Our PhD student, Alexander Stangl, has participated in the CERN Superconductivity Hackathon 2017 organized by FCC hh ee he from 22th to 24th September in Geneve (Switzerland). The primary target of the Hackathon is to work on solutions based on superconductor technology for three particularly interesting and promising future application fields.
Hey! My name is Pedro and I’m from Brazil. After finishing my Master in electrical engineering at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro I joined ICMAB’s Superconducting Materials and Nanostruture at Large Scale department as a PhD student. My research is focus on implementing superconducting wires in electrical equipment for the power grid system. I shall be working in the FASTGRID project seeking to enhance 2G HTS tape’s performance for higher electrical fields.
Hi guys!
My name is Artur and I am a new PhD student in the SUMAN group. Studying at the RWTH Aachen University, I developed expertise on Phase-Change materials performing PES, XRD, and low temperature transport measurements. Here at ICMAB, I am going to participate in promoting the electrical characterization and optimization of HTS coatings for the FCC at CERN. Looking forward to get all you guys to know! You can find me in office 1.19.
Our PhD student, Alejandro Fernandez, has attended to the 10th International Conference on Vortex Matter in Nanostructured Superconductors (VORTEX X) in Rhodes (Greece) from 9th to 14th of September. He had the oportunity to see many interesting oral presentations during these days and he also presented a poster (entitled: Tuning of the electronic structure in high Temperature Superconducting films at nanometric scale) gathering part of his research in the group. Of course, he could enjoy some free time relaxing in the beach or some night shows in the hotel. He hopes that some of you can join it in the following years.
J. Gazquez, M. Stengel, R. Mishra, M. Scigaj, M. Varela, M. A. Roldan, J. Fontcuberta, F. Sánchez, and G. Herranz. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 106102 – Published 7 September 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.106102
Two basic lattice distortions permeate the structural phase diagram of oxide perovskites: antiferrodistortive (AFD) rotations and tilts of the oxygen octahedral network and polar ferroelectric modes. With some notable exceptions, these two order parameters rarely coexist in a bulk crystal, and understanding their competition is a lively area of active research. Here we demonstrate, by using the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system as a test case, that quantum confinement can be a viable tool to shift the balance between AFD and polar modes and selectively stabilize one of the two phases. By combining scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and first-principles-based models, we find a crossover between a bulklike LaAlO3 structure where AFD rotations prevail, to a strongly polar state with no AFD tilts at a thickness of approximately three unit cells; therefore, in addition to the celebrated electronic reconstruction, our work unveils a second critical thickness, related not to the electronic properties but to the structural ones. We discuss the implications of these findings, both for the specifics of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system and for the general quest towards nanoscale control of material properties.
During the last 5-8th of September it was celebrated the last Microscopy at the Fronters of Science (MFS 2017) at the historical paraninfo building located in Zaragoza. Our phD student Bernat Mundet made an oral contribution entitled “Probing oxygen vacancies and their associated distortions in real space in YBa2Cu3O7” with the following co-autors: B. Mundet, J. Gazquez, R. Guzman, R. Mishra, E. Bartolomé, M. Coll, A. Palau1, S. M. Valvidares, P. Gargiani, E. Pellegrin, J. Herrero-Martin, T. Puig, X. Obradors.
In the following picture it can be seen our student presenting their results.
The gala dinner was held at the Aura restaurant which has nice views through the Ebro river and the Pilar cathedral as it can be seen in the next picture:
Roger Guzman, Jaume Gazquez, Bernat Mundet, Mariona Coll, Xavier Obradors, and Teresa Puig. Phys. Rev. Materials. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.1.024801
Enhanced pinning due to nanoscale strain is unique to the high-Tc cuprates, where pairing may be modified with lattice distortion. Therefore a comprehensive understanding of the defect landscape is required for a broad range of applications. However, determining the type and distribution of defects and their associated strain constitutes a critical task, and for this aim, real-space techniques for atomic resolution characterization are necessary. Here, we use scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to study the atomic structure of individual defects of solution-derived YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) nanocomposites, where the inclusion of incoherent secondary phase nanoparticles within the YBCO matrix dramatically increases the density of Y1Ba2Cu4O8 (Y124) intergrowths, the commonest defect in YBCO thin films. The formation of the Y124 is found to trigger a concatenation of strain-derived interactions with other defects and the concomitant nucleation of intrinsic defects, which weave a web of randomly distributed nanostrained regions that profoundly transform the vortex-pinning landscape of the YBCO nanocomposite thin films.
Our PhD Student Júlia Jareño is visiting Prof. Shimoyama Laboratory in Aoyama Gakuin University, in Japan. Through their expertise in thin film growth, the project is focused on studying the growth mechanism of Ba2342 as a buffer layer for YBCO films. Our student has also had the oportunity to visit the Asahi substation from Tokyo power where a BSSCO cable is on operation.
We are very happy to announce that our researcher Mariona Coll has been awarded with one of the Research Awards L’Oréal-Unesco “For Women in Science” in the 2017 Call for her project “Nanochemistry: New materials for the efficient conversion of solar energy”.
After obtaining her PhD at ICMAB on 2007, Mariona did her postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and at University of Maryland (USA). She came back at ICMAB in 2010, and obtained the Ramon y Cajal Researcher position in 2014. Her research interests are focused on novel materials for energy applications, such as superconducting materials or materials for photovoltaics.
The Research Award “For Women in Science”, of 15,000 €, will be devoted to support and promote the project developed at ICMAB by Mariona Coll during the following year. The awards ceremony will take place in Madrid on November 22, 2017.
The Jury of this XII Edition was composed by the following scientists:
Congratulations!
Congratulations to our PhD Student Changyong Lu that yesterday has defended his thesis at Sala de Graus II of Science Faculty of UAB, entitled:
Abstract:
Nanomaterials especially nanoparticles become one of the most attractive area not only in scientific research but also in industrial applications. In this thesis, the preparation of magnetite nanoparticles, their related nanocomposites and the application of those obtained nanomaterials have been studied. The Fe3O4@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized via normal and microwave assistance reverse microemulsion methods. The obtained nanoparticles were fully characterized with different laboratory techniques and the effect of reaction parameters on final products was also studied. These nanoparticles were used as a support of Ag catalysts nanoparticles and the as synthesized nanocomposites shown nice catalytic property and high recyclability.
A novel Fe3O4@GNF@SiO2 nanocapsulates were also prepared via in situ formation of magnetite nanoparticles and silica coverage process. The obtained nanocapsulates have nice stabilities even in the acid environments. The potential application of these nanocapsulates in magnetic resonance imaging research was also studied. On the other hand, the cytotoxity and interaction with cell of Fe3O4@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were studied which indicate the possibility of using them in biomedical research. Then, the Fe3O4@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were further decorated with biomolecules such as MC540 and L-thyroxine. The Fe3O4@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles with the surface functionalized with molecule imprinted polymers also suggested the potential application in biosensor research.
Supervisor:
PhD Committee:
