Publications related to Machines for Materials and Materials for Machines: Metal-Insulator Transitions and Artificial Intelligence

Field-controlled multicritical behavior and emergent universality in fully frustrated quantum magnets

Phase transitions in condensed matter are a source of exotic emergent properties. We study the fully frustrated bilayer Heisenberg antiferromagnet to demonstrate that an applied magnetic field creates a previously unknown emergent criticality. The quantum ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Microsecond Time-Resolved Cryo-Electron Microscopy

Oliver Florian Harder

Recently, single-particle cryo-electron microscopy emerged as a technique capable of determining protein structures at near-atomic resolution and resolving protein dynamics with a temporal resolution ranging from second to milliseconds. This thesis describ ...

EPFL2024

Structural study of nickelate based heterostructures

Jean-Marc Triscone, Duncan Thomas Lindsay Alexander, Bernat Mundet, Chih-Ying Hsu

Heterostructures consisting of SmNiO3 and NdNiO3 alternating layers with additional LaAlO3 spacer layers were grown and fully characterized by means of x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy. A change in t ...

Aip Publishing2024

Polydopamine-coated photoautotrophic bacteria for improving extracellular electron transfer in living photovoltaics

Fabian Fischer, Ardemis Anoush Boghossian, Charlotte Elisabeth Marie Roullier, Melania Reggente, Mohammed Mouhib, Patricia Brandl, Hanxuan Wang

Living photovoltaics are microbial electrochemical devices that use whole cell–electrode interactions to convert solar energy to electricity. The bottleneck in these technologies is the limited electron transfer between the microbe and the electrode surfac ...

2024

Controlled Formation of Nanoribbons and Their Heterostructures via Assembly of Mass-Selected Inorganic Ions

Klaus Kern

Control of nanomaterial dimensions with atomic precision through synthetic methods is essential to understanding and engineering of nanomaterials. For single-layer inorganic materials, size and shape controls have been achieved by self-assembly and surface ...

Wiley-V C H Verlag Gmbh2024

Measuring electrical properties in semiconductor devices by pixelated STEM and off-axis electron holography (or convergent beams vs. plane waves)

Victor Carle Adrien Boureau

We demonstrate the use of both pixelated differential phase contrast (DPC) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and off-axis electron holography (EH) for the measurement of electric fields and assess the advantages and limitations of each techn ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2024

Magnetism of Single Surface Adsorbed Atoms Studied with Radio-Frequency STM

Clément Marie Soulard

This thesis investigates the magnetic properties of single atoms and molecules adsorbed on thin magnesium oxide decoupling layers, grown on a silver single crystal. To address these systems experimentally, we use a low temperature scanning tunneling micros ...

EPFL2024

Frustrated magnets in the limit of infinite dimensions: Dynamics and disorder-free glass transition

Achille Mauri

We study the statistical mechanics and the equilibrium dynamics of a system of classical Heisenberg spins with frustrated interactions on a d -dimensional simple hypercubic lattice, in the limit of infinite dimensionality d -> infinity . In the analysis we ...

Amer Physical Soc2024

Pyroresistive response of percolating conductive polymer composites

Claudio Grimaldi

The pyroresistive response of conductive polymer composites (CPCs) has attracted much interest because of its potential applications in many electronic devices requiring a significant responsiveness to changes in external physical parameters such as temper ...

Amer Physical Soc2024

Composition and Element Distribution Mapping of γ′ and γ" Phases of Inconel 718 by High-Resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-ray Energy-Dispersive Spectrometry

Philippe Buffat

The main strengthening mechanism for Inconel 718 (IN718), a Ni-based superalloy, is precipitation hardening by gamma ' and gamma '' particles. It is thus essential, for good alloy performance, that precipitates with the desired chemical composition have ad ...

MDPI2024

Optimizing Atomic Layer Deposition Processes with Nanowire-Assisted TEM Analysis

Johann Michler, Ivo Utke, Xavier Maeder

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is one of the premier methods to synthesize ultra-thin materials on complex surfaces. The technique allows for precise control of the thickness down to single atomic layers, while at the same time providing uniform coverage ev ...

Wiley2024

Computational Studies on the Stability of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Halide Lead Perovskites

Mathias Dankl

Perovskite-based solar cells are currently the most rapidly advancing photovoltaic technology but concerns about their long-term stability are still impeding full-scale commercialization. This thesis provides computational insights into some of the stabili ...

EPFL2024

Mixed ionic-electronic conduction in Ruddlesden-Popper and Dion-Jacobson layered hybrid perovskites with aromatic organic spacers

Michael Graetzel, Davide Moia, Joachim Maier, Jovana Milic, Algirdas Ducinskas, Mina Jung

The understanding of mixed ionic-electronic conductivity in hybrid perovskites has enabled major advances in the development of optoelectronic devices based on this class of materials. While recent investigations revealed the potential of using dimensional ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2024

Probing structural and dynamic properties of MAPbCl3 hybrid perovskite using Mn2+ EPR

Michael Allan Hope, Yuxuan Zhang

Hybrid methylammonium (MA) lead halide perovskites have emerged as materials exhibiting excellent photovoltaic performance related to their rich structural and dynamic properties. Here, we use multifrequency (X-, Q-, and W-band) electron paramagnetic reson ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2024

Structure-function analysis of the cyclic β-1,2-glucan synthase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Henning Paul-Julius Stahlberg, Dongchun Ni

The synthesis of complex sugars is a key aspect of microbial biology. Cyclic beta-1,2-glucan (C beta G) is a circular polysaccharide critical for host interactions of many bacteria, including major pathogens of humans (Brucella) and plants (Agrobacterium). ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Ion Spectroscopy Reveals Structural Difference for Proteins Microhydrated by Retention and Condensation of Water

Oleg Boyarkine, Andrei Zviagin

Protein ubiquitin in its +7 charge state microhydrated by 5 and 10 water molecules has been interrogated in the gas phase by cold ion UV/IR spectroscopy. The complexes were formed either by condensing water onto the unfolded bare proteins in a temperature- ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Electron-beam based nanoscale quantum controls

Hoda Shirzad

Advancing quantum technologies depends on the precise control of individual quantum systems, the so-called qubits, and the exploitation of their quantum properties. Nowadays, expanding the number of qubits to be entangled is at the core of the developments ...

EPFL2024

Filiform Variable Stiffness Technologies for Medical Robotics

Yegor Piskarev

In recent years, soft robotics has surged in applications like wearables, drones, smart fabrics, and medical instruments. Due to their compliance, these devices excel in tasks demanding dexterity and adaptability, such as manipulation, locomotion, crash re ...

EPFL2024

Quasi-operando Transmission Electron Microscopy Diagnostics for Electrocatalytic Processes in Liquids

Vasiliki Tileli

It is of great interest to the energy community to understand how the mechano-physico-chemical phenomena that eventually lead to device degradation are related to the startup, operation, and shutdown phases. For electrocatalytic systems operating in liquid ...

Swiss Chemical Soc2024

Microstructure - Electrochemical Surface Reactivity Relationship of Electrochemically Grown Manganese Oxides Films

Roberto Cestaro

This Thesis provides a comprehensive and correlative investigation of the microstructure, chemical state, and electrochemical reactivity of manganese oxide (MnOx) films, aiming to gain a deeper understanding of the deposition and dissolution mechanism of M ...

EPFL2024