Theoretical Investigations on Electrocaloric Properties of \mathrm{PbZr}_{0.95}\mathrm{Ti}_{0.05}\mathrm{O}_{3} Thin Film

Based on a phenomenological model, the electrocaloric effect (ECE) accompanied with the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition in a PbZr $_{0.95}$ 0.95 Ti $_{0.05}$ 0.05 O $_{3}$ 3 thin film was investigated. The extracted data reveal many features of the ECE such as electrocaloric entropy changes, heat capacity changes, and temperature changes as functions of temperature due to different electric fields shifts. From the behavior of the PbZr $_{0.95}$ 0.95 Ti $_{0.05}$ 0.05 O $_{3}$ 3 thin film in phase transitions, it leads to a large change of heat capacity of 105.94 J  ${\cdot }\,$ · kg ${^{-1}}\,{\cdot }\,{^{\circ }}$ ? 1 · ° C, a temperature change of 22.44 K, and a relative cooling power of 1469 J  ${\cdot }$ ·  kg $^{-1}$ ? 1 .     

Magnetocaloric Effect in Half-Metallic Double Perovskite Sr_{0.4}Ba_{1.6-x}Sr_{x}FeMoO_{6}

The magnetocaloric effect in half-metallic double perovskite Sr $_{0.4}$ Ba $_{1.6-x}$ Sr $_{x}$ FeMoO $_{6}$ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) was investigated. It is shown that Sr $_{0.4}$ Ba $_{1.6-x}$ Sr $_{x}$ FeMoO $_{6}$ exhibits a magnetic entropy change of 0.078 J $\,\cdot \, $ kg $^{-1}\,\cdot \, $ K $^{-1}$ upon 0.2 T magnetic field variation. Through these results, polycrystalline samples of Sr $_{0.4}$ Ba $_{1.6-x}$ Sr $_{x}$ FeMoO $_{6 }$ have some potential applications for magnetic refrigerants over a wide-temperature range, including room temperature.     

Annealing Effect on Microstructure and Superconductivity of K_{x}Fe_{y}Se_{2} Synthesized by an Easy One-step Method

High-quality superconducting K $_{x}$ Fe $_{y}$ Se $_{2}$ single crystals were synthesized using an easy one-step method. Detailed annealing studies were performed to make clear the phase formation process in K $_{x}$ Fe $_{y}$ Se $_{2}$ . Compatible observations were found in temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction patterns, back-scattered electron images and corresponding electromagnetic properties, which proved that good superconductivity performance was closely related to the microstructure of superconducting component. Analysis based on the scaling behavior of flux pinning force indicated that the dominant pinning mechanism was $\Delta T_\mathrm{c}$ pinning and independent of connectivity. The annealing dynamics studies were also performed, which manifested that the humps in temperature-dependent resistance curves were induced by competition between the metallic/superconducting and the semiconducting/insulating phases.     

Spherical and rod-like Gd 2 O 3 :Eu 3?+? nanophosphors—Structural and luminescent properties

