The slow activity of cathode materials is one of the most significant barriers to realizing the operation of solid oxide fuel cells below 500 °C. Here we report a niobium and tantalum co-substituted perovskite SrCo0.8Nb0.1Ta0.1O3-δ as a cathode, which exhibits high electroactivity. This cathode has an area-specific polarization resistance as low as ∼0.16 and ∼0.68 Ω cm2 in a symmetrical cell an...

(Abstract) Niobium thin films are expected to be free of solid inclusions commonly seen in solid niobium. For particle accelerators, niobium thin film has the potential to replace the solid niobium in the making of the accelerating structures. In order to understand and improve the superconducting performance of niobium thin films at cryogenic temperature, an energetic vacuum deposition system ...

The molecular structures of the surface overlayers of rhenium(VI1) oxide, molybdenum(V1) oxide, tungsten(V1) oxide, chromium(V1) oxide, vanadium(V) oxide, niobium(V) oxide, and titanium( IV) oxide on y-alumina were determined by in situ Raman spectroscopy under dehydrated conditions. It was found that the dehydrated surface metal oxide structures of all the systems under study, except for suppo...

The catalytic properties of niobium(V) oxide (Nb2O5-CBMN) of different grades: amorphous, optical and ultra-pure, untreated or heat-treated at 400, 500, 700 and 900 ◦C were studied, before and after interaction with H2O2, by in situ Raman, FTIR-ATR and diffuse reflectance UV-Visible spectroscopy. The presence of different reaction sites for NbO7 and NbO8 type systems, which are directly related...

A systematic study is presented on the superconductivity (sc) parameters of the ultrapure niobium used for the fabrication of the nine-cell 1.3 GHz cavities for the linear collider project TESLA. Cylindrical Nb samples have been subjected to the same surface treatments that are applied to the TESLA cavities: buffered chemical polishing (BCP), electrolytic polishing (EP), low-temperature bakeout...

We have investigated the thermal quench evolution of a Niobium cavity, chemically polished, during ultra high vacuum annealings from 100 to 800°C. Ten cavities have been tested before heat treatment (HT) and the results show a good agreement with the BCS theory for a diffuse reflection of the conduction electrons on the metal surface. All along the HT we have clearly identified at first the oxy...

An empirical correlation is established for relating Raman stretching frequencies of niobium-oxygen (Nb-O) bonds to their respective bond distances in niobium oxide compounds. The correlation is an exponential least-squares fit between measured Raman frequencies and reported crystallographic bond lengths. Niobium-oxygen bond strengths (in valence units) are also related to Raman stretching freq...