More Like this

1. Scalable, Bottom‐Up Synthesis of Transition Metal–Doped Quantum Confined, 1D Titanate‐Based Lepidocrocite Nanofilaments, Their Electronic Structures and Oxygen Evolution Reactivity

   https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202500681  

   Ibrahim, Mohamed A; Singh, Devraj; McMoil, Aidan; Hassig, Mary Qin; Janani, Raja; Snyder, Joshua D; Barsoum, Michel W (February 2026, Advanced Materials Interfaces)

   ABSTRACT This work presents a scalable, bottom‐up approach for doping quantum confined, 1D lepidocrocite (1DL) titanate nanofilaments (NFs) with transition metal (TM) cations Mn²⁺, Fe²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺ to enhance their photo‐ and electrocatalytic properties. Here we react titanium oxysulfate with tetramethylammonium hydroxide at 80°C for 12 h at one atmosphere. By incorporating metal salts during synthesis, uniform doping within the 1DL backbone is achieved. The resulting TM‐doped 1DL NFs all exhibit lower bandgap energies, E_g, than the undoped samples (3.89 eV); some by as much as 0.8 eV for Mn²⁺ at 1 mol% doping, extending optical absorption into the visible region. X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma analysis, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm the successful doping and structural integrity of our materials. The photocatalytic performance of the 1 mol% doped NFs is significantly enhanced, with a 95% degradation of rhodamine 6G dye under visible light in just 30 min, compared to only 65% degradation for the undoped 1DL NFs. In electrocatalysis, the Ni‐doped 1DL NFs show superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity, with an overpotential of 319 mV at 10 mA cm⁻², which is lower than the 383 mV for undoped 1DL NFs. The Ni‐doped 1DL also has the lowest Tafel slope of 145 mV/dec at 1 mol% doping and 143 mV/dec at 5 mol%, compared to 204 mV/dec for the undoped 1DLs, indicating faster reaction kinetics. The Ni‐doped NFs also exhibit excellent stability, maintaining a constant potential at 10 mA cm⁻²for > 50 h. Adding methanol to all colloidal suspensions results in their gelation within seconds. These findings highlight the potential of TM doping as an effective strategy to optimize 1DL's electronic and photochemical catalytic properties. 

   more » « less
2. The large magnetocaloric effect in GdErHoCoM (M = Cr and Mn) high-entropy alloy ingots with orthorhombic structures

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0196758  

   Wang, Xuejiao; Zong, Shuotong; Zhang, Yan; Mo, Zhaojun; Qiao, Junwei; Liaw, Peter K (March 2024, Applied Physics Letters)

   High-entropy alloys (HEAs) with significant magnetocaloric effects (MCEs) have attracted widespread attention due to their potential magnetic refrigeration applications over a much more comprehensive temperature range with large refrigerant capacity (RC). However, most of them are metallic glasses (MGs) with problems of limited size, resulting in the difficulty of further applications. Therefore, research on HEAs with crystalline structures and giant MCE is urgently needed. In this paper, GdErHoCoM (M = Cr and Mn) rare-earth HEA ingots with orthorhombic structures are developed, and their magnetic behavior and MCE are studied in detail. Phase investigations find that the main phase of GdErHoCoM ingots is probably (GdErHo)Co with an orthorhombic Ho3Co-type structure of a space group of Pnma. The secondary phases in GdErHoCoCr and GdErHoCoMn are body-center-cubic Cr and Mn-rich HoCo2-type phases, respectively. Magnetic investigations reveal that both ingots undergo a first-order magnetic phase transition below their respective Neel temperatures. Above their respective Neel temperatures, a second-order transition is observed. The Neel temperatures are 40 and 56 K for GdErHoCoCr and GdErHoCoMn, respectively. Additionally, the GdErHoCoCr and GdErHoCoMn ingots exhibit maximum magnetic entropy changes and RC values of 12.29 J/kg/K and 746 J/kg and 10.13 J/kg/K and 606 J/kg, respectively, under a magnetic field of 5 T. The ingots GdErHoCoM (M = Cr and Mn) show excellent MEC properties and can be manufactured easily, making them promising for magnetic refrigerant applications. 

   more » « less
3. Magnetic x-ray spectroscopy of Gd-doped EuO thin films

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.9.024410  

   Arnold, E L; Riley, J M; Duffy, L B; Figueroa, A I; Held, R; Shen, K M; Schlom, D G; King, P_D C; Hoesch, M; van_der_Laan, G; et al (February 2025, Physical Review Materials)

