Giant dielectric phenomenon of Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3/CaCu3Ti4O12 multilayers due to interfacial polarization for capacitor applications

Ba_0.5Sr_0.5TiO₃/CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (BST/CCTO) multilayers with different stack sequences were deposited on LaNiO₃(LNO)/SiO₂/Si substrates by a sol-gel process. The dielectric properties of BST/CCTO multilayers are significantly affected by the deposition sequence, the layer thickness and the impurities, effects that are interpreted using the Maxwell-Wagner interfacial polarization model. Impurities are generated by elemental interdiffusion at the interfaces of BST/CCTO, and less at the interfaces of BST/LNO and CCTO/LNO. The dielectric permittivity of the CCTO/BST/LNO/SiO₂/Si sample reaches 352,200 at 10 kHz, and stabilizes above 20,000 in the range of 100 kHz to 1 MHz. This work demonstrates an effective approach to enhance dielectric properties for film capacitor applications by constructing multilayers with specific deposition sequences and layer thicknesses.     

Mild alkaline pre-treatments loosen fibre structure enhancing methane production from biomass crops and residues

Three ligno-cellulosic substrates representing varying levels of biodegradability (giant reed, GR; fibre sorghum, FS; barley straw, BS) were combined with mild alkaline pre-treatments (NaOH 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 N at 25 °C for 24 h) plus untreated controls, to study pre-treatment effects on physical-chemical structure, anaerobic digestibility and methane output of the three substrates. In a batch anaerobic digestion (AD) assay (58 days; 35 °C; 4 g VS l⁻¹), the most recalcitrant substrate (GR) staged the highest increase in cumulative methane yield: +30% with NaOH 0.15 N over 190 ml CH₄ g⁻¹ VS in untreated GR. Conversely, the least recalcitrant substrate (FS) exhibited the lowest gain (+10% over 248 ml CH₄ g⁻¹ VS), while an intermediate behaviour was shown by BS (+15% over 232 ml CH₄ g⁻¹ VS). Pre-treatments speeded AD kinetics and reduced technical digestion time (i.e., the time needed to achieve 80% methane potential), which are the premises for increased production capacity of full scale AD plants. Fibre components (cellulose, hemicellulose and acid insoluble lignin determined after acid hydrolysis) and substrate structure (Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy) outlined reductions of the three fibre components after pre-treatments, supporting claims of loosened binding of lignin with cellulose and hemicellulose. Hence, mild alkaline pre-treatments were shown to improve the biodegradability of ligno-cellulosic substrates to an extent proportional to their recalcitrance. In turn, this contributes to mitigate the food vs. fuel controversy raised by the use of whole plant cereals (namely, maize) as feedstocks for biogas production.     

Tuning the microstructure,magnetostatic and magnetodynamic properties of highly Al-substituted M-type Sr/Ca hexaferrites prepared by citrate-nitrate auto-combustion method

Double substitution of strontium hexaferrite by calcium and aluminum leads to a tremendous rise of hard magnetic properties, such as coercivity and natural ferromagnetic resonance frequency (NFMR). However, the properties are also inextricably linked to the material microstructure (especially, particle size), to the solid solution inhomogeneity as well as aluminum ions distribution among iron sites in crystal structure. In this work, we obtained M-type hexaferrite particles Sr_1-x/12Ca_x/12Fe_12-xAl_xO₁₉ (x = 4–6) via a facile citrate-nitrate auto-combustion method and studied the influence of the annealing temperature in a broad range on the microstructure, features of crystal structure and hard magnetic properties. At low annealing temperatures (900–1000°С) hexaferrite nanoparticles with 90% of nominal Al content and a wide chemical distribution are formed. Next, with an increase in the annealing temperature the distribution significantly narrows, chemical composition becomes close to the nominal one and particles size transfer firstly to submicron, then to micron range. The aluminum distribution over iron sites is independent distinctly on the annealing temperature. For all the compositions single domain particles with the maximum coercivity values between 22.8 and 36 kOe are obtained at 1200 °C. At 900–1000 °C the samples demonstrate coercivities up to 25 kOe, while above 1300 °C, the crystallites begin to pass into a polydomain state with a reduced coercivity. The hexaferrites with narrow chemical distribution reveal resonance absorption in sub-terahertz band. The highest NFMR frequency of 270 GHz was observed for x = 5.5 sample annealed at 1400 °C.     

Characteristics of Gelatin from Giant Grouper (Epinephelus Lanceolatus) Skin

Gelatin extraction from the skin of giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus) was conducted by acid process with a yield of 20.27 g/100 g wet skin sample. The characteristics of extracted gelatin from giant grouper was investigated in this study, and further compared to that from commercial tilapia. Results showed that when compared to commercial tilapia, giant grouper had lower levels of bloom strength and foam formation ability, but greater values of viscosity, foam stability, and lightness (L*) on gelatin skin. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis revealed three high-bands intensities of major protein components of giant grouper skin gelatin, representing α1-chain, α2-chain, and β-components, and was similar to that of standard calf skin collagen type I. Compared to giant grouper, commercial tilapia contained extra proteins with molecular weight less than 70 kDa on the sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of both skin gelatins.     

