Graphene SOI CMOS sensors for detection of PPB levels of NO2 in air

There is considerable demand for sensors that are capable of detecting ultra-low concentrations (sub-PPM) of toxic gases in air. Of particular interest are NO2 and CO that are exhaust products of internal combustion engines. Electrochemical (EC) sensors are widely used to detect these gases and offer the advantages of low power, good selectivity and temporal stability. However, EC sensors are large (1 cm3), hand-made and thus expensive ($25). Consequently, they are unsuitable for the low-cost automotive market that demands units for less than $10. One alternative technology is SnO2 or WO3 resistive gas sensors that are fabricated in volume today using screen-printed films on alumina substrates and operate at 400°C. Unfortunately, they suffer from several disadvantages: power consumption is high 200 mW; reproducibility of the sensing element is poor; and cross-sensitivity is high. © 2013 IEEE.

Nanoengineering coaxial carbon nanotube-dual-polymer heterostructures.

We describe studies of new nanostructured materials consisting of carbon nanotubes wrapped in sequential coatings of two different semiconducting polymers, namely, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and poly(9,9'-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT). Using absorption spectroscopy and steady-state and ultrafast photoluminescence measurements, we demonstrate the role of the different layer structures in controlling energy levels and charge transfer in both solution and film samples. By varying the simple solution processing steps, we can control the ordering and proportions of the wrapping polymers in the solid state. The resulting novel coaxial structures open up a variety of new applications for nanotube blends and are particularly promising for implementation into organic photovoltaic devices. The carbon nanotube template can also be used to optimize both the electronic properties and morphology of polymer composites in a much more controlled fashion than achieved previously, offering a route to producing a new generation of polymer nanostructures.

Porous boron-doped diamond/carbon nanotube electrodes.

Nanostructuring boron-doped diamond (BDD) films increases their sensitivity and performance when used as electrodes in electrochemical environments. We have developed a method to produce such nanostructured, porous electrodes by depositing BDD thin film onto a densely packed "forest" of vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The CNTs had previously been exposed to a suspension of nanodiamond in methanol causing them to clump together into "teepee" or "honeycomb" structures. These nanostructured CNT/BDD composite electrodes have been extensively characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Not only do these electrodes possess the excellent, well-known characteristics associated with BDD (large potential window, chemical inertness, low background levels), but also they have electroactive areas and double-layer capacitance values ∼450 times greater than those for the equivalent flat BDD electrodes.

Thermal annealing effect on the nanomechanical properties and structure of P3HT:PCBM thin films

Nanostructured polymer-fullerene thin films are among the most prominent materials for application in high efficient polymer solar cells. Specifically, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and fullerene derivatives (PCBM) blends are used as the donor/acceptor materials forming a bulk heterojunction. Although P3HT:PCBM properties have been extensively studied, less light has been set on its nanomechanical properties, which affect the device service life. In this work Atomic Force Acoustic Microscopy (AFAM), Atomic Force Spectroscopy and Nanoindentation were used to study the effect of the fullerene presence and the annealing on the P3HT:PCBM nanomechanical behavior. The P3HT:PCBM thin films were prepared by spin coating on glass substrates and then annealed at 100 °C and 145 °C for 30 min. Large phase separation was identified by optical and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for the annealed samples. Needle-like PCBM crystals were formed and an increase of the polymer crystallinity degree with the increase of the annealing temperature was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. AFAM characterization revealed the presence of aggregates close to stiff PCBM crystals, possibly consisting of amorphous P3HT material. AFM force-distance curves showed a continuous change in stiffness in the vicinity of the PCBM crystals, due to the PCBM depletion near its crystals, and the AFM indentation provided qualitative results about the changes in P3HT nanomechanical response after annealing. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural evolution of mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline FeAl intermetallics