A comparative study of spherical and rod-like nanocrystalline Gd $_{\boldsymbol 2}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ (Gd $_{\boldsymbol{1\cdot92}}$ Eu $_{\boldsymbol{0\cdot08}}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ ) red phosphors prepared by solution combustion and hydrothermal methods have been reported. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) results confirm the as-formed product in combustion method showing mixed phase of monoclinic and cubic of Gd $_{\boldsymbol 2}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ . Upon calcinations at 800 $^{\boldsymbol\circ}$ C for 3?h, dominant cubic phase was achieved. The as-formed precursor hydrothermal product shows hexagonal Gd(OH) $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ phase and it converts to pure cubic phase of Gd $_{\boldsymbol 2}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ on calcination at 600 $^{\boldsymbol \circ}$ C for 3?h. TEM micrographs of hydrothermally prepared cubic Gd $_{\boldsymbol 2}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ phase shows nanorods with a diameter of 15?nm and length varying from 50 to 150?nm, whereas combustion product shows the particles to be of irregular shape, with different sizes in the range 50?C250?nm. Dominant red emission (612?nm) was observed in cubic Gd $_{\boldsymbol 2}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ which has been assigned to $^{\boldsymbol 5}{\bf \textit{D}}_{\boldsymbol 0}$ $\boldsymbol \to$ $^{\boldsymbol 7}{\bf \textit{F}}_{\boldsymbol 2}$ transition. However, in hexagonal Gd(OH) $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ , emission peaks at 614 and 621?nm were observed. The strong red emission of cubic Gd $_{\boldsymbol 2}$ O $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ :Eu $^{\boldsymbol{3+}}$ nanophosphors by hydrothermal method are promising for high performance display materials. The variation in optical energy bandgap ( $\boldsymbol{E}_{\boldsymbol{\rm g}}$ ) was noticed in as-formed and heat treated systems in both the techniques. This is due to more ordered structure in heat treated samples and reduction in structural defects.     

Specific Heat of K_{0.71}Na_{0.29}Fe_2As_2 at Very Low Temperatures

A commercially available calorimeter has been used to investigate the specific heat of a high-quality K $_{0.71}$ Na $_{0.29}$ Fe $_2$ As $_2$ single crystal. The addenda heat capacity of the calorimeter is determined in the temperature range $0.02 \, \mathrm{K} \le T \le 0.54 \, \mathrm{K}$ . The data of the K $_{0.71}$ Na $_{0.29}$ Fe $_2$ As $_2$ crystal imply the presence of a large $T^2$ contribution to the specific heat which gives evidence of $d$ -wave order parameter symmetry in the superconducting state. To improve the measurements, a novel design for a calorimeter with a paramagnetic temperature sensor is presented. It promises a temperature resolution of $\Delta T \approx 0.1 \, \mathrm{\mu K}$ and an addenda heat capacity less than $200 \, \mathrm{pJ/K}$ at $ T < 100 \, \mathrm{mK}$ .     

Crystal growth and magnetic property of YFeO 3 crystal

YFeO $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ and other rare earth substituted crystals with distorted orthorhombic pervoskite-like structure (space group, Pbnm) have attracted much attention due to their remarkable magnetic properties of primary significance for technological applications. In the present work, the floating zone growth of YFeO $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ crystals has been systematically investigated and high quality YFeO $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ crystal was obtained by optimized process. The magnetic properties of YFeO $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ crystal were investigated, and it indicated the high magneto-optical property in YFeO $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ crystals with specific orientation due to its anisotropy. YFeO $_{\boldsymbol 3}$ crystals display superior performance in the application magneto-optical current sensors and fast latching optical switches.     

Ion exchange synthesis and thermal characteristics of some \left[ \rm{\mathbf{N}}_{{2222}}^{{+}} \right] based ionic liquids

Eight salts were obtained by reacting tetraethylammonium cation $\big[ {{\rm {\bf N}}_{{\rm {\bf 2222}}}^{{+}} } \big]$ with inorganic anions like BF $_{{4}}^{{-}}$ , NO $_{{3}}^{{-}}$ , NO $_{{2}}^{{{-}}}$ , SCN^???, BrO $_{{3}}^{{-}}$ , IO $_{{3}}^{{-}}$ , PF $_{{6}}^{{-}}$ and HCO $_{{3}}^{{-}}$ using ion exchange method. These ionic liquids (ILs) were characterized using thermal methods, infrared spectroscopy and densitometry. Thermophysical properties such as density, coefficient of volume expansion, heat of fusion, heat capacity and thermal energy storage capacity were determined. Thermal conductivity of the samples was determined both in solid and liquid phases. Owing to high values of thermal energy storage capacity coupled with handsome liquid phase thermal conductivity, ILs under investigation were recommended as materials for thermal energy storage (TES) as well as heat transfer applications.     

