Impact of NaOL as an accelerator on the selective separation of scheelite from fluorite using a novel self-assembled Pb-BHA-NaOL collector system

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) describes the relativistic interaction between the spin and momentum degrees of freedom of electrons, and is central to the rich phenomena observed in condensed matter systems. In recent years, new phases of matter have emerged from the interplay between SOC and low dimensionality, such as chiral spin textures and spin-polarized surface and interface states. These low-dimensional SOC-based realizations are typically robust and can be exploited at room temperature. Here we discuss SOC as a means of producing such fundamentally new physical phenomena in thin films and heterostructures. We put into context the technological promise of these material classes for developing spin-based device applications at room temperature.

Nanocrystals prepared in organic media can be easily self-assembled into close-packed hexagonal monolayers on solvent evaporation for various applications. However, they usually rely on the use of organometallic precursors that are soluble in organic solvents. Herein we report a general protocol to transfer metal ions from an aqueous solution to an organic medium, which involves mixing the aqueous solution of metal ions with an ethanolic solution of dodecylamine (DDA), and extracting the coordinating compounds formed between the metal ions and DDA into toluene. This approach could be applied towards transferring a wide variety of transition-metal ions with an efficiency of >95%, and enables the synthesis of a variety of metallic and semiconductor nanocrystals to be carried out in an organic medium using relatively inexpensive water-soluble metal salts as starting materials. This protocol could be easily extended to synthesize a variety of heterogeneous semiconductor/noble-metal hybrids and to nanocomposites with multiple functionalities.