Nanostructured FeAl intermetallics were prepared directly by mechanical alloying (MA) in a high-energy planetary ball-mill. The phase transformations and structural changes occurring in the studied material during mechanical alloying were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to examine the morphology of the powders. Thermal behavior of the milled powders was examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Disordered Fe(Al) solid solution was formed at the early stage. After 30 h of milling, Fe(Al) solid solution transformed into an ordered FeAl phase. The average crystallite size reduction down to about 12 nm was accompanied by the introduction of the average lattice strain up to 1.7%. The TEM picture showed that the size of milled powders was less than 30 nm. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Resonant tunneling through S- and U-shaped graphene nanoribbons

We theoretically investigate resonant tunneling through S- and U-shaped nanostructured graphene nanoribbons. A rich structure of resonant tunneling peaks is found emanating from different quasi-bound states in the middle region. The tunneling current can be turned on and off by varying the Fermi energy. Tunability of resonant tunneling is realized by changing the width of the left and/or right leads and without the use of any external gates.

Enhanced infrared emission from colloidal HgTe nanocrystal quantum dots on silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals

A two dimensional silicon-on-insulator based photonic crystal structure is used to enhance the emission from colloidal HgTe nanocrystal quantum dots embedded in a thin polymer film. The enhancement is resonant to the leaky eigenmodes of the photonic crystals due to coherent scattering effects. Transmittance and photoluminescence experiments are presented to map the leaky mode dispersion and the angle dependence of the emission enhancement factor, which reaches values up to 80 (650) for vertical (oblique) emission in the telecommunication wavelength range.

Nonpolar growth and characterization of InN overlayers on vertically oriented GaN nanorods

Nanostructured hexagonal InN overlayers were heteroepitaxially deposited on vertically oriented c-axis GaN nanorods by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. InN overlayers grown in radial directions are featured by a nonpolar heteroepitaxial growth mode on GaN nanorods, showing a great difference from the conventional InN growth on (0001) c-plane GaN template. The surface of InN overlayers is mainly composed of several specific facets with lower crystallographic indices. The orientation relationship between InN and GaN lattices is found to be [0001](InN) parallel to [0001](GaN) and [1100](InN)parallel to[1100](GaN). A strong photoluminescence of InN nanostructures is observed. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI 10.1063/1.3177347]

Structure, magnetization, and low-temperature spin dynamic behavior of zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As nanoclusters embedded in GaAs

We have fabricated a set of samples of zincblende Mn-rich Mn(Ga)As clusters embedded in GaAs matrices by annealing (Ga,Mn)As films with different nominal Mn content at 650 degrees C. For the samples with Mn content no more than 4.5%, the Curie temperature reaches nearly 360 K. However, when Mn content is higher than 5.4%, the samples exhibit a spin-glass-like behavior. We suggest that these different magnetic properties are caused by the competing result of dipolar and Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction among clusters. The low-temperature spin dynamic behavior, especially the relaxation effect, shows the extreme creeping effect which is reflected by the time constant tau of similar to 10(11) s at 10 K. We explain this phenomenon by the hierarchical model based on the mean-field approach. We also explain the memory effect by the relationship between the correlation function and the susceptibility.

Surface plasmon waves generated by nanogrooves through spectral interference

A pure surface plasmon polariton (SPP) model predicted that the SPP excitation in a slit-groove structure at metallodielectric interfaces exhibits an intricate dependence on the groove width P. Lalanne et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 263902 (2005); Nat. Phys. 2, 551 (2006)]. In this paper, we present a simple far-field experiment to test and validate this interesting theoretical prediction. The measurement results clearly demonstrate the predicted functional dependence of the SPP coupling efficiency on groove width, in good agreement with the SPP picture.

