higher oxidative stability, along with better clay dispersion, compared to analogous PE or PEgMA-based nanocomposites containing an added (free) conventional antioxidant with a similar hindered phenol function (using the commercial …