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Now showing 1 - 10 of 93
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    Self-propelled micromotors for cleaning polluted water
    (Washington, DC : ACS, 2013) Soler, L.; Magdanz, V.; Fomin, V.M.; Sanchez, S.; Schmidt, O.G.
    We describe the use of catalytically self-propelled microjets (dubbed micromotors) for degrading organic pollutants in water via the Fenton oxidation process. The tubular micromotors are composed of rolled-up functional nanomembranes consisting of Fe/Pt bilayers. The micromotors contain double functionality within their architecture, i.e., the inner Pt for the self-propulsion and the outer Fe for the in situ generation of ferrous ions boosting the remediation of contaminated water.The degradation of organic pollutants takes place in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, which acts as a reagent for the Fenton reaction and as main fuel to propel the micromotors. Factors influencing the efficiency of the Fenton oxidation process, including thickness of the Fe layer, pH, and concentration of hydrogen peroxide, are investigated. The ability of these catalytically self-propelled micromotors to improve intermixing in liquids results in the removal of organic pollutants ca. 12 times faster than when the Fenton oxidation process is carried out without catalytically active micromotors. The enhanced reaction-diffusion provided by micromotors has been theoretically modeled. The synergy between the internal and external functionalities of the micromotors, without the need of further functionalization, results into an enhanced degradation of nonbiodegradable and dangerous organic pollutants at small-scale environments and holds considerable promise for the remediation of contaminated water.
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    The use of matrix-specific calibrations for oxygen in analytical glow discharge spectrometry
    (Dordrecht : Springer, 2014) Gonzalez-Gago, C.; Smid, P.; Hofmann, T.; Venzago, C.; Hoffmann, V.; Gruner, W.
    The performance of glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry for oxygen determination is investigated using a set of new conductive samples containing oxygen in the percent range in three different matrices (Al, Mg, and Cu) prepared by a sintering process. The sputtering rate corrected calibrations obtained at standard conditions for the 4 mm anode (700 V, 20 mA) in GD-OES are matrix independent for Mg and Al but not for Cu. The importance of a "blue shifted" line of oxygen at 130.22 nm (first reported by Köster) for quantitative analyses by GD-OES is confirmed. Matrix-specific calibrations for oxygen in GD-MS are presented. Two source concepts - fast flow (ELEMENT GD) and low gas flow (VG9000) - are evaluated obtaining higher sensitivity with the static flow source. Additional experiments using Ar-He mixtures or μs pulsed GD are carried out in ELEMENT GD aiming to improve the oxygen sensitivity.
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    Roles of hydrogenation, annealing and field in the structure and magnetic entropy change of Tb-based bulk metallic glasses
    (New York : American Institute of Physics, 2013) Luo, Qiang; Schwarz, Björn; Mattern, Norbert; Shen, Jun; Eckert, Jürgen
    The reduction of open-volume regions in Tb-based metallic glass (MG) by annealing and hydrogen charging was found to rearrange the atomic structure and tune the magnetic behaviors. After crystallization, the magnetic structure and magnetic entropy change (MEC) alters due to the structural transformation, and a plateau-like-MEC behavior can be obtained. The hydrogen concentration after charging at 1mA/cm2 for 576 h reaches as high as 3290 w-ppm. The magnetization behavior and the MEC change due to the modification of the exchange interaction and the random magnetic anisotropy (RMA) upon hydrogenation. At low temperatures, irreversible positive MEC was obtained, which is related to the internal entropy production. The RMA-to-exchange ratio acts as a switch to control the irreversible entropy production channel and the reversible entropy transfer channel. The field dependence of the MEC is discussed in term of the competition among Zeeman energy, exchange interaction and RMA.
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    Resistive switching in polycrystalline YMnO3 thin films
    (New York, NY : American Inst. of Physics, 2014) Bogusz, A.; Müller, A.D.; Blaschke, D.; Skorupa, I.; Bürger, D.; Scholz, A.; Schmidt, O.G.; Schmidt, H.
    We report a unipolar, nonvolatile resistive switching in polycrystalline YMnO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition and sandwiched between Au top and Ti/Pt bottom electrodes. The ratio of the resistance in the OFF and ON state is larger than 103. The observed phenomena can be attributed to the formation and rupture of conductive filaments within the multiferroic YMnO3 film. The generation of conductive paths under applied electric field is discussed in terms of the presence of grain boundaries and charged domain walls inherently formed in hexagonal YMnO3. Our findings suggest that engineering of the ferroelectric domains might be a promising route for designing and fabrication of novel resistive switching devices.
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    Stimuli‐responsive microjets with reconfigurable shape
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2014) Magdanz, Veronika; Stoychev, Georgi; Ionov, Leonid; Sanchez, Samuel; Schmidt, Oliver.G.
