The structural and thermodynamic properties of tetragonal-TiH2 under high temperatures and pressures are investigated by Ab initio calculations based on pseudo-potential plane-wave density functional theory method within using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and quasi-harmonic Debye model. Some ground state properties such as lattice constants, bulk modulus and elastic constants are good agreement with the available experimental results and other theoretical data. Through the quasiharmonic Debye model, in which the phononic effects are considered, the thermodynamic properties of tetragonal-TiH2 such as thermal expansion coefficient, Debye temperature, heat capacity and Grüneisen parameters dependence of temperature and pressure in the range of 0–1000 K and 0–10 GPa are also presented, respectively.

In this work we studied both theoretically and experimentally interactions between zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and selected gases (Ar, He, N2, O2, H2, NO2). Specifically, we focused on electrical conductivity as important macroscopical physical parameter reflecting ZnPc/gas complexes interaction states. To interpret the measured data and determine the main parameters that influence the resistivity/charge transport ability of ZnPc in a specific gas atmosphere, the density functional theory (DFT) has been used. Combining experimental results and DFT modeling we were able to characterize states/parameters influencing charge transport conditions from new and comprehensive perspectives.

Thin films of aluminum oxide of thickness 293–433 nm were grown on fused silica substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of an alumina target with KrF excimer laser radiation. The effects of oxygen background pressure (0.5–50 Pa) and substrate temperature of room temperature to 800 °C were investigated on thickness, crystal-structure, optical properties and thermal stability of alumina films. It was found that PLD grows a weakly crystalline aluminum oxide film at in situ substrate temperature of 800 °C and oxygen background pressure of 5 Pa. Post-deposition annealing studies of amorphous alumina sample prepared at in situ temperature of 600 °C found that crystallization starts at 800 °C and forms δ alumina phase.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and cathodoluminescence (CL) method have been employed to study the chemical composition and the oxygen vacancy concentration of HfO2, Sc2 O3 and (HfO2)1−x(Sc2O3)x films. It was found that the increase of Sc content led to monotonic decreasing the Hf4f7/2 and Sc2p3/2 binding energies indicating to form solid solution (HfO2)1−x(Sc2O3)x. All the samples characterized by the intensive CL spectra with maximum around 3 eV which originated due to some radiative recombination emission caused by oxygen deficiency. The concentration of oxygen vacancy in the Sc-doped HfO2 is sensitive to the Sc content and as a result the intensity of CL spectra of (HfO2)1−x(Sc2O3)x is lower that those of pure HfO2 and Sc2O3.

Cd1−xZnxS thin films were deposited on the glass substrates (GS) and on the potassium permanganate activated substrates (KMAS) at 350 °C using spray pyrolysis technique. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed that the films are polycrystalline and belong to the hexagonal structure. Scanning electron microscopic studies revealed an effective change on the surface morphology of the film due to potassium permanganate activation (KMA). Transmittance spectra of Cd1−xZnxS thin films were recorded in the range of 320–700 nm and the transmittance was found to be high for the film coated on KMAS than GS. Photoluminescence spectra show a strong emission peak at 585 nm for the film coated on the GS and it is shifted to 592 nm for the film coated on KMAS. Thus the results authenticate that KMA influences the structural and optical properties of the deposited films.

Fe doped ZnO thin films with various levels of iron doping concentration (0, 1, 2, 3 at.%) content were produced by sol-gel dip coating method. The influence of Fe doping on the structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnO thin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction has shown that the films are polycrystalline and textured with the hexagonal structure. Scanning electron microscope has indicated that crystallites dispersion in the films is generally homogeneous and the particle morphology changes with increase in the doping concentration. FTIR measurements show that the intensity of Zn-O band increases with increasing doping concentration and the UV-visible transmittance results show a high transparency in the visible range. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of Fe doped ZnO indicate that the green-orange emission decrease with increasing Fe doping.

