Advanced Materials Interfaces最新文献

Photodetectors based on vertical junctions between 2D materials and silicon offer enhanced sensitivity, reduced size, and better integrability with other systems. In these detectors, 2D materials are typically grown on metallic crystalline substrates and then transferred onto silicon to form a van der Waals junction between the 2D and silicon. In this work, χ₃-phase borophene is directly grown on single-crystal silicon wafers, resulting in excellent Schottky junctions between borophene and silicon. This approach eliminates impurities often introduced during the transfer process, which is commonly performed using polymethyl methacrylate, ensuring a smooth fabrication process and a reliable electrical junction. Optoelectronic measurements of the borophene-based detector on n-type silicon demonstrate high sensitivity, reaching several amps per watt across a wide wavelength range from ultraviolet to infrared. This sensitivity is approximately ten times higher than that of detectors fabricated by transferring 2D materials onto silicon. Additionally, the response times of the fabricated detector are measured at 35 µs for the rise time and 225 µs for the fall time. These exceptional results are attributed to the superior junction formed through direct borophene growth on silicon, paving the way for advanced photodetectors with enhanced light–matter interaction efficiency in integrated silicon-based circuits and technologies.

Wetting Characteristics of Microstructures

The cover of the article 2400626 by Nam-Trung Nguyen, Navid Kashaninejad, and co-workers showcases the interplay between silicon carbide and silicon dioxide re-entrant microstructures, represented by the molecule models resting on mushroom-shaped structures. The scene highlights their hydrophobic behavior, with a large water droplet demonstrating surface tension. The varying cap shapes signify different material properties and geometry effects, advancing surface science and microstructure design.

A nanosized bifunctional adsorbent with diamino and phenyl groups on its surface is synthesized through the functionalization of silica derived from quartz. The composition, morphology, and particle size of the functionalized silica are characterized using various physicochemical methods. The material demonstrates high sorption properties for La(III) and Ce(III), both found in Ni-MH batteries, as well as Eu(III). The synthesized functionalized silica, with adsorbed lanthanides, is employed for sensor-based detection of doxycycline in aqueous solutions. After sorbing lanthanides, the bifunctional adsorbent shows a linear response to doxycycline in the concentration range of 0.005–10.0 µm, with a detection limit of 0.15 µm L⁻¹ and a quantification limit of 0.44 µm L⁻¹. The increase in photoluminescence signal upon the addition of doxycycline is explained using Judd–Ofelt theory. Experimental W₂ and W₄ parameters of the Eu-doped nanomatrix are determined to be 1.44 × 10⁻²⁰ cm² and 8.55 × 10⁻²⁰ cm², respectively, with these values increasing to 73.40 × 10⁻²⁰ cm² and 35.58 × 10⁻²⁰ cm² upon the addition of doxycycline. A significant increase in the radiative emission rate from 196 s⁻¹ to 1977 s⁻¹ is observed with doxycycline addition. It is demonstrated that the system containing the three lanthanides exhibits unique sensor properties, attributed to the co-luminescence of the Eu(III) ion.

A Ti-Si-C-N coating is deposited on AISI H11 hot working steel by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to investigate its micro- and nanostructure as well as its mechanical and thermal properties. Instead of a nanocomposite structure consisting of randomly oriented nanocrystalline (nc-) grains < 10 nm surround by an amorphous (a-) matrix, as usually found for these systems, this Ti-Si-C-N coating shows much larger Ti(C,N)-grains with a preferred (200) orientation identify by X-ray diffraction analysis. The strong texturing and grain sizes > 10 nm of the coating are confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images. The coating's hardness is 46.3 GPa, making it equally hard to, e.g., nanocomposite Ti-Si-N coatings. These hardness values can only be achieved by a strong interface between a-matrix and nc-grains and small grain size. Despite 41.1 at.% carbon content, no significant quantity of a-C is found, as evidenced by Raman spectroscopy analysis. In order to investigate the oxidation behavior of the coatings, X-ray diffraction experiments are carried out at room temperature and in-situ in ambient atmosphere at elevated temperatures. The room temperature measurement shows a strong texturing of the Ti(C,N) lattice and yielded additional information on an anisotropic grain size.

