Recently, there has been a great demand for boron‐containing compounds (BCCs) with unique biological properties. The demand for the use of these compounds not alone but as additives in composite materials is increasing day by day. In this study, the effect of adding B2O3 compound to the blend of PLA and PEG polymers, which is an important biocompatible shape memory polymer, was investigated. In order to examine the effect of increasing B2O3 additive on the thermal properties of PLA‐PEG blend, it was determined by using a Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), and it was seen that while the melting temperature of PEG decreased, the melting temperature of PLA increased. In addition, when the thermal stability of the composites was examined, increasing of thermal stability was observed with the addition of B2O3 and a three‐step degradation occurred. It was determined that the B2O3/PLA‐PEG composite was homogeneous by taking X‐ray measurements and SEM measurements. The antimicrobial property of the PLA‐PEG blend improved with the increasing B2O3 contribution were observed from the antimicrobial activity measurements of the composite against 4 different bacteria. However, it was determined that the PLA‐PEG blend preserved its shape memory effect with increasing diboron trioxide contribution.
The p-type iron disilicide (β-FeSi 2 ) semiconductor was formed at room temperature without heat treatment due to the superiority of the employed unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique on n-type crystalline silicon (n-Si), and conduction mechanism(s) of the resulting p-β-FeSi 2 /n-Si heterostructure was investigated by current density-voltage-temperature (J-V-T) measurement in darkness condition under vacuum after evaporation of both chromium (Cr) and gold (Au) metals as the front electrode. Two different current mechanisms seemed to be dominant on Cr/β-FeSi 2 /n-Si and Au/β-FeSi 2 /n-Si heterostructures, respectively. The transition of one mechanism to another occurred in a particular bias voltage range: between ∼3 kT/q and 0.3 V, the multistep tunneling capture emission (MSTCE) mechanism became dominant with an activation energy (E A ) around 0.3 eV for both forward and reverse directions of bias and interpreted as an Fe impurity. Also, the reverse current density had a square-root dependence on reverse bias voltage, thus proposing generation current. In this frame, at an E A of 0.3 eV above the valance band edge denoted the efficient trap level for the recombination-generation mechanism in the β-FeSi 2 semiconductor or at the interface of the β-FeSi 2 /Si heterojunction. Subsequently, as the second mechanism, space charge limited current (SCLC) started at a high forward bias voltage region (from 0.65 V to 1 V), where the power of the bias (m) changed from high to low value as the ambient temperature was increased (110 K to 380 K). A further increase in bias voltage (above 1 V) yielded a series resistance region where thermally activated current was observed, representing a conduction band offset, E c . Its value was determined as 0.16 eV, consistent with the announced values in the literature.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.