Commercially obtained polycrystalline YBa₂Cu₃0₇-x powders (~40 micron particle size) were shock consolidated using a cylindrical implosion geometry at peak pressures of ~1-5 GPa and powder packing density of -50%. The shock compacted powders were then subjected to controlled oxygen annealing treatments to homogenize the microstructural defects produced during shock compaction and optimize the particle size. The resulting shock processed and annealed samples showed significant improvement of flux pinning forces in contrast to conventionally sintered samples. The intergrain critical currents obtained via low-field and AC susceptibility data show an enhancement by a factor of three at temperatures between 4K and 78K, and magnetic fields up to 150 Oe. Even higher intergrain critical currents were obtained for samples that were shocked and then melt-processed. Electron microscopic analysis indicates formation of interpenetrating twins which may be the seat of defects in microcrystals. At the atomic scale level, the defects consist of intergrowths of a Y-Ba-Cu 223 phase sequence in bulk 123 structure. Some studies on shock-synthesized TI₂Ba₂Cu0₆ are also presented.

Inkjet printing has become a promising, efficient, inexpensive, scalable technique for materials deposition, mask-less and digital patterning in many device applications. Meanwhile, the ink preparation remains a challenge especially for printing functional oxide materials. Based on the principles of inkjet printing (especially relevant for piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet printer) and the process of the conversion of liquid ink into solid thin films of oxide materials, we present two approaches to the design and tailoring of inks: (i) oxide particle suspensions (e.g. SiO2, TiO2, Fe3O4) and (ii) metal-acetates precursor solutions for directly printing oxide thin films (e.g. ZnO, MgO, ITO and so forth). The solution inks are stable and produce tunable oxide films with high density and smooth surface. For some of the inks containing multi-type acetates with possible phase separation even before calcinations, we have developed a chelating procedure in order to tailor the films into single-phase homogeneity. The work lays a foundation for inkjet printing of oxides films for functional applications in electronic, photonic and energy devices.

Magnetism in wide band gap materials is of great interests for future spintronic device applications. We prepared MgO and Fe-doped MgO films 'in-situ' on substrates by inkjet printing, and investigated the ferromagnetism tuned by the doping of Fe, the annealing temperature and the film thickness. It is found that the Fe-doping improves the crystallinity of the films with lattice structure changed by annealing temperature. The saturation magnetization (M-s) of the films enhanced by similar to 5 times comparing with the pure MgO thin film of similar thickness (similar to 90 nm), because of both the long-range ordering of localized 3d electrons in Fe and the defects induced magnetism. The M-s at 5 K decreases with the film thickness, which is mainly attributed to the interface induced ferromagnetism. The Fe-doped MgO films with ferromagnetism in this work can be used in future spintronic devices.

With ultraviolet sensitive photochemistry and photoelectric properties, TiO2 is attractive for applications like photocatalysis, photovoltaic devices, and sunscreen products, among others. By coating Ag on TiO2 surface, the sensitivity can be extended to visible light, endowing enhanced properties with potential new applications. In this work we inkjet print Ag-TiO2 films from particle suspensions, and investigate the structure, morphology, Ag distribution and the photoluminescence of the films It is found that Ag nanoparticles form bridges among TiO2 particles during the post-annealing. These metallic bridges can transport the excited electrons and suppress the recombination of electrons and holes with the photoluminescence of the film reduced by more than half. The work provides an industrial applicable, low-cost, environment friendly route of preparing Ag-TiO2 films for attractive photochemistry and photoelectric device applications.

ZnO is a wide-band gap semiconductor widely used in optical and electric devices, associating with ferromagnetism at low dimension endowing its possibility for functional applications with magneto-optical and magneto-electric properties. We prepared ZnO and Fe-doped ZnO thin films 'in-situ' on substrate by inkjet printing, and tuned the room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) of the film by Fe-doping concentration, film thickness and post annealing temperature. It was found that by Fe doping the saturation magnetization (M-s) of the film can be enhanced by more than 4 folds comparing with the un-doped film, i.e. from 0.9 emu g(-1) for the ZnO film to 3.8 emu g(-1) for the Fe-doped ZnO film with comparable thickness. The enhancement was attributed to the introduction of un-paired 3d electrons which formed long range ferromagnetic ordering, as well as the consequent structure changes with smaller grains which increased the interface induced magnetism. By changing the annealing temperature and the film thickness, the defect-induced ferromagnetism was investigated. The RTFM shows thickness dependence with peak saturation magnetization value of 4.44 emu g(-1) for the 45 nm thick film. The work provides an effective way of tuning magnetism in ZnO based films for functional device applications.

