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C. N. R. Rao

Publications and source records attributed to C. N. R. Rao.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Novel magnetic properties of graphene: Presence of both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic features and other aspects

Investigations of the magnetic properties of graphenes prepared by different methods reveal that dominant ferromagnetic interactions coexist along with antiferromagnetic interactions in all the samples. Thus, all the graphene samples exhibit room-temperature magnetic hysteresis. The magnetic properties depend on the number of layers and the sample area, small values of both favoring larger magnetization. Molecular charge-transfer affects the magnetic properties of graphene, interaction with a donor molecule such as tetrathiafulvalene having greater effect than an electron-withdrawing molecule such as tetracyanoethylene

physics.chem-ph↗

A New Method of Obtaining High Enrichment of Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Arc-discharge with carbon electrodes containing Ni and Y2O3 in the presence of Fe(CO)5 vapors have been investigated. It is found that unlike the cathode deposit, the web deposited in the chamber contains mainly metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as evidenced from Raman and optical absorption spectroscopy. The percentage of metallic SWNTs increases with the concentration of Fe(CO)5. Under optimal conditions, the web contains over 90% of metallic SWNTs. This method enables the synthesis of nearly pure metallic SWNTs on a large scale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Synthesis, Structure and Properties of Boron and Nitrogen Doped Graphene

Two-dimensional graphene exhibits many fascinating properties such as ballistic electronic conduction and quantum Hall effect at room temperature.1-4 Graphene doped electrochemically or through charge-transfer with electron-donor and -acceptor molecules,5-7 shows marked changes in electronic structure, with characteristic signatures in the Raman spectra.5-10 Substitutional doping, universally used in tuning properties of semiconductors, could be a powerful tool to control the electronic properties of graphene. Here, we present the structure and properties of boron and nitrogen doped graphenes, obtained by more than one method involving arc discharge in appropriate gaseous atmosphere, by using modified graphite electrode or by the transformation of nano-diamond. Using a combination of experiment and firstprinciples theory, we demonstrate systematic changes in the carrier-concentration and electronic structure of graphenes with B/N-doping, accompanied by stiffening of the Gband and intensification of the defect related D-band in the Raman spectra. Such n/p - type graphenes obtained without external fields or chemical agents should find device applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Multiferroic Properties of Nanocrystalline BaTiO3

Some of the Multiferroics [1] form a rare class of materials that exhibit magnetoelectric coupling arising from the coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity, with potential for many technological applications.[2,3] Over the last decade, an active research on multiferroics has resulted in the identification of a few routes that lead to multiferroicity in bulk materials.[4-6] While ferroelectricity in a classic ferroelectric such as BaTiO3 is expected to diminish with the reducing particle size,[7,8] ferromagnetism cannot occur in its bulk form.[9] Here, we use a combination of experiment and first-principles simulations to demonstrate that multiferroic nature emerges in intermediate size nanocrystalline BaTiO3, ferromagnetism arising from the oxygen vacancies at the surface and ferroelectricity from the core. A strong coupling between a surface polar phonon and spin is shown to result in a magnetocapacitance effect observed at room temperature, which can open up possibilities of new electro-magneto-mechanical devices at the nano-scale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Effects of interaction of electron donor and accepter molecules on the electronic structure of graphene

Effects of interaction of graphene with electron donor and acceptor molecules have been investigated by employing Raman spectroscopy. The G band softens progressively with the increasing concentration of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) which is an electron donor while the band stiffens with increasing concentration of tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) which is an electron-acceptor molecule. Both TTF and TCNE broaden the G-band. The 2D band position is also affected by interaction with TTF and TCNE. The intensity of the 2D-band decreases markedly with the concentration of either. The ratio of intensities of the 2D and G bands decreases with increase in TTF and TCNE concentrations. The electrical resistivity of graphene varies in opposite directions on interaction with TTF and TCNE. All these effects occur due to molecular charge-transfer, as evidenced by the observation of charge-transfer bands in the electronic absorption spectra.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Semiconductor to metal transition in SWNTs caused by interaction with gold and platinum nanoparticles

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been coated with gold and platinum nanoparticles either by microwave treatment or by the click reaction and the Raman spectra of these SWNT-metal nanoparticle composites have been investigated. Analysis of the G bands in the Raman spectra shows an increase in the proportion of metallic SWNTs on attachment with metal nanoparticles. This conclusion is also supported by the changes observed in the RBM bands. Ab-initio calculations reveal that semiconductor-metal transition occurs in SWNTs due to Columbic charge transfer between the metal nanoparticles and the semiconducting SWNTs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Enhancement of ferromagnetism by Co and Ni substitution in the perovskite LaBiMn2O6+d