Electrolytic Conductivity of Four Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

In this article, electrolytic (ionic) conductivity measurements of four ionic liquids (ILs), namely, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl] imide ([C $_{2}$ 2 mim][NTf $_{2}$ 2 ]), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([C $_{2}$ 2 mim][OTf]), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide ([C $_{6}$ 6 mim][NTf $_{2}$ 2 ]), and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate ([C $_{2}$ 2 mim][EtSO $_{4}$ 4 ]) (ECOENG212 $^\circledR $ ® ), were performed in a temperature range of (288.15 to 333.15) K. [C $_{6}$ 6 mim][NTf $_{2}$ 2 ] was chosen to be a reference ionic liquid for several properties, including the electrolytic conductivity by the IUPAC Project 2002-005-1-100. For that reason, the measurements performed with that ionic liquid primarily serve the purpose to validate the instrumentation and the experimental procedure used in this work. The measurements were carried out using a complex impedance method, applying a novel electronic device designed and constructed for this purpose. The complete setup includes a Schott Instruments LF 913 T, used as a four-electrode conductivity cell, and a lock-in amplifier. The cell was calibrated using standard reference KCl aqueous solutions. The measurements of the impedance of the conductivity cell were carried out along a range of frequencies from (0.2 to 30) kHz, and the results were extrapolated to infinite frequency, in order to determine the electrolytic conductivity of the liquid samples. The results obtained for the ionic liquid [C $_{6}$ 6 mim][NTf $_{2}$ 2 ] were compared to reference data, and it was estimated that the overall uncertainty of the present results is better than 2 %. All the data obtained were compared with available literature data, and were analyzed and discussed in respect to the effect of temperature, cation alkyl chain length, and anion.     

Two-Band Eliashberg Theory in Doped MgB_{2}: Experimental T c and Superconductive Gaps

The variation of the critical temperature $T_{c}$ and of the superconductive gaps as functions of doping (Al, C) in the diboride MgB $_{2}$ has been studied in the framework of the two-band Eliashberg theory and traditional phonon coupling mechanism. We have solved the two-band Eliashberg equations using first-principle calculations or simple assumptions for the variation of the relevant physical quantities. We have found that the experimental $T_{c}$ curves can be exactly explained only if the Coulomb pseudopotential changes with x by tuning the Fermi level toward the σ band edge. We also found that a small amount of impurities changes the structural properties of the material, so we cannot treat the Mg $_{1-x}{\rm Al} _{x}{\rm B}_{2}$ and MgB $_{2-x}{\rm C}_{x}$ systems as a contamination with Al or C of MgB $_{2}$ , but as new materials. Finally, we compare the predictions of our theory with the available experimental data.     

Predicting the size-dependent tissue accumulation of agents released from vascular targeted nanoconstructs

Vascular targeted nanoparticles have been developed for the delivery of therapeutic and imaging agents in cancer and cardiovascular diseases. However, at authors’ knowledge, a comprehensive systematic analysis on their delivery efficiency is still missing. Here, a computational model is developed to predict the vessel wall accumulation of agents released from vascular targeted nanoconstructs. The transport problem for the released agent is solved using a finite volume scheme in terms of three governing parameters: the local wall shear rate $S$ , ranging from $10$ to $200\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ ; the wall filtration velocity $V_f$ , varying from $10^{-9}$ to $10^{-7}\,\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ ; and the agent diffusion coefficient $D$ , ranging from $10^{-12}$ to $10^{-9}\,\mathrm{m}^2/\mathrm{s}$ . It is shown that the percentage of released agent adsorbing on the vessel walls in the vicinity of the vascular targeted nanoconstructs reduces with an increase in shear rate $S$ , and with a decrease in filtration velocity $V_f$ and agent diffusivity $D$ . In particular, in tumor microvessels, characterized by lower shear rates ( $S = 10\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ ) and higher filtration velocities ( $V_f=10^{-7}\,\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ ), an agent with a diffusivity $D = 10^{-12}\,\mathrm{m}^2/\mathrm{s}$ (i.e. a 50 nm particle) is predicted to deposit on the vessel wall up to $30~\%$ of the total released dose. Differently, drug molecules, exhibiting a smaller size and much higher diffusion coefficient ( $D = 10^{-9}\,\mathrm{m}^2/\mathrm{s}$ ), are predicted to accumulate up to $70~\%$ . In healthy vessels, characterized by higher $S$ and lower $V_f$ , the largest majority of the released agent is redistributed directly in the circulation. These data suggest that drug molecules and small nanoparticles only can be efficiently released from vascular targeted nanoconstructs towards the diseased vessel walls and tissue.     

