Siby,Varghese; Chandramohanakumar,N(National Institute of Oceanography & CUSAT, 2003)
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Abstract:
Rare earth elements have occupied an important role in marine geochemical research, particularly as used in the format of REE abundance patterns to describe the geochemical pathways in marine sedimentation and authigenesis. This study concentrates on the distribution pattern of Rare earth elements in the sediments, behavior of Eu and Ce with respect to their occurrence in multiple oxidation states. It also concentrate the depth wise variation of sediment REEs from near shore areas (30m) to deeper depths 200m) in the Arabian Sea. It includes the downcore variation of REEs and other trace elements in the sediment cores and a comparison between the REE distributions of Arabian Sea sediment with the sediments of Andaman Sea. The study gives a general introduction regarding the importance of RRE studies, its occurrence and abundance, electronic configuration, lanthanide contraction, oxidations states and REE supply to the ocean, seawater and sediments.
Laluraj, C M; Dr. Muraleedharan Nair, S(Cochin University of Science and Technology, February , 2009)
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Abstract:
The metals present in the surface sediments have high demand on a
global perspective, and the main reservoir of these elements is believed to be
the ocean floor. A lot of studies on metals are going on throughout the world
for its quantification and exploitation. Even though, some preliminary
attempts have been made in selected areas for the quantitative study of
metals in the western continental shelf of India, no comprehensive work has
been reported so far. The importance of this study also lies on the fact that
there has not been a proper evaluation of the impact of the Great Tsunami of
2004 on the coastal areas of the south India. In View of this, an attempt has
been made to address the seasonal distribution, behavior and mechanisms
which control the deposition of metals in the sediments of the western
continental shelf and Cochin Estuary, an annex to this coastal marine region.Surface sediment samples were collected seasonally from two
subenvironemnts of southwest coast of India, (continental shelf of Kerala and
Cochin estuarine system), to estimate the seasonal distribution and geochemical
behavior of non-transition, transition, rare-earth elements, Th and U. Bottom
water samples were also taken from each station, and analysed for temperature,
salinity and dissolved oxygen, hence the response of redox sensitive elements to
oxygen minimum zone can be addressed. In addition, other sedimentary
parameters such as sand, silt, clay fractions, CaCO3 and organic carbon content
were also estimated to evaluate the control factors on level of metals present in
the sediment. The study used different environmental data analysis techniques
to evaluate the distribution and behavior of elements during different seasons.
This includes environmental parameters such as elemental normalisation,
enrichment factor, element excess, cerium and europium anomalies and
authigenic uranium.
Description:
Department of Chemical Oceanography,Cochin University of Science and Technology
Lasitha, S; Dr. Radhakrishna, M(Cochin University of Science and Technology, September , 2007)
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Abstract:
This work aims to study the variation in subduction
zone geometry along and across the arc and the fault pattern within the subducting
plate. Depth of penetration as well as the dip of the Benioff zone varies considerably
along the arc which corresponds to the curvature of the fold- thrust belt which varies
from concave to convex in different sectors of the arc. The entire arc is divided into 27
segments and depth sections thus prepared are utilized to investigate the average dip
of the Benioff zone in the different parts of the entire arc, penetration depth of the
subducting lithosphere, the subduction zone geometry underlying the trench, the arctrench
gap, etc.The study also
describes how different seismogenic sources are identified in the
region, estimation of moment release rate and deformation pattern. The region is
divided into broad seismogenic belts. Based on these previous studies and seismicity
Pattern, we identified several broad distinct seismogenic belts/sources. These are l)
the Outer arc region consisting of Andaman-Nicobar islands 2) the back-arc Andaman Sea 3)The Sumatran fault zone(SFZ)4)Java onshore region termed as Jave Fault Zone(JFZ)5)Sumatran fore arc silver plate consisting of Mentawai fault(MFZ)6) The offshore java fore arc region 7)The Sunda Strait region.As the Seismicity is variable,it is difficult to demarcate individual seismogenic sources.Hence, we employed a moving window method having a window length of 3—4° and with 50%
overlapping starting from one end to the other. We succeeded in defining 4 sources
each in the Andaman fore arc and Back arc region, 9 such sources (moving windows)