The substitution of cobalt and nickel for manganese in the perovskite manganate LaBiMn2O6+d; has been realized, leading to the perovskites LaBiMn2-x(M)xO6+d, with M = Co, Ni and x =0-2/3. In contrast to the literature those phases are found to be orthorhombic with Pnma symmetry. More importantly, it is shown that ferromagnetism is enhanced, TC being increased from 80 K for the parent compound (x = 0) to 97 K for Ni-phase, and to 130 K for the Co-phase. Moreover, a strong competition between ferromagnetism and a glassy-ferromagnetic state in the case of nickel or a spin-glass behaviour in the case of cobalt is observed. These phenomena are interpreted in the frame of a phase separation scenario, where the ferromagnetic Mn4+/Ni2+ and Mn4+/Co2+ interactions reinforce the Mn3+/Mn4+ interactions. These compounds are found to be insulating with a relatively large positive value of thermoelectric power.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Glassy behavior in the ferromagnetic and the non-magnetic insulating states of the rare earth manganates, Ln0.7Ba0.3MnO3 (Ln = Nd or Gd)

While La0.7Ba0.3MnO3 is a ferromagnetic metal (TC = 340 K) with longrange ordering, Nd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 shows a transition around 150 K with a small increase in magnetization, but remains an insulator at all temperatures. Gd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 is non-magnetic and insulating at all temperatures. Low field dc magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements reveal the presence of a transition at around 150 K in Nd0.7Ba0.3MnO3, and a complex behavior with different ordering/freezing transitions at 62, 46 and 36 K in the case of Gd0.7Ba0.3MnO3, the last one being more prominent. The nature of the field dependence of the magnetization, combined with the slow magnetic relaxation, ageing and memory effects, suggests that Nd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 is a cluster glass below 150 K, a situation similar to that found for La_{1-x}SrxCoO3. Gd0.7Ba0.3MnO3, however, shows non-equilibrium dynamics characteristic of spin glasses, below 36 K. The difference in nature of the glassy behavior between Gd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 and Nd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 probably arises because of the larger disorder arising from the mismatch between the sizes of the A-site cations in the former. Our results on Nd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 and Gd0.7Ba0.3MnO3 suggest that the magnetic insulating states often reported for rare earth manganates of the type Ln1-xAxMnO3 (Ln = rare earth, A = alkaline earth) are likely to be associated with glassy magnetic behavior.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Large nonlinear absorption and refraction coefficients of carbon nanotubes estimated from femtosecond Z-scan measurements

Nonlinear transmission of 80 and 140 femtosecond pulsed light with $0.79 μm$ wavelength through single walled carbon nanotubes suspended in water containing sodium dodecyl sulphate is studied. Pulse-width independent saturation absorption and negative cubic nonlinearity are observed, respectively, in open and closed aperture Z-scan experiments. The theoretical expressions derived to analyze the z-dependent transmission in the saturable limit require two photon absorption coefficient $β_0\sim$ $1.4 cm/MW$ and a nonlinear index $γ\sim -5.5 \times10^{-11} cm^2/W$ to fit the data.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Binding of Nucleobases with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We have calculated the binding energy of various nucleobases (guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T) and cytosine (C)) with (5,5) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using ab-initio Hartre-Fock method (HF) together with force field calculations. The gas phase binding energies follow the sequence G $>$ A $>$ T $>$ C. We show that main contribution to binding energy comes from van-der Wall (vdW) interaction between nanotube and nucleobases. We compare these results with the interaction of nucleobases with graphene. We show that the binding energy of bases with SWNTs is much lower than the graphene but the sequence remains same. When we include the effect of solvation energy (Poisson-Boltzman (PB) solver at HF level), the binding energy follow the sequence G $>$ T $>$ A $>$ C $>$, which explains the experiment\cite{zheng} that oligonucleotides made of thymine bases are more effective in dispersing the SWNT in aqueous solution as compared to poly (A) and poly (C). We also demonstrate experimentally that there is differential binding affinity of nucleobases with the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by directly measuring the binding strength using isothermal titration (micro) calorimetry. The binding sequence of the nucleobases varies as thymine (T) $>$ adenine (A) $>$ cytosine (C), in agreement with our calculation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Ferromagnetism as a universal feature of nanoparticles of the otherwise nonmagnetic oxides

Room-temperature ferromagnetism has been observed in the nanoparticles (7 - 30 nm dia) of nonmagnetic oxides such as CeO2, Al2O3, ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2. The saturated magnetic moments in CeO_2 and Al_2O_3 nanoparticles are comparable to those observed in transition metal doped wide band semiconducting oxides. The other oxide nanoparticles show somewhat lower values of magnetization but with a clear hysteretic behavior. Conversely, the bulk samples obtained by sintering the nanoparticles at high temperatures in air or oxygen became diamagnetic. As there were no magnetic impurities present, we assume that the origin of ferromagnetism may be due to the exchange interactions between localized electron spin moments resulting from oxygen vacancies at the surfaces of nanoparticles. We suggest that ferromagnetism may be a universal characteristic of nanopartilces of metal oxides

