2017-2-8, Madhuri, W., Kiran, S. Roopas, Reddy, M. Penchal, Reddy, N. Ramamanohar, Kumar, K.V. Siva

Nonstoichiometric series of Mg0.5-xCuxZn0.5Fe1.9O4-δ where x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25 has been synthesized by conventional solid state reaction route. The single phase spinel structure of the double sintered ferrites was confirmed by X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD). The ferrite series was studied in terms of DC electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power in the temperature ranging from room temperature to 300 °C and 400 °C, respectively. It was observed that DC electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient α decreased with the increase in x. DC electrical conductivity was found to decrease by about 4 orders. All the compositions showed a negative Seebeck coefficient exhibiting n-type semiconducting nature. From the above experimental results, activation energy and mobility of all the samples were estimated. Small polaron hopping conduction mechanism was suggested for the series of ferrites. Owing to their low conductivity the nonstoichiometric MgCuZn ferrites are the best materials for transformer core and high definition television deflection yokes. © 2017 Wroclaw University of Science and Technology.

2017, Riedel, Stefanie, Heyart, Benedikt, Apel, Katharina S., Mayr, Stefan G.

Biomimetic materials with programmable stimuli responsiveness constitute a highly attractive material class for building bioactuators, sensors and active control elements in future biomedical applications. With this background, we demonstrate how energetic electron beams can be utilized to construct tailored stimuli responsive actuators for biomedical applications. Composed of collagen-derived gelatin, they reveal a mechanical response to hydration and changes in pH-value and ion concentration, while maintaining their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. While this is explicitly demonstrated by systematic characterizing an electron-beam synthesized gelatin-based actuator of cantilever geometry, the underlying materials processes are also discussed, based on the fundamental physical and chemical principles. When applied within classical electron beam lithography systems, these findings pave the way for a novel class of highly versatile integrated bioactuators from micro-to macroscales.

2018, Trautmann, S., Richard-Lacroix, M., Dathe, A., Schneidewind, H., Dellith, J., Fritzsche, W., Deckert, V.

The optical response of realistic 3D plasmonic substrates composed of randomly shaped particles of different size and interparticle distance distributions in addition to nanometer scale surface roughness is intrinsically challenging to simulate due to computational limitations. Here, we present a Finite Element Method (FEM)-based methodology that bridges in-depth theoretical investigations and experimental optical response of plasmonic substrates composed of such silver nanoparticles. Parametrized scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) active substrate and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) probes are used to simulate the far-and near-field optical response. Far-field calculations are consistent with experimental dark field spectra and charge distribution images reveal for the first time in arbitrary structures the contributions of interparticle hybridized modes such as sub-radiant and super-radiant modes that also locally organize as basic units for Fano resonances. Near-field simulations expose the spatial position-dependent impact of hybridization on field enhancement. Simulations of representative sections of TERS tips are shown to exhibit the same unexpected coupling modes. Near-field simulations suggest that these modes can contribute up to 50% of the amplitude of the plasmon resonance at the tip apex but, interestingly, have a small effect on its frequency in the visible range. The band position is shown to be extremely sensitive to particle nanoscale roughness, highlighting the necessity to preserve detailed information at both the largest and the smallest scales. To the best of our knowledge, no currently available method enables reaching such a detailed description of large scale realistic 3D plasmonic systems.

2016, Trautmann, S., Aizpurua, J., Götz, I., Undisz, A., Dellith, J., Schneidewind, H., Rettenmayr, M., Deckert, V.

Recent experiments have evidenced sub-nanometer resolution in plasmonic-enhanced probe spectroscopy. Such a high resolution cannot be simply explained using the commonly considered radii of metallic nanoparticles on plasmonic probes. In this contribution the effects of defects as small as a single atom found on spherical plasmonic particles acting as probing tips are investigated in connection with the spatial resolution provided. The presence of abundant edge and corner sites with atomic scale dimensions in crystalline metallic nanoparticles is evident from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. Electrodynamic calculations based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) are implemented to reveal the impact of the presence of such atomic features in probing tips on the lateral spatial resolution and field localization. Our analysis is developed for three different configurations, and under resonant and non-resonant illumination conditions, respectively. Based on this analysis, the limits of field enhancement, lateral resolution and field confinement in plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy and microscopy are inferred, reaching values below 1 nanometer for reasonable atomic sizes.