Rare-Earth Doping in Nanostructured Inorganic Materials

Impurity doping is a promising method to impart new properties to various materials. Due to their unique optical, magnetic, and electrical properties, rare-earth ions have been extensively explored as active dopants in inorganic crystal lattices since the 18th century. Rare-earth doping can alter the crystallographic phase, morphology, and size, leading to tunable optical responses of doped nanomaterials. Moreover, rare-earth doping can control the ultimate electronic and catalytic performance of doped nanomaterials in a tunable and scalable manner, enabling significant improvements in energy harvesting and conversion. A better understanding of the critical role of rare-earth doping is a prerequisite for the development of an extensive repertoire of functional nanomaterials for practical applications. In this review, we highlight recent advances in rare-earth doping in inorganic nanomaterials and the associated applications in many fields. This review covers the key criteria for rare-earth doping, including basic electronic structures, lattice environments, and doping strategies, as well as fundamental design principles that enhance the electrical, optical, catalytic, and magnetic properties of the material. We also discuss future research directions and challenges in controlling rare-earth doping for new applications.

Fine Microstructured In-Sn-Bi Solder for Adhesion on a Flexible PET Substrate: Its Effect on Superplasticity and Toughness

A novel In-Sn-Bi solder with a low electrical resistivity of 14.3 × 10^-6 Ω cm and a melting temperature of 99.3 °C was produced for use in adhesive joining on a flexible poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrate. We determined that the fine microstructure of the In-based solder (which had an average phase size of 62.2 nm) strongly influenced its superplasticity and toughness at diffusive temperatures of 55-85 °C because the late-forming BiIn intermetallic compound (IMC) suppressed the growth of two other IMCs, In₃Sn and In_0.2Sn_0.8, which formed earlier in the soldering process. Thus, an elongation of 858.3% and toughness of 36.0 MPa were obtained at a temperature of 85 °C and a strain rate of 0.0020 s^-1. However, due to phase boundary fracturing, the phase-refined solder exhibited a slightly more brittle nature (with an elongation of 74.3%) at room temperature compared with a standard In-Sn solder consisting only of the In₃Sn and In_0.2Sn_0.8 IMCs, which had a slightly larger phase size of 84.9 nm and higher ductility (with an elongation of 80.7%). In terms of superplastic deformation, the conventional fracture system based on the Hall-Petch effect transformed into phase boundary sliding at the solder operating temperature, significantly enhancing ductility.

Lanthanide–EDTA complexes covalently bonded on Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nanoparticles promote the green, stereoselective synthesis of N-acylhydrazones

Highly efficient stereoselective synthesis of E–N-acylhydrazones using magnetic nanoparticles-Ln³⁺ as heterogeneous catalysts.

A Modular Solder System with Hierarchical Morphology and Backward Compatibility

A modular solder system with hierarchical morphology and micro/nanofeatures in which solder nanoparticles are distributed on the surface of template micropowders is reported. A core-shell structure of subsidiary nanostructures, which improved the intended properties of the modular solder is also presented. In addition, polymer additives can be used not only as an adhesive (like epoxy resin) but also to impart other functions. By combining all of these, it is determined that the modular solder system is able to increase reflowability on a heat-sensitive plastic substrate, oxidation resistance, and electrical conductivity. In this respect, the system could be readily modified by changing the structure and composition of each constituent and adopting backward compatibility with which the knowledge and information attained from a previously designed solder can offer feedback toward further improving the properties of a newly designed one. In practice, In-Sn-Bi nanoparticles engineered on the surface of Sn-Zn micropowders result in pronounced reflowing on a flexible Au-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate even at the low temperature of 110 °C. Depending on their respective concentrations, the incorporation of CuO@CeO2 nanostructures and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) polymers increases oxidation resistance and electrical conductivity of the modular solder.

Thermo-mechanical improvement of Inconel 718 using ex situ boron nitride-reinforced composites processed by laser powder bed fusion

Hexagonal boron nitride-reinforced Inconel 718 (h-BN/IN718) composites were fabricated using a laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technique to treat a nanosheet-micropowder precursor mixture prepared in a mechanical blending process. Tailoring the BN in IN718 enhanced the thermal resistance of the composites, thereby dampening the sharpness of the melting temperature peak at 1364 °C. This is because the presence of the BN reinforcement, which has a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), resulted in a heat-blocking effect within the matrix. Following this lead, we found that the BN (2.29 g/cm³) was uniformly distributed and strongly embedded in the IN718 (8.12 g/cm³), with the lowest alloy density value (7.03 g/cm³) being obtained after the addition of 12 vol% BN. Consequently, its specific hardness and compressive strength rose to 41.7 Hv_0.5·cm³/g and 92.4 MPa·cm³/g, respectively, compared to the unreinforced IN718 alloy with 38.7 Hv_0.5·cm³/g and 89.4 MPa·cm³/g, respectively. Most importantly, we discovered that the wear resistance of the composite improved compared to the unreinforced IN718, indicated by a decrease in the coefficient of friction (COF) from 0.43 to 0.31 at 2400 s. This is because the BN has an exfoliated surface and intrinsically high sliding and lubricating characteristics.

Improved electrical and thermo-mechanical properties of a MWCNT/In-Sn-Bi composite solder reflowing on a flexible PET substrate

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/indium–tin–bismuth (In–Sn–Bi) composite nanostructures in which In–Sn–Bi nanoparticles have been penetrated by the MWCNT arrays were synthesized using a chemical reduction method. The incorporation of 0.6 wt% MWCNTs with high electrical conductivity into the In-based solder resulted in low minimum electrical resistivity (19.9 ± 1.0 µΩ·cm). Despite being reflowed at the relatively low temperature of 110 °C, the composite solder nanostructures were able to form mechanically stable solder bumps on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate due to the MWCNT arrays with a high thermal conductivity of 3000 W/(m·K) and In–Sn–Bi nanoparticles with a low melting temperature of 98.2 °C. Notably, the composite solder bumps exhibited high flexibility (17.7% resistance increase over 1000 cycles of operation in a bending test) and strong adhesion strength (0.9 N average shear strength in a scratch test) on the plastic substrate because of the presence of mechanically flexible and strong MWCNTs dispersed within the solder matrix materials. These overall properties are due to the improved diffusivity of the composite solder nanostructures by the cover of the In–Sn–Bi nanoparticles along the MWCNT arrays and the network structure formation of the composite solder bumps.