    Flexible thermoresponsive polymeric microjets are formed by the self‐folding of polymeric layers containing a thin Pt film used as catalyst for self‐propulsion in solutions containing hydrogen peroxide. The flexible microjets can reversibly fold and unfold in an accurate manner by applying changes in temperature to the solution in which they are immersed. This effect allows microjets to rapidly start and stop multiple times by controlling the radius of curvature of the microjet. This work opens many possibilities in the field of artificial nanodevices, for fundamental studies on self‐propulsion at the microscale, and also for biorelated applications.
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    Correlation between the microstructures and the deformation mechanisms of CuZr-based bulk metallic glass composites
    (New York : American Institute of Physics, 2013) Song, K.K.; Pauly, S.; Sun, B.A; Tan, J.; Stoica, M.; Kühn, U.; Eckert, J.
    The variation of the transformation-mediated deformation behavior with microstructural changes in CuZr-based bulk metallic glass composites is investigated. With increasing crystalline volume fraction, the deformation mechanism gradually changes from a shear-banding dominated process as evidenced by a chaotic serrated flow behavior, to being governed by a martensitic transformation with a pronounced elastic-plastic stage, resulting in different plastic deformations evolving into a self-organized critical state characterized by the power-law distribution of shear avalanches. This is reflected in the stress-strain curves by a single-to-"double"-to-"triple"- double yielding transition and by different mechanical properties with different serrated flow characteristics, which are interpreted based on the microstructural evolutions and a fundamental energy theorem. Our results can assist in understanding deformation behaviors for high-performance metastable alloys.
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    Wearable magnetic field sensors for flexible electronics
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2014) Melzer, Michael; Mönch, Jens Ingolf; Makarov, Denys; Zabila, Yevhen; Bermúdez, Gilbert Santiago Cañón; Karnaushenko, Daniil; Baunack, Stefan; Bahr, Falk; Yan, Chenglin; Kaltenbrunner, Martin; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    Highly flexible bismuth Hall sensors on polymeric foils are fabricated, and the key optimization steps that are required to boost their sensitivity to the bulk value are identified. The sensor can be bent around the wrist or positioned on the finger to realize an interactive pointing device for wearable electronics. Furthermore, this technology is of great interest for the rapidly developing market of ­eMobility, for optimization of eMotors and magnetic bearings.
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    Chemotactic behavior of catalytic motors in microfluidic channels
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2013) Baraban, Larysa; Harazim, Stefan M.; Sanchez, Samuel; Schmidt, Oliver.G.
    Chemotaxis in practice: Two different artificial catalytic micromotors (tubular and spherical, see scheme) show chemotactic behavior in microfluidic channels demonstrating that catalytic micromotors can sense the gradient of chemical fuel in their environment and be directed towards desired locations.
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    Thickness dependent exchange bias in martensitic epitaxial Ni-Mn-Sn thin films
    (New York : American Institute of Physics, 2013) Behler, Anna; Teichert, Niclas; Dutta, Biswanath; Waske, Anja; Hickel, Tilmann; Auge, Alexander; Hütten, Andreas; Eckert, Jürgen
    A thickness dependent exchange bias in the low temperature martensitic state of epitaxial Ni-Mn-Sn thin films is found. The effect can be retained down to very small thicknesses. For a Ni50Mn32Sn18 thin film, which does not undergo a martensitic transformation, no exchange bias is observed. Our results suggest that a significant interplay between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions, which is the origin for exchange bias, is only present in the martensite. The finding is supported by ab initio calculations showing that the antiferromagnetic order is stabilized in the phase.
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    Geometric models for isotropic random porous media: A review
    (London : Hindawi, 2014) Hermann, Helmut; Elsner, Antje
    Models for random porous media are considered. The models are isotropic both from the local and the macroscopic point of view; that is, the pores have spherical shape or their surface shows piecewise spherical curvature, and there is no macroscopic gradient of any geometrical feature. Both closed-pore and open-pore systems are discussed. The Poisson grain model, the model of hard spheres packing, and the penetrable sphere model are used; variable size distribution of the pores is included. A parameter is introduced which controls the degree of open-porosity. Besides systems built up by a single solid phase, models for porous media with the internal surface coated by a second phase are treated. Volume fraction, surface area, and correlation functions are given explicitly where applicable; otherwise numerical methods for determination are described. Effective medium theory is applied to calculate physical properties for the models such as isotropic elastic moduli, thermal and electrical conductivity, and static dielectric constant. The methods presented are exemplified by applications: small-angle scattering of systems showing fractal-like behavior in limited ranges of linear dimension, optimization of nanoporous insulating materials, and improvement of properties of open-pore systems by atomic layer deposition of a second phase on the internal surface.