The Art of Positronics in Contemporary Nanomaterials Science: A Case Study of Sub-Nanometer Scaled Glassy Arsenoselenides

Abstract

The possibilities surrounding positronics, a versatile noninvasive tool employing annihilating positrons to probe atomic-deficient sub-nanometric imperfections in a condensed matter, are analyzed in application to glassy arsenoselenides g-AsxSe100−x (0 < x < 65), subjected to dry and wet (in 0.5% PVP water solution) nanomilling. A preliminary analysis was performed within a modified two-state simple trapping model (STM), assuming slight contributions from bound positron–electron (Ps, positronium) states. Positron trapping in g-AsxSe100−x/PVP nanocomposites was modified by an enriched population of Ps-decay sites in PVP. This was proven within a three-state STM, assuming two additive inputs in an overall trapping arising from distinct positron and Ps-related states. Formalism of x3-x2-CDA (coupling decomposition algorithm), describing the conversion of Ps-decay sites into positron traps, was applied to identify volumetric nanostructurization in wet-milled g-As-Se, with respect to dry-milled ones. Under wet nanomilling, the Ps-decay sites stabilized in inter-particle triple junctions filled with PVP replaced positron traps in dry-milled substances, the latter corresponding to multi-atomic vacancies in mostly negative environments of Se atoms. With increased Se content, these traps were agglomerated due to an abundant amount of Se-Se bonds. Three-component lifetime spectra with nanostructurally- and compositionally-tuned Ps-decay inputs and average lifetimes serve as a basis to correctly understand the specific “rainbow” effects observed in the row from pelletized PVP to wet-milled, dry-milled, and unmilled samples.