直接甲醇燃料电池甲醇替代燃料的研究

论文主要研究了直接甲醇燃料电池（DMFC）中三种甲醇替代燃料，二甲氧基甲烷（DMM）、乙醇和乙二醇及导致阳极催化剂中毒的吸附CO（COad）在光滑R电极及几种新的R基催化剂电极上的电氧化行为。结合对催化剂的X射线光电子能谱（xPS）、X衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和热重分析（TG）表征，初步探讨了几种新催化剂对三种甲醇替代燃料的电催化活性要高于碳载R（PtC）催化剂的原因。另外，还研究了用表面活化处理来提高阳极催化剂对甲醇氧化的电催化活性的方法。本论文得到的主要结果如下：1．在研究DMM在不同条件下，在不同R基催化剂电极上的电化学氧化行为的基础上，发现碳载R和TiO2（Pt-TiO2／C）复合催化剂对DMM氧化的电催化活性要优于Pt/C电极。而Pt-TiO2／C催化剂在吸附Ho3+(Pt-TiO2-Ho3+/C)或Eu3＋（Pt-TiO2-Eu3＋/C）后，对DMM氧化的电催化活性比Pt-TiO2／C电极高。表明TiO2、Eu3+和Ho3+对DMM的氧化都有很好的促进作用，这主要是它们都能为DMM的氧化在电极表面提供更多的含氧物种。由于DMM本身在这些催化剂电极上的氧化性能不好，而且DMM容易在酸性溶液中水解，生成甲醇和甲醛，因此，DMM不是一种好的甲醇替代燃料。2．无论在中性介质中还是在酸性介质中，Eu3＋和Ho3＋对乙醇在R／C电极上的电化学氧化反应都有较好的促进作用，而Eu3＋的促进作用要大于H3+，Eu3＋和H3+在酸性溶液中的促进作用要大于在中性溶液中。无论是中性溶液还是酸性溶液中，吸附CO（COad）在Pt／C催化剂电极上在较正的电位处有一个很大的氧化峰，而在R-Eu3＋／C或R-H3＋／C催化剂电极上在较负电位处有两个小的氧化峰，表明吸附的Eu3＋和Ho3+对cood在R／C催化剂电极上的氧化都有很好的促进作用，主要表现在使Cood的吸附强度降低和吸附量减少。XPs测量表明，当R／C电极表面吸附了Eu3＋或H了十后，使催化剂中Pt和c土的电子云密度变小，因此使Pt对coad的吸附强度减弱。由于Eu3＋或H03＋在电极上吸附不是物理吸附，而是化学吸附，因此，它们与Pt的结合具有相对的稳定性。乙醇电氧化的中间产物，如COad等能强烈地吸附在R上，因此会使R中毒。而Eu3＋或H矿"能降低Coad在R上地吸附强度，因此，Eu3＋或H3+能促进乙醇在Pt／C电极上的电化学氧化反应。Pt-TiO2／C催化剂对乙醇氧化的电催化活性要高于R／C催化剂，表明TiO2对乙醇在R／C电极上的电化学氧化反应也有较好的促进作用。XPS的测量表明，TiO2的加入并不改变Pt的电子状态，因此，TiO2能促进乙醇电氧化反应的主要原因是TIOZ能为乙醇氧化提供含氧物种。实验结果表明，Eu3＋或H3+对乙醇在R-TiO2／C电极上的电化学氧化反应也有一定的促进作用。这是由于Eu3＋或H3+改变了R的电子状态，降低了乙醇电氧化中间产物，COod在Pt上的吸附强度，而TIOZ提供了COod的氧化所必须的含氧物种。3．无论是酸性溶液中还是中性溶液中，乙二醇在R-TiO2／C电极上的氧化活性比在R／C电极上高。这表明TIOZ能促进乙二醇在Pt上的电氧化反应。进一步的实验表明，TIOZ对COad在Pt催化剂电极上氧化的促进作用并不明显。XPS测量表明，这是由于TIOZ并不改变R的电子状态。所以，TiO2对乙二醇在Pt上的电氧化的促进作用只是基于提供乙二醇电氧化所需的含氧物种。无论是酸性溶液中还是中性溶液中，乙二醇在R-WO3／C电极上的氧化活性都比在R／C电极上高。这表明W03能促进乙二醇在R上的电氧化反应。进一步的实验表明，R-WO3／C电极对Coad氧化的电催化活性也要高于R／C电极，XPS测量表明，WO3会降低Pt的电子云密度。所以，WO3对乙二醇在R上的电氧化的促进作用除了提供含氧物种外，还由于它能降低R的电子云密度而降低了乙二醇电氧化中间产物。4．用四氢吠喃和丙酮混合溶液浸泡法对电极进行表面处理后能使Pt／C和Pt-WO3／C电极对乙醇和乙二醇氧化的电催化活性有很大的提高。其原因可能是Pt／C和Pt一w03／C电极在经表面处理后，在电极制备过程中带来的表面活性剂等杂质由于溶解在混合溶液中而被除去，Nafion也可能在用混合溶液浸泡后会发生一定程度的结构变化，因此，使活性中心的位点增加，从而增加了催化剂的电催化活性。另外，经表面处理后，Pt／C和Pt-WO3／C电极的活性中心的结构有一定的变化，使COad的吸附强度降低而容易氧化，降低了COad对催化剂的毒化作用，因而提高了电极对乙醇和乙二醇氧化的电催化活性。

