The 25^th International Conference on Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology hosted by Conference Series LLC Ltd was successfully held during November 23-24, 2020 as a Webinar and was marked with the presence of the committee members, senior scientists, young and brilliant researchers, business delegates and talented students from various countries, who made this conference successful and productive.

We extend our grateful thanks to all the momentous speakers, conference attendees who contributed towards the successful run of the conference

Advanced Materials 2020 witnessed an amalgamation of peerless speakers who enlightened the crowd with their knowledge and confabulated on various latest and exciting innovations in all areas of Material Science and Nanotechnology.

Advanced Materials 2020 Organizing Committee extends its gratitude and congratulates the Honorable Moderators of the conference.

Conference Series LLC Ltd extends its warm gratitude to all the Honorable Guests and Keynote Speakers of “Advanced Materials 2020”.

• Alexander G. Ramm, Kansas State University, USA
• Eui-Hyeok Yang, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA  

Conference Series LLC Ltd is privileged to felicitate Advanced Materials 2020 Organizing Committee, Keynote Speakers, Chairs & Co-Chairs and the Moderators of the conference whose support and efforts made the conference to move on the path of success. Conference Series LLC Ltd thanks every individual participant for the enormous exquisite response. This inspires us to continue organizing events and conferences for further research in the field of Material Science and Nanotechnology

Conference Series LLC Ltd is glad to announce its “26^th International Conference on Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology, which will be held during November 15-16, 2021 Madrid, Spain. We cordially welcome all the eminent researchers, Presidents, CEO’s, Nanotechnology scientists and researchers in Material Science and Nanotechnology sectors, Delegates to take part in this upcoming conference to witness invaluable scientific discussions and contribute to the future innovations in the field of Material Science and Nanotechnology with 20% abatement on the Early Bird Prices.

Bookmark your dates for “Advanced Materials 2021, Spain” as the Nominations for Best Poster Awards and Young Researcher Awards are open across the world.

The theory of acoustic and electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering by one and many small impedance particles of arbitrary shapes is developed. The basic as-sumptions are: a<<d<<λ, where a is the characteristic size of particles, d is the smallest distance between the neighboring particles, λ is the wavelength. This theory allows one to give a recipe for creating materials with a desired refraction coefficient. One can create material with negative refraction: the group velocity in this material is directed opposite to the phase velocity. One can create a material with a desired wave focusing property.

Equation is derived for the EM field in the medium in which many small impedance particles are embedded. Similar results are obtained in [6] for heat transfer in the media in which many small particles are distributed.

The two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystals exhibiting magnetic properties provide an ideal platform for exploring new physical phenomena in the 2D limit. This new approach represents a substantial shift in our ability to control and investigate nanoscale phases. Experimental studies have shown doping of dissimilar atoms into transition metal dichalcogenides to create 2D dilute magnetic semiconductors, which are a promising candidate for spintronics applications. The success of these previous attempts, however, was fairly limited, resulting in either a Curie temperature well below room temperature or random local clustering of magnetic precipitations, i.e., lacking uniformity for integration into devices. Here our work demonstrates a 2D dilute magnetic semiconductor at room temperature via an in situ synthesis and characterization of Fe-doped MoS2 monolayers. We simultaneously achieve the in situ doping of Fe and the growth of MoS2 monolayers via low-pressure vapor deposition growth. Using advanced characterization techniques, we show that Fe incorporates substitutionally into Mo lattice sites, and probe ferromagnetism at room temperature. This new class of van der Waals ferromagnets finds critical applications, including on-chip magnetic manipulation of quantum states or in spintronics.