Hypersensitive Transition of Nd(III) Complexes in Liquids Detected by Pulsed-Laser-Induced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy

Laser-induced photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy for the spectral measurements of extremely weak absorption such as a forbidden transition of lanthanide ions in liquids has been established. In spectroscopy, a pulsed Nd:YAG laser connected with a MOPO series optical parametric oscillator which emits a broad spectrum covering UV and visible regions is used as the excitation source, and the induced PA signals are detected by an optimized PA piezoelectric transducer. The absorption spectra of trivalent lanthanide ions ( $\text{ Pr}^{3+}, \text{ Ho}^{3+}$ , and $\text{ Nd}^{3+})$ in aqueous solutions have been obtained by the detection system with a detection-limit absorbance of $1.3\times 10^{-5}\,\text{ cm}^{-1}$ at room temperature. In addition, the effects of different binding environments on the band shapes and oscillator strengths of the hypersensitive transitions of $\text{ Nd}^{3+}$ ions, i.e., $\text{ Nd}(\text{ CH}_{3}\text{ COO})_{3}$ $\cdot $ $\text{ H}_{2}\text{ O}$ dissolved in $0.1\,{\text{ mol}} \cdot \text{ l}^{-1}$ acetic acid and $\text{ Nd(3-butanedione)}_{3}{\cdot } 2\text{ H}_{2} \text{ O}$ dissolved in triglycol compared with $\text{ NdCl}_{3}$ in $0.1\,{\text{ mol}}\cdot \text{ l}^{-1}$ hydrochloric acid, are observed. The results show that the chemical environment around the lanthanide ions has great impact on 4f–4f transitions, which is rationalized as the impact in terms of ligand (or solvent) special structures and coordination properties.     

Evidence for One-Gap Superconductivity in Mg(B_{1-x}C_{x})_{2} Single Crystals at x=0.132 by Point-Contact Spectroscopy

We report the results of directional point-contact measurements in Mg(B $_{1-x}$ C $_{x})_{2}$ single crystals. The amplitudes of the gaps, $\Delta_{\pi}$ and $\Delta_{\sigma}$ , were determined for each C content by fitting the experimental low-temperature normalized conductance curves of our “soft” point contacts with the BTK model generalized to the two-band case. We found that, on increasing the carbon content, $\Delta_{\sigma}$ decreases almost linearly with $T_{c}$ and $\Delta_{\pi}$ slightly increases until, at $x=0.132$ (where $T_{c}=19$ K), they assume the same value $\Delta =3.2 \pm 0.9$ meV. This result is confirmed by the temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the conductance curves at this C content, which do not show any evidence of two distinct gap values. In particular, the Δ versus T curve follows very well a standard BCS curve, with a gap ratio $2\Delta /k_{B} T_{c}=3.9$ . These experimental findings are compared to the theoretical predictions of the two-band model in the Eliashberg formulation.     

