Pentagonal-bipyramidal Dy(iii) complexes with rigid equatorial pentadentate N₃O₂ Schiff-base ligands exhibit breakdown of the apical magnetic axiality due to a strong equatorial crystal field resulting in low single-molecule magnet performance.

The influence of femtosecond laser irradiation on the formation of an oxide layer on the surface of VT6 titanium alloy (Ti–6Al–4V) is studied. The structure, chemical and phase composition have been studied by x-ray diffraction, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The formation features of an oxide layer, which contains TiO ₂ -rutile, TiO ₂ -anatase Al ₂ TiO ₅ -aluminum titanate, Ti ₃ O ₅ -titanium oxide and TiO-titanium monoxide on the femtosecond laser-irradiation modified surface have been analyzed.

Perovskite solar cells represent the most attractive emerging photovoltaic technology, but their practical implementation is limited by solar cell devices’ low levels of operational stability. The electric field represents one of the key stress factors leading to the fast degradation of perovskite solar cells. To mitigate this issue, one must gain a deep mechanistic understanding of the perovskite aging pathways associated with the action of the electric field. Since degradation processes are spatially heterogeneous, the behaviors of perovskite films under an applied electric field should be visualized with nanoscale resolution. Herein, we report a direct nanoscale visualization of methylammonium (MA⁺) cation dynamics in methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI₃) films during field-induced degradation, using infrared scattering-type scanning near-field microscopy (IR s-SNOM). The obtained data reveal that the major aging pathways are related to the anodic oxidation of I⁻ and the cathodic reduction of MA⁺, which finally result in the depletion of organic species in the channel of the device and the formation of Pb. This conclusion was supported by a set of complementary techniques such as time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), photoluminescence (PL) microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis. The obtained results demonstrate that IR s-SNOM represents a powerful technique for studying the spatially resolved field-induced degradation dynamics of hybrid perovskite absorbers and the identification of more promising materials resistant to the electric field.

Herein, we report the synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of two mononuclear complexes of general formula [Dy(acac)₃(L)], where L = 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolo[4,5-f][1,10] phenanthroline (1) or 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (2), and acac⁻ = acetylacetonate anion. A distorted square-antiprismatic N₂O₆ environment around the central Dy(III) ion is formed by three acetylacetonate anions and a phenanthroline-type ligand. Both complexes display a single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior at zero applied magnetic field. Modification of the peripheral part of ligands L provide substantial effects both on the magnetic relaxation barrier U_eff and on the quantum tunneling of magnetization (QTM). Ab initio quantum-chemical calculations are used to analyze the electronic structure and magnetic properties.