The treatment of contaminants in water has become one of the most critical environmental issues today, especially oil- and dye-pollutants in water, for which there is still no efficient and economical solution. A multifunctional phase-selective organogel (tert-butyl (S)-(5-amino-1,5-dioxo-1-(tetradecylamino)pentan-2-yl)carbamate, TBTC) is developed to remove oils and dyes from water. Benefiting from the significant van der Waals interaction between the long alkyl chain of TBTC and the oil, TBTC can rapidly disperse into the oil phase. Then, TBTC aggregates into fibers and solidifies oil through a repairable, dynamic, and balanced hydrogen bonding network, which can solidify and recover the spilled oil at room temperature. TBTC can also efficiently remove more than a dozen typical dye contaminants through a host–guest recognition mode. The mechanism of host–guest recognition is studied by experiment combined with multiscale calculations. Partial ¹H VT NMR, FTIR, and XRD experiments have shown that the main driving force for TBTC gelation and host–guest recognition originates from interaction hydrogen bonding, are TBTC specifically recognizes dye molecules through weak hydrogen bonding interactions and rapidly aggregates to form precipitates. TBTC-based organogel provides a potential solution for oil spill recovery and removal of dyes from water.

In the 1960s, the Swedish company Celloplast patented the first one-piece plastic bag for packaging, and such plastic bags are heavily used all around the world until they are banned by some countries for environmental and sustainability reasons. Similarly, the EU banned certain single-use plastic items in 2021—but food packaging is not part of this new regulation. And indeed, the majority of food packaging encountered today in the supermarket is still made from traditional, petrol-based plastics. This review summarizes recent efforts in developing more sustainable alternatives to such petrol-based food packaging. Different natural sources and production processes used to develop biodegradable, biopolymer-based materials (bbMs) are discussed, which are categorized into natural bbMs, modified/plasticized bbMs, and plastic bbMs. An overview of the material properties of commercially available bbMs and bbMs developed in academic research projects is provided, and are compared with the properties of conventional, petrol-based materials used for packaging. Furthermore, the role of academic and industrial contributors along the value chain of bbMs is highlighted and challenges that are responsible for the still limited occurrence of bbMs in daily lives are discussed.

In situ tensile testing using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful technique to probe structure-property relationships of materials at the atomic scale. In this work, a facile tensile testing platform for in situ characterization of materials inside a transmission electron microscope is demonstrated. The platform consists of: 1) a commercially available, flexible, electron-transparent substrate (e.g., TEM grid) integrated with a conventional tensile testing holder, and 2) a finite element simulation providing quantification of specimen-applied strain. The flexible substrate (carbon support film of the TEM grid) mitigates strain concentrations usually found in free-standing films and enables in situ straining experiments to be performed on materials that cannot undergo localized thinning or focused ion beam lift-out. The finite element simulation enables direct correlation of holder displacement with sample strain, providing upper and lower bounds of expected strain across the substrate. The tensile testing platform is validated for three disparate material systems: sputtered gold-palladium, few-layer transferred tungsten disulfide, and electrodeposited lithium, by measuring lattice strain from experimentally recorded electron diffraction data. The results show good agreement between experiment and simulation, providing confidence in the ability to transfer strain from holder to sample and relate TEM crystal structural observations with material mechanical properties.

Liquid Crystal Elastomers

In article 2400488, Mohand O. Saed and co-workers develop reusable liquid crystal adhesives with controlled transition temperatures (Tg and Ti). These adhesives show low tackiness in the glassy and isotropic phases, becoming activated between Tg and Ti. They are reusable across multiple heating and cooling cycles, resistant to contamination, and offer lap shear and peel strengths comparable to traditional pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs).