Alla Artemenko

Rapid Hydrothermal Synthesis of VO2 (B) and Its Conversion to Thermochromic VO2 (M1)

The present study provides a rapid way to obtain VO2 (B) under economical and environmentally friendly conditions. VO2 (B) is one of the well-known polymorphs of vanadium dioxide and is a promising cathode material for aqueous lithium ion batteries. VO2 (B) was successfully synthesized by rapid single-step hydrothermal process using V2O5 and citric acid as precursors. The present study shows that phase-pure VO2 (B) polytype can be easily obtained at 180 °C for 2 h and 220 °C for 1 h, that is, the lowest combination of temperature and duration reported so far. The obtained VO2 (B) is characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In addition, we present an indirect way to obtain VO2 (M1) by annealing VO2 (B) under vacuum for 1 h.

Linking hopping conductivity to giant dielectric permittivity in oxides

With the promise of electronics breakthrough, giant dielectric permittivity materials are under deep investigations. In most of the oxides where such behavior was observed, charged defects at interfaces are quoted for such giant behavior to occur but the underlying conduction and localization mechanisms are not well known. Comparing macroscopic dielectric relaxation to microscopic dynamics of charged defects resulting from electron paramagnetic resonance investigations we identify the actual charged defects in the case of BaTiO3 ceramics and composites. This link between the thermal activation at these two complementary scales may be extended to the numerous oxides were giant dielectric behavior was found.

Reinvestigation of the magnetic behavior of O3–LiCoO2

Stoichiometric high temperature LiCoO2 obtained by long annealing in oxygen was characterized by electron spin resonance and magnetization measurements. Both methods allow identifying unambiguously not only the presence of traces of cobalt oxides in the material but also paramagnetic defects in lithium cobaltite itself. We report on the presence of surface Li+–O− centers in pure LiCoO2, which has not been observed before in this material, and on the presence of Co2+ related centers in argon- and subsequent oxygen-annealed samples.

Magnetic nanoparticles formed in glasses co-doped with iron and larger radius elements

A new type of nanoparticle-containing glasses based on borate glasses co-doped with low contents of iron and larger radius elements, Dy, Tb, Gd, Ho, Er, Y, and Bi, is studied. Heat treatment of these glasses results in formation of magnetic nanoparticles, radically changing their physical properties. Transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron radiation-based techniques: x-ray diffraction, extended x-ray absorption fine structure, x-ray absorption near-edge structure, and small-angle x-ray scattering, show a broad distribution of nanoparticle sizes with characteristics depending on the treatment regime; a crystalline structure of these nanoparticles is detected in heat treated samples. Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) studies of samples subjected to heat treatment as well as of maghemite, magnetite, and iron garnet allow to unambiguously assign the nanoparticle structure to maghemite, independently of co-dopant nature and of heat treatment regime used. Different features observed in the MCD spectra ...

Correlation between Luminescence and EPR Spectroscopy as Evidence of Ytterbium Pair Formation in Li6Ln(BO3)3:Yb3+ (Ln=Gd, Y) Borate Single Crystals

Synthesized powders and grown single crystals of nominal compositions Li(6)Ln(BO(3))(3):Yb(3+) (Ln=Y, Gd) were investigated by means of powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), as well as optical near-IR spectroscopy in conjunction with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The appearance of two distinct zero-phonon lines suggests the existence of two kinds of Yb(3+) ions in the single crystals. The XRD results exclude the possibility of a phase transition occurring between room and low temperatures. EPR spectra of single crystals show the presence of both isolated ions and pairs of ytterbium ions substituted for Y(3+). A strong temperature dependence of the intensity of Yb-Yb pairs resonance lines coincides with temperature dependence of emission peak at 978 nm, confirming a common origin of the defect giving rise to these spectra. Calculated from EPR spectra, the distance between pairs of Yb(3+) is in good agreement with crystallographic ones: R=3.856 Å, R(cryst) =3.849 Å.

Magnetic field tuning of polaron losses in Fe doped BaTiO3 single crystals

Artificial tuning of dielectric parameters can result from interface conductivity in polycrystalline materials. In ferroelectric single crystals, it has already been shown that ferroelectric domain walls can be the source of such artificial coupling. We show here that low-temperature dielectric losses can be tuned by a dc magnetic field. Since such losses were previously ascribed to polaron relaxation we suggest this results from the interaction of hopping polarons with the magnetic field. The fact that this loss alteration has no counterpart in the real part of the dielectric permittivity confirms that no interface is involved in this purely dynamical effect. The contribution of mobile charges hopping among Fe-related centers was confirmed by ESR spectroscopy, showing a maximum intensity at ca T ~ 40 K.