Linear complexity and correlation of a class of binary cyclotomic sequences

Let $p_1,p_2,\ldots ,p_n$ be distinct odd primes and let $e_1,e_2,\ldots ,e_n$ be positive integers. Based on cyclotomic classes proposed by Ding and Helleseth (Finite Fields Appl 4:140–166, 1998), a binary cyclotomic sequence of period $p_1^{e_{1}}p_{2}^{e_{2}}\ldots p_{n}^{e_n}$ is defined and denoted by $\underline{s_\Upsilon }$ . The linear complexity of $\underline{s_\Upsilon }$ is determined and is proved to be greater than or equal to $(p_1^{e_{1}}p_{2}^{e_{2}}\ldots p_{n}^{e_n}-1)/2$ . The autocorrelation function of $\underline{s_\Upsilon }$ is explicitly computed. Let $\ell \in \{1,2,\ldots ,n\}$ . We also explicitly compute the crosscorrelation function of $\underline{s_\Upsilon }$ and the Legendre sequence $\underline{L_{p_\ell }}$ with respect to $p_\ell $ . It is shown that $\underline{s_\Upsilon }$ and $\underline{L_{p_\ell }}$ have two-level or three-level crosscorrelation, and all their two-level crosscorrelation functions are determined.     

Influences of Elastic and Viscous Moduli on Laser-Generated Lamb Waves in Viscoelastic Plates

The study of the propagation of laser-generated Lamb waves in viscoelastic plates, after taking into account the viscoelastic and thermophysical properties, is reported. Based on the thermoviscoelastic theory, a finite-element model for the laser-generated Lamb waves is developed in the frequency domain, and the temporal temperature and displacement waveforms are obtained by using inverse fast Fourier transforms. The influences of each elastic and viscous modulus $(C_{11}^{\prime },\; C_{22}^{\prime },\; C_{12}^{\prime },\; C_{66}^{\prime },\; C_{11}^{{\prime }{\prime }},\; C_{22}^{{\prime }{\prime }},\; C_{12}^{{\prime }{\prime }},$ and $C_{66}^{{\prime }{\prime }})$ on the propagation of the laser-generated Lamb waves (mainly for the $S_{0}$ and $A_{0}$ modes) are investigated in detail. The numerical results show that the attenuation of the $S_{0}$ mode is mainly determined by $C_{22}^{\prime },\; C_{12}^{\prime },\; C_{11}^{{\prime }{\prime }}$ , and $C_{12}^{{\prime }{\prime }}$ , and is independent of $C_{66}^{\prime }$ and $C_{66}^{{\prime }{\prime }}$ . In addition, the attenuation of the $A_{0}$ mode is more influenced by $C_{11}^{\prime },\; C_{22}^{\prime },\; C_{11}^{{\prime }{\prime }},$ and $C_{12}^{{\prime }{\prime }}$ . The finite-element method in the frequency domain provides a useful tool to investigate the mechanical properties of the viscoelastic plates.     

Influence of pH and bath composition on properties of Ni–Fe alloy films synthesized by electrodeposition

Fe?CNi films were electrodeposited on ITO glass substrates from the electrolytes with different molar ratio of Ni $^{\boldsymbol{2+}}$ /Fe $^{\boldsymbol{2+}}$ and different pH values (2 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 1, 2 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 9, 3 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 7 and 4 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 3) at 25 $\boldsymbol{^\circ}$ C. The properties of Fe?CNi alloy films depend on both Ni $^{\boldsymbol{2+}}$ and Fe $^{\boldsymbol{2+}}$ concentrations in electrolyte and pH values. The content of Ni increases from 38% to 84% as the mole ratio of NiSO $_{\boldsymbol{4}}$ /FeSO $_{\boldsymbol{4}}$ increasing from 0 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 50/0 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 50 to 0 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 90/0 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 10 in electrolyte and slightly decreases from 65% to 42% as the pH values increase from 2 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 1 to 4 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 3. The X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the structures of the films strongly depend on the Ni content in the binary films. The magnetic performance of the films shows that the saturation magnetization ( $\boldsymbol{M}_{\boldsymbol{\rm s}})$ decreases from 1775 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 01 emu/cm $^{\boldsymbol{3}}$ to 1501 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 46 emu/cm $^{\boldsymbol{3}}$ with the pH value increasing from 2 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 1 to 4 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 3 and the saturation magnetization ( $\boldsymbol{M}_{\boldsymbol{\rm s}})$ and coercivity ( $\boldsymbol{H}_{\boldsymbol{\rm c}})$ move up from 1150 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 44 emu/cm $^{\boldsymbol{3}}$ and 58 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 86 Oe to 2498 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 88 emu/cm $^{\boldsymbol{3}}$ and 93 $\boldsymbol{\cdot}$ 12 Oe with the increase of Ni $^{\boldsymbol{2+}}$ concentration in the electrolyte, respectively.     

