A. F. L. Almeida

Structural properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 obtained by mechanical alloying

Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO), for the first time, using two different experimental procedures. The milled CCTO were studied by X-ray powder diffraction, infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy. For two different milling procedures, CCTO was obtained after a couple of hours of milling (in average 30 h of milling, depending on the reaction procedure). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicate that the crystallite size is within the range of 20 � /35 nm. After 100 h of milling the formation of CCTO was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction in both procedures, with good stability. We also prepare the CCTO ceramic using the traditional procedure described in the literature and compared the physical properties of these samples with those ones obtained by milling process and good agreement was observed. The infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy results suggest that the increase of the milling time leads to the formation of nanocrystalline CCTO, as seen by XRD analysis. These materials are attractive for capacitor applications and certainly for microelectronics, microwav ed evices (cell mobile phones for example), where the decrease of the size of the devices are crucial. This milling process presents the advantage that melting is not necessary and the powder obtained is nanocrystalline with extraordinary mechanical properties. The material can be compacted and transformed in solid ceramic samples or used in others procedures of film preparation. The high efficiency of the process opens a way to produce commercial amount of nanocrystalline powders. Due to the nanocrystalline character of this powder, their mechanical properties have changed and for this reason a pressure of 1 GPa is enough to shape the sample into any geometry. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Dielectric permittivity and loss of hydroxyapatite screen-printed thick films

In this paper we did a study on the structural and electrical properties of bioceramic hydroxiapatite (HA) thick films. The films were prepared in two layers using the screen printing technique on Al2O3substrates. Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of hydroxyapatite (HA) to be used in the films. We also look for the effect of the grain size of the HA in the final properties of the film. The samples were studied using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electric measurements. We did a study of the dielectric permittivity and the loss of the films in the radio-frequency of the spectra. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the films indicates that all the peaks associated to HA phase is present in the films. One can notice that, for all the films there is a decrease of the DC with the increase of the frequency. The values of the dielectric constant of the films are in between 4 and 9 (at 1 KHz), as a function of the flux material concentration. The loss is decreasing as we increase the frequency for all the films. These results strongly suggests that the screen-printing HA thick films are good candidates for applications in biocompatible coatings of implant materials but also for the insulating materials of electronic circuits and dielectric layer in bio-sensors.

Dielectric Properties of Ca0.7Bi0.3Ti0.7Cr0.3O3 (CBTC)–CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) Composite

The main object of this work is to study two materials with giant dielectric constants: CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) and Ca0.7Bi0.3Ti0.7Cr0.3O3 (CBTC). CBTC1−x–CCTOx composites were also obtained to create a new dielectric material with dielectric properties between these two phases. Structural properties were studied by x-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy and dielectric measurements. CCTO showed a cubic phase and CBTC an orthorhombic phase. An interesting result was that the dielectric constant (K) did not follow the rule of the mixture of Lichtnecker, and this happened due to the presence of other phases of its crystalline structure, which decreases the value of K when compared to the predicted values of Lichtnecker. It was also found that the dielectric properties of the composite are very promising for use in microelectronics, according to the miniaturization factor, which is crucial for those applications.

Deposition by Spray-Pyrolysis of Tin Oxide Doped with Fluorine Produced by Sol-Gel Method

Solar energy is one of the most important sources of renewable energy today. The production of electric energy is based on silicon cells, which are expensive and difficult to produce and therefore, New preparation methods, materials or approaches are needed. This work aims to deposit Tin oxide doped with fluorine, prepared by sol-gel, on a glass substrate using the spray pyrolysis technique. F-SnO2 (FTO) solution was synthesized by sol-gel method, employing NH4F and SnCl2 precursors in an ethanol solution. Before the formation of the gel, the solution was sprayed using a pistol aerographic, On a substrate at approximately 600oC. This process was repeated 50 times, and after that, the sample was cooled until room temperature inside the furnace. The obtained samples (substrates for the PV cell) present a resistance between 10 and 30 Ω. The energy dispersive x-ray (EDS) was used to confirm the presence of fluorine in the SnO2 network.

Modelo teórico relacionando as potências elétrica e química em célula fotossensibilizada com corante

This paper presents a theoretical model relating the electrical power to the chemical power in a photosensitized dye-cell. The same is based on the junction of present concepts of chemical potential models and chemical power. Thus, from these two considerations is possible to perform tests under various physical and environmental conditions during the solar conversion process. Consequently, the proposed theoretical model allows relating the power to solar chemical parameters: solid angle, temperature of the radiation source, wavelength and temperature of the photosensitized dye-cell. The electrons flow generation within the cell is promoted by absorption of solar energy incident on the dye. Therefore, the main condition embodied in this work is based on the incident energy absorption surface is the dye.