Crystals

The Alhambra Monumental Ensemble (Granada, Spain) is a unique well-preserved palatine city from the medieval Islamic period, and it constitutes the best example of Nasrid architecture. In this work, we focus on the study of one of its most unknown decorations: Wall paintings with the appearance of red bricks. These faux-brick decorations are found in many different locations within the Alhambra complex, including both exterior and interior walls, arches and vaults. We have considered locations from different Nasrid reigns to gain information about their characteristics in terms of materials, execution techniques and conservation state. They have been studied combining a non-invasive methodology using portable equipment (X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy) with complementary studies on selected samples (Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Raman microimaging). In general, those located in the exterior are poorly preserved, in contrast with the good conservation state of the interior motifs. The red rectangles of these decorations were painted over a white finishing layer, which acted also as the edge lines between these false bricks. The red colour was always due to hematite (α-Fe₂O₃), as revealed by its characteristic Raman bands. The use of a natural red ochre pigment (very abundant in the region) could be hypothesised considering XRF and SEM-EDS results. In general, the white layer was made of lime mortar and the presence of CaCO₃ in the painting layers suggests the use of lime-based techniques (either fresco or mezzo fresco). Only in one of the indoor locations, a different execution technique, based on gypsum (CaSO₄·2H₂O) plaster, was used. The identification of calcium oxalate in this location, in the form of weddellite (CaC₂O₄·2H₂O), can be interpreted as the result of organic binder degradation. Furthermore, superficial contamination with gypsum was always detected in outdoor locations. Full article

An Fe/FeAl₂O₄ composite was prepared with Fe-Fe₂O₃-Al₂O₃ powder by a hot press sintering method. The mass ratio was 6:1:2, sintering pressure was 30 MPa, and holding time was 120 min. The raw materials for the powder particles were respectively 1 µm (Fe), 0.5 µm (Fe₂O₃), and 1 µm (Al₂O₃) in diameter. The effect of sintering temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe/FeAl₂O₄ composite was studied. The results showed that Fe/FeAl₂O₄ composite was formed by in situ reaction at 1300 °C–1500 °C. With the increased sintering temperature, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Fe/FeAl₂O₄ composite showed a change law that initially became better and then became worse. The best microstructure and optimal mechanical properties were obtained at 1400 °C. At this temperature, the grain size of Fe and FeAl₂O₄ phases in Fe/FeAl₂O₄ composite was uniform, the relative density was 96.7%, and the Vickers hardness and bending strength were 1.88 GPa and 280.0 MPa, respectively. The wettability between Fe and FeAl₂O₄ was enhanced with increased sintering temperature. And then the densification process was accelerated. Finally, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Fe/FeAl₂O₄ composite were improved. Full article

Transient global simulations were carried out to investigate the effect of argon flow on oxygen and carbon coupled transport in an industrial directional solidification furnace for quasi-single crystalline silicon ingots. Global calculation of impurity transport in the argon gas and silicon melt was based on a fully coupled calculation of the thermal and flow fields. Numerical results show that the argon flow rate affects the flow intensity along the melt–gas surface, but has no significant effect on the flow patterns of silicon melt and argon gas above the melt–gas surface. It was found that the evaporation flux of SiO along the melt–gas surface decreases with the increasing argon flow rate during the solidification process. However, the net flux of oxygen atoms (SiO evaporation flux minus CO dissolution flux) away from the melt–gas surface increases with the increasing argon flow rate, leading to a decrease in the oxygen concentration in the grown ingot. The carbon concentration in the grown ingot shows an exponential decrease with the increase of the argon flow rate, owing to the fact that the dissolution flux of CO significantly decreases with the increasing argon flow rate. The numerical results agree well with the experimental measurements. Full article

We numerically investigate the effect of scaling two key structural parameters in antiresonant hollow-core fibers—dielectric wall thickness of the cladding elements and core size—in view of low-loss mid-infrared beam delivery. We demonstrate that there exists an additional resonance-like loss peak in the long-wavelength limit of the first transmission band in antiresonant hollow-core fibers. We also find that the confinement loss in tubular-type hollow-core fibers depends strongly on the core size, where the degree of the dependence varies with the cladding tube size. The loss scales with the core diameter to the power of approximately −5.4 for commonly used tubular-type hollow-core fiber designs. Full article

