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，如太阳能收割机和改进的数据存储战略，需要在具有新功能的新材料方面取得颠覆性进展。为此，该项目利用纳米技术的工具来制备、表征和定制钛铁氧化物纳米管阵列的响应，该阵列具有同时具有电荷、磁自旋和光学响应的功能。这些材料经过精心设计，有望在高效吸收和传输太阳能和/或以更高的速度、精度和精确度处理数据的设备中得到潜在应用。这项研究是由来自科学和工程的研究人员组成的跨学科团队进行的，包括所有经验水平的学生、教师和初级科学家的参与。这项建议的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(如布鲁克海文国家实验室的国家同步加速器光源)的研究，并且该计划由大多数女性PI团队领导，为学生和同事提供多样性模型。技术细节：通过电化学方法制备铁掺杂二氧化钛纳米管，并使用各种探针(结构、磁和光学，包括基于同步加速器的光谱)进行研究，以基本了解它们的磁、自旋、光学和磁催化性质随组成和结构属性的变化。由于纯二氧化钛是一种大禁带半导体，Fe的加入不仅扰乱了能带结构，而且由于Fe的大磁矩而成为晶格修饰的灵敏探针。此外，由于其较大的比表面积，纳米结构二氧化钛有望表现出增强的功能响应。通过这种方式，人们希望在一种材料中开发出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。展望了传感、催化和自旋电子学的最终器件应用，以推动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.