General synthesis of 2D rare-earth oxide single crystals with tailorable facets.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Li L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9113103 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:BackgroundDisruption of microbiota balance may result in severe diseases in animals and phytotoxicity in plants. While substantial concerns have been raised on engineered nanomaterial (ENM) induced hazard effects (e.g., lung inflammation), exploration of the impacts of ENMs on microbiota balance holds great implications.ResultsThis study found that rare earth oxide nanoparticles (REOs) among 19 ENMs showed severe toxicity in Gram-negative (G-) bacteria, but negligible effects in Gram-positive (G+) bacteria. This distinct cytotoxicity was disclosed to associate with the different molecular initiating events of REOs in G- and G+ strains. La2O3 as a representative REOs was demonstrated to transform into LaPO4 on G- cell membranes and induce 8.3% dephosphorylation of phospholipids. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed the dephosphorylation induced more than 2-fold increments of phospholipid diffusion constant and an unordered configuration in membranes, eliciting the increments of membrane fluidity and permeability. Notably, the ratios of G-/G+ reduced from 1.56 to 1.10 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the mice with La2O3 exposure. Finally, we demonstrated that both IL-6 and neutrophil cells showed strong correlations with G-/G+ ratios, evidenced by their correlation coefficients with 0.83 and 0.92, respectively.ConclusionsThis study deciphered the distinct toxic mechanisms of La2O3 as a representative REO in G- and G+ bacteria and disclosed that La2O3-induced membrane damages of G- cells cumulated into pulmonary microbiota imbalance exhibiting synergistic pulmonary toxicity. Overall, these findings offered new insights to understand the hazard effects induced by REOs.
| S-EPMC8077720 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Quantum light-matter interfaces connecting stationary qubits to photons will enable optical networks for quantum communications, precise global time keeping, photon switching and studies of fundamental physics. Rare-earth-ion-doped crystals are state-of-the-art materials for optical quantum memories and quantum transducers between optical photons, microwave photons and spin waves. Here we demonstrate coupling of an ensemble of neodymium rare-earth-ions to photonic nanocavities fabricated in the yttrium orthosilicate host crystal. Cavity quantum electrodynamics effects including Purcell enhancement (F=42) and dipole-induced transparency are observed on the highly coherent (4)I(9/2)-(4)F(3/2) optical transition. Fluctuations in the cavity transmission due to statistical fine structure of the atomic density are measured, indicating operation at the quantum level. Coherent optical control of cavity-coupled rare-earth ions is performed via photon echoes. Long optical coherence times (T2?100??s) and small inhomogeneous broadening are measured for the cavity-coupled rare-earth ions, thus demonstrating their potential for on-chip scalable quantum light-matter interfaces.
| S-EPMC4647856 | biostudies-other
Project description:Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites are very promising semiconductors for many optoelectronic applications, although their extensive use is limited by their poor stability under environmental conditions. In this work, we synthesize two-dimensional perovskite single crystals and investigate their optical and structural evolution under continuous light irradiation. We found that the hydrophobic nature of the fluorinated component, together with the absence of grain boundary defects, lead to improved material stability thanks to the creation of a robust barrier that preserve the crystalline structure, hindering photo-degradation processes usually promoted by oxygen and moisture.
| S-EPMC7918564 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ultrathin oxides have been reported to possess excellent properties in electronic, magnetic, optical, and catalytic fields. However, the current and primary approaches toward the preparation of ultrathin oxides are only applicable to amorphous or polycrystalline oxide nanosheets or films. Here, we successfully synthesize high-quality ultrathin antimony oxide single crystals via a substrate-buffer-controlled chemical vapor deposition strategy. The as-obtained ultrathin antimony oxide single crystals exhibit high dielectric constant (~100) and large breakdown voltage (~5.7?GV?m-1). Such a strategy can also be utilized to fabricate other ultrathin oxides, opening up an avenue in broadening the applicaitons of ultrathin oxides in many emerging fields.
| S-EPMC7237679 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The combination of the unique properties of diamond and the prospects for its high-technology applications urges the search for new solvents-catalysts for the synthesis of diamonds with rare and unusual properties. Here we report the synthesis of diamond from melts of 15 rare-earth metals (REM) at 7.8 GPa and 1800-2100 °C. The boundary conditions for diamond crystallization and the optimal parameters for single crystal diamond synthesis are determined. Depending on the REM catalyst, diamond crystallizes in the form of cube-octahedrons, octahedrons and specific crystals bound by tetragon-trioctahedron and trigon-trioctahedron faces. The synthesized diamonds are nitrogen-free and belong to the rare type II, indicating that the rare-earth metals act as both solvent-catalysts and nitrogen getters. It is found that the REM catalysts enable synthesis of diamond doped with group IV elements with formation of impurity-vacancy color centers, promising for the emerging quantum technologies. Our study demonstrates a new field of application of rare-earth metals.
