Frederico G.C. Cunha

Yttria thin films doped with rare earth for applications in radiation detectors and thermoluminescent dosimeters

Abstract Thin films of pure and Nd doped Y 2 O 3 were prepared following a new sol–gel route on glass substrate. Sets of thin films were prepared in different oxidation and densification conditions and the effect of such conditions in the morphology, crystallization, surface aspect and thermoluminescence (TL) and radioluminescence response are analysed. The results indicates that the films are suitable for scintillating devices rather than solid state TL dosimeters.

AFM and XRD characterization of silver nanoparticles films deposited on the surface of DGEBA epoxy resin by ion sputtering

In this work, silver atoms were deposited by ion sputtering on the surface of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin cured at 150 °C for 6 hours in air. The films of DGEBA and its precursors were characterized by Raman spectroscopy to identify the main functional groups and their relationship with the deposited silver atoms. Silver thin films of 5, 10, 15 and 20 nm were deposited on the epoxy resin at room temperature. Both the initial film of DGEBA and the subsequent silver thin film were analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in the non-contact mode. Silver thin films were also analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) at room temperature. The AFM results showed the formation of silver crystallites on the surface of DGEBA at very low coverage whereas XRD indicated that most of them had their main axis aligned to the normal of the surface. An increase in the coverage led to an increase in the grain size as indicated by AFM. However, XRD results indicated that the crystallite size remained almost constant while the appearance of peaks corresponding to other crystalline orientations suggests the coalescence of the original crystallites and an increase in size of the more dense planes, namely [111].

Photoelectrocatalytic degradation of indanthrene blue dye using Ti/Ru-based electrodes prepared by a modified Pechini method

Photoelectrodes were used to treat synthetic textile wastewater contaminated with indanthrene blue dye. Two media of treatment were used (NaCl and Na2SO4), with variations on temperature, pH, current density, dye and chloride concentration. A modified Pechini method was applied to obtain Ti/Ru-based electrodes (Ti, Ru, Ti0.5Ru0.5, Ti0.75Ru0.25 and Ti0.25Ru0.75) containing anatase TiO2 nanoparticles and a color degradation analysis was done. Physical (atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffractometry) and electrochemical characterizations (cyclic voltammetry) were considered. The condition that yielded highest color removal for the system presented 0.05 mol L-1 NaCl, 100 mA cm-2, 35 °C and pH 7, independent of the dye concentration for the Ti0.25Ru0.75 electrode.