a b s t r a c tThe eutectic temperature and composition of the TiO 2 -CuO system were carefully measured to be 1010 ± 10 C and 83CuO:17TiO 2 , respectively. Subsequently, a TiO 2 -CuO phase diagram was computed, representing a correction and major improvement from the phase diagram available in literature. Dilatometry measurements and isothermal sintering experiments unequivocally demonstrated the activated (enhanced) sintering of TiO 2 with the addition of CuO, occurring at as low as >300 C below the eutectic temperature. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) characterization of waterquenched specimens revealed the formation of nanometer-thick, liquid-like, intergranular films (IGFs), a type of grain boundary (GB) complexion (a.k.a. 2-D interfacial phase), concurrently with accelerated densification and well below the bulk eutectic temperature. Consequently, activated sintering is explained from the enhanced mass transport in this premelting-like complexion. An interfacial thermodynamic model was used to quantitatively explain and justify the stabilization of liquid-like IGFs below the eutectic temperature and the temperature-dependent IGF thicknesses measured by HRTEM. A GB l diagram was computed, for the first time for a ceramic system, to represent the thermodynamic tendency for general GBs in CuO-doped TiO 2 to disorder.
Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have demonstrated tremendous potential for the next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices due to their remarkable carrier dynamics. Current studies are focusing on polycrystals, since controlled growth of device compatible single crystals is extremely challenging. Here, the first chemical epitaxial growth of single crystal CH NH PbBr with controlled locations, morphologies, and orientations, using combined strategies of advanced microfabrication, homoepitaxy, and low temperature solution method is reported. The growth is found to follow a layer-by-layer model. A light emitting diode array, with each CH NH PbBr crystal as a single pixel, with enhanced quantum efficiencies than its polycrystalline counterparts is demonstrated.
Electric fields and currents, which are used in innovative materials processing and electrochemical energy conversion, can often alter microstructures in unexpected ways. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Using ZnO-Bi2O3 as a model system, this study uncovers how an applied electric current can change the microstructural evolution through an electrochemically induced grain boundary transition. By combining aberration-corrected electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, first-principles calculations, a generalizable thermodynamic model, and ab initio molecular dynamics, this study reveals that electrochemical reduction can cause a grain boundary disorder-to-order transition to markedly increase grain boundary diffusivities and mobilities. Consequently, abruptly enhanced or abnormal grain growth takes place. These findings advance our fundamental knowledge of grain boundary complexion (phase-like) transitions and electric field effects on microstructural stability and evolution, with broad scientific and technological impacts. A new method to tailor the grain boundary structures and properties, as well as the microstructures, electrochemically can also be envisioned.
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