Positron depth profiling of the structural and electronic structure transformations of hydrogenated Mg-based thin films

We report positron depth-profiling studies on the hydrogen sorption behavior and phase evolution of Mg-based thin films. We show that the main changes in the depth profiles resulting from the hydrogenation to the respective metal hydrides are related to a clear broadening in the observed electron momentum densities in both Mg and Mg2Ni films....

Electron beam irradiation of dimethyl-(acetylacetonate) gold(III) adsorbed onto solid substrates

Electron beam induced deposition of organometallic precursors has emerged as an effective and versatile method for creating two-dimensional and three-dimensional metal-containing nanostructures. However, to improve the properties and optimize the chemical composition of nanostructures deposited in this way, the electron stimulated decomposition...

Temperature dependence of chemical-vapor deposition of pure boron layers from diborane

Surface reaction mechanisms are investigated to determine the activation energies of pure boron (PureB) layer deposition at temperatures from 350?°C to 850?°C when using chemical-vapor deposition from diborane in a commercial Si/SiGe epitaxial reactor with either hydrogen or nitrogen as carrier gas. Three distinguishable regions are identified...

An analytical kinetic model for chemical-vapor deposition of pureB layers from diborane

In this paper, an analytical model is established to describe the deposition kinetics and the deposition chamber characteristics that determine the deposition rates of pure boron (PureB-) layers grown by chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) from diborane (B2H6) as gas source on a non-rotating silicon wafer. The model takes into consideration the...

InP Nanowire Biosensor with Tailored Biofunctionalization: Ultrasensitive and Highly Selective Disease Biomarker Detection

Electrically active field-effect transistors (FET) based biosensors are of paramount importance in life science applications, as they offer direct, fast, and highly sensitive label-free detection capabilities of several biomolecules of specific interest. In this work, we report a detailed investigation on surface functionalization and...

H₂ formation on interstellar dust grains: The viewpoints of theory, experiments, models and observations

Molecular hydrogen is the most abundant molecule in the universe. It is the first one to form and survive photo-dissociation in tenuous environments. Its formation involves catalytic reactions on the surface of interstellar grains. The micro-physics of the formation process has been investigated intensively in the last 20 years, in parallel...

Mimicking the nuclear pore complex using nanopores

Nuclear pore complexes acts as a gatekeeper for molecular transport between the nucleus and the cytoplasm in eukaryotic cells. The central NPC channel is filled with intrinsically disordered FG domains (phenylalanine (F), glycine (G)) that are responsible for the fascinating selectivity of NPCs, for which the underlying mechanism is still under...

Electrolytic Plasma Cleaning of Advanced High Strength Steels

The most commonly used material in the automotive industry is steel. Steel used in making Body-In-White (BIW) for cars are broadly classified as Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS). These AHSS are produced by a well-defined alloying and specific annealing procedure. However, external oxidation of the constituent alloying elements from the steel...

Scrutinizing the importance of surface chemistry versus surface roughness for aluminium / sol-gel film adhesion

The sol-gel synthesis process is a versatile method used to produce a wide diversity of materials and is being increasingly used as a surface modification method to alter porosity, wettability, catalytic activity, biocompatibility and corrosion performance of underlying substrates. Silane sol–gel films deposited on aluminium and aluminium...

Biocompatible Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Densely Functionalized with Biologically Active Molecules for Biosensing Applications

Graphene oxide (GO) has immense potential for widespread use in diverse in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications owing to its thermal and chemical resistance, excellent electrical properties and solubility, and high surface-to-volume ratio. However, development of GO-based biological nanocomposites and biosensors has been hampered by its...

Modelling Internal Reforming Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Surface Chemistry to Find Regions Susceptible to Carbon Deposition

The lifespan of internal reforming solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is not yet sufficient. Among other design challenges, this is due to detrimental carbon deposition formations. This must be mitigated, without compromising the power output and efficiency of the fuel cell for it to become a commercial viable product. The carbon that is deposited...

Adsorption of Phosphorus on a Ru(0001) surface: A density functional theory study

Interest in transition metal surfaces has grown in fields such as catalysts and semiconductors. Models of initial adsorption and growth of adsorbates are used to verify if certain structures are formed. Structural complexity and diversity of overlayers often determines this growth. Understanding the difference between a clean single crystal...

Electrochemical CO₂Reduction over Metal-/Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Single-Atom Catalysts Modeled Using the Grand-Canonical Density Functional Theory

Renewably driven, electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into value-added products is expected to be a critical tool in global decarbonization. However, theoretical studies based on the computational hydrogen electrode largely ignore the nonlinear effects of the applied potential on the calculated results, leading to inaccurate...

Shaping the nanoworld: From precursors to functional nanocrystals