The notable photophysical characteristics of perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) (CsPbBr₃) are suitable for optoelectronic devices. However, the performance of PQDs is unstable because of their surface defects. One way to address the instability is to passivate PQDs using different organic (polymers, oligomers, and dendrimers) or inorganic (ZnS, PbS) materials. In this study, we performed steady-state spectroscopic investigations to measure the photoluminescence (PL), absorption (A), transmission (T), and reflectance (R) of perovskite quantum dots (${\mathrm{CsPbBr}}_3$) and ethylene vinyl acetate/terpene phenol (1%) (EVA-TPR (1%), or EVA) copolymer/perovskite composites in thin films with a thickness of 352 ± 5 nm. EVA is highly transparent because of its large band gap; furthermore, it is inexpensive and easy to process. However, the compatibility between PQDs and EVA should be established; therefore, a series of analyses was performed to compute parameters, such as the band gap, the coefficients of absorbance and extinction, the index of refractivity, and the dielectric constant (real and imaginary parts), from the data obtained from the above investigation. Finally, the optical conductivities of the films were studied. All these analyses showed that the EVA/PQDs were more efficient and stable both physically and optically. Hence, EVA/PQDs could become copolymer/perovskite active materials suitable for optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells and perovskite/polymer light-emitting diodes (PPLEDs). Full article

Phase-transition and orientation of liquid crystal (LC) are two crucial factors for LC application. In this work, a long rod-like LC compound containing double azobenzene (M1) is successfully designed and synthesized. The combing technologies of nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) are used to identify the chemical structure of the molecule. Additionally, the polarized optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and one-dimensional wide-angle X-ray diffraction (1D WAXD) experimental results show that M1 exhibits an ultrawide range of LC phases and a stable LC structure even at ultrahigh temperature, which indicates that this LC can be applied in some especial devices. Further, the compound M1 is used to tune the LC temperature range of the commercial LC 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl (5CB). A series of samples 1–7 are obtained through doping different contents of M1, which show different LC temperature ranges that are dependent on the composition ratio of M1 and 5CB. More interestingly, all resultant samples show spontaneous vertical orientation on the hydrophilic glass substrate. Meanwhile, due to the effect of azobenzene in the compound M1, a reversible transition between homeotropic to random orientation of the LC molecules is achieved when these LC cells are alternately exposed to UV irradiation and visible light, which implies that this material shows potential application in especial display and optical storage technologies. Full article

Fatigue cracks often occur in the deck asphalt pavement of steel bridges at the top of the longitudinal stiffening rib. To prevent this issue, the traditional design strategy of the steel bridge deck asphalt pavement structure was optimized, and a new approach is presented. This optimization technique exploits the strength simulation of the steel—epoxy asphalt pavement structure, and the stress concentration location is subsequently determined. A solid model of stress concentration including sensitive areas is then established. We examined the stress maximum point of the asphalt pavement layer at the top of the longitudinal stiffeners and the stress variation of the asphalt pavement layer at the top of the longitudinal stiffeners. To reduce the stress of the top pavement layer of the longitudinal stiffeners, an optimization method that combines orthogonal experimental design, neural network (BP), and genetic algorithm (GA) is presented. A design strategy for the steel—epoxy asphalt pavement structure and GA—BP optimization method was utilized to optimize the structure of the steel—epoxy asphalt pavement for Sutong Yangzi River Bridge. We confirmed that the presented approach improved fatigue reliability and established the efficacy of the design strategy and optimization method. Full article

The accurate determination of melting curves for transition metals is an intense topic within high pressure research, both because of the technical challenges included as well as the controversial data obtained from various experiments. This review presents the main static techniques that are used for melting studies, with a strong focus on the diamond anvil cell; it also explores the state of the art of melting detection methods and analyzes the major reasons for discrepancies in the determination of the melting curves of transition metals. The physics of the melting transition is also discussed. Full article

Composite electrochemical coatings (CECs) based on nickel-chromium alloy and modified with multilayer graphene oxide (GO) were obtained. The electrodeposition process of these coatings was studied in the potentiodynamic mode. The structure and the composition of nickel–chromium–GO CECs were studied by scanning electron microscopy and laser microspectral analysis. Nickel–chromium–GO CECs are dense and uniform. The carbon content in them increases when moving from the substrate to the surface. It was established that the addition of GO particles into the composition of electrolytic coatings with a nickel-chromium alloy results in the increase in their microhardness from 4423–5480 MPa to 6120–7320 MPa depending on the cathodic current density. Full article

