Understanding the interface between metals, commonly used as current collectors, and ion-conducting polymers used in polymer lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is crucial to develop highly reproducible, low-cost and reliable devices. To address these issues, sputter deposition is the technique of choice to fabricate scalable, reproducible and controllable nanometer and sub-nanometer metal layers on...
Responsive block copolymer thin films are of interest for many applications, e.g. as fast sensors or switchable membranes. They may be based on physical hydrogels formed by telechelic copolymers featuring a stimuli-responsive midblock and hydrophobic end blocks. For temperature-responsive end blocks, a weak gel is formed below their collapse temperature, while a frozen network is formed above...
Thermo-responsive polymers can show a strong change in volume towards even slight changes of their surrounding temperature. This behavior makes them promising candidates for the implementation in a manifold application fields such as nano-sensors, artificial pumps and muscles, or optical switches. While the underlying mechanisms of such polymers in solution are well understood, less is known...
A dedicated polarized neutron diffraction (PND) setup, using a symmetric-field high Tc superconducting magnet with a maximal field of 2.2 T in combination with a ยณHe polarizer and Mezei-type flipper, has been developed at the instrument POLI. Each component is optimized by numerical simulations and the complete setup is successfully tested and calibrated.
This new PND setup was used to...
How to develop an innovative process for efficient and high-quality development of advanced materials and components?
The EU-Horizon2020 project SINE2020 aims at strengthening the cooperation between industry and European neutron sources. Free of charge, the project offers training and education of industrial researchers and the possibility to perform test measurements at the participating...
Stripe ordered La2-xSrxM(M=Cu,Co,Ni)O4+๐ฟ oxides have been investigated intensively, as one of its family member La2CuO4+๐ฟ, showing the similar electronic ordering, gets superconducting at low temperature. A very special excitation of the ordered/disordered spin-stripes, shaped like an โhour-glassโ, is discussed to be an important signature for the appearance of superconductivity. So far to...
The thermal triple-axis-spectrometer PUMA is one of the most robust and yet extremely flexible instruments worldwide of its kind. In addition to the 'normal triple axis' set up, PUMA delivers a good number of unique features to meet the ever growing demands of the scientific community worldwide. One of them is the multiplex system, which consists of eleven arbitrarily configurable...
Following the recent observations of large anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and the possible realisation of magnetic Weyl fermions in the intermetallic non-collinear antiferromagnet (AFM) Mn3Sn, this compound has rapidly emerged as a promising quantum material that may find huge potentials for future information and quantum technologies [1-3]. Geometric frustration in the Kagome lattice of Mn atoms...
Ferrimagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle monolayers on top of ferroelectric BaTiO3 (BTO) substrates were prepared and a magnetoelectric coupling effect was observed. Grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering and scanning electron microscopy confirm a hexagonal close-packed supercrystalline order of the nanoparticle monolayers. We employed a magnetoelectric AC susceptibility setup as...
Refrigeration based on the magnetocaloric effect is a potential alternative to conventional vapor compression refrigeration. One system of particular interest with regard to application is Mn$_{5-\textit{x}}$Fe$_\textit{x}$Si$_3$ [1-3]. Pressure affects the interatomic distances in the crystal structure and thus has an influence on the magnetic properties.
The aim of this work is to establish...
The variation of the magnetic moment with dimensionality of magnetic materials, i. e. from atoms to bulk, is a longtime studied issue. For thin films, a constant magnetic moment is often assumed in modelling, however, intermixing and surface roughness may also have an impact.
With the help of polarised neutron reflectometry (PNR) we study the magnetic moment of polycrystalline Co/20 nm...
Asmaa Qdemat1, Emmanuel Kentzinger1, Giuseppe Portale2, Marina Ganeva3, Stefan Mattauch3, Oleg Petracic1, Ulrich Rรผcker1, Thomas Brรผckel1
1Jรผlich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) and Peter Grรผnberg Institute (PGI), JARA-FIT, Forschungszentrum Jรผlich GmbH, 52425 Jรผlich, Germany
2 Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen,
The Netherlands
3 Jรผlich Centre for...
Neutron grating interferometry (nGI) is a relatively new neutron imaging technique which is the adaption of a Talbot-Lau Interferometer for neutrons [1]. It simultaneously delivers information about the transmission (TI), phase shift (DPC) and the scattering (DFI) inside a sample [1].
In particular the DFI has generated high interest, due to its ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (USANS)...
Total Reflection High-Energy Positron Diffraction (TRHEPD) has been established as an ideal technique to determine the crystalline structure of topmost and immediate subsurface atomic layers. In contrast to Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED), TRHEPD features an outstanding surface sensitivity, which stems from the repulsive crystal potential for positrons and the phenomenon of...
