ABSTRACT: The knowledge of coordination environment around various atomic species in many functional materials provides a key for explaining their properties and working mechanisms. Many structural motifs and their transformations are difficult to detect and quantify in the process of work (operando conditions), due to their local nature, small changes, low dimensionality of the material, and/or extreme conditions. Here we use artificial neural network approach to extract the information on the local structure and its in-situ changes directly from the X-ray absorption fine structure spectra. We illustrate this capability by extracting the radial distribution function (RDF) of atoms in ferritic and austenitic phases of bulk iron across the temperature-induced transition. Integration of RDFs allows us to quantify the changes in the iron coordination and material density, and to observe the transition from body-centered to face-centered cubic arrangement of iron atoms. This method is attractive for a broad range of materials and experimental conditions.

ABSTRACT: Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Ferritic Stainless Steels (ODS FS) are candidate materials for structural components in fusion reactors. Their ultrafine microstructure and the presence of a very stable dispersion of Y-Ti-O nanoclusters provide reasonable fracture toughness, high mechanical and creep strength, and resistance to radiation damage at the operation temperature, up to about 750 °C.
An innovative route to produce ODS FS with composition Fe-14Cr-2W-0.3Ti-0.3Y₂O₃ (wt.%), named STARS (Surface Treatment of gas Atomized powder followed by Reactive Synthesis), is presented. This route avoids the mechanical alloying (MA) of the elemental or prealloyed powders with yttria to dissolve the yttrium in the ferritic matrix.
In this study, starting powders containing Ti and Y are obtained by gas atomization at laboratory and industrial scale. Then, a metastable Cr- and Fe- rich oxide layer is formed on the surface of the powder particles. During consolidation by HIP the metastable oxide layer at Prior Particle Boundaries (PPBs) dissociates, the oxygen diffuses towards saturated solutions or metallic Ti- and Y-rich particles, and Y-Ti-O nano-oxides (mainly Y₂TiO₅) precipitate in the ferritic matrix.
Detailed Microstructural characterization by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) of powders and consolidated materials is presented and correlated with mechanical behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Austenitic oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels are one of the candidates as a structural material for high-temperature applications in future power plants. To guarantee the necessary high production yield, the production process was improved in terms of reproducibility and scalability, by adding a process control agent (PCA) during the milling process. Due to this addition and the inherent change of the production process, the produced powder was thoroughly investigated using transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy methods to reveal the formation of chromium-rich carbides adjunct to titanium. Hence, less titanium was available to form the preferred complex nano-oxides the addition of carbon to the system influences the formation of precipitates severely in terms of their amount and size. The mechanical alloying process itself was unaffected by the addition of a PCA, and mixing and alloying of used elements still occurs.

ABSTRACT: Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Ferritic Steels (ODS FS) are candidate materials for structural components in future fusion reactors. Their high strength and creep resistance at elevated temperatures and their good resistance to neutron radiation damage is obtained through extremely fine microstructures containing a high density of nanometric precipitates, generally yttrium and titanium oxides.
This work shows transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) characterization of Fe-14Cr-2W-0.3Ti-0.24Y ODS FS obtained by the STARS route (Surface Treatment of gas Atomized powder followed by Reactive Synthesis), an alternative method to obtain ODS alloys that avoids the mechanical alloying to introduce Y₂O₃ powder particles. In this route, FS powders already containing Ti and Y, precursors of the nanometric oxides, are obtained by gas atomization. Then, a metastable Cr- and Fe-rich oxide layer is formed on the surface of the powder particles. During consolidation by HIP at elevated temperatures, and post-HIP heat treatments above the HIP temperature, this oxide layer at Prior Particle Boundaries (PPBs) dissociates, the oxygen diffuses, and Y-Ti-O nano-oxides precipitate in the ferritic matrix.
TEM characterization combined with XAFS and XANES analyses have proven to be suitable tools to follow the evolution of the nature of the different oxides present in the material during the whole processing route and select appropriate HIP and post-HIP parameters to promote profuse and fine Y-Ti-O nanometric precipitates.

ABSTRACT: Abstract. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most widely used silicon-based organic polymer, and is particularly known for its unusual rheological properties. PDMS has found extensive usage in various fields ranging from microfluidics and flexible electronics to cosmetics and food industry. In certain applications, like e.g. dry adhesives or dry transfer of 2D materials, adhesive properties of PDMS play crucial role. In this review we focus on probing the mechanical and adhesive properties of PDMS by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM). Main advantages and limitations of AFM-based measurements in comparison to macroscopic tests are discussed.