Green chemistry started for the search of benign methods for the development of nanoparticles from nature and their use in the field of antibacterial, antioxidant, and antitumor applications. Bio wastes are eco-friendly starting materials to produce typical nanoparticles with well-defined chemical composition, size, and morphology. Cellulose, starch, chitin and chitosan are the most abundant biopolymers around the world.   All are under the polysaccharides family in which cellulose is one of the important structural components of the primary cell wall of green plants. Cellulose nanoparticles(fibers, crystals and whiskers) can be extracted from agrowaste resources such as  jute, coir, bamboo, pineapple leafs, coir etc. Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer after cellulose, it is a characteristic component of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods and nanoparticles of chitin (fibers, whiskers) can be extracted from shrimp and crab shells. Chitosan is the derivative of chitin, prepared by the removal of acetyl group from chitin (Deacetylation).  Starch nano particles can be extracted from tapioca and potato wastes. These nanoparticles can be converted into smart and functional biomaterials by functionalisation through chemical modifications (esterification, etherification, TEMPO oxidation, carboxylation and hydroxylation etc) due to presence of large amount of hydroxyl group on the surface. The preparation of these nanoparticles include both series of chemical as well as mechanical treatments; crushing, grinding, alkali, bleaching and acid treatments. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used to investigate the morphology of nanoscale biopolymers. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and x ray diffraction (XRD) are being used to study the functional group changes, crystallographic texture of nanoscale biopolymers respectively. Since large quantities of bio wastes are produced annually, further utilization of cellulose, starch and chitins as functionalized materials is very much desired. The cellulose, starch and chitin nano particles are currently obtained as aqueous suspensions which are used as reinforcing additives for high performance environment-friendly biodegradable polymer materials.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are one of the most popular secondary batteries for consumer electronics and, lately, for electric vehicles application. Their main advantages over other rechargeable batteries are high energy density, good cycle life, high coulombic efficiency, low self-discharge rate, low maintenance and high cell voltage. The increasing demand for high performance LIBs entails large number of scientific researches focused on developing new electrode materials with better cyclability and high-energy storage capacity.

In terms of capacity enhancement, the most promising material for the anode is silicon which theoretical capacity is 4200 mAhg^-1 (in comparison to 372 mAhg^-1 for the commercially most widely used graphite). Unfortunately, its implementation is limited due to the safety issue related to the huge volume expansion that takes place during charge/discharge cycle. One approach that addresses the mentioned problem is nanotechnology. Recently, in situ HRTEM observation of Si nanoparticles during lithiation process showed that there is a critical particle size for which the mechanical fracturing of the SEI layer can be avoided.

Graphene, a single layer of hexagonally arranged sp² carbon atoms, attracts a great interest as a material that can replace graphite as an active material in anodes of LIBs. Its properties like high theoretical specific surface area, intrinsic carrier mobility, great mechanical strength could significantly increase performance of batteries. In this research graphene-based nanocomposite was synhtesized for application as the anode active materials in lithium-ion battery. Three methods were employed: (a) mechanical mixing of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) powder with silicon nanopowder, (b) mixing of rGO with Si nanopowder in isopropyl alcohol and (c) spatial functionalization of graphene oxide using hydrazine. The molecular systems with variable silicon content and, in the case of cross-linked structures, variable hydrazine content were produced. FTIR, Raman, SEM, TEM investigations as well as galvanostatic charge/discharge and cyclic voltammetry measurements.

Metal−Organic, Frameworks (MOFs) with porous structure and high surface area has been extensively used for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. The finely tuned pores with functional sites have enabled us to use MOF in developing materials for separations of small and large molecules, sensing of different analytes, drug delivery, carbon dioxide conversion and heterogeneous catalysis. These pore environments can be engineered by using functionalized linkers for different potential applications. Low concentration of copper effects the enzyme activity owing to the redox-active nature while excessive accretion of copper cause damage to the liver and kidney, hepatolenticular degeneration (Wilson’s disease), Alzheimer’s diseases, Menkes syndrome, neutropenia and myelopathy. Moreover, chromate ion can cause allergic reaction in human and prolonged exposure results in chrome ulcer, contact dermatitis, and irritant dermatitis. In this work a new dual chemosensor UiO-66-NH-BT (BT=1-methylenebenzotriazole) based on the UiO-66 (University of Oslo) framework, containing benzotriazole functionalized dicarboxylate struts was synthesized and characterized. This isoreticular Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) was found to be a very selective and ultrasensitive for copper ion and chromium oxyanions in aqueous media. It showed a detection limit of 16.9 ppb (0.266 mM) for Cu²⁺ ion, 280 ppb (1.3 mM) for Cr₂O7^2- and 47.7 ppb (0.411 mM) for CrO₄^2- anions. The quenching constants (Ksv) for Cu²⁺, Cr₂O7^2-, CrO₄^2- was found to be 1.1x10⁵, 3.9x10³, and 6.7x10³ respectively. The covalently bonded benzotriazole moiety with the UiO-66 framework not only produces an emission peak at 491 nm but also act as an intrinsic binding site for both cations and anions. The nature of the coordinative interaction between the analytes and the UiO-66-NH-BT has also been elaborated with the help of ICP and FTIR. This chemosensor also demonstrated a regenerative property without the loss in performance for five consecutive cycles.

