Materials research plays a vital role in transforming breakthrough scientific ideas into next-generation technology. Similar to the way silicon revolutionized the microelectronics industry, the proper materials can greatly impact the field of plasmonics and metamaterials. Currently, research in plasmonics and metamaterials lacks good material building blocks in order to realize useful devices. ...

Several recent experiments have revealed that the charge density ρ in a given compound (mostly underdoped) is intrinsic inhomogeneous with large spatial variations. Therefore it is appropriate to define a local charge density ρ(r). These differences in the local charge concentration yield insulator and metallic regions, either in an intrinsic granular or in a stripe morphology. In the metallic ...

The excess low-frequency (1/f ) electrical noise of three representative half-metallic oxides, CrO2, Fe3O4, and La2/3Sr1/3MnO3, has been studied as a function of the temperature ~5–300 K! and a magnetic field ~up to 12 T!. In CrO2 and La2/3Sr1/3MnO3, the resistance fluctuations are investigated in the metallic regime, below Tc . The magnetite noise is measured across the Verwey transition, in t...

Metallic states appearing at interfaces between dissimilar insulating oxides exhibit intriguing phenomena such as superconductivity and magnetism. Despite tremendous progress in understanding their origins, very little is known about how to control the conduction pathways and the distribution of charge carriers. Using optical spectroscopic measurements and density-functional theory (DFT) simula...

From the early Copper Age several millennia ago, to the beginning of the Steel Age in the 19th century, our capacity to access and manipulate metals has created the foundation for the modern world. Today, metal structures are ubiquitous— from the tallest skyscrapers to the most elegant of jewelry—that we often forget much of it originated from metal containing ores, comprised of metal compounds...

Xenon, which is quite inert under ambient conditions, may become reactive under pressure. The possibility of the formation of stable xenon oxides and silicates in the interior of the Earth could explain the atmospheric missing xenon paradox. Using an ab initio evolutionary algorithm, we predict the existence of thermodynamically stable Xe-O compounds at high pressures (XeO, XeO(2) and XeO(3) be...

The selective hydrogenation of fatty acids to fatty alcohols can be achieved under moderate conditions (180 °C, 30 bar H2) by simultaneously supporting copper and iron oxides on mesoporous silica nanoparticles. The activity of the cosupported oxides is significantly higher than that of each supported metal oxide and of a physical mixture of both individually supported metal oxides. A strong int...

Recent works have paved the way to theoretical predictions of conditions governing transition from internal external oxidation metals and alloys: such directly result Wagner (1959)’s classical analytical model, provided that it is made incorporate a heuristic decrease diffusion coefficients upon fraction oxides, aimed at representing their “barrier effect” diffusion. The aim this paper extend t...

The difference in the standard Gibbs free energy for the formation of any two oxides or sulfides is the chemical potential for selective reduction of metals from complex minerals. The magnitude of the Gibbs free energy difference is shown by plotting the univariant relationships for relevant sulfides and oxides. In this investigation, three examples of mineral sulfides are considered, and the e...