A broadband metamaterial absorber (MA) composed of hexagonal-arranged single-sized titanium nitride (TiN) nano-disk array and monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is studied using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. The structure of TiN nano-disk array/dielectric silica (SiO2)/aluminum (Al) is adopted in our design. By optimizing the dimension parameters of the structure, an aver...

Large single-crystal graphene is highly desired and important for the applications of graphene in electronics, as grain boundaries between graphene grains markedly degrade its quality and properties. Here we report the growth of millimetre-sized hexagonal single-crystal graphene and graphene films joined from such grains on Pt by ambient-pressure chemical vapour deposition. We report a bubbling...

Hexagonal close-packed (hcp) iron carbides play an important role in steel processing and in steel products. The recent discovery of novel ultrafine (2-5 nm) iron carbide (ε'-Fe2+xC) precipitates in TRIP steel sheds a new light on the hcp family of carbides. Here we present a first-principles study on the relative stability, and the electronic, magnetic properties of the ε'-Fe2C phases. Differe...

The mechanism of lithium insertion that occurs in an iron oxyfluoride sample with a hexagonal-tungsten-bronze (HTB)-type structure was investigated by the pair distribution function. This study reveals that upon lithiation, the HTB framework collapses to yield disordered rutile and rock salt phases followed by a conversion reaction of the fluoride phase toward lithium fluoride and nanometer-siz...

Twinning on the plane is a common mode of plastic deformation for hexagonal-close-packed metals. Here we report, by monitoring the deformation of submicron-sized single-crystal magnesium compressed normal to its prismatic plane with transmission electron microscopy, the reorientation of the parent lattice to a 'twin' lattice, producing an orientational relationship akin to that of the conventio...

Geometrical diffuse reflection is a common optical phenomenon that occurs when a reflecting surface has roughness of order of hundreds of micrometres. Light rays thus reflect uniformly in all directions with each ray obeying Snell's law. Of interest is knowing what happens when light reflects off surfaces with roughness of nanometres. Here, by introducing nanoscaled roughness on the hexagonal f...

In this paper, strontium ferrite (SrO.6Fe2O3) was synthesized by the sol-gel auto-combustion process. The thermal behavior of powder obtained from self-propagating combustion of initial gel was evaluated by simultaneous differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermo gravimetric (TG), from room temperature to 1200°C. The as-burnt powder was calcined at various temperatures from 700-900°C to achi...

Iridescent color appearances are widespread in nature. They arise from the interaction of light with micron- and submicron-sized physical structures spatially arranged with periodic geometry and are usually associated with bright angle-dependent hues. Iridescence has been reported for many animals and marine organisms. However, iridescence has not been well studied in bacteria. Recently, we rep...

Self-assembly of large multi-component systems is a common strategy for the bottom-up construction of discrete, well-defined, nanoscopic-sized cages. Icosahedral or pseudospherical viral capsids, built up from hundreds of identical proteins, constitute typical examples of the complexity attained by biological self-assembly. Chemical versions of the so-called 5 Platonic regular or 13 Archimedean...

We report on the residual stresses in amorphous shape memory polymers reinforced with SiC particles. After 50% compression of the composite material at 25 °C, the SiC particles exhibit a compressive stress, which is almost completely released during heated recovery at 120 °C. The residual stresses in SiC hexagonal (6H) phase were estimated through the average change of the unit-cell volume. Lat...