Michał J. Winiarski

Surface Properties and Photocatalytic Activity of KTaO3, CdS, MoS2 Semiconductors and Their Binary and Ternary Semiconductor Composites

Single semiconductors such as KTaO3, CdS MoS2 or their precursor solutions were combined to form novel binary and ternary semiconductor nanocomposites by the calcination or by the hydro/solvothermal mixed solutions methods, respectively. The aim of this work was to study the influence of preparation method as well as type and amount of the composite components on the surface properties and photocatalytic activity of the new semiconducting photoactive materials. We presented different binary and ternary combinations of the above semiconductors for phenol and toluene photocatalytic degradation and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area and porosity. The results showed that loading MoS2 onto CdS as well as loading CdS onto KTaO3 significantly enhanced absorption properties as compared with single semiconductors. The highest photocatalytic activity in phenol degradation reaction under both UV-Vis and visible light irradiation and very good stability in toluene removal was observed for ternary hybrid obtained by calcination of KTaO3, CdS, MoS2 powders at the 10:5:1 molar ratio. Enhanced photoactivity could be related to the two-photon excitation in KTaO3-CdS-MoS2 composite under UV-Vis and/or to additional presence of CdMoO4 working as co-catalyst.

Perovskite-type KTaO3–reduced graphene oxide hybrid with improved visible light photocatalytic activity

Novel rGO–KTaO3 composites with various graphene content were successfully synthesized using a facile solvothermal method which allowed both the reduction of graphene oxide and loading of KTaO3 nanocubes on the graphene sheets. The as-prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy. The obtained rGO–KTaO3 composites showed greatly improved photocatalytic performance for degradation of phenol under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) over pristine KTaO3 which could be related to the photosensitizer role of graphene in the rGO–KTaO3 composites as well as the formation of p–n heterojunctions between KTaO3 nanocubes and rGO sheets. The highest photocatalytic activity in phenol degradation reaction was observed for rGO–KTaO3 hybrid with 30 wt% graphene. The enhanced photoactivity of this composite could be attributed to the synergistic effect of several factors such as: small crystallite size, extended absorption range in the visible spectrum and intimate contact between graphene and KTaO3 cubes.

Effect of electron count and chemical complexity in the Ta-Nb-Hf-Zr-Ti high-entropy alloy superconductor

Significance High-entropy alloys are a new class of materials that consist of several principal elements arranged on simple lattices. These structures are stabilized by the high configurational entropy of the random mixing of the elements. Here, we show that the properties of a superconducting high-entropy alloy are strongly related to the electron count and that the superconducting transition temperatures of these alloys fall between those of analogous crystalline and amorphous materials. We find that despite the large degree of randomness and disorder in these alloys, the superconducting properties are nevertheless strongly dependent on the chemical composition and complexity. We argue that high-entropy alloys are excellent model systems for understanding how superconductivity and other collective quantum states evolve from crystals to amorphous solids. High-entropy alloys are made from random mixtures of principal elements on simple lattices, stabilized by a high mixing entropy. The recently discovered body-centered cubic (BCC) Ta-Nb-Hf-Zr-Ti high-entropy alloy superconductor appears to display properties of both simple crystalline intermetallics and amorphous materials; e.g., it has a well-defined superconducting transition along with an exceptional robustness against disorder. Here we show that the valence electron count dependence of the superconducting transition temperature in the high-entropy alloy falls between those of analogous simple solid solutions and amorphous materials and test the effect of alloy complexity on the superconductivity. We propose high-entropy alloys as excellent intermediate systems for studying superconductivity as it evolves between crystalline and amorphous materials.

Pressure effects on the superconductivity of the HfPd2Al Heusler compound - Experimental and theoretical study

Polycrystalline HfPd2Al has been synthesized using the arc-melting method and studied under ambient pressure conditions by x-ray diffraction from room temperature up to 450^oC. High pressure x-ray diffraction up to 23 GPa was also performed using Diacell-type membrane diamond anvil cells. The estimated linear thermal expansion coefficient was found to be {\alpha} = 1.40(3)x10^{-5} K^{-1}, and the bulk modulus derived from the fit to the 3rd order Birch-Murnaghan EOS (BMEOS) is B0 = 97(2) GPa. Resistivity studies under applied pressure (p < 7.49 GPa) showed a linear decrease of superconducting critical temperature with increasing pressure and the slope dTc/dp = -0.13(1) K GPa^{-1}. The same behavior is observed for the electron-phonon coupling constant {\lambda_{ep}}(p) that changes from 0.67 to 0.6, estimated for p = 0.05 GPa and 7.49 GPa, respectively. First principles electronic structure and phonon calculation results are presented and used to estimate the magnitude of electron-phonon interaction {\lambda_{ep}} and its evolution with pressure. Theoretical results explain the experimentally observed decrease in Tc due to considerable lattice stiffening.

Magnetism and charge density waves in RNiC2(R=Ce,Pr,Nd)

We have compared the magnetic, transport, galvanomagnetic and specific heat properties of CeNiC2, PrNiC2 and NdNiC2 to study the interplay between charge density waves and magnetism in these compounds. The negative magnetoresistance in NdNiC2 is discussed in terms of the partial destruction of charge density waves and an irreversible phase transition stabilized by the field induced ferromagnetic transformation is reported. For PrNiC2 we demonstrate that the magnetic field initially weakens the CDW state, due to the Zeeman splitting of conduction bands. However, the Fermi surface nesting is enhanced at a temperature related to the magnetic anomaly.