Cation and polyhedron substitution strategies: Effects on local crystal structure and on Bi3+ and Eu3+ co-doped inverse garnet phosphors’ luminescence property

Following the rapid growth of lightning technology, the development of red-emitting phosphors is effective for improving color temperature and color rendering index for w-LEDs devices. Herein, a single phased garnet phosphor with cation and polyhedron substitution modification was firstly prepared. For Mg₃Gd₂Ge₃O₁₂: Bi³⁺, Eu³⁺, the intensity has been remarkably improved by about 16% compared to the one without Bi³⁺ sensitization. The energy transfer mechanism is identified in this work. Based on cation and polyhedron substitution strategies, novel phosphors with different compositions were obtained and further modified the PL properties. With Lu³⁺ substitution, the bond lengths between Bi³⁺ ion and anion ligands are decreased and the site symmetry has been strengthened, which leads to a 21 nm blue shift when Lu³⁺ totally replaced Gd³⁺ ions. In addition, Lu³⁺ and [SiO₄] substitution strategies both effectively increased symmetric rigid structure, which leads to a significant improvement in thermal stability, indicating the samples own great potential in optical applications This work provides a new insight to synthesis red-emitting phosphors for warm white-LEDs.     

The structure,vacancy characteristics,and magnetic properties of GdMn1-xCrxO3 ceramics

To investigate the evolution of the structural and enhanced magnetic properties of GdMnO₃ systems induced by the substitution of Mn with Cr, polycrystalline GdMn_1-xCr_xO₃ samples were synthesized via solid-state reactions. XRD characterization shows that all GdMn_1-xCr_xO₃ compounds with single-phase structures crystallize well and that Cr³⁺ ions entering the lattice sites of GdMnO₃ induce structural distortion. SEM results indicate that the grain size of the synthesized samples (a few microns) decreases as the Cr substitution concentration increases. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy reveals that vacancy-type defects occur in GdMn_1-xCr_xO₃ ceramics and that the vacancy size and concentration clearly change with the Cr content. The temperature and field dependence of the magnetization curves show that Cr substitution significantly influences the magnetic ordering of the gadolinium sublattice, improving the weak ferromagnetic transition temperature and magnetization of GdMn_1-xCr_xO₃. The enhanced magnetization of GdMn_1-xCr_xO₃ is closely related to the vacancy defect concentration.     

Low area field-programmable gate array implementation of PRESENT image encryption with key rotation and substitution

Lightweight ciphers are increasingly employed in cryptography because of the high demand for secure data transmission in wireless sensor network, embedded devices, and Internet of Things. The PRESENT algorithm as an ultra-lightweight block cipher provides better solution for secure hardware cryptography with low power consumption and minimum resource. This study generates the key using key rotation and substitution method, which contains key rotation, key switching, and binary-coded decimal-based key generation used in image encryption. The key rotation and substitution-based PRESENT architecture is proposed to increase security level for data stream and randomness in cipher through providing high resistance to attacks. Lookup table is used to design the key scheduling module, thus reducing the area of architecture. Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) performances are evaluated for the proposed and conventional methods. In Virtex 6 device, the proposed key rotation and substitution PRESENT architecture occupied 72 lookup tables, 65 flip flops, and 35 slices which are comparably less to the existing architecture.     

Alkali metal ion substitution induced luminescence enhancement of NaLaMgWO6:Eu3+ red phosphor for white light-emitting diodes

Alkali metal ion substitution is an effective strategy to improve the luminescence properties of phosphors. In this work, a series of red-emitting phosphors Na_1-xLi_x/2K_x/2La_0.6Eu_0.4MgWO₆ were prepared by a traditional high-temperature solid-state reaction. Their phase structure, microstructure, luminescence properties and potential application in phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (pc-WLEDs) were investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction (XRD) result revealed the formation of a solid solution when x?≤?0.3, which kept monoclinic structure of NaLaMgWO₆. Photoluminescence investigation indicated that the partial substitution of Li⁺/K⁺ ions for Na⁺ ions improved largely the red emission of Eu³⁺. Based on the optimized Na_0.7Li_0.15K_0.15La_0.6Eu_0.4MgWO₆ sample with relatively good thermal stability, a WLED device was fabricated by combining a near-ultraviolet (NUV) chip (~400?nm) with the phosphor mixture of commercial green/blue phosphors and the optimized red phosphor. The results indicated that the optimized red phosphor in this work could be a potential candidate for WLEDs pumped by NUV chips.     

