Silicon (Si) has been considered a very promising anode material for lithium ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity. However, high-capacity Si nanoparticles usually suffer from low electronic conductivity, large volume change, and severe aggregation problems during lithiation and delithiation. In this paper, a unique nanostructured anode with Si nanoparticles bonded and wrapped by g...

X-ray absorption near edge structure ~XANES! spectra of crystalline ~c!and amorphous (a)-Si–C–N thin films were measured at the C, N, and Si K edge using the fluorescence and sample drain current modes. A sharp peak similar to the C 1s core exciton in chemical vapor deposition diamond is observed, which can be assigned to the transition from the C 1s to sp hybridized states in c-Si–C–N. The C K...

Short-term fasting protects mice from lethal doses of chemotherapy through undetermined mechanisms. Herein, we demonstrate that fasting preserves small intestinal (SI) architecture by maintaining SI stem cell viability and SI barrier function following exposure to high-dose etoposide. Nearly all SI stem cells were lost in fed mice, whereas fasting promoted sufficient SI stem cell survival to pr...

In this paper we discuss the development of sputter-Si technology for application in the area of poly-Si TFT Liquid Crystal Displays. We present the motivation behind this development and the state-of-the-art in materials and devices, based on PVD-Si precursor material. The Si-sputtering process is analyzed and data are presented on the quality of as-sputtered and post-annealed Si-films. The cu...

Coral-like porous Si was fabricated through the dealloying of a laser remelted as-cast AlSi12 alloy(Al-12 wt % Si). The porous Si was composed of interconnected micro-sized Si dendrites and micro/nanopores, and compared to flaky Si, which is fabricated by direct dealloying of the as-cast AlSi12 alloy. The structure of the porous Si was attributed to the dendritic solidification microstructure f...

A series of silicon-rich oxide (SRO) and erbium-doped SRO (SROEr) films imbedded with structural tunable silicon nanoclusters (Si NCs) have been fabricated using sputtering followed by post-annealing. The coalescence of Si NCs is found in the films with large Si excess. The energy transfer rate between Si NCs and Er3+ is enhanced, but the luminescence efficiencies of both Si NCs and Er3+ are re...

Nucleation and growth of Si nanowires by laser ablation and thermal evaporation of Si powder sources mixed with SiO2 have been investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy. At the initial nucleation stage, Si oxide vapor condensed on the substrate and formed Si nanoparticles ~the nuclei of nanowires!. Each Si nanowire nucleus consisted of a polycrystalline Si core containing a high...

Background and Objectives: There are several predictor variables for speech anxiety (SA) among students. Affective balance (AB) and social intelligence (SI) are two main factors in this field. In this study, we assess the mediating role of consequence expectation (CE) among these variables. Accordingly, this study aims to explore a model of the relationships between AB, SI, and SA mediated by C...