Electric Field-Controlled Crystallizing CaCO3 Nanostructures from Solution.

The role of electric field is investigated in determining the structure, morphology, and crystallographic characteristics of CaCO3 nanostructures crystallized from solution. It is found that the lattice structure and crystalline morphology of CaCO3 can be tailed by the electric field applied to the solution during its crystallization. The calcite structure with cubic-like morphology can be obtained generally without electric field, and the vaterite structure with the morphology of nanorod is formed under the high electric field. The vaterite nanorods can be piled up to the petaliform layers. Both the nanorod and the petaliform layer can have mesocrystal structures which are piled up by much fine units of the rods with the size of several nanometers. Beautiful rose-like nanoflowers can be self-arranged by the petaliform layers. These structures can have potential application as carrier for medicine to involve into metabolism of living cell.

Highly mobile and reactive state of hydrogen in metal oxide semiconductors at room temperature.

Hydrogen in metal oxides usually strongly associates with a neighboring oxygen ion through an O-H bond and thus displays a high stability. Here we report a novel state of hydrogen with unusually high mobility and reactivity in metal oxides at room temperature. We show that freshly doped hydrogen in Nb2O5 and WO3 polycrystals via electrochemical hydrogenation can reduce Cu²âº ions into Cu° if the polycrystals are immersed in a CuSO4 solution, while this would not happen if the hydrogenated polycrystals have been placed in air for several hours before the immersion. Time-dependent studies of electrochemically hydrogenated rutile single crystals reveal two distinct states of hydrogen: one as protons covalently bonded to oxygen ions, while the other one is highly unstable with a lifetime of just a few hours. Observation of this mobile and reactive state of hydrogen will provide new insight into numerous moderate and low temperature interactions between metal oxides and hydrogen.

Rapid microparticle patterning by enhanced dielectrophoresis effect on a double-layer electrode substrate.

We present a feasible dielectrophoresis (DEP) approach for rapid patterning of microparticles on a reusable double-layer electrode substrate in microfluidics. Simulation analysis demonstrated that the DEP force was dramatically enhanced by the induced electric field on top interdigitated electrodes. By adjusting electric field intensity through the bottom electrodes on thin glass substrate (100 µm), polystyrene particles (10 µm) were effectively patterned by top electrodes within several seconds (<5 s). The particle average velocity can reach a maximum value of about 20.0±3.0 µm/s at 1 MHz with the strongest DEP force of 1.68 pN. This approach implements integration of functional electrodes into one substrate and avoids direct electrical connection to biological objects, providing a potential lab-on-chip system for biological applications.

Direct synthesis of ultrafine tetragonal BaTiO3 nanoparticles at room temperature.

A large quantity of ultrafine tetragonal barium titanate (BaTiO3) nanoparticles is directly synthesized at room temperature. The crystalline form and grain size are checked by both X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results revealed that the perovskite nanoparticles as fine as 7 nm have been synthesized. The phase transition of the as-prepared nanoparticles is investigated by the temperature-dependent Raman spectrum and shows the similar tendency to that of bulk BaTiO3 materials. It is confirmed that the nanoparticles have tetragonal phase at room temperature.

Analyzing core-shell structured zinc doped MgO Wrapped Ba(1-x)Sr(x)TiO3 nanoparticles.

BST nanoparticles were directly synthesized from solution at 70 degrees C and then wrapped with zinc doped MgO in solution. This core-shell structure was analyzed by a conjunction of XRD, HRTEM, and FE-SEM. The lattice cell parameter of BST core was found to have shrinkage. The lattice cell mismatch between core and shell creates a variation of lattice cell parameter of BST core and we proposed a new method to estimate it by the XRD peak broadening effect. Two possible modes of matching the BST core and MZO shell were suggested and mode II was assigned to our core-shell structure by the observation of HRTEM and analysis of XRD data. Un-grown BST nanoparticles can also be observed by FE-SEM in fracture grains of the ceramics, which was sintered at 1350 degrees C.

Finite element analysis on piezoelectric ring transformer.

The use of a piezoelectric ring as transformer is reported and studied in this paper. By using a concentric electrode pattern, a ring-shaped transformer can be designed to operate at its high order extensional modes. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic rings with 12.7-mm outer diameter, 5.1-mm inner diameter and 1.2-mm thickness were used to fabricate the prototypes. Three-dimensional (3-D) finite element models are built to study and analyze the vibration characteristics of the piezoelectric transformers (PTs) using higher order modes (>3). The resonant frequencies, mean coupling effect, mode shapes, and other open-circuit characteristics are simulated and compared with experimental measurements. Prototypes of PTs using mode order three and four were fabricated and characterized. Good agreement can be obtained between experimental results and finite element model (FEM) simulations. The dimensions for the PTs using higher order symmetric extensional modes are optimized by FEM. To avoid mode coupling with the thickness mode, the ideal ring thickness has to be less than or equal to 0.6 mm. The ring PT offers advantages of simple structure and small size. It has a good potential in making low cost PT for low-voltage applications.