By employing atomistic simulations based on an empirical potential, we study the collision dynamics of low-energy carbon ions impinging on single-walled carbon nanotubes. We investigate the energy transferred from the incident carbon ions to the target atoms in the nanotubes. We find that the lowest incident energy needed for the primary knock-on atom to be permanently displaced from its original location is 18 eV, and for the secondary knock-on atom to escape out of the nanotube is estimated to be 28 eV. Moreover, we find that the incident threshold energy strongly depends on the diameter of the nanotube and its chirality, and saturates towards the corresponding value in graphene as the tube diameter increases. Furthermore, a single vacancy and an adatom defects are obtained after optimization using the ab-initio calculations.

Indium phosphide semiconductor materials (InP) have various applications in the field of semiconductor optoelectronics because of its advantages. But the making of this material is difficult due to the very weak chemical activity of In element. In this report we present a simple method to synthesize InP nanocrystals from inorganic precursors such as indium chloride (InCl3), yellow phosphorus (P4), reduction agent NaBH4 at low temperature with the aid of ultrasound. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the formed InP nanocrystals were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersed X-ray analysis (EDS), Raman scattering, absorption and photoluminscence (PL) spectroscopy. After the surface treatment of InP nanocrystals with liquid hydrofluoric (HF) acid, the luminescence spectra have an enhanced intensity and consist of the peaks in the region from 500 nm to 700 nm. The intensity of these peaks strongly depends on the concentration and etching time of HF.

Magnetic nanoparticles FexPd100−x (x = 42, 50, 55, 60, 63) with small size of around 5–10 nm were prepared by sonochemistry from palladium acetate and iron acetate. The compositions x can be controlled by changing the ratio of the above precursor chemicals. Under the effect of annealing at various temperatures from 450 °C to 650 °C, structure change was observed and samples show hard magnetic properties with high coercivity up to 2.1 kOe. Magnetic properties of samples were then systematically discussed in dependence of x and annealing temperatures.

ZnAl2O4:Cr3+, Tb3+ powders with different dopant contents have been synthesized by sol-gel method using the following precursors: zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)2), aluminum nitrate (Al(NO3)3), terbium nitrate (Tb(NO3)3), chrome nitrate (Cr(NO3)3), and citric acid. The effect of the Cr3+, Tb3+ concentration and heat-treating temperature on structural and optical properties of the synthesized samples has been studied.

Mesoporous MgO has been synthesized in the presence of the neutral block co-polymer surfactant Pluronic F127. The characterization of synthesized material was carried out by mean of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller technique (BET). The obtained MgO exhibited a value of the surface area of 157 m2/g and showed a narrow pore size distribution centered at 4.3 nm. The phenomena and gas evolved during calcinations have been investigated by thermogravimeter-mass spectrometer (TG-MS). During the calcinations, the precursor Mg(OH)2 was converted to MgO with a mass loss of 29% and with the formation of H2O (>60% of the gas evolved). The desorption of CO2 and a small amount of CO and/or N2 which were adsorbed from air on the surface of Mg(OH)2 were also observed. No organic compounds were found which indicated that F127 was completely removed by Soxhlet extraction.

This study focuses on the comparison of two different types of EEG electrodes (the first B10-S-150 Ag/AgCl sintered ring electrode with 1, 5 mm touch proof safety socket and 150 cm heavy-duty lead wire and the second, B12-LS-100 Ag/AgCl sintered FE-electrode with 100 cm light-duty lead wire and 1, 5 mm touch proof safety socket with 5 kΩ resistor near sensor) used in the EEG/fMRI method in 3T MRI scanner. We compared these electrodes by their specific absorption rate (SAR) simulation values and the temperature change calculated by PRF method. The experimental setup of the study is described as follows: a phantom is prepared and the electrodes are placed on it. Then, a simulation for SAR values is realized. The temperature change is calculated by MR thermometer. As a result of this study, Ag/AgCl pin electrode is better to be use in EEG/fMRI; because the measured temperature change is expected to be low.

In this paper, Schlieren photography technique has been applied for the visualization of the pressure field of a single-shot underwater pulsed discharge. A needle-to-plane electrode configuration submerged in distilled water was used. The detailed time- and space-resolved images of both streamers and pressure waves were captured. As a result, several phenomena, such as the phase change prior to the initiation of the discharge, primary and secondary streamers propagation, shock wave generation, and the bubble formation, were observed. From these observations, a scenario of multiple events from prebreakdown to post-discharge was proposed. The gas bubbles generated in discharge were used to visualize the electrohydrodynamic flow induced by the discharge.

