Plastic pollution has become a worldwide concern. It was demonstrated that plastic breaks down to nanoscale particles in the environment, forming so-called nanoplastics. It is important to understand their ecological impact, but their structure is not elucidated. In this original work, we characterize the microstructure of oceanic polyethylene debris and compare them to the nonweathered objects. Cross-sections are analysed by several emergent mapping techniques. We highlight deep modifications of the debris within a layer a few hundred microns thick. The most 2 intense modifications are macromolecule oxidation and a considerable decrease in the molecular weight. The adsorption of organic pollutants and trace metals is also confined to this outer layer. Fragmentation of the oxidized layer of the plastic debris is the most likely source of nanoplastics. Consequently nanoplastic chemical nature differ greatly from plastics.

In dense systems composed of numerous nanoparticles, direct simulations of near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) require considerable computational resources. NFRHT for the simple one-dimensional nanoparticle chains embedded in a non-absorbing host medium is investigated from the point of view of the continuum by means of an approach combining the many-body radiative heat transfer theory and the Fourier law. Effects of the phase change of the insulator-metal transition material (), the complex many-body interaction (MBI) and the host medium relative permittivity on the characteristic effective thermal conductivity (ETC) are analyzed. The ETC for nanoparticle chains below the transition temperature can be as high as 50 times of that above the transition temperature due to the phase change effect. The strong coupling in the insulator-phase nanoparticle chain accounts for its high ETC as compared to the low ETC for the chain at the metallic phase, where there is a mismatch between the characteristic thermal frequency and resonance frequency. The strong MBI is in favor of the ETC. For SiC nanoparticle chains, the MBI even can double the ETC as compared to those without considering the MBI effect. For the dense chains, a strong MBI enhances the ETC due to the strong inter-particles couplings. When the chains go more and more dilute, the MBI can be neglected safely due to negligible couplings. The host medium relative permittivity significantly affects the inter-particles couplings, which accounts for the permittivity-dependent ETC for the nanoparticle chains.

We investigate the demonstration and quantification of the strong coupling between excitons and guided photons in a GaN slab waveguide. The dispersions of waveguide polaritons are measured from T = 6 to 300 K through gratings. They are carefully analyzed within four models based on different assumptions, in order to assess the strong-coupling regime. We prove that the guided photons and excitons are strongly coupled at all investigated temperatures, with a small (11%) dependence on the temperature. However, the values of the Rabi splitting strongly vary among the four models: the "coupled oscillator" model overestimates the coupling; the analytical "Elliott-Tanguy" model precisely describes the dielectric susceptibility of GaN near the excitonic transition, leading to a Rabi splitting equal to 82 ± 10 meV for fundamental transverse-electric mode; the experimental ellipsometry-based model leads to smaller values of 55 ± 6 meV. We evidence that, for waveguides including active layers with large oscillator strengths, as required for room-temperature polaritonic devices, a strong bending of the modes' dispersion is not necessarily the signature of the strong coupling, which requires for its reliable assessment a precise analysis of the material dielectric susceptibility.

Passive radiative cooling, drawing heat energy of objects to the cold outer space through the atmospheric transparent window, is significant for reducing the energy consumption of buildings. Daytime and nighttime radiative cooling have been extensively investigated in the past. However, radiative cooling which can continuously regulate its cooling temperature, like a valve, according to human need is rarely reported. In this study, we propose a reconfigurable photonic structure, based on the effective medium theory and semi-analytical calculations, for the adaptive radiative cooling by continuous variation of the emission spectra in the atmospheric window. This is realized by the deformation of a one-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) grating and nanoparticle-embedded PDMS thin film when subjected to mechanical stress/strain. The proposed structure reaches different stagnation temperatures under certain strains. A dynamic tuning in emissivity under different strains results in a continuously variable “ON”/“OFF” mode in a particular atmospheric window that corresponds to the deformation-induced fluctuation of the operating temperatures of thereconfigurable nanophotonic structure.

Cinnamic acid and acetosyringone recrystallize in vegetable oil as platelets and rods respectively. After dissolution at high temperature(100°C) and upon cooling down to room temperature, their crystallites aggregate into a tenuous network which spans the entire volume of the system even at low mass fraction such as 1%. The whole system behaves as a soft solid characterized by an elastic modulus reaching 1MPa for mass fraction below 10% in the linear regime. The elastic modulus of cinnamic acid based oleogels varies with mass fraction as (-0) 2. For acetosyringone based oleogels, the elastic modulus varies non monotonically with concentration. This has been correlated to a morphological crossover from jammed spherulites at low mass fraction to entangled rods at higher mass fraction. Spherulite formation is related to the presence of branching points along the rods that result from secondary nucleation events. A new empirical parameter is defined from rheological data which reflects how far from equilibrium the solidification proceeds in nonisothermal conditions. This parameter accounts for the different concentration regimes of morphology and rheological properties that have been observed experimentally for acetosyringone.

L’obtention de films de graphène aux caractéristiques contrôlées, comme le nombre de couches ou le dopage, anime toujours une partie de la communauté. La décomposition thermique contrôlée du carbure de silicium (SiC) permet d’envisager la croissance homogène de graphène directement sur des substrats de grande surface. Ce mode de croissance du graphène a initialement été développé à des pressions proches de la pression atmosphérique sous argon et à haute température. Dans l’étude présentée, les croissances par sublimation ont été réalisées à basse pression d’argon (10 mbar). Dans tous les cas, lors de la sublimation du SiC du côté dit « face silicium », il se forme une première couche, dite tampon, qui deviendra, par la suite, la couche de graphène sous laquelle se formera une nouvelle couche tampon. Nous discuterons de la présence et des caractéristiques de cette couche tampon. Nous mettrons notamment en évidence l’inhomogénéité de sa signature Raman, et la nécessité d’une procédure du traitement des données robuste. Puis, nous discuterons, à partir d’une étude complémentaire Raman et AFM, les premiers instants de croissance de la monocouche de graphène, par un mécanisme en bord de marches du SiC. Enfin, des mesures électriques à basse température (1.7 K) et sous champ magnétique (jusqu’à 13 T) complèteront les études menées en confirmant la continuité et la qualité de la monocouche de graphène.

Since 2008, epitaxial graphene growth has been developed in terms of homogeneity and scale by using a 1 ATM argon pressure at high temperature (>1650°C). Until now, it still remains challenging to obtain films with different and controlled characteristics such as the number of graphene layers or the doping by tuning the growth parameters. Here, we optimized the epitaxial growth of monolayer graphene (1LG) on 4H-SiC (0001) under a low argon pressure of 10 mbar. This intermediate pressure allows growing a continued 1LG in a short process time ~1h30. First, we discuss the initial growth stages from buffer layer (BL) to 1LG as a function of annealing temperature (same heating rate). The combined Raman spectroscopy and AFM analyses show that a BL, fully covering the Si-face of SiC, forms as the first step of growth. Subsequently, 1LG starts to grow at step edges and continue to cover the BL on terraces with a step-flow growth mechanism, as demonstrated in Fig.1. Then, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of the 1LG films. The integrated intensity of G-band in Raman spectra normalized with respect to a HOPG reference, AG/AG-HOPG, of each spectrum in Raman map of our continued graphene film is very close to the experimental value reported for a 1LG, demonstrating the good homogeneity. Regarding transport measurement, quantum Hall plateau values observed in our graphene layers confirmed both continuity and thickness of the 1LG film.