Colossal dielectric response and relaxation behavior in novel system of Zr4+ and Nb5+ co-substituted CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics

In this work, we developed a novel system of isovalent Zr⁴⁺ and donor Nb⁵⁺ co-doped CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) ceramics to enhance dielectric response. The influences of Zr⁴⁺ and Nb⁵⁺ co-substituting on the colossal dielectric response and relaxation behavior of the CCTO ceramics fabricated by a conventional solid-phase synthesis method were investigated methodically. Co-doping of Zr⁴⁺ and Nb⁵⁺ ions leads to a significant reduction in grain size for the CCTO ceramics sintered at 1060 °C for 10 h. XRD and Raman results of the CaCu₃Ti_3.8-xZr_xNb_0.2O₁₂ (CCTZNO) ceramics show a cubic perovskite structure with space group Im-3. The first principle calculation result exhibits a better thermodynamic stability of the CCTO structure co-doped with Zr⁴⁺ and Nb⁵⁺ ions than that of single-doped with Zr⁴⁺ or Nb⁵⁺ ion. Interestingly, the CCTZNO ceramics exhibit greatly improved dielectric constant (~10⁵) at a frequency range of 10²–10⁵ Hz and at a temperature range of 20–210 °C, indicating a giant dielectric response within broader frequency and temperature ranges. The dielectric properties of CCTZNO ceramics were analyzed from the viewpoints of defect-dipole effect and internal barrier layer capacitance (IBLC) model. Accordingly, the immensely enhanced dielectric response is primarily ascribed to the complex defect dipoles associated with oxygen vacancies by co-doping Zr⁴⁺ and Nb⁵⁺ ions into CCTO structure. In addition, the obvious dielectric relaxation behavior has been found in CCTZNO ceramics, and the relaxation process in middle frequency regions is attributed to the grain boundary response confirmed by complex impedance spectroscopy and electric modulus.     

Co_xAg_(100-x)颗粒膜的巨磁电阻效应及其物理机制研究

用超高真空电子束蒸发沉积方法制备了ＣｏｘＡｇ１００－ｘ颗粒并研究了其中的巨磁电阻（ＧＭＲ）效应。实验结果表明：１５ｋＯｅ外磁场下，玻璃衬底上制备态Ｃｏ３９Ａｇ６１颗粒膜室温ＧＭＲ效应值高达２０２％，并随氮气中退火温度上升而单调减小；颗粒膜的电阻与其磁化强度直接相关，可用四次多项式偶函数来描述。     

Enhanced permittivity and permeability of (1-y)(Mg0.95Zn0.05)2TiO4-yMg0.95Zn0.05Fe2O4 ceramics

We report the preparation of the solid-solutions (1-y)(Mg_0.95Zn_0.05)₂TiO₄-yMg_0.95Zn_0.05Fe₂O₄ (y = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1) by traditional solid-state reaction and systematically study their phases, morphologies, and magnetodielectric properties. The giant dielectric constants are observed at low frequency in the ceramics, with y > 0.5 when the sintering temperature exceeds 1200 $℃$. The highest relative permittivity ${\epsilon }^{\text{'}}$ of 9.98?×?10³ at 30?kHz and the largest squareness ratio of 0.89 for the magnetic hysteresis loop are achieved in 0.1MZT-0.9MZF. In addition, the enhanced initial permeability ${\mu }_i$ of ～70 is obtained in 0.3MZT-0.7MZF due to its large grain size and probably the smaller magnetostriction and internal stress caused by lower relative density. All the results indicate that our solid-solutions with y > 0.5 can considerably improve the dielectric and magnetic properties, providing more advantages than the simple bi-phasic compounds in the applications for novel electronic devices.     

Study on dynamic of giant magnetostrictive material transducer with spring of nonlinear stiffness

To study the dynamics of giant magnetostrictive material (GMM) transducer, its model was developed, according to the dynamic experiment results of GMM and the influence of unsymmetrical piece-wise linear stiffness of the prepressing spring. Based on the one degree of freedom its vibration model of a GMM transducer, unsymmetrical piecewise linear nonlinear characteristic of pre-pressing spring was investigated. The first order harmonic motion component of the GMM transducer was obtained by the analysis of KBM method. By the numerical simulation the complicated bifurcation and chaos behavior of the nonlinear vibration system were founded, which should to be taken account of in the design of GMM transducer.     

夹心结构FeNi/Cu／FeNi多层膜巨磁阻抗效应的研究

采用MEMS技术在玻璃基片上制备了夹心结构FeNi/Cu/FeNi多层膜,在100KHz-40MHz范围内研究了FeNi/Cu/FeNi多层膜中的巨磁阻抗效应特性。当磁场Hext施加在薄膜的长方向时,巨磁阻抗效应随磁场的增加而增加,在某一磁场下达到最大值,然后随磁场的增加而下降到负的巨磁阻抗效应。在频率为5MHz时,巨磁阻抗效应在磁场Hext=800A/m时达到最大值25．2％;在磁场Hext=9600A／m时,巨磁阻抗效应为-7．3％。巨磁阻抗效应的最大值及负的巨磁阻抗效应与多层膜中磁各向异性轴的取向及发散有关。另外,当磁场施加在薄膜的短方向时,薄膜表现出负的巨磁阻抗效应,在频率5MHz、磁场Hext=9600A/m时,巨磁阻抗效应可达-19．3％。     

基于GMM微进给刀架的温度特性分析

在分析超磁致伸缩微致动器的特点、工作原理以及应用研究现状后,给定致动器各种参数,利用有限元分析软件分别对致动器在无水冷以及强制水冷两种工况下进行瞬态热分析,得到GMM棒表面的温度分布云图以及沿轴向的温度分布曲线,为GMA微驱动器的设计提供理论基础.