IMDEA Materials Institute’s Post

Excited to share our latest research published in JOM! Our study, "A Novel TiB₂–SiC Composite Doped with Diamond Nanoparticles: Densification, Microstructure, and Thermal Properties", explores the development of a cutting-edge nanocomposite. By incorporating 2 wt.% diamond nanoparticles into a TiB₂–SiC matrix and utilizing spark plasma sintering (SPS), we achieved these results: - Enhanced relative density (~96%) compared to the undoped sample. - Improved thermal diffusivity and conductivity, thanks to the isotropic thermal behavior of diamond nanoparticles. This research was a collaborative effort with my brilliant friends and colleagues: Seyed Mohammad Arab, sahar nekahi, Farhad Sadegh Moghanlou, Mohammad Vajdi, and Zohre Ahmadi. Thank you all for your contributions! Check it out @ https://lnkd.in/esWfQYRj

After all the conference talks and poster sessions to advertise this work, I am finally happy and thrilled to see it in a published form. I absolutely loved working with my amazing collaborators Loriane Monin and Mark Aarts. And as usual with great guidance from Esther Alarcon Llado ♥️ Shout out to Max Postma for this awesome cover! Last but not the least, thank you AMOLF for providing the discussion space, facilities and support. Now, to the science part: In this recent work, we demostrate how probing the stickiness of electrochemical interfaces at nanoscale can be useful in understanding the interfacial energy of the electric double layer. We suspect that the observed local inhomogeneities could be due to local differences in the solvent/ions ordering at the electrochemical interface. In a nutshell, using adhesion force spectroscopy to study electrochemical interfaces is very insightful (and also very cool🙃)! More exciting follow ups are on its way! To read further: https://lnkd.in/e47zsd4f

NeuroNanoTech has kicked-off! The first meeting of this MSCA Doctoral Network is taking place in Madrid at IMDEA Nanociencia institute. 10 partners and 15 participants will work to advance the knowledge in neurostimulation and sensing using nanotechnology. Watch this space as the call for PhD positions will soon open.

I presented a poster at SPIE Photonics West 2024 (January 27th - February 1st) at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California! My research focuses on laser processing with femtosecond laser pulses, and I participated in the "Laser-based Micro- and Nanoprocessing XVIII" session within the LASE conference. My poster, titled "Formation of Homogeneous LIPSS on ZnO by Two-Beam Interference of Femtosecond Laser Pulses," explored a novel method for creating highly periodic Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS).

I was recently recognized at the Research & Development Council of NJ's 45th Edison Patent Awards Ceremony & Reception (#2024EDDYS) for the invention of the planar coil #stellarator.     Physics, computation, and mathematical breakthroughs have greatly advanced stellarator research. What motivated this patent? Knowing there must be a more practical way to build the machine without the limiting, complex coils.     By using simpler, flat magnets, we are reinventing the stellarator and it is remarkable to now see these simpler magnets come to life and be prototyped here at Thea Energy.    I am exceptionally grateful to Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) for submitting the planar coil stellarator for this award. Thank you to all that have contributed to advancing this technology!

I am excited to share that our work is recently accepted and published in the Journal of Colloid and interface science! 🎉. I'm incredibly grateful to Prof. Dr. Chun-Chen Yang and Dr. Yi-SHiuan Wu and our all co-authors for their invaluable guidance and support, which were instrumental in achieving this recognition. "we propose a simple ultrasonic method for synthesizing cobalt nanoclusters embedded in nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets (GrZnCo) derived from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The resulting material, due to the retention of metallic cobalt structure, exhibits better electronic conductivity. Additionally, the GrZnCo catalyst shows vigorous catalytic activity, which can improve reaction kinetics and suppress side reactions, thus lowering the charging overpotential. We have investigated the impact of different catalyst compositions (GrZnCox; x = 1, 3, 5) by varying the amounts of cobalt and zinc. The optimum catalyst, GrZnCo3, contains high cobalt-N active components, graphitic-N, pyridinic-N, pyrrolic-N, and abundant defect structures, which enhance the electrochemical performance. The defect-rich GrZnCo3 catalyst enables Li-O2 batteries to achieve a high discharge capacity of 13500 mAh·g−1 at 50 mA·g−1 and a remarkable long-term cycling performance of over 400 cycles at 100 mA·g−1 with a limited capacity of 500 mAh·g−1. This work demonstrates an effective approach to fabricate cost-effective electrocatalysts for various energy storage systems".

