Related papers: Microstructure, grain boundary evolution and aniso…
Underlying the rapidly increasing photovoltaic efficiency and stability of metal halide perovskites (MHPs) is the advance in the understanding of the microstructure of polycrystalline MHP thin film. Over the past decade, intense efforts…
We grow Fe film on (4 by 2)-GaAs(100) at low temperature, (~ 130 K) and study their chemical structure by photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. We observe the effective suppression of As segregation and remarkable…
Grain boundary character distributions (GBCD) are routinely measured from bulk microcrystalline samples by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and serial sectioning can be used to reconstruct relative grain boundary energy distributions…
Titanium (Ti), due to its excellent properties, is widely exploited in thin film technology that usually leads to the production of {\alpha}-phase (hcp) Ti films. In this work, we investigate the phase evolution of Ti films deposited by…
Ultrathin L1$_0$ films with different $c$-axis orientations relative to the film plane are promising candidates for data storage materials. In this work, within the framework of density functional theory, we calculated the magnetic…
Disconnections, long recognized as the key mediators of grain boundary (GB) kinetics in polycrystalline materials, have traditionally been understood to nucleate through thermal or mechanical activation. In this work, using atomistic…
Ti/Al multilayer thin films with precise thickness have been deposited using a combination of dc and rf magnetron sputtering techniques. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed unmixed fifteen parallel and alternate…
We have analysed the influence of the microstructural features, such as intergranular grain boundary (GB) phases and misalignment of the hard magnetic grains, on the optimization of magnetization reversal processes in order to improve the…
Understanding and controlling the properties and dynamics of topological defects is a lasting challenge in the study of two-dimensional materials, and is crucial to achieve high-quality films required for technological applications. Here…
Grain structure plays a key role in the mechanical properties of alloy materials. Engineering the grain structure requires a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of grain boundaries (GBs) when a material is subjected to various…
Establishing the relation between the ubiquitous antiferromagnetism in the non-superconducting parent compounds of unconventional superconductors and their superconducting phase is believed to be important for the understanding of the…
The local variation of grain boundary atomic structure and chemistry caused by segregation of impurities influences the macroscopic properties of poylcrystalline materials. Here, the effect of co-segregation of carbon and boron on the…
Grain boundaries (GBs) can critically influence the microstructural evolution and various materials properties. However, a fundamental understanding of GBs in high-entropy alloys (HEAs) is lacking because of the complex couplings of the…
Multi-crystalline silicon is widely used for producing low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells. During crystal growth and device fabrication, silicon solar cells contain grain boundaries (GBs) which are preferential segregation sites for…
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) has been used to study the morphology of Ag, Pb and Pb/Ag bilayer films fabricated by quench condensation of the elements onto cold (T=77K), inert and atomically flat Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite…
The embrittlement of metallic alloys by liquid metals leads to catastrophic material failure and severely impacts their structural integrity. The weakening of grain boundaries by the ingress of liquid metal and preceding segregation in the…
NiFe$_2$O$_4$ thin films with varying thickness were grown on SrTiO$_3$(001) by reactive molecular beam epitaxy. Soft and hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements reveal a homogeneous cation distribution throughout the whole film…
We have investigated single grain boundaries (GBs) isolated in coated conductors produced by Metal-Organic Deposition (MOD). When a magnetic field is swept in the film plane, an angle-dependent crossover from boundary to grain limited…
A first-principles-based scheme is developed to simulate properties of (001) PbO-terminated Pb(Zr$_{1-x}$Ti$_{x}$)O$_3$ thin films that are under stress-free and open-circuit boundary conditions. Their low-temperature spontaneous…
Grain boundaries facet due to anisotropic grain boundary energies: While the faceted boundary has a larger area than the corresponding straight boundary, a significantly lower energy of the facets compared to a straight segment can drive…