Search results for "silicon"
showing 10 items of 1391 documents
Self-organization of active particles by quorum sensing rules
2018
Many microorganisms regulate their behaviour according to the density of neighbours. Such quorum sensing is important for the communication and organisation within bacterial populations. In contrast to living systems, where quorum sensing is determined by biochemical processes, the behaviour of synthetic active particles can be controlled by external fields. Accordingly they allow to investigate how variations of a density-dependent particle response affect their self-organisation. Here we experimentally and numerically demonstrate this concept using a suspension of light-activated active particles whose motility is individually controlled by an external feedback-loop, realised by a particl…
Gamma-ray position reconstruction in large lanthanum-halide crystals with SiPM readout: analytical vs. neural-network algorithms
2019
The main objective of this research was to achieve an excellent gamma-ray position reconstruction with very large monolithic scintillation crystals coupled to pixelated silicon photosensors. Analyzing the scintillation-light distribution measured along the SiPM-pixels one can get a sub-pixel accuracy for the position reconstruction. The quality of the latter depends on both the characteristics of the crystal-photosensor assembly, and the goodness of the algorithm used to reconstruct the gamma-ray hit location. We have carried out a systematic study for 511 keV gamma-rays using three different crystal thicknesses of 10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm, all of them with planar geometry and a base size of …
Assessment of wastewater treatment plant design for small communities: Environmental and economic aspects
2012
The preliminary design and economic assessment of small wastewater treatment plants (less than 2000 population equivalent) are issues of particular interest since wastewaters from most of these agglomerations are not covered yet. This work aims to assess nine different technologies set-up for the secondary treatment in such type of facilities embracing both economic and environmental parameters. The main novelty of this work is the combination of an innovative environmental decision support system (EDSS) with a pioneer approach based on the inclusion of the environmental benefits derived from wastewater treatment. The integration of methodologies based on cost-benefit analysis tools with th…
Si self-diffusion in cubic B20-structured FeSi
2008
Self-diffusion of implanted 31Si in the e-phase FeSi (cubic B20-structure) has been determined in the temperature range 660–810 °C using the modified radiotracer technique. With an activation enthalpy of 2.30 eV and a pre-exponential factor of 15×10−8 m2 s−1 the silicon diffusivity was found to be slightly slower than Ge impurity diffusion in FeSi. This difference is proposed to originate from attractive elastic interactions prevailing between the slightly oversized Ge atoms and the Si sublattice vacancies. The results confirm the argument that 71Ge radioisotopes may be used to substitute the short-lived 31Si radiotracers when estimating self-diffusion in silicides.
Vacuum-ultraviolet absorption of amorphous SiO2: intrinsic disorder and role of silanol groups
2008
We present a study on the vacuum-ultraviolet VUV absorption properties of amorphous SiO2 a-SiO2 with high concentrations of silanol groups Si-OH . We found that the absorption spectra are made up of a couple of exponential profiles. The first, in the range from 7.5 to 8.1 eV, was attributed to Si-OH group absorption, while the second, in the range from 8.1 to 8.25 eV, was ascribed to the intrinsic absorption. The VUV absorption cross section of Si-OH groups in a-SiO2 was determined as well. The intrinsic absorption was found to be affected by the Si-OH concentration: high silanol group contents allow lower values of the Urbach energy. This result is interpreted in terms of a reduction in th…
Sturctural disorder and silanol groups content in amorphous SiO2
2009
We present a study on the features of the Urbach edge in amorphous silicon dioxide a-SiO2 . The effects of temperature on the absorption edge in the range from 4 to 300 K were studied in both materials having negligible dry, 1017 cm−3 and significant wet, 1019 cm−3 silanol groups contents. Remarkable differences in the values and in the temperature dependence of the Urbach energy in the dry and wet samples were observed. These differences are interpreted as a consequence of a drastic reduction in the degree of disorder in wet materials, which turn out to be characterized by an electronic structure more similar to that of crystalline quartz. Furthermore, our results indicate that silanol gro…
The Large Area Detector onboard the eXTP mission
2022
The Large Area Detector (LAD) is the high-throughput, spectral-timing instrument onboard the eXTP mission, a flagship mission of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China National Space Administration, with a large European participation coordinated by Italy and Spain. The eXTP mission is currently performing its phase B study, with a target launch at the end-2027. The eXTP scientific payload includes four instruments (SFA, PFA, LAD and WFM) offering unprecedented simultaneous wide-band X-ray timing and polarimetry sensitivity. The LAD instrument is based on the design originally proposed for the LOFT mission. It envisages a deployed 3.2 m2 effective area in the 2-30 keV energy range, a…
Nanocomposites of epoxy resin with graphene nanoplates and exfoliated graphite: Synthesis and electrical properties
2014
Nanocomposites are nowadays one of the most promising materials. Among different fillers, e.g. carbon nanotubes and silicon carbide nanowires (NWSiC), already used with epoxy resin matrices, graphene exfoliated graphite (EG) and graphene nanoplates have some characteristics that make them unique for electromagnetic shielding materials. However, there is still an unresolved problem of proper dispersion that will ensure the homogeneity of samples. To overcome this drawback, inorganic fibres were proposed. An amount of 0.25 phr (parts per hundred; filler content presented as wt.% of the whole polymeric matrix) NWSiC, added to the EG 1 phr/epoxy resin sample, efficiently prevents filler agglome…