β-Tricalcium Phosphate [β-TCP), Ca3(PO4)2] material has gained much interest in recent clinical applications, as they are mainly used to repair and replace the injured part(s) of human teeth and bones. However, Ca3(PO4)2 compound shows less stability, brittleness and bioactivity to stimulate natural bone growth in an acceptable manner; thus their clinical performance is reduced. Therefore, in the present study, we have replaced Ca element of Ca3(PO4)2 compound with Mg, Zn and Sr elements to obtain Mg3(PO4)2 (Magnesium Phosphate), Zn3(PO4)2 (Zinc Phosphate) and Sr3(PO4)2 (Strontium Phosphate), to use in bone and dental applications referring to their similar chemical composition to the natural bones and teeth. To achieve this, the electronic, cohesive energy, geometry optimization, thermodynamic and optical properties of X3(PO4)2 (X = Ca, Mg, Zn, Sr) compounds are theoretically investigated using full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method (FP-LAPW) within the generalized gradient approximations (GGA) under DFT framework. Additionally, HF, MP2, MP4, TD-DFT and several DFT calculations are performed along with different basis set. The calculations of basis set superposition error (BSSE) are performed to get more accurate cohesive energy values of the considered materials. The cohesive energy calculations reveal that X3(PO4)2 (X= Mg, Zn, Sr) compounds are more stable based on their larger negative cohesive energy values compared to Ca3(PO4)2 compound. The obtained results are quite promising for increasing the quality of these materials and provide more evidence to synthesize/fabricate novel biomaterials for medical and dental applications.

Modern technology and industry set the main task for materials science - design and creation of new-generation materials with a set of enhanced properties. Often only composite materials can satisfy such requirements. In parallel with this, methods for producing items with complex or non-standard geometry by using various additive technologies are being developed. The use of composite materials in 3D printing will make it possible to obtain products with improved properties in a shorter time and with lower manufacturing costs. Since the choice of refractory powders for additive technologies, namely, metallic or ceramic, is still very limited, it is necessary to develop new approaches to obtain such powders. The idea of our approach is to use a mixture of relatively low-melting components as a starting material, which will react during the process of selective sintering or melting, forming a more refractory compound. In case of the exothermic reaction chemical heat release will be added to the amount of heat gained from the laser heating. This makes possible to expand the capabilities of selective laser melting and obtain more refractory and heat-resistant materials and products.

In this work, composite powders of various morphologies, primarily with rounded particles and flowability, suitable for use in 3D printing, were obtained in Ni-Al and Ti-Al systems by processing in a planetary ball mill. On the obtained powders were carried out experiments for thin plates producing by 3D printing on an SLM 280 HL setup from SLM solutions.

Recent studies have shown that group III nitrides semiconductor has significant potential in the photovoltaic applications [1, 2] and among these, InGaN alloy is a promising candidate for thin film solar cell. It is also considered as the new super material that replace conventional silicon material and even graphene in the next generation nanoelcectronics devices due to its unique set of material, electrical and optical properties. The aim of this work is to simulate the maximum conversion efficiency of InGaN based thin film solar cell structure with the best junction configurations and parameters by SCAPS-1D software [3]. This computer simulation program was developed by Department of Electronics and Information Systems (ELIS), a University of Gent, Belgium. It has been extensively tested in solar cells by M. Burgelman et al. [4, 5]. SCAPS is capable of solving the basic semiconductor equations, the Poisson equation and the continuity equations for electrons and holes. SCAPS calculates solution of the basic semiconductor equations in one dimensional and in steady state conditions. These investigations provide a one alternative solution and identify the current research challenge that is anticipated new direction for solar cell technology. Figure 1 describes the different layers of the materials used in the part of a PV device and the conventions used in this study under the following parameters: solar spectrum AM1.5, P = 100 mW/cm2 and T = 300 K. The Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) interface approach allows carriers from both conduction and valence bands to participate in the interface recombination process. The solar cell structure consists of three different layers: ZnO (antireflective), CdS or SnS (buffers), and InGaN monolayer (absorber). In this work we study the effects of CdS and SnS buffer layers on the electrical parameters, such as the short circuit current density (Jsc), open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF) and conversion efficiency (Æ?).

Sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) are vital molecules of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the nervous system known to regulate proliferation, migration, and differentiation of neurons mainly through binding relevant growth factors. Alginate sulfate (AlgSulf) mimics sGAGs and binds growth factors such as basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). Here, thin films of biotinylated AlgSulf (b-AlgSulfn) are engineered with sulfation degrees (DS = 0.0 and 2.7) the effect of polysaccharide concentration on FGF-2 and nerve growth factor (β-NGF) binding and subsequent primary neural viability and neurite outgrowth is assessed. An increase in b-AlgSulfn concentration results in higher FGF-2 and β-NGF binding as demonstrated by greater frequency and dissipation shifts measured with quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). Primary neurons seeded on the 2D b-AlgSulfn films maintain high viability comparable to positive controls grown on poly-d-lysine. Neurons grown in 3D AlgSulf hydrogels (DS = 0.8) exhibit a significantly higher viability, neurite numbers and mean branch length compared to neurons grown in nonsulfated controls. Finally, a first step is made toward constructing 3D neuronal networks by controllably patterning neurons encapsulated in AlgSulf into an alginate carrier. The substrates and neural networks developed in the current study can be used in basic and applied neural applications.

Zinc ferrite nano-crystals were successfully synthesized from its stoichiometric metal nitrates and glycine mixtures, using a microwave assisted combustion method. The as prepared sample was subjected to high energy ball milling for different periods of time. Structural and magnetic properties have been investigated by VSM and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Results revealed that the as-prepared sample is a monophase zinc ferrite possesses high crystallinity. A minor of α-Fe₂O₃ phase is detected after milling. The room temperature Mössbauer spectra of the samples are representing the coexistence of both ferrimagnetic ordering    and superparamagnetic phases. the data obtained indicate that the Isomer shift falls to the Fe3+ range. The highest average magnetic hyperfine field Bhf was found where the inversion parameter is maxima. The saturation magnetization value of the as prepared ZnFe₂O₄ is 47 emu/g was observed and its value decreases to 29 emu/g after 330 min of mill.

In this work, the growth of cupric oxide (CuO), a p-type semiconductor with narrow band gap range (1.3 to 2.1 eV) is studied. CuO is a diverse material with its uses ranging from solar cells, heterogeneous catalysis, field emission devices, lithium-ion electrodes, sensing devices, cathode catalyst in fuel cells, etc. Here, copper sulphate pentahydrate (CuSO₄â??5H₂O), sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and polyethylene glycol 2000 (PEG) have been used as-received. Appropriate amounts of precursors were stirred magnetically and reduced using NaOH. Thereafter, the samples were filtered, washed, and dried. Various morphologies ranging from flakes to slender wires were obtained as shown in Figure 1. The flaky microstructure is attributed to presence of PEG that acts as a stabilizer, dispersant while mild heat treatment (60-80 °C) of precursors leads to slender wire morphology. The ratio of copper precursor (CP) and PEG solutions influences the morphology. While molarity ratio of CP:PEG=1 yields flaky feather-like morphology, CP:PEG=50 results in stacked flakes. When PEG is present in abundance, it maintains layered morphology of copper hydroxide, an intermediate product, and its strong steric repulsion inhibits stacking of hydroxide morphology. Upon heating, the hydroxide reduces to flaky CuO structures. For low PEG concentrations, the Cu nuclei first agglomerate. On simultaneous heat treatment, PEG degrades, mechanical strength of polymer network wanes leading to stacked growth. Further, if NaOH is added in one shot along with heating, slender wire morphology is obtained. The combined effects of lower PEG concentration and temperature lead to weaker steric repulsion and mechanical strength of polymer chain resulting in slender morphology of CuO wires. All the morphologies support a high surface area and can serve as potential sensors due to availability of large number of adsorption sites. The reported technique has very simple implementation, is cost-effective and yet yields diverse CuO morphologies with promising sensing capabilities.

Cu/Al2O3 ceramic clad composites are widely used in electronic packaging and electrical contacts. However, the conductivity and strength of the interfacial layer are not fit for the demands. So CeO2 nanoparticles 24.3 nm in size, coated on Al2O3 ceramic, promote a novel CeO2–Cu2O–Cu system to improve the interfacial bonded strength. Results show that the atom content of O is increased to approximately 30% with the addition of CeO2 nanoparticles compared with the atom content without CeO2 in the interfacial layer of Cu/Al2O3 ceramic clad composites. CeO2 nanoparticles coated on the surface of Al2O3 ceramics can easily diffuse into the metallic Cu layer. CeO2 nanoparticles can accelerate to form the eutectic liquid of Cu2O–Cu as they have strong functions of storing and releasing O at an Ar pressure of 0.12 MPa. The addition of CeO2 nanoparticles is beneficial for promoting the bonded strength of the Cu/Al2O3 ceramic clad composites. The bonded strength of the interface coated with nanoparticles of CeO2 is increased to 20.8% compared with that without CeO2; moreover, the electric conductivity on the side of metallic Cu is 95% IACS. The study is of great significance for improving properties of Cu/Al2O3 ceramic clad composites.