A mussel-inspired interlayer of polydopamine (PDA)/polyethylenimine (PEI) is codeposited on the ultrafiltration substrate to tune the interfacial polymerization of piperazine and trimesoyl chloride for the preparation of thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes (NFMs). This hydrophilic interlayer results in an efficient adsorption of piperazine solution in the substrate pores. The sol...

The spatial organisation of swelling clay platelets in a suspension depends on the chemical composition of the equilibration solution. Individual clay platelets can be well dispersed, with surfaces entirely in contact with the external solution, or be stacked in tactoids, where part of the surfaces forms parallel alignments embedding interlayer water and cations. External and interlayer surface...

The aluminum (Al) interlayer with various thicknesses ranging from 0.75 to 6 nm was deposited on silicon (Si) substrates prior to the deposition of ultra-thin iron (Fe) catalyst for the growth of carbon nanotubes. In this paper we report the effect of ultra-thin Al interlayer on the growth of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The SEM was used to examine the microstructures of nanotubes. We...

We study the pairing symmetry of the interlayer paired state of composite fermions in quantum Hall bilayers. Based on the Halperin-Lee-Read (HLR) theory, the effect of the long-range Coulomb interaction and the internal Chern-Simons gauge fluctuation is analyzed with the random-phase approximation beyond the leading order contribution in small momentum expansion, and we observe that the interla...

Different bulk structures of graphite oxide were systematically investigated using density functional theory (DFT). Our model consisted of a hexagonal in-plane structure of graphene with hydroxyl and epoxide groups, and different oxidation levels and water content. The graphitic AB stacking order was stable in anhydrous graphite oxide, independent of oxidation levels. The hydrogen bonding inter...

We present extensive Monte Carlo simulations for the thermodynamic and structural properties of a planar bilayer of dipolar hard spheres for a wide range of densities, dipole moments, and layer separations. Expressions for the stress and pressure tensors of the bilayer system are derived. For all thermodynamic states considered, the interlayer energy is shown to be attractive and much smaller t...

Interlayer exchange coupling that oscillates between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic as a function of NiO thickness has been observed in [Pt(5 A)/Co(4 A)](3)/NiO(t(NiO) A)/[Co(4 A)/Pt(5 A)](3) multilayers with out-of-plane anisotropy. The period of oscillation corresponds to approximately 2 monolayers of NiO. This oscillatory behavior is possibly attributed to the antiferromagnetic ordering...

Well-dispersed Rh(OH)3 nanoparticles were deposited in the interlayer galleries of a Dion-Jacobson type layered perovskite (ACa2Nb3O10: A=H or K). X-ray photoelectron spectra and zeta potential measurements suggest covalent bonding (Rh-O-Nb) between the nanoparticles and the niobate sheets. After calcination of Rh(OH)3/KCa2Nb3O10 at 350 degrees C in air, interlayer Rh(OH)3 nanoparticles were tr...

The extensive research done on interlayer exchange coupling in transition metal multilayers has resulted in a deep understanding of this coupling and a remarkable agreement between theoretical results and measurements. The coupling between two magnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic spacer layer is mediated by the electrons of the spacer layer. The coupling, which oscillates in sign as a fu...

An 8 nm-thick gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) layer was inserted as a cathodic interlayer between the nanoscale proton-conducting yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BZY) electrolyte and the porous platinum cathode of a micro-solid oxide fuel cell (μ-SOFC), which has effectively improved the cathode reaction kinetics and rendered high cell power density. The addition of the GDC interlayer significantl...