Green Synthesis of Zirconia (ZrO2) Nanoparticles using Curcuma Longa Extract and Investigation of Compressive Strength of Epoxy resin (EP)/ZrO2 Nanocomposites

Zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles are polymorphic materials having a wide range of applications. It can be synthesized via green as well as chemical synthesis methods. In this work, ZrO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by the green method using Curcuma longa extract. Curcuma longa extract was prepared using the standard method. The synthesized ZrO2 was characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy for their structural and size analysis. The analysis of the XRD pattern of ZrO2 showed the tetragonal phase structure and the size was calculated using the Debye Scherrer equation which was about 34.55 nm. The FTIR spectra analysis showed a broad absorption peak particularly at about 774 cm-1 and about 499 cm-1 correspondings to Zr-O2-Zr asymmetric and Zr-O stretching modes, respectively. The characterized ZrO2 nanoparticles were used for the preparation of epoxy resin/ZrO2 nanocomposites. The compressive strength of pure epoxy resin and epoxy resin/ZrO2 nanocomposites were measured by a compressive strength tester and the result indicates the high amount of zirconia was not suitable for the nanocomposites.

New insights into the crystallization of polymorphic materials: from real-time serial crystallography to luminescence analysis

This article unravels reaction conditions governing the formation of polymorphic structures in solution down to the single particle level applying, for instance, unprecedented real-time serial crystallography measurements during a synthesis process.

Phase transitions in polymorphic materials probed using space-resolved diffusing wave spectroscopy

We demonstrate light scattering as a new non-invasive, contactless method to detect polymorphic phase transitions in soft matter.

Synchrotron X-ray diffuse scattering from a stable polymorphic material: terephthalic acid, C8H6O4

Terephthalic acid (TPA, C8H6O4) is an industrially important chemical, one that shows polymorphism and disorder. Three polymorphs are known, two triclinic [(I) and (II)] and one monoclinic (III). Of the two triclinic polymorphs, (II) has been shown to be more stable in ambient conditions. This paper presents models of the local order of polymorphs (I) and (II), and compares the single-crystal diffuse scattering (SCDS) computed from the models with that observed from real crystals. TPA shows relatively weak and less-structured diffuse scattering than some other polymorphic materials, but it does appear that the SCDS is less well modelled by a purely harmonic model in polymorph (I) than in polymorph (II), according to the idea that the diffuse scattering is sensitive to anharmonicity that presages a structural phase transition. The work here verifies that displacive correlations are strong along the molecular chains and weak laterally, and that it is not necessary to allow the —COOH groups to librate to successfully model the diffuse scattering – keeping in mind that the data are from X-ray diffraction and not directly sensitive to H atoms.

Extremely low thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric performance in liquid-like Cu2Se1−xSx polymorphic materials

Extremely low thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric performance are found in liquid-like Cu2Se1−xSx polymorphic materials.

Role of Polymorphism in Materials Science

Polymorphism is a widespread and commonly occurring phenomenon in fields of chemistry, biology and materials science. In recent years, the development of technology has lead to the development of different instrumentation tools(such as SXRD, PXRD, IR, NMR, AFM) which are employed for the characterization of different polymorphic materials (namely polymers, nano crystalline metal oxides and pharmaceutical drugs) which are of great importance because of their applications in the field of materials science.