New @QLOC_INL preprint by Filipa Peres and Ernesto Galvão! We propose ways of decreasing the depth and complexity of adaptive quantum computation driven by Pauli measurements: Pauli-based computation. https://lnkd.in/dJeyK3QG We describe two ways to decrease the circuit complexity: a pre-compilation step, and a heuristic classical algorithm for further reductions (which cost more classical computation time). Pauli-based computation is driven only by measurements of compatible Paulis on separable magic states. If we allow incompatible Pauli measurements, we show they can be of weight 2 only. This is a follow-up of our previous paper on Pauli-based computation, that came out in 2023 in Quantum: https://lnkd.in/dZiUbxAW Thanks to INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory FoQaCiA - Foundations of Quantum Computational Advantage and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for support and funding!

One academic good news to share with everyone: My paper has been accepted for an oral presentation at the 2024 Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA! The title of my paper is "An Efficient Computational Algorithm for Modeling Slow Soliton Interactions in Microresonators." This prestigious conference is scheduled for September 23–26, 2024. I am grateful for the support from my advisor, colleagues, and mentors. One of the most exciting aspects of attending this conference is connecting with like-minded individuals passionate about optics and laser science. I gladly invite everyone attending the conference to join my session. Let's discuss our shared research interests, explore new perspectives, and push the boundaries of our knowledge in this fascinating field. #FIO2024, #OPTICA

I am excited to share that our manuscript titled "Influence of Infill Pattern and Layer Height on Surface Characteristics and Fatigue Behavior of FFF‐Printed PEEK" has now been officially Published Online in Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures #FFEMS #WILEY. In this study, we explore how variations in infill pattern (rectilinear vs. triangular) and layer height (0.15 mm vs. 0.25 mm) affect the fatigue behavior and surface characteristics of FFF-produced PolyEther Ether Ketone (PEEK). If you're interested in additive manufacturing, biomedical materials, or fatigue testing, this study lays important groundwork for future research in the field. #AdditiveManufacturing #PEEK #3DPrinting #FatigueTesting #MaterialScience #FFF #EngineeringResearch #SurfaceRoughness #PublishedResearch University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" Università degli Studi di Salerno Dipartimento di Ingegneria - Università della Campania "L. Vanvitelli" Feel free to reach out for more details or a discussion! Download the manuscript at: https://lnkd.in/d2iugfgF

I am excited to announce our recent publication in Physica Scripta, a collaborative effort with Drs. Andrew Wang, Jian-Ping Wang, Changzhi Li, Jenifer Gomez Pastora, and Rui He. We thank the support provided by Ocean NanoTech, LLC through Dr. Andrew Wang. Link to the paper: https://lnkd.in/gC2NxJEk In this study, we explored a critical aspect of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) systems: the size uniformity of the magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) tracer. Traditionally, models and experiments assume that all tracers are of uniform size. However, this assumption overlooks a key reality: the size of MNP tracers follows a lognormal distribution. Our research addresses this gap by evaluating the impact of MNP tracer size distribution on MPI applications. We employed a stochastic Langevin function coupled with Brownian-Néel relaxation models to simulate the dynamic magnetization responses of MNP tracers. Using experimentally observed sizes and distributions, we varied the size uniformity to investigate how tracers with identical average sizes but different size distributions influence MPI signal strength and imaging resolution. Kudos to the first author, Ebrahim Azizi, for his outstanding contributions to this work!