Zn(0.97)Fe(0.03)O nanoparticles were synthesized by the sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis revealed that the samples had pure ZnO wurtzite structure and Fe ions were well incorporated into the ZnO crystal lattice. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that both Fe(2+) and Fe(3+) existed in Zn(0.97)Fe(0.03)O. The result of x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) further testified that Fe ions took the place of Zn sites in our samples. Magnetic measurements indicated that Zn(0.97)Fe(0.03)O was ferromagnetic at room temperature.
Type-I clathrates have been considered as very promising thermoelectric (TE) materials thus attracting attention widely. Here we report new clathrates Ba8CuxSiyGe46-x-y (4≤ x ≤ 6.5, y = 0 and 5.15 ≤ x ≤ 6.425, 2.05≤ y ≤ 36.9), focusing on their phase purity and TE properties. Our results show that samples prepared by arc melting followed by annealing are multi-phases alloys. The composition of the clathrate phase is also inhomogeneous. This indicates that the kinetic factor dominates the reaction of forming the clathrate phase during element-melting and sample-annealing. We select three compositions in these two series of samples, which have less impurity and better composition homogeneity for the clathrate phase, and the annealed alloys are furthered processed by ball milling (BM) and powder-solidification (either by hot pressing (HP) or by spark plasma sintering (SPS)) for TE properties investigations. The BM and HP/SPS processes can improve the phase purity and homogeneity. The TE measurements show that the Si-substituted samples have better performance than the Ge-based sample, mainly by decreasing the electrical resistivity. This indicates that the elemental substitution may be still an effective way to improve the TE performance of clathrates.
We prepared Co-doped ZnO films by the electrochemical deposition. X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission microscopy (HRTEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscope (AFM), x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), optical absorption, and photoluminescence (PL) measurements were carried out on the samples. The results showed Co atoms substituted Zn atoms in the ZnO lattice without the formation of the impurity phase. VSM measurements showed the ferromagnetic properties for the Co-doped ZnO samples. When the Co doping concentration increased, the band gaps were widened and the PL peak positions shifted towards the short wavelength direction.
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