Defect Cluster-Induced X-Ray Diffuse Scattering in GaN Films Grown by MOCVD

High-resolution X-ray diffraction has been employed to investigate the diffuse scattering in a （0001） oriented GaN epitaxial film grown on sapphire substrate. The analysis reveals that defect clusters are present in GaN films and their concentration increases as the density of threading dislocations increases. Meanwhile, the mean radius of these defect clus- ters shows a reverse tendency. This result is explained by the effect of clusters preferentially forming around dislocations, which act as effective sinks for the segregation of point defects. The electric mobility is found to decrease as the cluster concentration increases.

Triggering in-plane defect cluster on MoS_(2) for accelerated dinitrogen electroreduction to ammonia

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (eNRR) is an alternative promising manner for sustainable N2 fixation with low-emission. The major challenge for developing an efficient electrocatalyst is the cleaving of the stable Ntriple bondN triple bonds. Herein, we design a new MoS_(2) with in-plane defect cluster through a bottom-up approach for the first time, where the defect cluster is composed of three adjacent S vacancies. The well-defined in-plane defect clusters could contribute to the strong chemical adsorption and activation towards inert nitrogen, achieving an excellent eNRR performance with an ammonia yield rate of 43.4 ± 3 μg h^(−1) mgcat.^(−1) and a Faradaic efficiency of 16.8 ± 2% at −0.3 V (vs. RHE). The performance is much higher than that of MoS_(2) with the edge defect. Isotopic labeling confirms that N atoms of produced NH4+ originate from N2. Furthermore, the in-plane defect clusters realized the alternate hydrogenation of nitrogen in a side-on way to synthesize ammonia. This work provides a prospecting strategy for fine-tuning in-plane defects in a catalyst, and also promotes the progress of eNRR.

Effect of vacancy defect clusters on the optical property of the aluminium filter used for the space solar telescope

We investigate the microstructures of the pure aluminium foil and filter used on the space solar telescope, irradiated by photons with different doses. The vacancy defect clusters induced by proton irradiation in both samples are characterized by transmission electron microscopy, and the density and the size distribution of vacancy defect clusters are determined. Their transmittances are measured before and after irradiating the samples by protons with energy E = 100 keV and dose φ = 6 × 10^11/mm^2. Our experimental results show that the density and the size of vacancy defect clusters increase with the increase of irradiation doses in the irradiated pure aluminium foils. As irradiation dose increases, vacancies incline to form larger defect clusters. In the irradiated filter, a large number of banded void defects are observed at the agglomerate boundary, which results in the degradation of the optical and mechanical performances of the filter after proton irradiation.

Effect of size on momentum distribution of electrons around vacancies in NiO nanoparticles

Very small nickel oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a sol-gel procedure using nickel nitrate hexahydrate and ammonium hydroxide as precursors. The particles are in the range of 5 nm-11 rim. The x-ray diffraction （XRD） crystallography and high resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM） were employed to characterize the samples. They were found to be polycrystalline in nature and fcc （NaCl-type） in structure, with the lattice parameter varying with annealing temperature. HRTEM pictures show that the as-prepared samples are hexagonal in shape. Positron annihilation spectroscopy was used to investigate the Doppler-broadened spectra of the samples. The S and W parameters revealed that the chemical surroundings and momentum distribution of the vacancy clusters vary with crystallite size.

First-principles study of helium clustering at initial stage in ThO2

The clustering behavior of helium atoms in thorium dioxide has been investigated by first-principles calculations. The results show that He atoms tend to form a cluster around an octahedral interstitial site（OIS）. As the concentration of He atoms in ThO2 increases, the strain induced by the He atoms increases and the octahedral interstitial site is not large enough to accommodate a large cluster, such as a He hexamer. We considered three different Schottky defect（SD） configurations（SD1, SD2, and SD3）. When He atoms are located in the SD sites, the strain induced by the He atoms is released and the incorporation and binding energies decrease. The He trimer is the most stable cluster in SD1. Large He clusters, such as a He hexamer, are also stable in the SDs.

Defect engineering of rutile TiO_(2) ceramics:Route to high voltage stability of colossal permittivity

Donor-acceptor co-doped rutile TiO_(2) ceramics with colossal permittivity(CP)have been extensively investigated in recent years due to their potential applications in modern microelectronics.In addition to CP and low dielectric loss,voltage stability is an essential property for CP materials utilized in high-power and high-energy density storage devices.Unfortunately,the voltage stability of CP materials based on codoped TiO_(2) does not catch enough attention.Here,we propose a strategy to enhance the voltage stability of co-doped TiO_(2),where different ionic defect clusters are formed by two acceptor ions with different radii to localize free carriers and result in high performance CP materials.The(Ta+Al+La)co-doped TiO_(2) ceramic with suitable La/Al ratio exhibits colossal permittivity with excellent temperature stability as well as outstanding dc bias stability.The density functional theory analysis suggests that La^(3+)Al^(3+)V_(0)Ti^(3+)defect clusters and Ta^(5+)-Al^(3+)pairs are responsible for the excellent dielectric properties in(Ta+Al+La)co-doped TiO_(2).The results and mechanisms presented in this work open up a feasible route to design high performance CP materials via defect engineering.