Dielectric behaviour of sodium and potassium doped magnesium titanate

Pure phase of magnesium titanate (MgTiO $_{\boldsymbol{3}})$ was obtained at 1100°C by both the conventional solid-state method as well as by the flux method starting from hexahydrated magnesium nitrate and titanium dioxide as the reactants. MgTiO $_{\boldsymbol{3}}$ doped with Na or K was also prepared by the solid-state route. Na and K doped compositions led to monophasic MgTiO $_{\boldsymbol{3}}$ below 5 mol % dopant concentration while biphasic mixture of MgTiO $_{\boldsymbol{3}}$ (major phase) and MgTi $_{\boldsymbol{2}}$ O $_{\boldsymbol{5}}$ (minor phase) were obtained at higher dopant concentration. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of MgTiO $_{\boldsymbol{3}}$ were found to be almost the same irrespective of the preparative method. MgTiO $_{\boldsymbol{3}}$ doped with 5 mol % of Na and K ions displayed optimum dielectric properties.     

Transfer Partial Molar Isentropic Compressibilities of (l-Alanine/l-Glutamine/Glycylglycine) from Water to 0.512 {\mathrm{mol}}\!\cdot \!{\mathrm{kg}}^{-1} Aqueous {\mathrm{KNO}}_{3}/0.512\, {\mathrm{mol}}\!\cdot \! {\mathrm{kg}}^{-1} Aqueous {\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{SO}}_{4} Solutions Between 298.15 K and 323.15 K

Speeds of sound of (l-alanine/l-glutamine/glycylglycine $\,+\, 0.512\, {\mathrm{mol}}\cdot {\mathrm{kg}}^{-1}$ + 0.512 mol · kg ? 1 aqueous ${\mathrm{KNO}}_{3}/0.512\, {\mathrm{mol}}\cdot {\mathrm{kg}}^{-1}$ KNO 3 / 0.512 mol · kg ? 1 aqueous ${\mathrm{K}}_{2}{\mathrm{SO}}_{4}$ K 2 SO 4 ) systems have been measured for several molal concentrations of amino acid/peptide at different temperatures: $T$ T = (298.15 to 323.15) K. Using the speed-of-sound and density data, the parameters, partial molar isentropic compressibilities $\phi _{\kappa }^{0}$ ? κ 0 and transfer partial molar isentropic compressibilities $\Delta _{\mathrm{tr}} \phi _{\kappa }^{0}$ Δ tr ? κ 0 , have been computed. The trends of variation of $\phi _{\kappa }^{0}$ ? κ 0 and $\Delta _{\mathrm{tr}} \phi _{\kappa }^{0}$ Δ tr ? κ 0 with changes in molal concentration of the solute and temperature have been discussed in terms of zwitterion–ion, zwitterion–water dipole, ion–water dipole, and ion–ion interactions operative in the systems.     

