• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1248-1254
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• 2018

Magnetization versus temperature and magnetic-field measurements, M(T, $H_a$), have been carried out to study the magnetic and critical properties of polycrystalline $La_{1-x}Ba_xCoO_3$ (x = 0.3 and 0.5) cobaltites. These compounds with the density of ${\sim}6.2g/cm^3$ crystallized in the $R{\bar{3}}c$ rhombohedral and $Pm{\bar{3}}m$ cubic structures, respectively. With an applied field $H_a=200Oe$, M(T) data have revealed that the samples with x = 0.3 and 0.5 exhibit the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic (FM-PM) phase transition at the Curie temperature points $T_C=202$ and 157 K, respectively. At 4.2 K, the saturation magnetization ($M_{sat}$) decreases from 35.9 emu/g for x = 0.3-26.1 emu/g for x = 0.5. Particularly, the critical-behavior analyses in the vicinity of $T_C$ reveal all samples undergoing a second-order phase transition, with critical exponent values (${\beta}=0.328$ and ${\gamma}=1.251$ for x = 0.3, and ${\beta}=0.331$ and ${\gamma}=1.246$ for x = 0.5) close to those expected for the 3D Ising model. This proves short-range magnetic order existing in $La_{1-x}Ba_xCoO_3$. We believe that magnetic inhomogeneities due to the mixture of hole-rich FM regions (confined in the trivalent-cobalt hole-poor anti-FM matrix) and uniaxial anisotropy prevent long-range order in $La_{1-x}Ba_xCoO_3$.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1320-1326
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• 2018

High crystalline quality CrN thin films have been grown on $La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO_3$ (LSMO) templates by molecular beam epitaxy. The structure and magnetic properties of CrN/LSMO heterojunctions are investigated combining with the experiments and the first-principles simulation. The N?el temperature of the CrN/LSMO samples is found to be 281 K and the saturation magnetization of CrN/LSMO increases compared to that of LSMO templates. The magnetic property of CrN/LSMO heterostructures mainly comes from Cr atoms of (001) CrN and Mn atoms of (001) LSMO. The (001) LSMO induces and couples the spin of the CrN sublattice at CrN/LSMO interface.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1513-1522
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• 2018

Bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) thin films were prepared with various electrolyte temperatures ($10^{\circ}C-70^{\circ}C$) and concentrations [$Bi(NO_3)_3$ and $TeO_2:1.25-5.0mM$] in this study. The surface morphologies differed significantly between the experiments in which these two electrodeposition conditions were separately adjusted even though the applied current density was in the same range in both cases. At higher electrolyte temperatures, a dendrite crystal structure appeared on the film surface. However, the surface morphology did not change significantly as the electrolyte concentration increased. The dendrite crystal structure formation in the former case may have been caused by the diffusion lengths of the ions increasing with increasing electrolyte temperature. In such a state, the reactive points primarily occur at the tops of spiked areas, leading to dendrite crystal structure formation. In addition, the in-plane thermoelectric properties of $Bi_2Te_3$ thin films were measured at approximately 300 K. The power factor decreased drastically as the electrolyte temperature increased because of the decrease in electrical conductivity due to the dendrite crystal structure. However, the power factor did not strongly depend on the electrolyte concentration. The highest power factor [$1.08{\mu}W/(cm{\cdot}K^2$)] was obtained at 3.75 mM. Therefore, to produce electrodeposited $Bi_2Te_3$ films with improved thermoelectric performances and relatively high deposition rates, the electrolyte temperature should be relatively low ($30^{\circ}C$) and the electrolyte concentration should be set at 3.75 mM.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1540-1545
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• 2018