Inducing lattice defects in calcium ferrite anode materials for improved electrochemical performance in lithium-ion batteries

Enhancing the electrical conductivity of electrode materials via a cationic substitution strategy was recognized as an effective way of improving the electrochemical performance of Li-ion batteries. Thus, Li_xCa_1-xFe₂O₄ nanoparticles were synthesized via a facile inexpensive process at low temperature. XRD peaks refer to the formation of an orthorhombic structure with the Pnma space group. HR-TEM investigations reveal orthorhombic-like shape for pure CaFe₂O₄, nanoplatelet-like morphology for Li_0.05Ca_0.95Fe₂O₄ and irregular distorted crystals for Li_0.1Ca_0.9Fe₂O₄. Voids and pores in Li-doped CaFe₂O₄ were confirmed by FESEM and BET measurements. XPS spectra of O1s prove that Li-doped CaFe₂O₄ have higher conductivity due to the created lattice defects and oxygen species. Li-doped CaFe₂O₄ anodes exhibit great improvement in their initial discharge capacities ～1219 and 1606 mAhg^?1 upon substitution of Ca with 5% and 10% Li, respectively. Furthermore, 10% Li-doped CaFe₂O₄ anode displays the highest Li-ions diffusion coefficient and exchange current density due to the enhanced Li⁺ ions mobility. Moreover, the DC activation energies for the Li_xCa_1-xFe₂O₄ nanoparticles decreased with increasing Li content.     

Influences of gallium substitution on the phase stability,mechanical strength and cellular response of β-tricalcium phosphate bioceramics

β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP), a well-accepted synthetic bone grafting biomaterial, is confronted with limitations of poor phase stability and lacking the capacity to mediate the biological functions. In the current study, gallium (Ga) was substituted for calcium in the β-TCP, and the influences of Ga substitution on the phase stability, compressive strength and cellular response of β-TCP bioceramics were investigated. The results indicated that substitution of at least 2.5 mol% Ga for calcium prevented the β-TCP from transforming into α-TCP at 1250 °C. The β-TCP bioceramics substituted with 2.5 mol% Ga attained the highest compressive strength. The β-TCP bioceramics substituted with 2.5 and 5 mol% Ga showed good cytocompatibility, and suppressed in vitro osteoclastic activity as well as osteoblastic differentiation. Considering the favorable mechanical strength and the inhibitory effect on the osteoclastic activity, the β-TCP bioceramics substituted with 2.5 mol% Ga are promising for treating the bone defect in the pathological state of excessively rapid bone resorption.     

Electrochemical hydrogen storage performance of as-cast and as-spun RE-Mg-Ni-Co-Al-based alloys applied to Ni/MH battery

The La-Mg-Ni-Co-Al-based AB₂-type La_0.8–xCe_0.2Y_xMgNi_3.4Co_0.4Al_0.1 (x=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2) alloys were prepared via melt spinning. The analyses of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) proved that the experimental alloys contain the main phase LaMgNi₄ and the second phase LaNi₅. Increasing Y content and spinning rate lead to grain refinement and obvious change of the phase abundance without changing phase composition. Y substitution for La and melt spinning make the life-span of the alloys improved remarkably, which is attributed to the improvement of anti-oxidation, anti-pulverization and anti-corrosion abilities. In addition, the discharge capacity visibly decreases with increasing the Y content, while it firstly increases and then decreases with increasing spinning rate. The electrochemical kinetics increases to the optimum performance and then reduces with increasing spinning rate. Moreover, all the alloys achieve to the highest discharge capacities just at the initial cycle without activation.     

Ceramics based on calcium phosphates substituted with magnesium ions for bone regeneration

In this study, chemical precipitation methods were used to obtain ceramic materials doped with magnesium ions in order to improve the regeneration properties of materials used for tissue engineering. Two different ratios of magnesium oxide were used to dope the ceramic powder, more precisely 5% and 10%. The synthesized materials were characterized to determine the calcination temperature of the precursor powder by means of thermal analysis; to determine the mineralogical composition, X-ray diffraction was employed and the scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the microstructure. To make use of these ceramics as biomaterials, viability and proliferation cell tests have been performed. Since synthetic materials have several limitations with regard to medical applications, the materials based on HAp substituted with Mg ions are a promising solution for the regeneration of bone defects because they have a similar bone structure. The presence of Mg in the material proves to be beneficial because this element plays an important role in bone cell regeneration, and more specifically, in stimulating osteoblast proliferation. The materials synthesized in this work present a suitable morphology for uses in bone regeneration because they offer to cells a friendly environment for growth and anchoring.     

Comparative study of surface properties of Mg-substituted hydroxyapatite bioceramic microspheres

Mg-substituted hydroxyapatite (HAp) bioceramic microspheres were prepared by spray drying and subsequent processing at 1173, 1273 and 1373 K. Influence of various Mg substitution levels (up to 0.84 ± 0.10 wt%) on physicochemical properties of the HAp bioceramic microspheres was evaluated. Obtained results were used for the elucidation of the compositional and structural characteristics of the microspheres in conjunction with adsorption of protein, namely, bovine serum albumin (BSA). The primary difference among the microspheres processed at various temperature was the presence or absence of the micropores (<2 nm in diameter) and mesopores (between 2 and 50 nm). Presence of the micro- and mesopores resulted in higher specific surface area (SSA), enhanced solubility, i.e., ion release, and, accordingly, increase in the amount of BSA adsorbed on the microspheres. Furthermore, the BSA adsorption capacity of the microspheres decreased with increasing Mg content despite of higher SSA.