Measurements of Microstructural, Mechanical, Electrical, and Thermal Properties of an Al–Ni Alloy

The Al–7.5 wt% Ni alloy was directionally solidified upwards with different temperature gradients, $G$ ( $0.86\,\text{ K}~{\cdot }~ \text{ mm}^{-1}$ to $4.24\,\text{ K}~{\cdot }~\text{ mm}^{-1})$ at a constant growth rate, $V$ ( $8.34\,\upmu \text{ m}~{\cdot }~\text{ s}^{-1})$ . The dependence of dendritic microstructures such as the primary dendrite arm spacing ( $\lambda _{1}$ ), the secondary dendrite arm spacing ( $\lambda _{2}$ ), the dendrite tip radius ( $R$ ), and the mushy zone depth ( $d$ ) on the temperature gradient were analyzed. The dendritic microstructures in this study were also compared with current theoretical models, and similar previous experimental results. Measurements of the microhardness (HV) and electrical resistivity ( $\rho $ ) of the directionally solidified samples were carried out. Variations of the electrical resistivity ( $\rho $ ) with temperature ( $T$ ) were also measured by using a standard dc four-point probe technique. And also, the dependence of the microhardness and electrical resistivity on the temperature gradient was analyzed. According to these results, it has been found that the values of HV and $\rho $ increase with increasing values of $G$ . But, the values of HV and $\rho $ decrease with increasing values of dendritic microstructures ( $\lambda _{1}, \lambda _{2}, R,$ and $d$ ). It has been also found that, on increasing the values of temperature, the values of $\rho $ increase. The enthalpy of fusion ( $\Delta {H}$ ) for the Al–7.5 wt%Ni alloy was determined by a differential scanning calorimeter from a heating trace during the transformation from solid to liquid.     

Features in the formation of Ge/Si multilayer nanostructures under ion-beam-assisted crystallization

A method of combined ion-beam crystallization of the Ge/Si multilayer nanostructures is proposed. Using atomic-force microscopy and electron microscopy, we observed the formation of an array of germanium quantum dots with lateral dimensions 〈a〉 = 12–15 nm at the following conditions: silicon-substrate temperature T = 330–350°C, ion-beam energies E _Ge + = 30–40 eV, $E_{Ar^ + }^0 = 230 - 240$ eV (primary pulsed defect formation mode), $E_{Ar^ + } = 130 - 140$ eV (permanent diffusion stimulation mode), and ion-beam fluences $f_{Ge^ + } = 1.5 \times 10^{14} cm^{ - 2} s^{ - 1} $ , $f_{Ar^ + } = 5 \times 10^{12} cm^{ - 2} s^{ - 1} $ . The Raman spectroscopy data indicate the experimental possibility of low-temperature ion-stimulated growth of the spacer layers of silicon (T = 420–450°C, $E_{Ar^ + } = 80 - 90$ eV, $E_{Si^ + } = 30 - 40$ eV, $f_{Si^ + } = 3.5 \times 10^{14} cm^{ - 2} s^{ - 1} $ ) and the formation of multilayer structures with Ge _x Si_{1 ? x} quantum dots (x > 0.85).     

Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Nickel–Cobalt Ferrites (\mathrm{Ni}_{1/2}{\mathrm{{Co}}}_{1/2}{\mathrm{{Fe}}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4})

In this study, the nanocrystalline nickel–cobalt ferrites $(\mathrm{Ni}_{1/2}\mathrm{Co}_{1/2}\mathrm{Fe}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{4})$ were prepared via the citrate route method at $27\,^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ . The samples were calcined at $300\,^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ for 3 h. The crystalline structure and the single-phase formations were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Prepared materials showed the cubic spinel structure with m3m symmetry and Fd3m space group. The analyses of XRD patterns were carried out using POWD software. It gave an estimation of lattice constant “ $a$ ” of 8.3584 Å, which was in good agreement with the results reported in JCPDS file no. 742081. The crystal size of the prepared materials calculated by Scherer’s formula was 27.6 nm and the electrical conductivity was around $10^{-5}~\mathrm{S}\,\cdot \, \mathrm{m}^{-1}$ . The permeability component variations with frequency were realized. The magnetic properties of the prepared materials were analyzed by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). It showed a saturation magnetization of $27.26\,\mathrm{emu} \cdot \mathrm{m}^{-1}$ and the behavior of a hard magnet.