ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanostructures, which are studied for diverse possible applications, ranging from semiconductors, photovoltaics, and light-emitting diodes (LED), to solar cells, infrared detectors, and thermoelectrics, were synthesized and characterized by XRD, HR-(S)TEM, and analytical TEM (EDX and EELS). Moreover, band-gap measurements of the ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanostructures have been performed using UV/Vis DRS. The experimental results were combined with theoretical modeling of ZnO/ZnS (hetero)structures and band structure calculations for ZnO/ZnS systems, yielding more insights into the properties of the nanoparticles. The ab initio calculations were performed using hybrid PBE0 and HSE06 functionals. The synthesized and characterized ZnO/ZnS core/shell materials show a unique three-phase composition, where the ZnO phase is dominant in the core region and, interestingly, the auxiliary ZnS compound occurs in two phases as wurtzite and sphalerite in the shell region. Moreover, theoretical ab initio calculations show advanced semiconducting properties and possible band-gap tuning in such ZnO/ZnS structures.

Compositionally complex transitional metal nitrides are an interesting class of ceramics with superior chemical, thermal, and mechanical stability, with a high potential in ultra‐high temperature applications and catalysis. The exceptionality in the properties may partly be explained as a consequence of their high configuration entropy. Although promising candidates, the bulk synthesis of compositionally complex metal (carbo)nitrides remains challenging, often limited by purity and scalability due to significant oxygen contamination from gaseous reactants or nitrogen loss. To offset these disadvantages, the current manuscript proposes an alternative synthesis route for the synthesis of a compositionally complex nitride (V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W)N _x , which deviates from the typical solid‐state and sputtering methods by employing an organometallic precursor route and a double ammonolysis process. This is a first attempt to synthesize such ceramics with low oxygen contamination in compositionally complex (carbo)nitrides with a scalable production _. Using a multidisciplinary approach consisting of theoretical methods and experiments, the current study elucidates the evolution and stability of the precursor at high temperatures under carbon, and thereby obtained ceramics at different temperatures.

We study quantum features of electromagnetic radiation propagating in a one-dimensional superconducting quantum metamaterial composed of an infinite chain of charge qubits placed within two stripe massive superconducting resonators. The quantum-mechanical model is derived assuming weak fields and that, at low temperatures, each qubit is either unoccupied or occupied by a single Cooper pair. We demonstrate the emergence of two bands of single-photon qubit bound states with the energies lying outside the photon continuum—one is above and the second slightly below the linear photon band. The higher energy band varies slowly with the qubit-photon center of mass quasimomentum. It becomes practically flat provided that the electromagnetic energy is far below the Josephson energy when the latter is small compared to the charging energy. The dispersion of the lower band is practically identical to that of free photons. The emergence of bound states may cause radiation trapping indicating possible applicability for the control of photon transport in superconducting qubit-based artificial media.