We report the manufacturing of thin zinc oxide films by reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature, and examine their structural and optical properties. We show that the partial oxygen pressure in DC mode can have dramatic effect on absorption and refractive index (RI) of the films in a broad spectral range. In particular, the change of the oxygen pressure from 7% to 5% can lead to either conventional crystalline ZnO films having low absorption and characteristic descending dependence of RI from 2.4-2.7 RIU in the visible to 1.8-2 RIU in the near-infrared (1600 nm) range, or to untypical films, composed of ZnO nano-crystals embedded into amorphous matrix, exhibiting unexpectedly high absorption in the visible-infrared region and ascending dependence of RI with values varying from 1.5 RIU in the visible to 4 RIU in the IR (1600 nm), respectively. Untypical optical characteristics in the second case are explained by defects in ZnO structure arising due to under-oxidation of ZnO crystals. We also show that the observed defect-related film structure remains stable even after annealing of films under relatively high temperatures (30 min under 450 degrees C). We assume that both types of films can be of importance for photovoltaic (as contact or active layers, respectively), as well as for chemical or biological sensing, optoelectronics etc.

Solution processed homogeneous (200) oriented MgO ∼85 nm thin films deposited on Si substrates were fabricated by inkjet printing. These films are found to show ferromagnetic order beyond room temperature with a saturation magnetization MS as high as ∼0.63 emu/g for the acid ink precursor. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations show the absence of any possible contamination effects, and confirm that the role of defect structure at the Mg site forming in acid condition is important for the observed magnetism.

Understanding the nature and characteristics of the intrinsic defects and impurities in the dielectric barrier separating the ferromagnetic electrodes in a magnetic tunneling junction is of great importance for understanding the often observed 'barrier-breakdown' therein. In this connection, we present herein systematic experimental (SQUID and synchrotron-radiation-based x-ray absorption spectroscopy) and computational studies on the electronic and magnetic properties of Mg1-xFexO thin films. Our studies reveal: (i) defect aggregates comprised of basic and trimer units (Fe impurity coupled to 1 or 2 Mg vacancies) and (ii) existence of two competing magnetic orders, defect- and dopant-induced, with spin densities aligning anti-parallel if the trimer is present in the oxide matrix. These findings open up new avenues for designing tunneling barriers with high endurance and tunneling effect upon tuning the concentration/distribution of the two magnetic orders.

CoFe2O4 nanotubes and porous nanorods were prepared via a simple one-pot template-free hydrothermal method and were used as an adsorbent for the removal of dye contaminants from water. The properties of the synthesized nanotubes and porous nanorods were characterized by electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray powder diffraction. The Adsorption characteristics of the CoFe2O4 were examined using polar red dye and the factors affecting adsorption, such as, initial dye concentration, pH and contact time were evaluated. The overall trend followed an increase of the sorption capacity reaching a maximum of 95% dye removal at low pHs of 2-4. An enhancement in the removal efficiency was also noticed upon increasing the contact time between dye molecules and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles. The final results indicated that the CoFe2O4 nanotubes and porous nanorods can be considered as an efficient low cost and recyclable adsorbent for dye removal with efficiency 94% for Cobalt ferrite nanotubes and for Cobalt ferrite porous nanorods equals 95%

We developed a method to fabricate hybrid magnetic-plasmonic nanorods (Au-Co NRs) via a modified seed mediated method. The only modification is to use cobalt ions instead of Au3+ in the preparation of the seed solution to obtain gold nanorods doped with Co clusters. By adjusting the amount of cobalt seed solution, Au-Co NRs of controlled aspect ratio can be obtained. The optical properties of the obtained Au-Co NRs were investigated and compared to those of the pure Au NRs. A slight shift and broadening were observed in the alloys compared to the pure ones, which was attributed to the presence of Co clusters leading to suppression of the dielectric properties. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images indicate the existence of Co clusters in situ in the Au NR host and clearly show the metal-metal interface. The magnetic properties of the obtained Au-Co NRs increase as the concentration of dopant Co cluster seeds increases, as investigated by vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). Our approach allows us to design nanomaterials of controlled shape, optical and magnetic properties which have many promising applications in tharanostics and photoelectronics.