In this investigation, the size-scale in mechanical properties of individual [0001] ZnO nanowires and the correlation with atomic-scale arrangements were explored via in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipped with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nanoindentation (NI) systems. The Young's modulus was determined to be size-scale-dependent for nanowires with diameter, d, in the range of 40 nm ≤ d ≤ 110 nm, and reached the maximum of ∼ 249 GPa for d = 40 nm. However, this phenomenon was not observed for nanowires in the range of 200 nm ≤ d ≤ 400 nm, where an average constant Young's modulus of ∼ 147.3 GPa was detected, close to the modulus value of bulk ZnO. A size-scale dependence in the failure of nanowires was also observed. The thick ZnO nanowires (d ≥ 200 nm) were brittle, while the thin nanowires (d ≤ 110 nm) were highly flexible. The diameter effect and enhanced Young's modulus observed in thin ZnO nanowires are due to the combined effects of surface relaxation and long-range interactions present in ionic crystals, which leads to much stiffer surfaces than bulk wires. The brittle failure in thicker ZnO wires was initiated from the outermost layer, where the maximum tensile stress operates and propagates along the (0001) planes. After a number of loading and unloading cycles, the highly compressed region of the thinner nanowires was transformed from a crystalline to an amorphous phase, and the region near the neutral zone was converted into a mixture of disordered atomic planes and bent lattice fringes as revealed by high-resolution images.

Iron substituted cubic cage type mesoporous molecular sieves (FeSBA-1) were synthesized for the first time in a highly acidic media using cetyltriethylammonium bromide as a template. The amount of Fe incorporation in SBA-1 can easily be controlled by the simple adjustment of the molar hydrochloric acid-to-silicon ratio. All the materials were unambiguously characterized by AAS, XRD, N2 adsorption, UV-Vis DRS, XPS, and ESR spectroscopy. The results from AAS, XRD, and N2 adsorption reveal that the iron atom can be incorporated in the framework of SBA-1 matrix without altering the structural order and the textural parameters. The nature and the coordination of iron atoms were extensively studied by XPS spectroscopy, and the results revealed that most of the iron atoms in FeSBA-1 are in +3 coordination state. UV-Vis DRS and ESR studies confirmed that the majority of the Fe atoms in FeSBA-1 exist in a tetrahedral coordination environment (most probably occupying framework positions). tert-Butylation of phenol employing tert-butanol as the alkylation agent was carried out over FeSBA-1 catalysts with different iron content and the results are compared with one-dimensional mesoporous catalysts. The influence of various reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, reactant feed ratio, weight hourly space velocity, and time-on-stream affecting the activity and selectivity of FeSBA-1 were also studied. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the FeSBA-1(36) catalyst showed superior catalytic performance for the tert-butylation of phenol as compared to the uni-dimensional mesoporous catalysts.

Light and heavy neutron‐irradiation damage of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) crystals was examined by means of X‐ray diffraction and high‐resolution high‐voltage transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the X‐ray data analysis, it was found that there is an average increase of about 3% in the c‐axis lattice parameter of the unit cell of graphite for lightly neutron‐irradiated HOPG. However, the c‐axis lattice parameter could not be estimated from the HOPG sample having the highest dose of neutron irradiation under the present investigation, because the X‐ray profile was highly asymmetrical. This increase in the c‐axis lattice parameter is attributed to lattice expansion due to the static displacement of atoms after neutron irradiation. Local structure analysis by TEM shows that the 0002 lattice spacing for the above‐mentioned HOPG samples has been increased by up to 10% as a result of the neutron irradiation. This increase in c‐axis lattice spacing can be ascribed to the fragmentation of the crystal lattice into nanocrystallites, breaking and bending of the 0002 straight lattice fringes, appearance of dislocation loops, and extra interstitial planes within the fragmented nanocrystallites. All these changes are a result of the static displacement of atoms after neutron irradiation.