Chiral nematic liquid crystals (CLCs), with a unique helix structure, have attracted immense recognition over the last few decades owing to the abundant presence in natural phenomena and their diverse applications. However, the optical properties of CLC are usually hindered by the abundance of the so-called fingerprint domains. Up to now, studies have worked on controlling the in-plane orientation of the lying helix through surface rubbing and external stimuli. It remains challenging to achieve a steady and uniform lying helical structure. Here, by varying the surface anchoring strength, a uniform lying helical structure with long-range order is achieved as thermodynamically stable state without any external support. Poly (6-(4-methoxy-azobenzene-4’-oxy) hexyl methacrylate) (PMMAZO)—a liquid crystalline polymer—is deposited onto the silicon substrate to fine-tune the surface anchoring. By changing the grafting density of PMMAZO, both pitch size and morphology of the lying helical structure can be controlled. As the grafting density increases, the enhanced titled deformation of helical structure suppresses the pitch size of CLC at the same cell thickness; as the cell thickness increases, the morphology transition from long-range order stripes to small fingerprint domains is facilitated. Full article

The effect of two types of superionic nanoparticles; Cu₇GeS₅I and Ag₇GeS₅I, respectively on nematic liquid crystal (6CB) behavior under an external electric field is investigated. The response of both attenuation of surface acoustic waves propagating along with the substrate/liquid crystal interface and light transmission are used to study the structural changes induced by applied electric field. The increasing/decreasing regime as well as jumped change of applied field were used. The light transmission was investigated using linearly polarized laser beam (532 nm) propagating through the liquid crystal. Results obtained from both measurements for three different concentrations (0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 wt%) and in addition two different sizes of nanoparticles are compared and results, relying on structural changes, suspension stability and switching behavior are evaluated. Full article

Salt formation is a useful technique for improving the solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). For instance, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac (DIC), is used in a sodium salt form, and it has been reported to form several hydrate forms. However, the crystal structure of the anhydrous form of diclofenac sodium (DIC-Na) and the structural relationship among the anhydrate and hydrated forms have not yet been revealed. In this study, DIC-Na anhydrate was analyzed using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). To determine the solid-state dehydration/hydration mechanism of DIC-Na hydrates based on both the present and previously reported crystal structures (4.75-hydrate and 3.5-hydrate), additional experiments including simultaneous powder XRD and differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, dynamic vapor sorption measurements, and a comparison of the crystal structures were performed. The dehydration of the 4.75-hydrate form was found to occur in two steps. During the first step, only water molecules that were not coordinated to Na⁺ ions were lost, which led to the formation of the 3.5-hydrate while retaining alternating layered structures. The subsequent dehydration step into the anhydrous phase accompanied a substantial structural reconstruction. This study elucidated the complete landscape of the dehydration/hydration transformation of DIC-Na for the first time through a crystal structure investigation. These findings contribute to understanding the mechanism underlying these dehydration/hydration phenomena and the physicochemical properties of pharmaceutical crystals. Full article

We investigated THz emission from Ar-ion-implanted Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) films. THz radiation from the CIGS films increases as the density of implanted Ar ions increases. This is because Ar ions contribute to an increase in the surface surge current density. The effect of Ar-ion implantation on the carrier dynamics of CIGS films was also investigated using optical pump THz probe spectroscopy. The fitted results imply that implanted Ar ions increase the charge transition of intra-and carrier–carrier scattering lifetimes and decrease the bandgap transition lifetime. Full article

Surfactants are frequently used to improve the engineering performances of foamed bitumen. Additionally, the foaming process can also perform a significant influence on the foam characteristics and rheological properties of foamed bitumen. However, rare research investigates the synergistic effect of both surfactant and foaming process on the engineering properties of foamed bitumen. To fill the gap, this research investigated the synergistic effect of surfactant and foaming process on the foaming characteristics and rheological properties of foamed bitumen. Based on the experimental results, the synergistic effect shows a significant effect on improving the half-life of foamed bitumen, which reached up to 69 s when 6% foaming Evotherm-DAT content was used. In addition, the foaming temperature also has a significant effect on the foaming characteristics. This study shows that the best foaming conditions can be achieved when the foaming temperature and Evotherm-DAT content are 170 °C and 8%, respectively. Based on the study of synergistic effect, the engineering performances of surfactant foamed bitumen were further characterized in this research, for instance, the enhancement in high-temperature performance and fatigue resistance, and the improvement in workability. Generally, the results of this study have greatly promoted the application of surfactant foam bitumen in the engineering practice. Full article