   We present a detailed x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study of the magnetic properties of Gd-doped EuO thin films, synthesized via molecular-beam epitaxy with Gd doping levels up to over 12%. The impact of Gd doping on the electronic and magnetic behavior of EuO is studied using XMCD and magnetometry. Gd doping significantly enhances the Curie temperature ( $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ ) from 69 K in undoped EuO to over 120 K, driven by increased carrier density, while preserving the high quality of the single-crystalline films. At higher doping levels, a plateau in $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ is observed, which is attributed to the formation of Eu-Gd nearest-neighbor pairs that limit dopant activation. We also observe a distinctive “double-dome” structure in the temperature-dependent magnetization, which we attribute to both the ferromagnetic ordering of Eu $4f$ moments at lower temperatures and the influence of conduction electrons via $4f\text{−}5d$ exchange interactions at higher temperatures. These findings provide key insights into the mechanisms of carrier-induced magnetic transitions. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

   more » « less
4. Effects of doping, hydrostatic pressure, and thermal quenching on the phase transitions and magnetocaloric properties in Mn1− x Co x NiGe

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0100987  

   Poudel_Chhetri, Tej; Chen, Jing-Han; Grant, Anthony T; Young, David P; Dubenko, Igor; Talapatra, Saikat; Ali, Naushad; Stadler, Shane (July 2022, Journal of Applied Physics)

   The effects of doping, hydrostatic pressure, and thermal quenching on the phase transitions and magnetocaloric properties of the Mn1−xCoxNiGe system have been investigated. Cobalt doping on the Mn site shifted the martensitic structural transition toward lower temperature until it was ultimately absent, leaving only a magnetic transition from a ferromagnetic (FM) to a paramagnetic (PM) state in the high-temperature hexagonal phase. Co-occurrence of the magnetic and structural transitions to form a first-order magnetostructural transition (MST) from the FM orthorhombic to the PM hexagonal phase was observed in samples with 0.05 < x < 0.20. An additional antiferromagnetic–ferromagnetic-like transition was observed in the martensite phase for 0.05 < x < 0.10, which gradually vanished with increasing Co concentration (x > 0.10) or magnetic field (H > 0.5 T). The application of external hydrostatic pressure shifted the structural transition to lower temperature until an MST was formed in samples with x = 0.03 and 0.05, inducing large magnetic entropy changes up to −80.3 J kg−1 K−1 (x = 0.03) for a 7-T field change under 10.6-kbar pressure. Similar to the effects of the application of hydrostatic pressure, an MST was formed near room temperature in the sample with x = 0.03 by annealing at high temperature (1200 °C) followed by quenching, resulting in a large magnetic entropy change of −56.2 J kg−1 K−1. These experimental results show that the application of pressure and thermal quenching, in addition to compositional variations, are effective methods to create magnetostructural transitions in the MnNiGe system, resulting in large magnetocaloric effects. 

   more » « less
5. Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of CoFeVGe-based compounds: Experiment and theory

   https://doi.org/10.1063/9.0000395  

   Kharel, Parashu; Lehmann, Zachary; Baker, Gavin; Stuelke, Lukas; Valloppilly, Shah; Shand, Paul M.; Lukashev, Pavel V. (January 2023, AIP Advances)

   We have carried out a combined theoretical and experimental investigation of both stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric CoFeVGe alloys. In particular, we have investigated CoFeVGe, Co 1.25 Fe 0.75 VGe, Co 0.75 Fe 1.25 VGe, and CoFe 0.75 VGe bulk alloys. Our first principles calculations suggest that all four alloys show ferromagnetic order, where CoFeVGe, Co 1.25 Fe 0.75 VGe, and Co 0.75 Fe 1.25 VGe are highly spin polarized with spin polarization values of over 80%. However, the spin polarization value of CoFe 0.75 VGe is only about 60%. We have synthesized all four samples using arc melting and high-vacuum annealing at 600 °C for 48 hours. The room temperature x-ray diffraction of these samples exhibits a cubic crystal structure with disorder. All the samples show single magnetic transitions at their Curie temperatures, where the Curie temperature and high field (3T) magnetization are 288 K and 42 emu/g; 305 K and 1.5 emu/g; 238 K and 39 emu/g; and 306 K and 35 emu/g for CoFeVGe, Co 1.25 Fe 0.75 VGe, Co 0.75 Fe 1.25 VGe, and CoFe 0.75 VGe, respectively. 

   more » « less