聚合物薄膜的表面形态结构及相关纳米材料制备

本工作主要从实验上探索了基板、溶液浓度、溶剂性质、组成对均聚物、嵌段共聚物以及嵌段共聚物与均聚物共混薄膜表面形态结构的影响。在此基础上，又以嵌段共聚物薄膜为模板，制备了多种纳米粒子。用原子力显微镜（AFM）研究了超稀PS溶液在固体基板上的表面形貌、表面粗糙度及其润湿性质。研究发现：在所用PS分子量范围内（1）随分子量的增加，退火前PS微区的平均直径增加，而平均高度减小。退火后PS微区的平均直径减小，而平均高度增加。（2）首次观察到：薄膜的表面粗糙度（Ra）除了与溶剂的蒸汽压及所用基板有关外，还和溶剂的偶极矩有关。无论在Si片还是mica上，当l所用溶剂具粼目近的偶极矩不同的蒸汽压时，蒸汽压越小，表面Ra也越小；当所用溶剂具有相近的蒸汽压不同的偶极矩时，偶极矩越大，表面Ra就越小。对所用的每一种溶剂，Si片上薄膜的Ra均大于mica上薄膜的Ra，这可能是由Si片表面的粗糙度大于mica表面的粗糙度引起的。以PS-b-P4VP嵌段共聚物为研究对象，探索了共聚物组成、基板、溶液浓度和溶剂对薄膜表面形貌的影响，并对非对称PS-b-P4VP薄膜在甲醇蒸气下表面形貌随时间的演变过程进行了观察。首次观察到：本体为柱状结构的Ps-b-P4VP薄膜，随着在甲醇蒸气中处理时间的增加，形貌从无特征表面、凹陷结构和条带共存的杂化形貌、条状微区、六方排列的凹陷结构、再到条状微区的转变。不同膜厚其形貌转变程度亦不同，膜越厚观察到的形貌转变就越多。而对于厚度约为18.6nm本体为球状结构的PS-b-P4VP薄膜，当在甲醇蒸气中退火时，只观察到了六方排列的凹陷结构并且这种结构不随退火时间的增加而改变。通过对不同组成PS-b-P4VP／hPS混合物薄膜在云母和石墨上表面形貌的研究，首次观察到：在云母基板上随混合物中Φps的增加，表面形貌经历着由六方有序的球状微区向条状结构再向球状微区最后到宏观相分离结构的转变；而在石墨基板上，随Φps的增加，表面形貌逐渐由条带结构向球状结构转变，未观察到明显的宏观相分离。以PS-b-P4vP胶束薄膜为模板合成了Ag-Pd及ZnO纳米结构，并对不同表面活性剂包裹的CdSe在PS-b-P4VP薄膜中的选择性分布进行了探索。 以PS-b-P4VP胶束薄膜为研究对象研究了溶剂蒸气及酸溶液对其表面形貌的影响。实验结果表明，除了甲醇蒸气，用一元酸处理薄膜也能得到纳米孔结构。

Spin split cyclotron resonance in GaAs quantum wells

The cyclotron resonance (CR) of electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells is investigated theoretically to explain a recent CR experiment, where two CR peaks were observed at high magnetic fields when both spin-up and spin-down states of the lowest Landau level are occupied. Our theoretical model takes into account the conduction band non-parabolicity, the electron bulk longitude-optic-phonon coupling, and the self-consistent subband structure. A good agreement is found.