No Arabic abstract
We synthesized strontium titanate SrTiO$_3$ (STO), Zr doped $text{Sr}_text{1-x}text{Zr}_text{x}text{Ti}text{O}_3$ and (Zr, Ni) co-doped $text{Sr}_text{1-x}text{Zr}_text{x}text{Ti}_text{1-y}text{Ni}_text{y}text{O}_3$ samples using solid state reaction technique to report their structural, electrical and magnetic properties. The cubic $Pm$-$3m$ phase of the synthesized samples has been confirmed using Rietveld analysis of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern. The grain size of the synthesized materials was reduced significantly due to Zr doping as well as (Zr, Ni) co-doping in STO. The chemical species of the samples were identified using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. We observed forbidden first order Raman scattering at 148, 547 and 797 cm$^{-1}$ which may indicate nominal loss of inversion symmetry in cubic STO. The absence of absorption at 500 cm$^{-1}$ and within 600-700 cm$^{-1}$ band in Fourier Transform Infrared spectra corroborates Zr and Ni as substitutional dopants in our samples. Due to 4% Zr doping in $text{Sr}_text{0.96}text{Zr}_text{0.04}text{Ti}text{O}_3$ sample dielectric constant, remnant electric polarization, remnant magnetization and coercivity were increased. Notably, in the case of 4% Zr and 10% Ni co-doping we have observed clearly the existence of both FE and FM hysteresis loops in $text{Sr}_{0.96}text{Zr}_{0.04}text{Ti}_{0.90}text{Ni}_{0.10}text{O}_3$ sample. In this co-doped sample, the remnant magnetization and coercivity were increased by $sim$1 and $sim$2 orders of magnitude respectively as compared to those of undoped STO. The coexistence of FE and FM orders in (Zr, Ni) co-doped STO might have the potential for interesting multiferroic applications.
Advances in complex oxide heteroepitaxy have highlighted the enormous potential of utilizing strain engineering via lattice mismatch to control ferroelectricity in thin-film heterostructures. This approach, however, lacks the ability to produce large and continuously variable strain states, thus limiting the potential for designing and tuning the desired properties of ferroelectric films. Here, we observe and explore dynamic strain-induced ferroelectricity in SrTiO$_3$ by laminating freestanding oxide films onto a stretchable polymer substrate. Using a combination of scanning probe microscopy, optical second harmonic generation measurements, and atomistic modeling, we demonstrate robust room-temperature ferroelectricity in SrTiO$_3$ with 2.0% uniaxial tensile strain, corroborated by the notable features of 180{deg} ferroelectric domains and an extrapolated transition temperature of 400 K. Our work reveals the enormous potential of employing oxide membranes to create and enhance ferroelectricity in environmentally benign lead-free oxides, which hold great promise for applications ranging from non-volatile memories and microwave electronics.
Pulsed laser deposition from a Nd:YAG laser was employed in production of hundreds of nanometer thick quasicrystalline Ti-Zr-Ni films on glass substrate. The influence of deposition temperature Ts on the structure, morphology and microstructure of the films across their thickness was investigated. The morphology and microstructure features were evaluated by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The low deposition temperatures were found to produce films with nanometer sized grains embedded in an amorphous matrix. The grains exhibit quasicrystalline order. The higher deposition temperatures lead to films whose structure is not uniform all along the growth direction. The layer in contact with the substrate is a very thin amorphous layer. The main part of the film consists of crystallized columns. The columns have grown from a nano-crystallized layer where the size of crystallites increases with increasing thickness.
Simultaneous co-existence of room-temperature(T) ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in Fe doped BaTiO$_3$ (BTO) is intriguing, as such Fe doping into tetragonal BTO, a room-T ferroelectric (FE), results in the stabilization of its hexagonal polymorph which is FE only below $sim$80K. Here, we investigate its origin and show that Fe-doped BTO has a mixed-phase room-temperature multiferroicity, where the ferromagnetism comes from the majority hexagonal phase and a minority tetragonal phase gives rise to the observed weak ferroelectricity. In order to achieve majority tetragonal phase (responsible for room-T ferroelectricity) in Fe-doped BTO, we investigate the role of different parameters which primarily control the PE hexagonal phase stability over the FE tetragonal one and identify three major factors namely, the effect of ionic size, Jahn-Teller (J-T) distortions and oxygen vacancies (OVs), to be primarily responsible. The effect of ionic size which can be qualitatively represented using the Goldschmidts tolerance (GT) factor seems to be the major dictating factor for the hexagonal phase stability. The understanding of these factors not only enables us to control them but also, achieve suitable co-doped BTO compound with enhanced room-T multiferroic properties.
SrTiO$_3$ is a promising $n$-type oxide semiconductor for thermoelectric energy conversion. Epitaxial thin films of SrTiO$_3$ doped with both La and oxygen vacancies have been synthesized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The thermoelectric and galvanomagnetic properties of these films have been characterized at temperatures ranging from 300 K to 900 K and are typical of a doped semiconductor. Thermopower values of double-doped films are comparable to previous studies of La doped single crystals at similar carrier concentrations. The highest thermoelectric figure of merit ($ZT$) was measured to be 0.28 at 873 K at a carrier concentration of $2.5times10^{21}$ cm$^{-3}$.
The kinetics of hydrogen absorption by magnesium bulk is affected by two main activated processes: the dissociation of the H$_2$ molecule and the diffusion of atomic H into the bulk. In order to have fast absorption kinetics both activated processed need to have a low barrier. Here we report a systematic ab-initio density functional theory investigation of H$_2$ dissociation and subsequent atomic H diffusion on TM(=Ti,V,Zr,Fe,Ru,Co,Rh,Ni,Pd,Cu,Ag)-doped Mg(0001) surfaces. The calculations show that doping the surface with TMs on the left of the periodic table eliminates the barrier for the dissociation of the molecule, but the H atoms bind very strongly to the TM, therefore hindering diffusion. Conversely, TMs on the right of the periodic table dont bind H, however, they do not reduce the barrier to dissociate H$_2$ significantly. Our results show that Fe, Ni and Rh, and to some extent Co and Pd, are all exceptions, combining low activation barriers for both processes, with Ni being the best possible choice.