Compared to the large number of main group Zintl compounds there are only a few that contain transition metals.[1] This is not surprising since the traditional definition of Zintl phases automatically excludes transition metals. However, many such compounds with transition metals can qualify for Zintl phases when a broader definition is used. The latter includes compounds of transition metals w...

A 106.08MHz superconducting quarter wave resonator, based on the bulk niobium technology developed at LNL for low beta heavy ion linacs, has been designed, constructed and tested in a collaboration between INFNLNL and TRIUMF. This superconducting heavy ion linac of ISAC-II, the future extension to the present ISAC radioactive beam facility. sections. Cavity design characteristics and test resul...

We developed several low-cost catalysts with high catalytic activity, which were used as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). They showed higher efficiencies than that of Pt. The efficiencies were improved by 18-42% for the DSCs composed of active carbon, niobium dioxide, ordered mesoporous carbon and commercial titanium carbide.

The structure of the high-temperature scheelite-type polymorph of cerium niobium tetraoxide, CeNbO(4), has been determined using time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction data collected both in situ at 1073 K in air and in vacuo. In both cases, the structure was found to be tetragonal, with I4(1)/a symmetry and without any significant deviation from the stoichiometric composition.

This study utilized solid-state lasers with a 50 ns pulse duration in Q-switched mode of operation at wavelengths 1.06 µm and 0.69 to investigate the hemispherical reflectivity niobium. Our experimental results show that niobium decreases notably as laser fluence increases towards plasma formation threshold for ablation both studied wavelengths, which we attribute changes absorptivity surface r...