We report for the first time, the application of Lutetium oxide (Lu2O3) thin film as a saturable absorber (SA) in generating a stable and compact Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) operating at 1570 nm. The film SA was prepared by embedding the Lu2O3 particles into a polyvinyl alcohol (P...

Effects of defect introduction on electronic structure of cubic Ia-3 lutetium oxide (Lu2O3) were characterized by means of density-functional theory calculations using augmented plane wave method with local orbitals (APW+LO) approach. Perdew-Wang 92 local density approximation (LDA) and Räsänen,...

The compounds A2Fe2Si2C (A=La, Ce, Sm, Th) and A2Re2Si2C (A=Y, La–Nd, Sm, Gd–Er, Th) have been prepared for the first time. They crystallize with the Dy2Fe2Si2C type structure, which was refined for Th2Re2Si2C from single-crystal X-ray data: C2/m, a=1117.82(9) pm, b=417.53(4) pm, c=702.93(7) p...

Rare-earth silicides have been studied by RBS spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. 12C and 4He RBS at 10 and 2 MeV, respectively, were used in order to compare heavy ion RBS (HIRBS) with conventional 4He RBS. 12C RBS gives better mass resolution for heavy elements (M > 28 amu), but slightly poore...

The standard enthalpies of formation for some lutetium alloys in the binary systems Lu-X (where X=C, Si, Ge, Sn, B, Al) have been determined by direct synthesis calorimetry at 1473±2 K. The following values of ΔH0f in kJ g.atom−1 are reported: LuC2 −26.7±1.8; LuSi −78.3±2.1; Lu5Ge3 −73.8±1....

A series of RE2Fe3Si5 ternary compounds is formed with scandium, yttrium and the rare earth elements samarium through lutetium except europium. The lutetium, scandium and yttrium members are superconducting, lutetium and scandium exhibiting the highest critical temperatures yet observed for iron...

With the advent of Fe–As based superconductivity it has become important to study how superconductivity manifests itself in details of 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy of conventional, Fe-bearing superconductors. To this end, the iron-based superconductor Lu2Fe3Si5 has been studied by 57Fe Mössbauer...

Structures and phase compositions in the YSi system are reviewed. Thermal analyses, metallography, X-ray diffraction and hardness measurements have been used to examine the system. Y5Si3 is confirmed as the most stable congruently melting silicide, metal vacancies may be present in the structu...

The phase composition, conductance and surface morphology of thin films of silicides of rare earth metals (of the yttrium subgroup) were studied. The silicides were formed by annealing thin film structures of the rare earth metal (Ln) and silicon at 473–673 K for 1–120 min in vacuum. X-ray ana...

Examination of bulk microstructures of lutetium doped erbium silicide (Er0.9Lu0.1)5Si4 (space group: Pnma) using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) reveals the existence of thin plates of a hexagonal phase (space group: P63/mcm) where the stoichiometric ratio in moles betwe...

The interaction of small amounts of Lutetium with the Si (111)-7 × 7 reconstructed surface was investigated in detail using a combination of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS and UPS). Various immobile and also fastly moving atoms and nanocluster were found...

The iridium-rich phosphides RE5Ir19P12 (RE=Sc, Y, La–Nd, Sm–Lu) with Sc5Co19P12 type structure, space group P62̄m were synthesized by solid state reactions of the elements in tantalum crucibles. Well shaped single crystals were obtained in bismuth fluxes. All phosphides were characterized on t...

Hydrogen (H)- and water (H2O)-storage and desorption characteristics of 25 nm thick Pt films onLi2ZrO3composite materials, exposed to normal air at room temperature, have been investigated by means of elastic recoil detection (ERD), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), weight gain measu...

In this work, we report for the very first time on the thermoluminescence (TL) and afterglow (AG) properties of Li2ZrO3. The ternary oxide Li2ZrO3 was synthesized by solid state reaction of a mixture of Li2CO3 and ZrO2 subjected to thermal annealing at 400 °C for 2 h and 1000 °C during 24 h in...

Alkali metal (Li, Na and K) doped zirconium oxide was prepared (Li/ZrO2, Na/ZrO2 and K/ZrO2) by wet chemical route and used as active heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification of waste cottonseed oil with ethanol and methanol to produce fatty acid ethyl and methyl esters, respectively. ...

This paper presents a performance analysis for the sorption-enhanced autothermal reforming of CH4 in a fixed bed reformer for pure H2 production with in situ CO2 capture. The process is analyzed for two candidate sorbents of K-promoted hydrotalcite and lithium zirconate in a fixed bed reactor us...

The thermodynamic data of the lithium zirconates (Li2ZrO3, Li6Zr2O7,Li4ZrO4 and Li8ZrO6) were calculated based on the Neumann-Kopp rule and the third law. The equilibrium lithium oxide vapor pressures and lithium loss values due to evaporation at different temperatures and in different environme...

Pristine and different Fe-containing lithium zirconate samples were synthesized by solid-state reaction and characterized by different structural, microstructural and chemical techniques. X-ray diffraction showed that iron atoms were only partially incorporated into lithium zirconate, preserving...

In this work, H2 production was evaluated using different carbonation conditions and two alkaline zirconates. For this purpose, Li2ZrO3 and Na2ZrO3 were synthesized, characterized and tested on a consecutive process composed of initial CO2 capture, followed by methane dry reforming (MDR). Thermo...

Optimum conditions for synthesis of lithium zirconate by the solid state reaction were studied experimentally. The monoclinic phase lithium zirconate can be formed from a lithium carbonate, zirconia and potassium carbonate mixture of a certain composition in the temperature range of 850–1200 °...