Thermoelectric properties of the half-Heusler phase ScNiSb (space group F 4 ¯ 3m) were studied on a polycrystalline single-phase sample obtained by arc-melting and spark-plasma-sintering techniques. Measurements of the thermopower, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity were performed in the wide temperature range 2–950 K. The material appeared as a p-type conductor, with a fairly large, positive Seebeck coefficient of about 240 μV K−1 near 450 K. Nevertheless, the measured electrical resistivity values were relatively high (83 μΩm at 350 K), resulting in a rather small magnitude of the power factor (less than 1 × 10−3 W m−1 K−2) in the temperature range examined. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity was high, with a local minimum of about 6 W m−1 K−1 occurring near 600 K. As a result, the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit showed a maximum of 0.1 at 810 K. This work suggests that ScNiSb could be a promising base compound for obtaining thermoelectric materials for energy conversion at high temperatures.

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Introduction: We present a multimodal nanoplatforms for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in vitro. The nanoplatforms are based on polydopamine (PDA)-coated magnetite nanoparticles (NPs) and spheres (sMAG) with PAMAM dendrimers and functionalized with NHS-PEG-Mal (N-hydroxysuccinimide-polyethylene glycol-maleimide) linker, which allows their functionalization with a folic acid derivative. The nanomaterials bearing a folic acid-targeting moiety show high efficiency in killing cancer cells in the dual chemo-and photothermal therapy (CT-PTT) of the liver cancer cells in comparison to modalities performed separately. Materials and Methods: All materials are characterized in detail with transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, zeta potential and magnetic measurements. Also, photothermal properties were determined under irradiation of nanoparticles with laser beam of 2 W/cm 2. The nontoxicity of nanoparticles with doxorubicin and without was checked by WST and LIVE/DEAD assay. Those tests were also used to evaluate materials bearing folic acid and anticancer drug in combined chemo-and photothermal therapy of HCC. Further, the generation of reactive oxygen species profile was also evaluated using flow cytometry test. Results: Both NPs and sMAG showed high photothermal properties. Nevertheless, the higher photothermal response was found for magnetic spheres. Materials of concentration above 10 µg/ mL reveal that their activity was comparable to free doxorubicin. It is worth highlighting that a functionalized magnetic sphere with DOXO more strongly affected the HepG2 cells than smaller functionalized nanoparticles with DOXO in the performed chemotherapy. This can be attributed to the larger size of particles and a different method of drug distribution. In the further stage, both materials were assessed in combined chemo-and photothermal therapy (CT-PTT) which revealed that magnetic spheres were also more effective in this modality than smaller nanoparticles. Conclusion: Here, we present two types of nanomaterials (nanoparticles and spheres) based on polydopamine and PAMAM dendrimers g.5.0 functionalized with NHS-PEG-Mal linker terminated with folic acid for in vitro hepatocellular carcinoma treatment. The obtained materials can serve as efficient agents for dual chemo-and photothermal therapy of HCC. We also proved that PDA-coated magnetic spheres were more efficient in therapies based on near-infrared irradiation because determined cell viabilities for those materials are lower than for the same concentrations of nanomaterials based on small magnetic nanoparticles.

Magnetic and transport properties of near stoichiometric metastable FexMnyGaz alloys (46 ≤ x ≤ 52, 17 ≤ y ≤ 25, 26 ≤ z ≤ 30) with face-centered cubic (FCC), body-centered cubic (BCC), and two-phase (FCC + BCC) structures are investigated. The experimental results are analyzed in terms of first-principles calculations of stoichiometric Fe2MnGa alloy with the L21, L12, and the tetragonally distorted L21 structural orderings. It is shown that the pure BCC and FCC phases have distinct magnetic and transport properties. Two-phase Fe2MnGa alloys have magnetic and transport properties typical of the mixed BCC and FCC phases. Among the investigated alloys, Fe46Mn24Ga30 has a martensitic transformation accompanied with significant changes of its magnetic and transport properties.

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