Conveners
CMPMS2: MSc For Awards 1
- Mmantsae Diale (University of Pretoria)
CMPMS2: MSc For Awards 2
- Walter Meyer (University of Pretoria)
CMPMS2
- Moise Bertin Tchoula Tchokonte (Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape)
CMPMS2
- Max Chirwa (Walter Sisulu University)
CMPMS2
- Odireleng Ntwaeaborwa (University of the Free State)
CMPMS2
- Lutz Ackermann (Materials Modelling Center - University of Limpopo)
CMPMS2
- Japie Engelbrecht (NMMU)
Covellite copper monosulphide (CuS) is a representative I–VI chalcogenide semiconductor with the unique photoelectricity transformation characteristic. Due to quantum confinement effect, CuS nanoparticles exhibit optical and electrical properties as compared to the bulk materials. CuS is an indirect semiconductor with a bandgap around 1.7 eV. At high temperature CuS exhibits fast ion...
We report on the synthesis and electrical characterization of nano-crystalline diamond films grown by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. Low temperature magnetoresistance measurements have shown a crossover in conductivity from hopping, activated to semi-metallic conduction as the nitrogen level in the CVD chamber is increased from 10% - 15%, 20% to 22% respectively. Raman spectroscopy...
Long afterglow calcium aluminate phosphors doped with Eu2+ and co-doped with Nd3+ /or Dy3+ (CaAl2O4:Eu2+, Nd3+, Dy3+) were fabricated by urea-nitrate solution – combustion method at 500 °C. The effects of varying concentrations of Ca:Al and co-dopants molar ratio (Nd3+:Dy3+) on the...
The magnetic and electrical properties of nitrogen doped carbon nanospheres can be probed using Electron Magnetic Resonance (EMR) techniques. Previous Raman spectroscopy studies show that both the pristine and doped spheres are graphitic in character. However, XRD measurement showed that these spheres consist of graphitic crystallites embedded in an amorphous phase. Previous ESR...
Laser pyrolysis has been used to synthesize tungsten oxide (WO3-x) nanostructures, and here we report on the production of six-sided nanostars. The proposed mechanism used to explain the growth of the stars is the concentration difference and gradient mechanism which speculates that a high local concentration of one reactant mixed with a low concentration of another reactant under ambient...
Nanocomposite materials have wide range of applications in solar energy conversion. In this work, C-NiO nanocomposite coatings are prepared using sol-gel synthesis and deposited on aluminium substrates using a spin coater. The coatings are prepared from alcoholic sols based on Ni-acetate using diethalonamine as a chelating agent and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as organic template. Sucrose is...
Copper based interconnect are widely used in the electronic industry. They provide the conductive path required to achieve connection from one circuit element to another. However, the application of copper based interconnect is often limited by the oxidation behaviour of copper. At elevated temperature and humidity, the bonding strength of copper interconnect deteriorates due to copper...
We report on the electrical transport properties of graphene oxide (GO) and GO reduced using an organic acid (RGO). Two terminal GO and RGO devices were assembled via dielectrophoresis. The current-voltage characteristics of these devices were studied at low temperatures (77 K to 300 K) using a micromanipulated probe station. The I-V characteristics for RGO devices were found to be almost...
Nanostructured materials are used to develop lithium-ion batteries with high energy, high-rate capability and excellent cycling stability due to their huge surface area, short distance for mass and charge transport and freedom for volume change. They are capable of reversibly accommodating large amount of Li, on intercalation mesoporous β-MnO2 can accommodate Li/Mn = 0.92:1 with...
Crystals of LiFePO4 and related materials have recently received a lot of attention due to their promising use as cathodes in rechargeable lithium ion batteries. These compounds have been known for good stability and low cost. The Co based compound LiCoPO4, has rapidly become of particular interest as recent measurements found a potential of 4.8 V, while the Mn based...
After thirty-five years the empirical pseudopotential electronic band structures that were fitted by James R. Chelikowsky and Marvin L. Cohen (Phys. Rev. B 14, 556, 1976) are still used widely and are regarded by some workers as being among the best. Although the original paper by Chelikowsky and Cohen has received more than 600 citations, not all subsequent workers have been able to...
An introduction to the new development project on the implementation of a radioactive ion beam (RIB) facility at iThemba LABS will be presented. In particular with relation to the uses of the RIB for the application of research in condense matter and materials research. Some leading examples by international laboratories using radioactive nuclei as probes to enhance the understanding of...
