材料科学
Fe3GeTe2 and Fe3GaTe2 are ferromagnetic conducting materials of van der Waals-type with unique magnetic properties that are highly promising for the development of new spintronic, orbitronic and magnonic devices. Even in the form of…
Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), exemplified by molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), have shown exceptional potential for data-centred, energy-efficient electronic applications due to their unique electrical,…
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) patterns can exhibit Kikuchi bands with inverted contrast due to anomalous absorption. This can be observed, for example, on samples with nanoscale topography, in case of a low tilt backscattering…
Devising effective platinum (Pt)-free nanomaterials for catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is desired, but some main drawbacks still exist for commercial implementation in fuel cell systems. Herein, we present the preparation of…
Iron gallium (FeGa) alloys are excellent rare-earth-free magnetostrictors. Through epitaxial stabilization, the disordered A2 alloy can be extended from 19% to 30% gallium resulting in a magnetostrictive coefficient almost twice than that…
A new approach for determining the binding energies of charged particles, such as ions and electrons, on dielectric surfaces in cryogenic liquids is introduced. The experimental technique outlined in this paper is employed to observe the…
Ongoing advances in scanning probe microscopy techniques are continually expanding the possibilities for nanoscale characterization and correlated studies of functional materials. Here, we demonstrate how a recent extension of piezoresponse…
Grain growth in polycrystals typically stagnates at long times. We identify disconnection climb, limited by vacancy diffusion, as a fundamental microscopic mechanism underlying this behavior. Using a phase-field crystal framework extended…
Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is the primary tool for exploring nanoscale functionality, yet standard single-frequency operation is fundamentally limited, because the dynamic tip-sample interaction is mathematically underdetermined. While…
Self-interstitials play a central role in governing the mechanical and anti-irradiation properties of refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs), however, the prediction of interstitial formation energies (Ef) is formidable due to the…
We propose to use the self-assembly ability of a block copolymer combined with compression-expansion cycles to obtain CdSe quantum dots (QDs) structures of different morphology. The methodology proposed consists in transferring onto mica…
Compositionally complex solid solutions (CCSSs) consist of a randomly mixed single phase with the potential to enhance electrocatalytic activity through their polyelemental surface atom arrangements. However, microstructural complexity…
In the present study, correlative transmission Kikuchi diffraction transmission electron microscopy (TKD-TEM) measurements, atom probe tomography (APT), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to reveal the elemental…
Although equivariant neural networks have become a cornerstone for learning electronic Hamiltonians, the intrinsic non-orthogonality of linear combinations of atomic orbitals (LCAO) basis sets poses a fundamental challenge. The…
Hybrid superconductor--semiconductor platforms can host subgap electronic excitations such as Andreev bound states (ABSs); in topological regimes, a special zero-energy class, Majorana bound states (MBSs), can emerge. Here we report the…
The center of mass and helicity are two dynamic degrees of freedom of skyrmions. In this work, we study the current-driven skyrmion motion in frustrated altermagnets. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that the skyrmion helicity is…
In this work, we investigate $CO_{2}$ activation on ZnS using Near Ambient-Pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements (NAP-XPS) and density functional theory calculations (DFT). Our NAP-XPS experiments reveal that $CO_{2}$…
The LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface hosts a rich range of electronic phenomena, including unconventional electron pairing that in quantum dots gives rise to a negative effective charging energy U. Here, we show freestanding LAO/STO…
We explore the U-Ge phase diagram using thin film growth by co-deposition of U and Ge via d.c. magnetron sputtering. Using three different single crystal substrates - MgO, CaF$_2$ and SrTiO$_3$ - we have stabilised mixed phase films of…
The rotating magnetocaloric effect (RMCE) induced by self-demagnetization has been investigated in the giant magnetocaloric effect (GMCE) material Gd$_5$Si$_2$Ge$_2$. This shape-dependent effect had thus far only been reported in pure Gd,…