The main form of electrical discharge in long air gaps is broken down by leader mechanism. The leader development in rod-rod gaps under positive switching impulse was investigated by using two high-speed CCD cameras. The clearer and more particular colorized physical morphology of the leader propagation process than the traditional image converter cameras was recorded and the leader development parameters were also obtained. As a comparative study, an improved simplified model for rod-rod configuration was performed to simulate the leader development. The numerical simulations of leader development characteristics were in a close agreement with that of experimental measurements.

This paper proposes a design approach of an electrical power supply intended to offer an especially well-suited supply mode, through the efficient control of the current injected into a DBD setup. The proposed topology is aimed at controlling the operating point of the electrical discharge, thereby allowing favoring the homogeneous regime, and maximizing the electrical power injected into the plasma. The power supply structure is designed on the basis of causality criteria and of an analytical analysis of the electrical waveforms, which are derived from an equivalent circuit model of the DBD. Design issues of this electrical generator are detailed and experimental analysis of its operation, together with actual performances are presented. A very good agreement is obtained by comparing simulation and experiments. Effective ability to control the power transfers by means of its two degrees of freedom (current magnitude and frequency) is highlighted.

This article presents an explicit model of electromagnetic (EM) coupling between electronic circuits and metallic wire placed above the ground plane. The model is based on the interaction between the EM near-field (NF) that has been treated with plane wave spectrum (PWS) and the Taylor model. The routine process illustrating the methodology is addressed is this article. The practicability of the model developed was upheld with different analytical and real demonstrators. First, the NF coupling between a straight transmission line (TL) and 1 GHz Wilkinson power divider (PWD) designed and implemented in planar technology was provided. Subsequently, simulations with a powerful commercial tool and measurements from 0.2 GHz to 2 GHz revealed a good agreement between the coupling voltages from the proposed model. As a second proof of concept, a printed circuit board incorporating a 40 MHz RF oscillator was placed 5 mm above the grounded TL. Once again, coupling voltages matched measurements were observed with magnitude relative difference lower than 5 dB. The hereby model presents huge benefits not only in terms of flexibility in the design process but it can also be run with very less computation time compared to the existing standard simulators. The model can be potentially a good candidate for investigating complex systems EMC engineering.

Non-destructive testing of heritage mural paintings by means of stimulated infrared thermography has now become rather efficient [1–14]. However, pigments, which form a pictorial layer, have contrasting radiative properties possibly leading to artifact detection. In this paper, attempts to alleviate this difficulty are presented. Based on the spectroscopic study of different paint layers, one can argue that, in the medium infrared field, this radiative disparity decreases significantly. Then, with similar settings, it can be shown that ceramic radiative sources allow reaching this wavelength band. Finally, on the basis of a study carried out on an academic sample and a partial copy of a fresco from the cathedral of Angers, combining ceramic heat sources with a laboratory SAMMTHIR experimental setup enables to make real headway in terms of defects’ detection.

A double-layered membrane model is proposed to explain raft formation and induction on extracellular (outer) and cytoplasmic (inner) leaflets of plasma membranes in a situation where only the outer layer has a tendency to phase-separate. In the model, lipid exchange with the surrounding medium is allowed on both layers, but lipid exchange between layers is not allowed. Simulations display domain stabilization on both layers. The effect of the lipid recycling frequencies on stationary domain sizes is also investigated. It is found that stationary domain sizes decrease when lipid recycling frequencies are stronger. Linear stability analysis is used to verify the results.

The morphological parameter of a thin film surface can be characterized by power spectral density (PSD) function which provides a better description on topography rather than the root mean square (RMS) and super structure contributions. Through the present study, nanoparticle copper-carbon composite films were prepared by co-deposition of RF-sputtering and RF-PECVD method using acetylene gas and copper target. These films’ surface roughnesses were determined by using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The carbon content of the films was obtained by Rutherford back scattering (RBS) which was varied from 5% to 73%. The power values of PSD for the AFM data were determined by the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms. The effect of carbon on the surface roughness of thin films was investigated. Changes in the relationship between the resistivity and fractal dimension were observed for investigating films.