in the Sumatran Fault zone (SFZ), 9 sources in the offshore SFZ region and 7 sources
in the offshore Java region. Because of the low seismicity along JFZ, it is separated
into three seismogenic sources namely West Java, Central Java and East Java. The
Sunda strait is considered as a single seismogenic source.The deformation rates for
each of the seismogenic zones have been computed. A detailed error analysis of
velocity tensors using Monte—Carlo simulation method has been carried out in order
to obtain uncertainties. The eigen values and the respective eigen vectors of the
velocity tensor are computed to analyze the actual deformation pattem for different
zones. The results obtained have been discussed in the light of regional tectonics, and
their implications in terms of geodynamics have been enumerated.ln the light of recent major earthquakes (26th December 2004 and 28th March
2005 events) and the ongoing seismic activity, we have recalculated the variation in
the crustal deformation rates prior and after these earthquakes in Andaman—Sumatra
region including the data up to 2005 and the significant results has been presented.ln this
chapter, the down going lithosphere along the subduction zone is modeled using the
free air gravity data by taking into consideration the thickness of the crustal layer, the
thickness of the subducting slab, sediment thickness, presence of volcanism, the
proximity of the continental crust etc. Here a systematic and detailed gravity
interpretation constrained by seismicity and seismic data in the Andaman arc and the
Andaman Sea region in order to delineate the crustal structure and density heterogeneities a Io nagnd across the arc and its correlation with the seismogenic behaviour is presented.
Description:
Department of Marine Geology & Geophysics,
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Arts,K Purushotham; Radhakrishna,M(Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics,School of Marine Sciences, 2002)
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Abstract:
The main objective of the present study is to model the gravity fields in terms of lithospheric structure below the western continental margin of India (WCMI) identify zones of crustal mass anomalies and attempt to infer the location of Ocean Continent transition in the Arabian Sea. In this study, the area starting from the western shield margin to the region covering the deep oceanic parts of the Arabian Sea which is bounded by Carlsberg and Cerg and Central Indian ridges in the south, eastern part of the Indus Cone in the west and falling between 630E and 800E longitudes, and 50N - 240N latitudes has been considered. The vast amount of seismic reflection and refraction data in the form of crustal velocities, basement configuration and crustal thicknesses available for the west coast as well as the eastern Arabian Sea has been utilized for this purpose
John Kurian,P; Radhakrishna,M(Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics, School of Marine Sciences, 2000)
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Abstract:
The primary aim of the present study is to acquire a large amount of gravity data, to prepare gravity maps and interpret the data in terms of crustal structure below the Bavali shear zone and adjacent regions of northern Kerala. The gravity modeling is basically a tool to obtain knowledge of the subsurface extension of the exposed geological units and their structural relationship with the surroundings. The study is expected to throw light on the nature of the shear zone, crustal configuration below the high-grade granulite terrain and the tectonics operating during geological times in the region. The Bavali shear is manifested in the gravity profiles by a steep gravity gradient. The gravity models indicate that the Bavali shear coincides with steep plane that separates two contrasting crustal densities extending beyond a depth of 30 km possibly down to Moho, justifying it to be a Mantle fault. It is difficult to construct a generalized model of crustal evolution in terms of its varied manifestations using only the gravity data. However, the data constrains several aspects of crustal evolution and provides insights into some of the major events.
Vanaja, K A; Dr. Jayalekshami, S(Cochin University of Science and Technology, May , 2011)
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Abstract:
In the present studies, various copper delafossite materials viz; CuAlO2,
CuGaO2, CuFeO2 , CuGa1-xFexO2, CuYO2 and CuCaxY1-xO2 were synthesised by
solid state reaction technique. These copper delafossite materials were grown in
thin film form by rf magnetron sputtering technique. In general copper
delafossites exhibit good optical transparency. The conductivity of the CuYO2
could be improved by Ca doping or by oxygen intercalation by annealing the film in oxygen atmosphere. It has so far been impossible to improve the p-type
conductivity of CuGaO2 significantly by doping Mg or Ca on the Ga site. The ptype
conductivity is presumed to be due to oxygen doping or Cu Vacancies [6].
