Engineering topics

Adhikari, Menuka

Publications and source records attributed to Adhikari, Menuka.

3 records

DOE OSTI2024

Structural and Morphological Characteristics of Rare Earth Element-based MAX Phase and MXene

There has been a tremendous effort for the synthesis of crystalline MAX phases—a family of transition metal carbides and nitrides with a chemical formula of Mn+1AXn, where M is an early transition metal, A belongs to groups XIII – XVI in the periodic table, X is either C or N, and n can be in between 1 and 3. Furthermore, these materials have shown thermal and electrical conductance and have low density and high stiffness which open broad aspects of practical applications. Recently double transition metal MAX phases (M’ 2/3 M’’ 1/3 ) 2 AX - out-of-plane ordered, labeled as o-MAX and in-plane ordered, labeled as i-MAX, were reported. However, there are few reports on the synthesis and characterization of i-MAX and the corresponding MXenes. In this work, we synthesized Molybdenum-based rare earth containing i-MAX phase using arc melt technique. We then removed “A” element of i-MAX phase by acid treatment and sonication which resulted in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides called MXenes. These MXenes offer high conductivity, hydrophilicity, magnetism, good dispersion ability in solvents, mechanical stability, and structural diversity with at least 100 stoichiometric MXene compositions and are recognized as multifunctional materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2022

Luminescence from Self‐Trapped Excitons and Energy Transfers in Vacancy‐Ordered Hexagonal Halide Perovskite Cs 2 HfF 6 Doped with Rare Earths for Radiation Detection

Abstract Compared to halides Cs 2 HfX 6 (X = Cl, Br, I) with a vacancy‐ordered cubic double perovskite structure, the halide Cs 2 HfF 6 (CHF), with a hexagonal Bravais lattice, possesses a higher mass density and chemical stability for radiation detection. Luminescence properties and energy transfer mechanisms of rare‐earths‐doped CHF materials are studied here. The structure of CHF is identified as a new type of vacancy‐ordered hexagonal perovskite, with the same type of building blocks of the double perovskite but stacked with single layers. Density‐functional theory calculations reveal a large bandgap of CHF. A broad emission is observed from the pristine CHF host, which is suggested to be associated with self‐trapped excitons (STEs). A series of rare‐earths‐doped materials are designed utilizing the STE emissions, and efficient energy transfers from STEs and Tb 3+ to Eu 3+ are achieved for tunable emissions. The codoped material shows stable emission under X‐ray irradiation, with 10.2% reduction from its initial emission intensity, associated with possible structural evolution by radiation‐induced deformation of the soft host. The radiation responses of singly and codoped materials are evaluated, and the codoped material is found to be more sensitive to the radiation energy than the singly doped or pristine CHF for radiation detection.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Electrospun porous La–Sr–Co–Ni–O nanofibers for highly sensitive non-enzymatic glucose detection

Glucose biosensors are widely used for clinical, industrial, and environmental applications. Nonenzymatic electrochemical glucose biosensors based on metal oxides with a perovskite structure have exhibited high sensitivity, excellent stability, and cost efficiency. In this work, porous La–Sr–Co–Ni–O (LSCNO) nanofibers, with an ABO 3 -type perovskite structure, were prepared through optimizing the A-site and B-site elements by electrospinning, followed with calcination at 700 °C for 5 h. Characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fabricated nanofibers were confirmed to be porous and nanosized polycrystalline grains with high crystallinity. A novel La 0.75 Sr 0.25 Co 0.5 Ni 0.5 O 3 -based nonenzymatic electrochemical biosensor was developed, which is sensitive to glucose because of an electrochemically catalytic mechanism, a mediated electron transfer involving Ni(II)/Ni(III) or Co(II)/Co(III), accompanying with gluconic acid complexation. The glucose biosensor presented a linear response in the range of 0.1–1.0 mM with a calibration sensitivity of 924 ± 28 μA mM –1 , a proportion of the variance of 0.9926, and a lower limit of detection of 0.083 mM, respectively, demonstrating an outstanding analytical performance. The biosensor showed no response to the most widely used anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and low sensitivity to other biomolecules, such as fructose, lactose, galactose, mannose, dopamine, and ascorbic acid. A urine sample was tested by this novel nonenzymatic electrochemical biosensor by standard addition method, suggesting a potential application for clinical test.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