This work adds new experimental facts on room temperature hardness and flexural strength of alumina and composites with 1, 2, 5 and 10 vol% single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) with similar grain size. Monolithic Al2O3 and composites were spark plasma sintered (SPS) in identical conditions at 1300 A degrees C, achieving high density, submicrometric grain size…
The systematic construction of heterogeneous nanoparticles composed of two distinct metal domains (Au and Pt) and exhibiting a broad range of morphologically defined shapes is reported. It is demonstrated that careful Au overgrowth on Pt nanocrystal seeds with shapes mainly corresponding to cubeoctahedra, octahedra and octapods can lead to heterometallic systems whose intrinsic structures result…
The dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramic prepared by mechanochemical synthesis (MCS) were investigated. The effect on dielectric properties of ball-to-powder weight ratio and milling time was investigated and compared to the behavior of CCTO prepared by conventional solid state reaction (CSSR). CCTO ceramic was partially obtained after 6h of the milling process, while complete…
Er-BiVO4 has been synthesized by means of mw-assisted hydrothermal method having good photoactivity under sun-like excitation. It is stated that the precursor addition sequence plays a critical role which determine the further structural feature of BiVO4. From the structural and morphological characterization, it can be demonstrated that the presence of Er3+ would induce the stabilization…
The growth of Cobalt oxides by reactive thermal evaporation of metallic Cobalt in an oxygen atmosphere on a series of oxide substrates, namely SiO2, Al2O3 and MgO, has been chemically and morphologically studied by means of XPS and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The XPS results reveal that cobalt oxide grows as CoO (Co2+) for coverages…
The acid-base properties of MgO-Al2O3 supports and NiSn/MgO-Al2O3 catalysts were evaluated by IR spectroscopy using pyridine as a probe molecule. The results indicate that only Lewis acid sites were detected on the surface of the supports as well as on the catalysts. Nevertheless, Bronsted acid sites were not detected. In the support without MgO three…
Single phase, electrically insulating samples of Bi1−xLaxFeO3 solid solutions have been prepared by mechanosynthesis over the whole compositional range for the first time. Lanthanum substitution influenced the kinetics of the mechanochemical reaction and crystallite size of the products. For 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.15, an increase in the La content produced a significant decrease in…
This work adds new experimental facts on room temperature hardness and flexural strength of alumina and composites with 1, 2, 5 and 10 vol% single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) with similar grain size. Monolithic Al2O3 and composites were spark plasma sintered (SPS) in identical conditions at 1300 A degrees C, achieving high density, submicrometric grain size…
One dimensional gratings patterned on the surface of nanocrystalline titania electrodes are used as a light harvesting strategy to improve the overall performance of dye solar cells under both frontal and rear illumination conditions. A soft-lithography-based micromoulding approach is employed to replicate a periodic surface relief pattern onto the surface of the electrode, which is…