Reports in literature show, oxygen intercalation or divalent ion doping on Ga
site is not possible for CuGaO2 thin films to improve the p-type conductivity.
Sintered powder and crystals of CuFeO2 have been reported as the materials
having the highest p-type conductivity [14, 15] among the copper and silver
delafossites. However the CuFeO2 films are found to be less transparent in the
visible region compared to CuGaO2. Hence in the present work, the solid
solution between the CuGaO2 and CuFeO2 was effected by solid state reaction,
varying the Fe content. The CuGa1-xFexO2 with Fe content, x=0.5 shows an
increase in conductivity by two orders, compared to CuGaO2 but the
transparency is only about 50% in the visible region which is less than that of
CuGaO2 The synthesis of α−AgGaO2 was carried out by two step process which
involves the synthesis of β-AgGaO2 by ion exchange reaction followed by the
hydrothermal conversion of the β-AgGaO2 into α-AgGaO2. The trace amount of
Ag has been reduced substantially in the two step synthesis compared to the
direct hydrothermal synthesis. Thin films of α-AgGaO2 were prepared on silicon
and Al2O3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. These studies indicate the
possibility of using this material as p-type material in thin film form for
transparent electronics. The room temperature conductivity of α-AgGaO2 was
measured as 3.17 x 10-4 Scm-1and the optical band gap was estimated as 4.12 eV.
A transparent p-n junction thin film diode on glass substrate was fabricated
using p-type α-AgGaO2 and n-ZnO.AgCoO2 thin films with 50% transparency in the visible region were deposited
on single crystalline Al2O3 and amorphous silica substrates by RF magnetron
sputtering and p type conductivity of AgCoO2 was demonstrated by fabricating
transparent p-n junction diode with AgCoO2 as p-side and ZnO: Al as n-side
using sputtering. The junction thus obtained was found to be rectifying with a
forward to reverse current of about 10 at an applied voltage of 3 V.The present
study shows that silver delafossite thin films with p-type conductivity can be
used for the fabrication of active devices for transparent electronics applications.
Description:
Department of Physics,
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Nisha, M; Jayaraj, M K(Department of Physics, December , 2006)
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Abstract:
The increasing interest in the interaction of light with electricity and
electronically active materials made the materials and techniques for producing
semitransparent electrically conducting films particularly attractive. Transparent
conductors have found major applications in a number of electronic and
optoelectronic devices including resistors, transparent heating elements,
antistatic and electromagnetic shield coatings, transparent electrode for solar
cells, antireflection coatings, heat reflecting mirrors in glass windows and many
other. Tin doped indium oxide (indium tin oxide or ITO) is one of the most
commonly used transparent conducting oxides. At present and likely well into
the future this material offers best available performance in terms of
conductivity and transmittivity combined with excellent environmental stability,
reproducibility and good surface morphology.
Although partial transparency, with a reduction in conductivity, can be obtained
for very thin metallic films, high transparency and simultaneously high
conductivity cannot be attained in intrinsic stoichiometric materials. The only
way this can be achieved is by creating electron degeneracy in a wide bandgap
(Eg > 3eV or more for visible radiation) material by controllably introducing
non-stoichiometry and/or appropriate dopants. These conditions can be
conveniently met for ITO as well as a number of other materials like Zinc oxide,
Cadmium oxide etc.
