Solid silicon monoxide is an amorphous material which has been commercialized for many functional applications. However, the amorphous structure of silicon monoxide is a long-standing question because of the uncommon valence state of silicon in the oxide. It has been deduced that amorphous silicon monoxide undergoes an unusual disproportionation by forming silicon- and silicon-dioxide-like regi...

Whereas the atomic structure of surface of crystals is known to be distinct from that of bulk, experimental evidence for thickness-induced structural transitions in amorphous oxides is lacking. We report the NMR result for amorphous alumina with varying thickness from bulk up to 5 nm, revealing the nature of structural transitions near amorphous oxide surfaces/interfaces. The coordination envir...

Lithium-ion batteries using germanium as the anode material are attracting attention because of their high-capacity, higher conductivity, and lithium-ion diffusivity relative to silicon. Despite recent studies on Ge electrode reactions, there is still limited understanding of the reaction mechanisms governing crystalline Ge and the transformations into intermediate amorphous phases that form du...

In this research, mechanical alloying was used to produce Ti-50Al, Ti-45Al-5Cr and Ti-45Al-5W (at%) alloys. The effect of ternary addition (Cr and W) on microstructure and production efficiency of TiAl alloy were investigated. Alloying was performed in a planetary mill and the milling time varying from 5 to 70h. The structural evaluation in these powders was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD) tech...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the image quality and radiation dose in chest imaging using an amorphous silicon flat-panel detector system and an amorphous selenium flat-panel detector system. In addition, the low-contrast performance of both systems with standard and low radiation doses was compared. MATERIALS AND METHODS In two groups of 100 patients each, digital chest radi...

Poorly water soluble drugs are considered a major challenge within development of drug formulations for oral delivery. Several formulations strategies exist to overcome this issue including salt formation and solid dispersions to name a few. Recently, a new formulation approach was introduced combining two drug molecules or a drug and an amino acid to form a so-called co-amorphous system. Sever...

Amorphous alloys can be electrodeposited by direct or pulsed current. According to electrocrystallization theory, a high crystallization overpotential produces microcrystalline structure in the deposits. Thus if the amorphous phase consists of microcrystals, pulsed current is preferable for preparing amorphous alloys. However, another newly proposed theory holds that the amorphous phase structu...

BACKGROUND Calcified amorphous tumor of the heart is a rare, non-neoplastic cardiac mass characterized by nodular calcium in the background of amorphous degenerating fibrinous material. Clinical diagnosis of calcified amorphous tumor can be difficult, and current single imaging techniques do not specifically differentiate calcified amorphous tumor from other cardiac tumors such as calcified atr...

The hybrid nanoparticles of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP)-catalase (CAT) developed by in situ biomineralization can create a stable semi-aqueous nanoscale environment for entrapped proteins against thermal denaturation. This finding indicates the importance of an amorphous mineral phase in the preservation of organic macromolecules.

Aqueous micelles of the multi-protein calcium phosphate complex, casein, were treated at 60°C and pH 7 over several months. Although partial dissociation of the micelles into 12 nm sized amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP)/protein nanoparticles occurred within a period of 14 days, crystallization of the ACP nanoclusters into bundles of hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanofilaments was not observed until aft...