| S-EPMC8055970 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Decomposition of rare-earth tris(N,N'-diisopropyl-2-methylamidinato)metal(III) complexes [RE{MeC(N(iPr)2)}3] (RE(amd)3; RE = Pr(III), Gd(III), Er(III)) and tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)europium(III) (Eu(dpm)3) induced by microwave heating in the ionic liquids (ILs) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIm][BF4]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BMIm][NTf2]) and in propylene carbonate (PC) yield oxide-free rare-earth metal nanoparticles (RE-NPs) in [BMIm][NTf2] and PC for RE = Pr, Gd and Er or rare-earth metal-fluoride nanoparticles (REF3-NPs) in the fluoride-donating IL [BMIm][BF4] for RE = Pr, Eu, Gd and Er. The crystalline phases and the absence of significant oxide impurities in RE-NPs and REF3-NPs were verified by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The size distributions of the nanoparticles were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) to an average diameter of (11 ± 6) to (38 ± 17) nm for the REF3-NPs from [BMIm][BF4]. The RE-NPs from [BMIm][NTf2] or PC showed diameters of (1.5 ± 0.5) to (5 ± 1) nm. The characterization was completed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).
| S-EPMC6036975 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent advances in inkjet printing of two-dimensional (2D) crystals show great promise for next-generation printed electronics development. Printing nonuniformity, however, results in poor reproducibility in device performance and remains a major impediment to their large-scale manufacturing. At the heart of this challenge lies the coffee-ring effect (CRE), ring-shaped nonuniform deposits formed during postdeposition drying. We present an experimental study of the drying mechanism of a binary solvent ink formulation. We show that Marangoni-enhanced spreading in this formulation inhibits contact line pinning and deforms the droplet shape to naturally suppress the capillary flows that give rise to the CRE. This general formulation supports uniform deposition of 2D crystals and their derivatives, enabling scalable and even wafer-scale device fabrication, moving them closer to industrial-level additive manufacturing.
| S-EPMC7423364 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Tremendous success has been achieved in photovoltaic (PV) applications, but PV-generated electricity still cannot compete with traditional power in terms of price. Chemically stable and nontoxic all-oxide solar cells made from earth-abundant resources fulfill the requirements for low-cost manufacturing under ambient conditions and thus are promising as the next-generation approach to solar cells. However, the main obstacles to developing all-oxide solar cells are the spectral absorbers. Besides photovoltaics, novel chemically stable, nontoxic, and earth-abundant narrow-bandgap semiconductors are desired for photochemical applications in photodetectors, photoelectrodes, or photocatalysts. Herein, were report novel lead-free perovskite narrow-bandgap rare-earth semiconductors, YMnO3, HoMnO3, ErMnO3, and YbMnO3, which were identified by screening a family of perovskite rare-earth manganates, RMnO3 (R = Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb). The sharp edge observed in their absorption spectra indicates the existence of band gaps, further confirmed with laser Raman fluorescence spectra. Good periodic on-off photoelectronic response was observed in 8 of the 12 members (i.e., R = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, and Yb). Among them, YbMnO3 is approved as an n-type semiconductor with a direct band gap near 1.35 eV, whose theoretical Shockley-Queisser efficiency is approximately 33.7% for single-p-n-junction solar cells. This work sheds light on exploring stable oxide semiconductors with a narrow band gap for future applications.
| S-EPMC7178806 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Since two major criteria for melting were proposed by Lindemann and Born in the early 1900s, many simulations and observations have been carried out to elucidate the premelting phenomena largely at the crystal surfaces and grain boundaries below the bulk melting point. Although dislocations and clusters of vacancies and interstitials were predicted as possible origins to trigger the melting, experimental direct observations demonstrating the correlation of premelting with lattice defects inside a crystal remain elusive. Using atomic-column-resolved imaging with scanning transmission electron microscopy in polycrystalline BaCeO3, here we clarify the initiation of melting at two-dimensional faults inside the crystals below the melting temperature. In particular, melting in a layer-by-layer manner rather than random nucleation at the early stage was identified as a notable finding. Emphasizing the value of direct atomistic observation, our study suggests that lattice defects inside crystals should not be overlooked as preferential nucleation sites for phase transformation including melting.
| S-EPMC10119109 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Rare earth-based nanomaterials that have abundant optical, magnetic, and catalytic characteristics have many applications. The controllable introduction of mesoporous channels can further enhance its performance, such as exposing more active sites of rare earth and improving the loading capacity, yet remains a challenge. Here, we report a universal viscosity-mediated assembly strategy and successfully endowed rare earth-based nanoparticles with central divergent dendritic mesopores. More than 40 kinds of dendritic mesoporous rare earth-based (DM-REX) nanoparticles with desired composition (single or multiple rare earth elements, high-entropy compounds, etc.), particle diameter (80 to 500 nanometers), pore size (3 to 20 nanometers), phase (amorphous hydroxides, crystalline oxides, and fluorides), and architecture were synthesized. Theoretically, a DM-REX nanoparticle library with 393,213 kinds of possible combinations can be constructed on the basis of this versatile method, which provides a very broad platform for the application of rare earth-based nanomaterials with rational designed functions and structures.
| S-EPMC9337761 | biostudies-literature