ABSTRACT: The surface plays an exceptionally important role in nanoscale materials, exerting a strong influence on their properties. Consequently, even a very thin coating can greatly improve the optoelectronic properties of nanostructures by modifying the light absorption and spatial distribution of charge carriers. To use these advantages, 1D/1D heterostructures of ZnO/WS₂ core/shell nanowires with a-few-layers-thick WS₂ shell were fabricated. These heterostructures were thoroughly characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. Then, a single-nanowire photoresistive device was assembled by mechanically positioning ZnO/WS₂ core/shell nanowires onto gold electrodes inside a scanning electron microscope. The results show that a few layers of WS₂ significantly enhance the photosensitivity in the short wavelength range and drastically (almost 2 orders of magnitude) improve the photoresponse time of pure ZnO nanowires. The fast response time of ZnO/WS₂ core/shell nanowire was explained by electrons and holes sinking from ZnO nanowire into WS₂ shell, which serves as a charge carrier channel in the ZnO/WS₂ heterostructure. First-principles calculations suggest that the interface layer i-WS₂, bridging ZnO nanowire surface and WS₂ shell, might play a role of energy barrier, preventing the backward diffusion of charge carriers into ZnO nanowire.

ABSTRACT: Metallic nanowires are known to break into shorter fragments due to the Rayleigh instability mechanism. This process is strongly accelerated at elevated temperatures and can completely hinder the functioning of nanowire-based devices like e.g. transparent conductive and flexible coatings. At the same time, arranged gold nanodots have important applications in electrochemical sensors. In this paper we perform a series of annealing experiments of gold and silver nanowires and nanowire junctions at fixed temperatures 473, 673, 873 and 973 K (200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C and 700 °C) during a time period of 10 min. We show that nanowires are especially prone to fragmentation around junctions and crossing points even at comparatively low temperatures. The fragmentation process is highly temperature dependent and the junction region breaks up at a lower temperature than a single nanowire. We develop a gold parametrization for kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and demonstrate the surface diffusion origin of the nanowire junction fragmentation. We show that nanowire fragmentation starts at the junctions with high reliability and propose that aligning nanowires in a regular grid could be used as a technique for fabricating arrays of nanodots.

ABSTRACT: High surface energy of individual nanostructures leads to high adhesion and static friction that can completely hinder the operation of nanoscale systems with movable parts. For instance, silver or gold nanowires cannot be moved on silicon substrate without plastic deformation. In this paper we experimentally demonstrate the operational prototype of low-friction nano-joint. The movable part of the prototype is made either from gold or silver nano-pin produced by laser-induced partial melting of silver and gold nanowires resulting in formation of rounded bulbs on their ends. The nano-pin is then manipulated into the inverted pyramid (i-pyramids) specially etched in Si wafer. Due to the small contact area, nano-pin can be repeatedly tilted inside i-pyramid as a rigid object without noticeable deformation. At the same time in the absence of external force nano-joint is stable and preserves its position and tilt angle. Experiments are performed inside a scanning electron microscope and supported by finite element method simulations.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, nanowires have been shown to exhibit high photosensitivities, and, therefore are of interest in a variety of optoelectronic applications, for example, colour-sensitive photodetectors. In this study, we fabricated two-terminal PbS, In 2 S 3 , CdS and ZnSe single-nanowire photoresistor devices and tested applicability of these materials under the same conditions for colour-sensitive (405 nm, 532 nm and 660 nm) light detection. Nanowires were grown via atmospheric pressure chemical vapour transport method, their structure and morphology were characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and optical properties were investigated with photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Single-nanowire photoresistors were fabricated via in situ nanomanipulations inside SEM, using focused ion beam (FIB) cutting and electron-beam-assisted platinum welding; their current-voltage characteristics and photoresponse values were measured. Applicability of the tested nanowire materials for colour-sensitive light detection is discussed.

ABSTRACT: In this work we have performed a comparative analysis of optical absorption and micro-Raman spectra for series of Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ (GGG) single crystals irradiated by fast neutrons with fluences from 10¹⁶ n/cm² to 10¹⁸ n/cm². It was found that the optical absorption spectra of non-irradiated Czochralski grown GGG consist of the relatively narrow lines in the UV spectral range related to the 4f–4f transitions in Gd³⁺. Transitions from the ⁶S_7/2 ground state to the ⁶P, ⁶J and ⁶D states in a Gd3+ cation are clearly detected. For a GGG crystal containing Ca impurity ions, additional absorption band at 350 nm is observed, and it is tentatively ascribed to oxygen vacancies associated with Ca impurities. Several neutron-induced optical absorption bands, including ones related to F+ centres, were observed in fast neutron-irradiated Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ single crystals. Furthermore, clear evolution of the Raman spectra with neutron dose is also found. In particular, fine structure observed between 1350 and 1550 cm⁻¹ is completely disappeared at high fluences, while several significant changes and the emergence of new transitions have been ascertained in spectral range of 100–850 cm⁻¹.

ABSTRACT: X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies as well as magnetometry measurements were performed on nanosized manganese oxides to probe their phase composition and magnetic properties. It was shown that the XRD method is less sensitive to phase composition of manganese oxide samples than spectroscopic methods. While in some samples the XRD method recognised only the manganosite MnO phase, the Raman and FT-IR methods revealed additionally the presence of the hausmannite Mn₃O₄ phase.