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Room-temperature ferromagnetism in nanoparticles of superconducting materials

Nanoparticles of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) (Tc = 91 K) exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature while the bulk YBCO, obtained by heating the nanoparticles at high temperature (940 degree C), shows a linear magnetization curve. Across the superconducting transition temperature, the magnetization curve changes from that of a soft ferromagnet to a superconductor. Furthermore, our experiments reveal that not only nanoparticles of metal oxides but also metal nitrides such as NbN (Tc = 6 - 12 K) and delta-MoN (Tc ~ 6 K) exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Collapse of the charge ordering state at high magnetic fields in the rare-earth manganite, Pr_{0.63}Ca_{0.37}MnO_3

We have investigated the specific heat and resistivity of a single crystal of Pr_{0.63}Ca_{0.37}MnO_3 around the charge ordering (CO) transition temperature, T_{CO}, in the presence of high magnetic fields (<=12T) which can melt the charge ordered state. At low magnetic fields (<=10T), the manganite transforms from a charge-disordered paramagnetic insulating (PI) state to a charge-ordered insulating (COI) state as the temperature is lowered. The COI state becomes unstable beyond a threshold magnetic field and melts to a ferromagnetic metallic phase (FMM). This occurs for T < T_{CO}. However, above a critical field μ_0H_ρ^*, the sample shows the onset of a metallic phase for T>T_{CO} and the COI transition occurs from a metallic phase. The onset temperature of the high-field metallic behavior decreases with an increase in the field and above a field μ_0H^*, the COI transition does not occur and the CO state ceases to occur at all T. The entropy change involved in the CO transition, ΔS_{CO}~1.6J/molK at 0T, decreases with increasing field and eventually vanishes for a field μ_0H^*. The collapse of the CO state above μ_0$H$^* is thus associated with a collapse of the entropy that stabilizes the CO state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Magnetic and electron transport properties of the rare-earth cobaltates, La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 (Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy) : A case of phase separation

Magnetic and electrical properties of four series of rare earth cobaltates of the formula La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 with Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy have been investigated. Compositions close to x = 0.0 contain large ferromagnetic clusters or domains, and show Brillouin-like behaviour of the field-cooled DC magnetization data with fairly high ferromagnetic Tc values, besides low electrical resistivities with near-zero temperature coefficients. The zero-field-cooled data generally show a non-monotonic behaviour with a peak at a temperatures slightly lower than Tc. The near x = 0.0 compositions show a prominent peak corresponding to the Tc in the AC-susceptibility data. The ferromagnetic Tc varies linearly with x or the average radius of the A-site cations, (rA). With increase in x or decrease in (rA), the magnetization value at any given temperature decreases markedly and the AC-susceptibility measurements show a prominent transition arising from small magnetic clusters with some characteristics of a spin-glass. Electrical resistivity increases with increase in x, showed a significant increase around a critical value of x or (rA), at which composition the small clusters also begin to dominate. These properties can be understood in terms of a phase separation scenario wherein large magnetic clusters give way to smaller ones with increase in x, with both types of clusters being present in certain compositions. The changes in magnetic and electrical properties occur parallely since the large ferromagnetic clusters are hole-rich and the small clusters are hole-poor. Variable-range hopping seems to occur at low temperatures in these cobaltates.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Non-equilibrium Magnetic Properties of Single Crystalline La0.7Ca0.3CoO3

Magnetic and electric properties of a single crystal of La0.7Ca0.3CoO3 have been experimentally studied. The system attains a ferromagnetic spontaneous moment below 170 K and exhibits a re-entrant spin-glass phase below 100 K. In the ordered and the re-entrant phases, the low field magnetic properties are strongly direction dependent, showing considerably higher magnetization values perpendicular than parallel to the c-axis. Magnetic relaxation experiments show that both the ferromagnetic and the re-entrant spin-glass phases are non-equilibrium states, where the system exhibits magnetic aging characteristic of spin-glasses and disordered and frustrated ferromagnets.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Biferroic YCrO3

YCrO3 which has a monoclinic structure, shows weak ferromagnetism below 140 K (TN) and a ferroelectric transition at 473 K accompanied by hysteresis. We have determined the structure and energetics of YCrO3 with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering by means of first-principles density functional theory calculations, based on pseudopotentials and a plane wave basis. The non-centrosymmetric monoclinic structure is found to be lower in energy than the orthorhombic structure, supporting the biferroic nature of YCrO3.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