ITO shows interesting and technologically important combination of properties
viz high luminous transmittance, high IR reflectance, good electrical
conductivity, excellent substrate adherence and chemical inertness. ITO is a key
part of solar cells, window coatings, energy efficient buildings, and flat panel
displays. In solar cells, ITO can be the transparent, conducting top layer that lets
light into the cell to shine the junction and lets electricity flow out. Improving
the ITO layer can help improve the solar cell efficiency. A transparent
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conducting oxide is a material with high transparency in a derived part of the
spectrum and high electrical conductivity. Beyond these key properties of
transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), ITO has a number of other key
characteristics. The structure of ITO can be amorphous, crystalline, or mixed,
depending on the deposition temperature and atmosphere. The electro-optical
properties are a function of the crystallinity of the material. In general, ITO
deposited at room temperature is amorphous, and ITO deposited at higher
temperatures is crystalline. Depositing at high temperatures is more expensive
than at room temperature, and this method may not be compatible with the
underlying devices.
The main objective of this thesis work is to optimise the growth conditions of
Indium tin oxide thin films at low processing temperatures. The films are
prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under various deposition
conditions. The films are also deposited on to flexible substrates by employing
bias sputtering technique. The films thus grown were characterised using
different tools. A powder x-ray diffractometer was used to analyse the
crystalline nature of the films. The energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) and
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for evaluating the composition
and morphology of the films. Optical properties were investigated using the UVVIS-
NIR spectrophotometer by recording the transmission/absorption spectra.
The electrical properties were studied using vander Pauw four probe technique.
The plasma generated during the sputtering of the ITO target was analysed using
Langmuir probe and optical emission spectral studies.
Ajimsha, R S; Jayaraj, M K(Department of Physics, February , 2008)
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Abstract:
Transparent conducting oxides (TCO’s) have been known and used for technologically important applications for more than 50 years. The oxide materials such as In2O3, SnO2 and impurity doped SnO2: Sb, SnO2: F and In2O3: Sn (indium tin oxide) were primarily used as TCO’s. Indium based oxides had been widely used as TCO’s for the past few decades. But the current increase in the cost of indium and scarcity of this material created the difficulty in obtaining low cost TCO’s. Hence the search for alternative TCO material has been a topic of active research for the last few decades. This resulted in the development of various binary and ternary compounds. But the advantages of using binary oxides are the easiness to control the composition and deposition parameters. ZnO has been identified as the one of the promising candidate for transparent electronic applications owing to its exciting optoelectronic properties. Some optoelectronics applications of ZnO overlap with that of GaN, another wide band gap semiconductor which is widely used for the production of green, blue-violet and white light emitting devices. However ZnO has some advantages over GaN among which are the availability of fairly high quality ZnO bulk single crystals and large excitonic binding energy. ZnO also has much simpler crystal-growth technology, resulting in a potentially lower cost for ZnO based devices.
Most of the TCO’s are n-type semiconductors and are utilized as transparent electrodes in variety of commercial applications such as photovoltaics, electrochromic windows, flat panel displays. TCO’s provide a great potential for realizing diverse range of active functions, novel functions can be integrated into the materials according to the requirement. However the application of TCO’s has been restricted to transparent electrodes,
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notwithstanding the fact that TCO’s are n-type semiconductors. The basic reason is the lack of p-type TCO, many of the active functions in semiconductor originate from the nature of pn-junction. In 1997, H. Kawazoe et al reported the CuAlO2 as the first p-type TCO along with the chemical design concept for the exploration of other p-type TCO’s. This has led to the fabrication of all transparent diode and transistors.
Fabrication of nanostructures of TCO has been a focus of an ever-increasing number of researchers world wide, mainly due to their unique optical and electronic properties which makes them ideal for a wide spectrum of applications ranging from flexible displays, quantum well lasers to in vivo biological imaging and therapeutic agents. ZnO is a highly multifunctional material system with highly promising application potential for UV light emitting diodes, diode lasers, sensors, etc. ZnO nanocrystals and nanorods doped with transition metal impurities have also attracted great interest, recently, for their spin-electronic applications
This thesis summarizes the results on the growth and characterization of ZnO based diodes and nanostructures by pulsed laser ablation. Various ZnO based heterojunction diodes have been fabricated using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and their electrical characteristics were interpreted using existing models. Pulsed laser ablation has been employed to fabricate ZnO quantum dots, ZnO nanorods and ZnMgO/ZnO multiple quantum well structures with the aim of studying the luminescent properties.