SiGe alloy is widely used thermoelectric materials for high temperature thermoelectric generator applications. However, its high thermoelectric performance has been thus far realized only in alloys synthesized employing mechanical alloying techniques, which are time-consuming and employ several materials processing steps. In the current study, for the first time, we report an enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) ~ 1.1 at $900^{\circ}C$ in ntype $Si_{80}Ge_{20}$ nano-alloys, synthesized using a facile and up-scalable methodology consisting of rapid solidification at high optimized cooling rate ${\sim}3.4{\times}10^7K/s$, employing melt spinning followed by spark plasma sintering of the resulting nano-crystalline melt-spun ribbons. This enhancement in ZT > 20% over its bulk counterpart, owes its origin to the nano-crystalline microstructure formed at high cooling rates, which results in crystallite size ~7 nm leading to high density of grain boundaries, which scatter heat-carrying phonons. This abundant scattering resulted in a very low thermal conductivity ${\sim}2.1Wm^{-1}K^{-1}$, which corresponds to ~50% reduction over its bulk counterpart and is amongst the lowest reported thus far in n-type SiGe alloys. The synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, based on which the enhancement in their thermoelectric performance has been discussed.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1458-1464
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• 2018

An improved method for the preparation of g-$C_3N_4$ is described. Currently, heating (> $400^{\circ}C$) of urea is the common method used for preparing the g-$C_3N_4$. We have found that sonication of melamine in $HNO_3$ solution, followed by washing with anhydrous ethanol, not only reduce the crystallite size of g-$C_3N_4$ but also facilitate intriguing electronic structure and photoluminescence (PL) properties. Moreover, loading of metal (Pt and Ag) nanoparticles, by applying the borohydride reduction method, has resulted in multicolor-emission from g-$C_3N_4$. With the help of PL spectra and local electronic structure study, at C K-edge, N K-edge, Pt L-edge and Ag K-edge by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), a precise mechanism of tunable luminescence is established. The PL mechanism ascribes the amendments in the transitions, via defect and/or metal states assimilation, between the ${\pi}^*$ states of tris-triazine ring of g-$C_3N_4$ and lone pair states of nitride. It is evidenced that interaction between the C/N 2p and metal 4d/5d orbitals of Ag/Pt has manifested a net detraction in the ${\delta}^*{\rightarrow}LP$ transitions and enhancement in the ${\pi}^*{\rightarrow}LP$ and ${\pi}^*{\rightarrow}{\pi}$ transitions, leading to broad PL spectra from g-$C_3N_4$ organic semiconductor compound.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1564-1570
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• 2018

Charge transport dynamics in ZnO based inverted organic solar cell (IOSC) has been characterized with transient photocurrent spectroscopy and localised photocurrent mapping-atomic force microscopy. The value of maximum exciton generation rate was found to vary from $2.6{\times}10^{27}m^{-3}s^{-1}$ ($J_{sat}=79.7A\;m^{-2}$) to $2.9{\times}10^{27}m^{-3}s^{-1}$ ($J_{sat}=90.8A\;m^{-2}$) for devices with power conversion efficiency ranging from 2.03 to 2.51%. These results suggest that nanorods served as an excellent electron transporting layer that provides efficient charge transport and enhances IOSC device performance. The photovoltaic performance of OSCs with various growth times of ZnO nanorods have been analysed for a comparison between AM1.5G spectrum and local solar spectrum. The simulated PCE of all devices operating under local spectrum exhibited extensive improvement with the gain of 13.3-3.7% in which the ZnO nanorods grown at 15 min possess the highest PCE under local solar with the value of 2.82%.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1422-1425
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• 2018

$NaTa_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$ ($0{\leq}x{\leq}0.40$) nanocubes were synthesized by a relatively low temperature hydrothermal method, using $Ta_2O_5$, $FeCl_3$ and NaOH as the precursors. The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra showed that $NaTa_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$ had significant visible-light-absorbing capability, and the absorption edge of $NaTaO_3$ shifted to longer wavelength with the increase of Fe dopants. Moreover, $NaTa_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$ exhibited room-temperature ferromagnetism when $Fe^{3+}$ occupied $Ta^{5+}$ sites in $NaTaO_3$ crystal lattice. The ferromagnetism is mainly attributed to the superexchange interactions between doped $Fe^{3+}$, rather than the contribution of oxygen vacancies caused by Fe doping. Therefore, Fe doping can simultaneously regulate the optical and magnetic properties of $NaTaO_3$ semiconductor, which will enable its potential applications in multifunctional optical-electronics and opticalspintronics devices.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1523-1527
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• 2018