Five host−guest trimesic-acid-based hydrogen-bonds framework compounds with different guests, namely [(TMA)₄·(TMB)₃] (1), [(TMA)₂·(DMB)_1.5] (2), [(TMA)₆·(MP)] (3), [(TMA)·(EP)] (4) and [(TMA)·(PP)] (5) (TMA = trimesic acid, TMB = 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene, DMB = 1,4-dimethoxybenzene, MP = 4-methoxyphenol, EP = 4-ethoxyphenol and PP = 4-propoxyphenol), were obtained through co-crystallization, and were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. The trimesic acid molecules comprise a hydrogen bonding six-membered cyclic host network that is found in a two-dimensional arrangement in compounds 1 and 2, and in a nine-fold interpenetrated three-dimensional structure in compound 3. In compounds 4 and 5, the trimesic acid and EP/PP molecules form a hydrogen-bonded six-membered cyclic network, resulting in a one-dimensional chain structure through O−H…O hydrogen bonds. Full article

This paper describes the use of glass sand in the production of autoclaved bricks. Traditional autoclaved materials consist of SiO₂, CaO, and H₂O. The purpose of the tests is to analyze the possibility of using glass sand in autoclaved materials and to determine their properties and durability. Depending on the structure, building materials can have porosities ranging from 0% (glass, metals) to over 90% (thermal insulation materials such as aerated concrete). Porosity of materials is directly related to the strength of materials and their density, and further to the thermal and acoustic insulation properties of products used especially for external wall construction, i.e., bricks, concrete, and aerated concrete. This type of silicate brick is formed at a temperature of 203 °C, therefore the dominant phase forming the microstructure is tobermorite, in contrast to the C-S-H phase, which dominates in concretes and which is characterized by a larger specific surface. The nature of pores, their number, appearance and arrangement in the material can be studied using computer techniques (SEM, XRD, computed tomography, porosimetry). Computed tomography (micro-CT analysis) showed that the number of voids in the material modified by glass sand is about 20% in relation to the weight of the product. The density of the product with glass sand was determined to be 2.2 kg/dm³. Full article

In this work, lateral-field-excitation (LFE) piezoelectric sensors based on polarity inversion layer are designed and fabricated, then frequency stabilities and sensitivities on electric property changes of liquids are tested. Because the polarity inversion layer can suppress the spurious modes, the stabilities of the LFE devices with a polarity inversion layer are obviously better than that of LFE devices with no polarity inversion layer. On the changes of liquid conductivity and permittivity, the sensitivities of the LFE devices with a polarity inversion layer are 2.4 times and 2.1 times higher than that of LFE devices with no polarity inversion layer, respectively. The polarity inversion layer of the lithium niobate crystal plate can be realized conveniently by heat treatment, therefore, the technology of the polarity inversion layer can play an important role in improving the sensing performances of LFE sensors. Full article

Recent advances of high-quality lithium niobate (LN) on insulator technology have revitalized the progress of novel chip-integrated LN-based photonic devices and accelerated application research. One of the promising technologies of interest is the generation of entangled photon pairs based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in LNs. In this paper, we investigated, theoretically and numerically, Type II SPDC in two kinds of LNs—undoped and 5-mol% MgO doped LNs. In each case, both non-poled and periodically poled crystals were considered. The technique is based on the SPDC under Type II extended phase matching, where the phase matching and the group velocity matching are simultaneously achieved between interacting photons. The proposed approach has not yet been reported for LNs. We discussed all factors required to generate photon pairs in LNs, in terms of the beam propagation direction, the spectral position of photons, and the corresponding effective nonlinearities and walk-offs. We showed that the spectral positions of the generated photon pairs fall into the mid-infrared region with high potential for free-space quantum communication, spectroscopy, and high-sensitivity metrology. The joint spectral analyses showed that photon pairs can be generated with high purities of 0.995–0.999 with proper pump filtering. Full article

In this study, we report on the deposition of a highly crystalline AlN interfacial layer on GaN at 330 °C via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD). Trimethylaluminum (TMA) and NH₃ plasma were used as the Al and N precursors, respectively. The crystallinity and mass density of AlN were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements, respectively, and the chemical bonding states and atomic concentrations of the AlN were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The AlN/n-GaN interface characteristics were analyzed using TOF-SIMS and STEM, and the electrical characteristics of the AlN were evaluated using metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. The PEALD process exhibited high linearity between the AlN thickness and the number of cycles without any incubation period, as well as a low carbon impurity of less than 1% and high crystal quality even at a low deposition temperature of 330 °C. Moreover, the GaN surface oxidation was successfully suppressed by the AlN interfacial layer. Furthermore, enhanced electrical characteristics were achieved by the MIS capacitor with AlN compared to those achieved without AlN. Full article