FRG: Magnetic and Optical Properties of Fe-Doped Titania Nanotubes

非技术描述：支持社会需求的技术突破，如太阳能收集器和改进的数据存储策略，需要具有新功能的新材料的颠覆性进步。为此，该项目采用纳米技术的工具来制造、表征和定制钛-铁-氧化物基纳米管阵列的响应，这些阵列同时具有电子电荷、磁自旋和光学响应的功能。如果设计得当，这些材料有望在设备中得到潜在的应用，以有效吸收和转移太阳能和/或以更高的速度、精度和准确性处理数据。这项研究是由一个跨学科的科学和工程研究小组进行的，包括学生、教师和各级经验的初级科学家的参与。该提案教育经验的独特之处在于有机会向学生介绍大型科学设施的研究，例如布鲁克海文国家实验室的国家同步加速器光源，并且该提案由大多数女性PI团队领导，为学生和同事提供了多样性模型。技术细节：铁掺杂二氧化钛纳米管是通过电化学手段制造的，并使用各种探针（结构，磁性和光学，包括基于同步加速器的光谱）进行研究，以获得其磁性，自旋电子，光学和磁催化性能作为组成和结构属性的功能的基本理解。纯钛是一种大带隙半导体，铁的加入不仅会扰动带结构，还可以利用铁的大磁矩作为晶格修饰的敏感探针。此外，纳米结构的二氧化钛由于其较大的表面积，预计会表现出增强的功能响应。在这种情况下，人们希望在一种材料中开发出一种在室温下具有自旋电子、光学和光催化性能的新型多功能纳米结构。最终设备应用于传感、催化和自旋电子学，以实现替代能源和数据处理技术的进步。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Technological breakthroughs to support societal needs, such as solar energy harvesters and improved data storage strategies, require disruptive advances in new materials with novel functionalities. To that end, this project employs the tools of nanotechnology to fabricate, characterize and tailor the response of titanium-iron-oxide-based nanotube arrays with simultaneous functionality employing electronic charge, magnetic spin and optical response. Properly engineered, these materials hold promise for potential application in devices to efficiently absorb and transfer solar energy and/or to process data with increased speed, precision and accuracy. The research is carried out by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from science and engineering and includes the involvement of students, teachers and junior scientists at all levels of experience. Unique features of the educational experience of this proposal are the opportunities to introduce students to research at large scientific facilities such as the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the fact that the proposal is led by a majority female PI team, providing diversity models to both students and colleagues.TECHNICAL DETAILS: Iron-doped titania nanotubes are fabricated by electrochemical means and studied using a variety of probes (structural, magnetic and optical, including synchrotron-based spectroscopies) to obtain a fundamental understanding of their magnetic, spintronic, optical and magnetocatalytic properties as functions of composition and structural attributes. As pure titania is a large-bandgap semiconductor, Fe additions not only perturb the band structure but also serve as sensitive probes of the lattice modification by virtue of the large Fe magnetic moment. Further, nanostructured titania is anticipated to exhibit enhanced functional responses due to its large surface area. In this manner it is desired to develop novel multifunctional nanostructures for combined spintronic, optical and photocatalytic properties, at room temperature, in one material. Eventual device applications in sensing, catalysis and spintronics to enable advances in alternative energy and data processing technologies are envisioned.