A new perspective of co-doping and Nd segregation effect on proton stability and transportation in Y and Nd co-doped BaCeO3

Bulk and surface properties of proton stability and transportation in Y and Nd co-doped BaCeO₃ (BCYN), especially the effect of Nd segregation, were investigated by first-principles calculations. Since the structure of doped BaCeO₃ at the operating temperature of proton-conducting has been unclear for a long time, we have summarized the latest experimental results and calculated the structure of the asymmetric BCYN for the first time. The results show that compared with Y, Nd doping promotes oxygen vacancy formation, however reduces proton stability. Our calculation can also provide a possible explanation for the formation of space charge layer at the grain boundary of doped BaCeO₃ in experiment. Unlike the stable Y in BCYN, Nd is calculated to be easily segregated, which can facilitate both proton hydration and proton transportation near the surface. Moreover, Nd segregation at the grain boundary is predicted to be beneficial for proton transportation between grains.     

Effect of Nd and Nb co-doping on the structural,magnetic and optical properties of multiferroic BiFeO3 nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel method

BiFeO₃, BiFe_0.95Nb_0.05O₃ and Bi_1−xNd_xFe_0.95Nb_0.05O₃ (x=0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) nanoparticles are successfully synthesized via a tartaric acid-assisted sol-gel technique for the first time. The effect of Nd and Nb co-doping on the structure, morphology, and magnetic and optical properties is investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman measurements demonstrate that Nd³⁺ ions and Nb⁵⁺ ions co-doping at A and B-sites of BiFeO₃ can result in a structural transformation (from single rhombohedral phase (R3c) to two coexisting phases (R3c and Pbam)). The morphology of the nanoparticles seems to be approximately cubic, and by the co-doping, the size of the nanoparticles decreases from ~132 to ~35 nm. Notable improvement in the remanent magnetization of the sample with x=0.15 is observed with a value of 0.285 emu/g, being 20 times higher than that of the undoped sample (BiFeO₃). A decrease in the optical band gap is also observed in the Nd and Nb co-doped nanoparticles, indicating their favorable potential in photocatalytic applications.     

Development of transparent conducting copper and iron co-doped cadmium oxide films: Effect of annealing in hydrogen atmosphere

Hydrogenated (annealed in hydrogen atmosphere) cadmium oxide (CdO) thin films co-doped with iron (Fe) of different levels and fixed (2.5%) copper (Cu) amount were deposited on glass and silicon wafer substrates by thermal evaporation. The films were characterised with X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, optical spectroscopy, and dc-electrical measurements. The obtained results show important improvements in the conductivity, mobility, and carrier concentration compared to un-doped and non-hydrogenated CdO. Hydrogenated CdO doped with 2.5% Cu and 1.3% Fe improved the conductivity (2293.6 S/cm) by ~46 times, mobility (78.31 cm²/V s) by ~11 times, and carrier concentration (1.82×10²⁰ cm⁻³) by ~4 times. This suggests the possibility of using CdO:Cu:Fe–H as transparent-conducting-oxide and dilute-magnetic-semiconductor field of applications.     

Synergistic effect of Fe and Ag co-doping on the persistent photoconductivity of vertical ZnO nanorods

Undoped, doped and co-doped vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (NRs) are synthesized using sonicated sol-gel immersion method. A significant variation in structural, morphological, optical and photoconductivity properties of ZnO NRs after incorporation of transition metal ions (Fe or/and Ag) is obtained. XRD analysis revealed that incorporation of Fe ameliorates while that of Ag deteriorates the c-axis growth of NRs. The diameter of the NRs is tuned from 236 nm to 103 nm. The Fe-doped ZnO NRs exhibit significantly thinner diameter, longer length, and highest aspect ratio. The doping and co-doping reduces the optical band gap of ZnO by 20 meV and 10 meV respectively. A reduction in near band edge emission whereas enhancement in defect-related-green-emission is obtained. Noticeable enhancement in the light harvesting efficiency and significant quenching of the persistent photoconductivity is obtained by co-doping.     

S、Yb共掺杂TiO2的制备及光催化性能

以钛酸四丁酯、硫脲、硝酸镱为原料,CTAB为软模板剂,采用水热法制备了S、Yb共掺杂的纳米二氧化钛。采用XRD、BET、SEM、TEM-EDS、UV-Vis、PL对样品的结构和性能进行了表征;以亚甲基蓝（MB）为模拟污染物,氙灯（500W）为光源评价样品的光催化性能。结果表明,TiO2为单一的锐钛矿相,S和Yb成功的掺杂进入TiO2晶格中,掺杂抑制了晶粒的生长,减小了TiO2的禁带宽度,增大了样品的比表面积,降低了光生电子与空穴对的复合率,扩大了光吸收范围;当n(S): n(Yb)=2:1.5时得到的2%S/1.5%Yb-TiO2光催化性能最佳,在500 W氙灯下对亚甲基蓝在90 min内的光催化降解效率达到97.75%。     

Effect of Sr and Al or Fe co-doping on the sinterability and conductivity of lanthanum silicate oxyapatite electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cells

The effect of co-doping of Sr and Al or Fe on the microstructure, sinterability and oxide-ion conductivity of lanthanum silicate oxyapatites is investigated in detail at 300–800 °C by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The oxide-ion conductivity is 1.46 × 10⁻² S cm⁻¹ for La_9.5Sr_0.5Si_5.5Fe_0.5O_26.5 (LSSFO) and 1.34 × 10⁻² S cm⁻¹ at 800 °C for La_9.5Sr_0.5Si_5.5Al_0.5O_26.5 (LSSAO), respectively, which is one order of magnitude higher than 6.16 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ measured on La_9.67Si₆O_26.5 (LSO) oxyapatite under the identical test conditions. The grain bulk and grain boundary resistances of co-doped oxyapatite are significantly smaller than that of LSO oxyapatite, and decrease significantly with the increase of the sintering temperature. LSSFO and LSSAO also show significantly higher density as compared to that of LSO. The results indicate that co-doping of Sr and Al or Fe significantly improves the densification, sinterability and oxide-ion conductivity of lanthanum silicate oxyapatites.     

Influence of Ge and GeO2 on the microstructure and varistor properties of TiO2–Ta2O5–CaCO3 ceramics

This study investigated the effect of elemental crystal Ge or/and GeO₂ doping on the microstructure and varistor properties of TiO₂–Ta₂O₅–CaCO₃ varistor ceramics, which were prepared via the traditional ball milling–molding–sintering process. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that co-doping with Ge and GeO₂ changed the microstructure of TiO₂–Ta₂O₅–CaCO₃ ceramics, thereby increasing the nonlinear coefficient and decreasing the breakdown voltage. The optimum doping concentrations of Ta₂O₅, CaCO₃, Ge, and GeO₂ exhibited the highest nonlinear coefficient (α=14.6), a lower breakdown voltage (E_B=18.7 V mm⁻¹), the least leakage current (J_L=10.5 μA cm⁻²), and the highest grain boundary barrier (Φ_B=1.05 eV). In addition, Ge and GeO₂ function as sintering aids, which reduce the sintering temperature because of their low melting points.     

Combustion synthesis and characterization of Cu-Sm co-doped CeO2 electrolytes

Nano-sized CSO (Ce_0.80Sm_0.20O_2−δ) and CSCO (Ce_0.79Sm_0.20Cu_0.01O_2−δ) were synthesized by the PVA assisted combustion method, and then characterized by the structure of PVA-cation complexes and nano-powders, as well as mechanical and electrical performance after sintering. The results indicate that the PVA-cation complexes (PVA-(Ce³⁺,Sm³⁺) and PVA-(Ce³⁺,Sm³⁺,Cu²⁺)) were formed by coordinating metal cations to hydroxyl groups, as well as the COO⁻¹ group derived from the oxidation of PVA with NO₃⁻¹. Low temperatures (around 200 °C) caused intense combustion reactions, resulting in the direct crystallization of cubic fluorite nano-CSO (10-20 nm) and nano-CSCO (10-15 nm) crystals with homogeneous element distribution. This slight compositional modification of CSO by co-doping with 1 mol% CuO resulted in a significantly lowered densification temperature, as well as enhanced mechanical and electrical property. The strength improvement can be ascribed to the dense and fine-grained microstructure without normal grain coarsening, resulting in a transgranular-dominant fracture mode during strength testing.     

Improving carriers mobility in copper and iron-codoped CdO

Thin films of Fe and Cu-codoped CdO (CdO:Cu:Fe) with different Fe content and fixed Cu content were deposited in a high vacuum on glass and Si wafer substrates. These films were studied by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XED), optical spectroscopy, and dc-electrical measurements. The structural results show enhancement of film [1 1 1] orientation with Fe doping especially with 1.3%Fe film. Also, light doping with Fe improves the dc-conduction parameters of the CdO:Cu:Fe films so that the utmost enhancement of mobility (90.5 cm²/Vs) and conductivity (1470.6 S/cm) was found with 1.3 wt% Fe doping level. It was found that the variation in the bandgap is related to the variation in electron concentration that caused by Fe doping. For low Fe ion concentration (<1.3 wt% ), the bandgap varies according to the Moss–Burstein model.     

Growth and led evaluation ofN-type conductive lec gaas co-doped with in and si

Dislocation-free and low dislocation densityn-type conductive GaAs crystals, 50 mm in diameter, were grown by the In and Si co-doping LEC technique. Two-dimensional LED arrays were fabricated on substrates obtained from these crystals by the MOCVD technique and the influence of the In doping on the LED characteristics was examined. The light output power of LEDs fabricated on co-doped substrate with an In concentration of 1 ×10²⁰atoms/cm³ are low and are non-uniformly distributed, as compared with the boat-grown substrate, even though the co-doped substrate is dislocation-free. However, the LED properties of a substrate with an In concentration of 2 × 10¹⁸atoms/cm³ are the same as those of a boat-grown substrate. The light output power of the LEDs becomes higher as the In concentration in the substrate decreased.