Djamila Lou | Virginia Tech (original) (raw)
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Papers by Djamila Lou
Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2019
Biophysical Journal, 2018
Advanced Energy Materials
Physical Review B, Oct 18, 2017
We report the dynamics of soft phonon modes and their role towards the various structural transfo... more We report the dynamics of soft phonon modes and their role towards the various structural transformations in Aurivillius materials by employing terahertz frequency-domain spectroscopy, atomic pair distribution function analysis, and first-principles calculations. We have chosen Bi4Ti3O12 as a model system and identified soft phonon modes associated with the paraelectric tetragonal to the ferroelectric monoclinic transition. Three soft phonon modes have been discovered which exhibit a strong temperature dependence. We have determined that the anharmonicity in Bi−O bonds plays a significant role in phonon softening and that Bi cations play an important role in the emergence of ferroelectricity.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Sep 20, 2019
We report relaxation dynamics of glycerol-water mixtures as probed by megahertz-to-terahertz diel... more We report relaxation dynamics of glycerol-water mixtures as probed by megahertz-to-terahertz dielectric spectroscopy in a frequency range from 50 MHz to 0.5 THz at room temperature. The dielectric relaxation spectra reveal several polarization processes at the molecular level with different time constants and dielectric strengths, providing an understanding of the hydrogen-bonding network in glycerol-water mixtures. We have determined the structure of hydration shells around glycerol molecules and the dynamics of bound water as a function of glycerol concentration in solutions using the Debye relaxation model. The experimental results show the existence of a critical glycerol concentration of ~7.5 mol %, which is related to the number of water molecules in the hydration layer around a glycerol molecule. At higher glycerol concentrations, water molecules dispersed in a glycerol network become abundant and eventually dominate and four distinct relaxation processes emerge in the mixtures. The relaxation dynamics and hydration structure in glycerol-water mixtures are further probed with molecular dynamics simulations, which confirm the physical picture revealed by the dielectric spectroscopy.
Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2019
Biophysical Journal, 2018
Advanced Energy Materials
Physical Review B, Oct 18, 2017
We report the dynamics of soft phonon modes and their role towards the various structural transfo... more We report the dynamics of soft phonon modes and their role towards the various structural transformations in Aurivillius materials by employing terahertz frequency-domain spectroscopy, atomic pair distribution function analysis, and first-principles calculations. We have chosen Bi4Ti3O12 as a model system and identified soft phonon modes associated with the paraelectric tetragonal to the ferroelectric monoclinic transition. Three soft phonon modes have been discovered which exhibit a strong temperature dependence. We have determined that the anharmonicity in Bi−O bonds plays a significant role in phonon softening and that Bi cations play an important role in the emergence of ferroelectricity.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Sep 20, 2019
We report relaxation dynamics of glycerol-water mixtures as probed by megahertz-to-terahertz diel... more We report relaxation dynamics of glycerol-water mixtures as probed by megahertz-to-terahertz dielectric spectroscopy in a frequency range from 50 MHz to 0.5 THz at room temperature. The dielectric relaxation spectra reveal several polarization processes at the molecular level with different time constants and dielectric strengths, providing an understanding of the hydrogen-bonding network in glycerol-water mixtures. We have determined the structure of hydration shells around glycerol molecules and the dynamics of bound water as a function of glycerol concentration in solutions using the Debye relaxation model. The experimental results show the existence of a critical glycerol concentration of ~7.5 mol %, which is related to the number of water molecules in the hydration layer around a glycerol molecule. At higher glycerol concentrations, water molecules dispersed in a glycerol network become abundant and eventually dominate and four distinct relaxation processes emerge in the mixtures. The relaxation dynamics and hydration structure in glycerol-water mixtures are further probed with molecular dynamics simulations, which confirm the physical picture revealed by the dielectric spectroscopy.