The thermal stability, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of $Gd_{55}Co_{35}M_{10}$ (M = Si, Zr and Nb) melts-pun ribbons were studied. The relatively high reduced glass transition temperature ($T_{x1}/T_m$ > 0.60) and low melting point ($T_m$) resulted in excellent glass forming ability (GFA). The Curie temperatures ($T_C$) of melt-spun amorphous ribbons $Gd_{55}Co_{35}M_{10}$ for M = Si, Zr and Nb were 166, 148 and 173 K, respectively. For a magnetic field change of 2 T, the values of maximum magnetic entropy change $(-{\Delta}S_M)^{max}$ for $Gd_{55}Co_{35}Si_{10}$, $Gd_{55}Co_{35}Zr_{10}$ and $Gd_{55}Co_{35}Nb_{10}$ were found to be 2.86, 4.28 and $4.05J\;kg^{-1}K^{-1}$, while the refrigeration capacity (RC) values were 154, 274 and $174J\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. The $RC_{FWHM}$ values of amorphous alloys $Gd_{55}Co_{35}M_{10}$ (M = Si, Zr and Nb) are comparable to or larger than that of $LaFe_{11.6}Si_{1.4}$ crystalline alloy. Large values of $(-{\Delta}S_M)^{max}$ and RC along with good thermal stability make $Gd_{55}Co_{35}M_{10}$ (M = Si, Zr and Nb) amorphous alloys be potential materials for magnetic cooling operating in a wide temperature range from 150 to 175 K, e.g., as part of a gas liquefaction process.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1465-1472
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• 2018

The magnetic and optical properties of Ce-doped ZnO systems have been widely demonstrated, but the effects of different strains of Ce-doped ZnO systems remain unclear. To solve these problems, this study identified the effects of biaxial strain on the electronic structure, absorption spectrum, and magnetic properties of Ce-doped ZnO systems by using a generalized gradient approximation + U (GGA + U) method with plane wave pseudopotential. Under unstrained conditions, the formation energy decreased, the system became stable, and the doping process became easy with the increase in the distances between two Ce atoms. The band gap of the systems with different strains became narrower than that of undoped ZnO without strain, and the absorption spectra showed a red shift. The band gap narrowed, and the red shift became weak with the increase of compressive strain. By contrast, the band gap widened, and the red shift became significant with the increase of tensile strain. The red shift was significant when the tensile strain was 3%. The systems with -1%, 0%, and 1% strains were ferromagnetic. For the first time, the magnetic moment of the system with -1% strain was found to be the largest, and the system showed the greatest beneficial value for diluted magnetic semiconductors. The systems with -3%, -2%, 2%, and 3% strains were non-magnetic, and they had no value for diluted magnetic semiconductors. The ferromagnetism of the system with -1% strain was mainly caused by the hybrid coupling of Ce-4f, Ce-5d, and O-2p orbits. This finding was consistent with Zener's Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida theory. The results can serve as a reference for the design and preparation of new diluted magnetic semiconductors and optical functional materials.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1605-1608
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• 2018

$Gd_{1-x}Ho_xNi$ melt-spun ribbons were fabricated by a single-roller melt spinning method. All the compounds crystallize in an orthorhombic CrB-type structure. The Curie temperature ($T_C$) was tuned between 46 and 99 K by varying the concentration of Gd and Ho. A spin reorientation (SRO) transition is observed around 13 K. Different from $T_C$, the SRO transition temperature is almost invariable for all compounds. Two peaks of magnetic entropy change (${\Delta}S_M$) were found. One at the higher temperature range was originated from the paramagnet-ferromagnet phase transition and the other at the lower temperature range was caused by the SRO transition. The maximum of ${\Delta}S_M$ around $T_C$ is almost same. The other maximum of ${\Delta}S_M$ around SRO transition, however, had significantly positive relationship with x. It reached a maximum about $8.2J\;kg^{-1}\;K^{-1}$ for x = 0.8. Thus double large ${\Delta}S_M$ peaks were obtained in $Gd_{1-x}Ho_xNi$ melt-spun ribbons with the high Ho concentration. And the refrigerant capacity power reached a maximum of $622J\;kg^{-1}$ for x = 0.6. $Gd_{1-x}Ho_xNi$ ribbons could be good candidate for magnetic refrigerant working in the low temperature especially near the liquid nitrogen temperature range.