The non-resonant Raman spectra of homogeneous bundles of C60 peapods (C60 inserted in single-walled carbon nanotubes) are calculated in the framework of spectral moment method, together with a bond-polarizability model. The evolutions of the low wavenumber range of the Raman spectrum of homogeneous bundles of C60 peapods as a function of the nanotube diameter and the size of bundles are discussed. The effect of the C60 filling factor is investigated in detail. The results are compared to experimental Raman data measured on various samples of C60 peapods.

Microporous AlPO4-54, which exhibits the largest pores among zeolites and aluminophosphates with a diameter of 12.7 Å, was investigated at high pressure by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), mid- and far-infrared (IR) spectroscopy in diamond anvil cells. The material undergoes a phase transition beginning around 0.8 GPa. The amount of AlPO4-8 gradually increases with pressure and the phase transition is complete between 2 and 3 GPa. The closure of the (P—O—Al) angle destabilizes the structure of AlPO4-54, which drives the transition to AlPO4-8. The pressure-induced phase transformation of AlPO4-54 to AlPO4-8 is associated with a symmetry reduction from hexagonal to orthorhombic and with a change in the unidirectional ring channel parallel to the c-axes from 18 to 14 AlO4 and PO4 tetrahedra. An abrupt decrease along the b direction is linked to the formation of 4 new rings of 6 tetrahedra with significant structural reorganization. The transition is followed by irreversible amorphization beginning around 3.5 GPa due to the collapse of the pores. The amorphization of AlPO4-8 was detected from the disappearance of the XRD lines, abrupt shifts, and strong broadening of the mid-IR modes, and by changes in the pressure dependence of the mid- and far-IR modes, indicating a lower compressibility for the more dense amorphous form. Far-IR spectra indicate that the new amorphous form retains the local structure of AlPO4-8.

The critical behaviors of the bimodal and Gaussian Ising spin glass (ISG) models indimension four are studied through extensive numerical simulations, and from ananalysis of high temperature series expansion (HTSE) data of Klein et al. (1991). Thesimulations include standard finite size scaling measurements, thermodynamic limitregime measurements, and analyses which provide estimates of critical exponents withoutany consideration of the critical temperature. The higher order HTSE series for the bimodalmodel provide accurate estimates of the critical temperature and critical exponents. Theseestimates are independent of and fully consistent with the simulation values. Comparisonsbetween ISG models in dimension four show that the critical exponents and the criticalconstants for dimensionless observables depend on the form of the interaction distributionof the model.

The critical behavior of the Binder cumulant for Ising spin glasses in dimension four is studied throughsimulation measurements. Data for the bimodal interaction model are compared with those for the Laplacianinteraction model. Special attention is paid to scaling corrections. The limiting infinite size value at criticality forthis dimensionless variable is a parameter characteristic of a universality class. This critical limit is estimated tobe equal to 0.523(3) in the bimodal model and to 0.473(3) in the Laplacian model.

Development of cheap, green and up scalable production methods for graphene is one of the most challenging problems in its manufacture on an industrial scale. We report here a large scale substrate-free fluidized bed catalytic chemical vapour deposition (FB-CCVD) process for few layer graphene (FLG) powder production that uses a crystalline oxide catalyst of the general formula AxB3−xO4, wherein the FLG layer thickness and domain sizes can be varied. A and B can be chosen from a list of transition elements including Co, Fe, Ni, Mn, Cu and Zn. The best results in terms of activity and selectivity are obtained for the CoxFe3−xO4 system. We also investigated the reaction mechanism using in situ EXAFS and Raman spectroscopy, and electron tomography. Since FB-CCVD processes are already used for industrial scale production of carbon nanotubes, this process should enable the large scale production of free standing FLG in the near future.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique from different solution volumes. We studied the effect of sprayed solution volume on the structural, morphological and optical properties of TiO2 films. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the presence of an anatase phase with a tetragonal structure with (101) preferred orientation. The best crystallinity was obtained in the case of a sprayed solution volume of 60 ml. Also, this film had a lower average surface roughness (RMS) as measured by atomic force microscopy. Transmission and reflection optical analysis showed interference phenomena indicating a smooth reflecting surface of the film. An indirect band gap of about 3.46 eV was found, indicating a potential use of these films in solar cell devices. Based on the optical measurements, the film thickness was determined by the envelope method, which was in agreement with the scanning electron microscopy result. Wemple–Di Domenico single oscillator and Spitzer–Fan models were used to study the optical constants of the films grown from different sprayed solution volumes. Photoluminescence emission intensity was found to increase with increasing film crystallinity, and the spectra showed ultraviolet and visible emissions corresponding to intrinsic emission and trap levels within the band gap, respectively.

The dynamics of polymer and filler in simplified industrial silica-styrene-butadiene nanocomposites (silica Zeosil 1165 MP, volume fraction 0 – 21%v) have been studied with broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The fraction of graftable matrix chains was varied from 0 – 100%D3. The introduction of silica nanoparticles is shown to leave the segmental relaxation unaffected, an observation confirmed by the measurement of only a thin (some Angstroms thick) immobilized layer by NMR. The low-frequency measurements are resolved in two distinct dielectric Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars (MWS) processes of different behavior with respect to changes of large-scale silica structures induced by variations of filler fraction and grafting. In particular, depercolation of the silica filler at constant volume fraction with increasing grafting leaves the first MWS-process unaffected, but has direct consequences on rheological reinforcement, and decreases the strength of the second MWS by about a decade. This sensitivity to large-scale reorganizations together with a characterization of local polymer dynamics provides insight over many length- and time-scales into structure and dynamics of nanocomposites, and thus the physical origin of the reinforcement effect.