Structures and magnetic behaviours of TiO2—Mn—TiO2 multilayers

The TiO₂--Mn--TiO₂ multilayers are successfully grown on glass and silicon substrates by alternately using radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering and direct current magnetron sputtering. The structures and the magnetic behaviours of these films are characterised with x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer, and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). It is shown that the multi-film consists of a mixture of anatase and rutile TiO₂ with an embedded Mn nano-film. It is found that there are two turning points from ferromagnetic phase to antiferromagnetic phase. One is at 42 K attributed to interface coupling between ferromagnetic Mn₃O₄ and antiferromagnetic Mn₂O₃, and the other is at 97 K owing to the interface coupling between ferromagnetic Mn and antiferromagnetic MnO. The samples are shown to have ferromagnetic behaviours at room temperature from hysteresis in the M--H loops, and their ferromagnetism is found to vary with the thickness of Mn nano-film. Moreover, the Mn nano-film has a critical thickness of about 18.5 nm, which makes the coercivity of the multi-film reach a maximum of about 3.965times 10 ^{- 2} T.     

Determination of Fe,Ni, Cu,Zn, Cd and Pb in seawater by isotope dilution automatic solid-phase extraction—ICP-MS

A thorough understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals in the ocean is crucial because of the important role these elements play in regulating metabolism in marine biotas and thus, the climate. However, a precise and accurate analysis of trace metals in seawater is difficult because they are present at extremely low concentrations in a high salt matrix. In this study, we report an analytical method for the preconcentration and separation of six trace metals, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb, in seawater using a seaFAST automatic solid-phase extraction device, analysis by a triple quadrupole collision/reaction technique with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and quantification by the isotope dilution technique. A small volume (10 mL) of seawater sample was mixed with a multi-element isotope spike and subjected to seaFAST procedures. The preconcentrate solution was then analyzed using the optimized collision/reaction cell mode of ICP-MS, with NH₃ gas for Fe and Cd with a flow rate of 0.22 mL/min and He for Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb with a flow rate of 4.0 mL/min. The procedure blanks were 130 pmol/L, 3.0 pmol/L, 6.8 pmol/L, 37 pmol/L, 0.29 pmol/L and 0.42 pmol/L, for Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb, respectively. The method was validated using five reference materials (SLRs-6, SLEW-3, CASS-6, NASS-7 and GEOTRACE-GSC), and our results were consistent with the consensus values. The method was further validated by measuring full-water-column seawater samples from the subtropical Northwest Pacific Ocean, and our results demonstrated good oceanic consistency.