We studied charge injection and transport mechanisms in blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM), by analysing dark, temperature dependent current-voltage characteristics of the P3HT:PCBM blend thin films sandwiched between aluminium electrodes in a MIM configuration. We present a general method of interpreting Fowler - Nordheim plots of...
Silica is a basic material of technological importance for optics, microelectronics, photonics and fibre optics. Its high absorption edge energy makes its particularly useful for UV applications and it has been used as a host material for a variety of luminescent lanthanide ions due to its chemical stability and non-hygroscopic nature. For lanthanide ions the 4f electron energy levels are...
Europium (Eu2+) and gadolinium (Gd3+) doped BaAl2O4 powder phosphors were prepared by combustion method at different initiating temperatures (400-1000 oC), using urea as a comburent. The powders were annealed at different temperatures in the range of 400-1000 oC for 3 hours. X-ray diffraction data show that the crystallinity of the BaAl2O4 structure greatly improved as the annealing...
Photovoltaic cell devices constructed from organic materials are becoming increasingly efficient because of the discovery of the bulk heterojunction concept. Today, organic photovoltaic cell (OPVC) devices fabricated from the blends of poly(3-hyxylthiopene) (P3HT) and [6,6] –phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) are the most widely studied bulk heterojunction systems because of their...
Europium-doped barium magnesium aluminate (BaMgAlx0y:Eu) phosphors were obtained at low temperatures (500˚C) using the solution - combustion of corresponding metal nitrate–urea solution mixtures. The particle size and morphology and the structural and luminescent properties of the as-synthesized phosphors were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD),...
Diamond tools are generally made of sintered polycrystalline diamond (PCD) on a hard metal tungsten carbide (WC-Co) substrate during the High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) process. The diamond tools are used widely as cutting and drilling tools due to their unique combination of superior properties. However, there are several issues that need to be resolved about the diamond tools. At...
We use density functional theory to investigate the structural, elastic properties and energetic stabilities of Zr, Nb and its alloys in the alpha and beta phases, employing pseudopotential plane wave methods within the Pardew-Burke-Ernzerhof Generalized Gradient Approximation (PBE-GGA). The structures were fully optimized in a non-magnetic state, allowing atomic positions, cell volume and...
The formation energy of self-interstitial defects in silicon was studied. The 〈110〉split site was found to be the lowest energy position for the silicon self-interstitial at neutral charge state, as well as singly and doubly negative charged state. The tetrahedral site is found to be the lowest energy site for the singly and doubly charged positive states. The energy barriers for diffusion...
Fuel cells have been intensively researched for the past few decades for macro applications. However, micro fuel cells have not received so much attention. A micro fuel cell delivers power in the mW-W range, and would be suitable for mobile purposes, e.g. as a charger for cell-phone or other small devices. We consider polymers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a prospective structural...
Defects introduced by 300 keV Eu ions in HVPE grown Si-doped GaN were investigated by means of deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). After implantation, the samples were annealed at 1000 °C and Ti/Al/Ni/Au ohmic and Ni/Au Schottky contacts were deposited. The Schottky contacts were found to be of high quality, with leakage current at 1 V reverse bias of below 10 8 A. Two peaks in the...
The quaternary compound semiconductor Cu(In,Ga)Se2 is one of the most attractive materials for high efficiency solar cells due to its tunable band gap to match well the solar spectrum. In this study, semiconducting Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films were prepared by a classical two-step growth process, which involves the selenization and/or sulfurization of In/Cu-Ga precursor. During the precursor...
Covalently bonded solids based on boron, carbon, or nitrogen are the hardest materials, and B4C is the third hardest after diamond and cubic boron nitride. Thin films of boron carbide were formed by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature and at higher temperatures up to 800 o C using a sintered B4C target. Whilst the nature of the particulates embedded in the films and the composition...
A circular electric current, perpendicularly bisected by a field plane, was modelled as a continuum of pairs of distinct Cartesian component elemental magnetic vector charges normal and parallel to the field plane. The Cartesian elemental magnetic vector charges normal to the field plane pair up into Cartesian elemental magnetic dipoles with intra-dipolar displacements parallel to the...
A review of our last results on the phase dynamics of a stack of coupled Josephson junctions in layered superconductors is presented. The current voltage characteristics (CVC) of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJ) are numerically calculated in capacitively coupled Josephson junction model (CCJJ model) and CCJJ model with diffusion current (CCJJ+DC model). We discuss the features of the...
