A parametrically excited vibration energy harvester

In the arena of vibration energy harvesting, the key technical challenges continue to be low power density and narrow operational frequency bandwidth. While the convention has relied upon the activation of the fundamental mode of resonance through direct excitation, this article explores a new paradigm through the employment of parametric resonance. Unlike the former, oscillatory amplitude growth is not limited due to linear damping. Therefore, the power output can potentially build up to higher levels. Additionally, it is the onset of non-linearity that eventually limits parametric resonance; hence, this approach can also potentially broaden the operating frequency range. Theoretical prediction and numerical modelling have suggested an order higher in oscillatory amplitude growth. An experimental macro-sized electromagnetic prototype (practical volume of ∼1800 cm3) when driven into parametric resonance, has demonstrated around 50% increase in half power band and an order of magnitude higher peak power density normalised against input acceleration squared (293 μW cm-3 m-2 s4 with 171.5 mW at 0.57 m s-2) in contrast to the same prototype directly driven at fundamental resonance (36.5 μW cm-3 m-2 s4 with 27.75 mW at 0.65 m s-2). This figure suggests promising potentials while comparing with current state-of-the-art macro-sized counterparts, such as Perpetuum's PMG-17 (119 μW cm-3 m-2 s4). © The Author(s) 2013.

A bottom-up energy analysis across a diverse urban building portfolio: Retrofits for the buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK

A methodology for the analysis of building energy retrofits has been developed for a diverse set of buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew in southwest London, UK. The methodology requires selection of appropriate building simulation tools dependent on the nature of the principal energy demand. This has involved the development of a stand-alone model to simulate the heat flow in botanical glasshouses, as well as stochastic simulation of electricity demand for buildings with high equipment density and occupancy-led operation. Application of the methodology to the buildings at RBG Kew illustrates the potential reduction in energy consumption at the building scale achievable from the application of retrofit measures deemed appropriate for heritage buildings and the potential benefit to be gained from onsite generation and supply of energy. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Photoregulated or energy dependent process of hormogonia differentiation in Nostoc sphaeroides Kutzing (Cyanobacterium)

Hormogonium, which was thought to play an important role in the dispersal and survival of these microorganisms in their natural habitats, is a distinguishable developmental stage of heterocystous cyanobacteria. The present study examined the effects of different light conditions and sugars on the differentiation of Nostoc sphaeroides Kutzing to the hormogonia stage. Results showed that differentiation of hormogonia was light dependent in the absence of sugar, but that close to 100% of cyanobacteria differentiated to hormogonia in the presence of glucose or sucrose, irrespective of the light conditions. This differentiation was inhibited, even in the presence of sugars, upon application of an inhibitor of respiration. Following the testing of different sugars, the effects of different lights were examined. It was found that 5 10 μ mol.m(-2)• s(-1) photon flux density was optimal for hormogonia differentiation. One hundred percent differentiation was obtained with white light irradiation, in contrast with irradiation with green light (80% differentiation) and red light (0-10% differentiation). Although they showed different efficiencies in inducing hormogonia differentiation in N. sphaeroides, the green and red radiation did not display antagonistic effects. When the additional aspect of time dependence was investigated through the application of different light radiations and an inhibitor of protein synthesis, it was found that the initial 6 h of the differentiation process was crucial for hormogonia differentiation. Taken together, these results show that hormogonia differentiation in N. sphaeroides is either a photoregulated or an energy dependent process.

Fourier spectrum based extraction of an equivalent trap state density in indium gallium zinc oxide transistors

Segregating the dynamics of gate bias induced threshold voltage shift, and in particular, charge trapping in thin film transistors (TFTs) based on time constants provides insight into the different mechanisms underlying TFTs instability. In this Letter we develop a representation of the time constants and model the magnitude of charge trapped in the form of an equivalent density of created trap states. This representation is extracted from the Fourier spectrum of the dynamics of charge trapping. Using amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O TFTs as an example, the charge trapping was modeled within an energy range of ΔEt 0.3 eV and with a density of state distribution as Dt(Et-j)=Dt0exp(-ΔEt/ kT)with Dt0 = 5.02 × 1011 cm-2 eV-1. Such a model is useful for developing simulation tools for circuit design. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Correcting the systematic error of the density functional theory calculation: the alternate combination approach of genetic algorithm and neural network

The alternate combinational approach of genetic algorithm and neural network (AGANN) has been presented to correct the systematic error of the density functional theory (DFT) calculation. It treats the DFT as a black box and models the error through external statistical information. As a demonstration, the AGANN method has been applied in the correction of the lattice energies from the DFT calculation for 72 metal halides and hydrides. Through the AGANN correction, the mean absolute value of the relative errors of the calculated lattice energies to the experimental values decreases from 4.93% to 1.20% in the testing set. For comparison, the neural network approach reduces the mean value to 2.56%. And for the common combinational approach of genetic algorithm and neural network, the value drops to 2.15%. The multiple linear regression method almost has no correction effect here.

Fabrication and excitation-power-density-dependent micro-photoluminescence of hexagonal nanopillars with a single InGaAs/GaAs quantum well

Hexagonal nanopillars with a single InGaAs/GaAs quantum well (QW) were fabricated on a GaAs (111) B substrate by selective-area metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. The standard deviations in diameter and height of the nanopillars are about 2% and 5%, respectively. Zincblende structure and rotation twins were identified in both the GaAs and the InGaAs layers by electron diffraction. The excitation-power-density-dependent micro-photoluminescence (mu-PL) of the nanopillars was measured at 4.2, 50, 100 and 150 K. It was shown that, with increasing excitation power density, the mu-PL peak's positions shift to a higher energy, and their intensity and width increase, which were rationalized using a model that includes the effects of piezoelectricity, photon-screening and band-filling. It was also revealed that the rotation twins significantly reduce the diffusion length of the carriers in the nanopillars, compared to that in the regular semiconductors.

Stone-Wales defects created by low energy recoils in single-walled silicon carbide nanotubes

The defect creation at low energy events was studied using density functional theory molecular dynamics simulations in silicon carbide nanotubes, and the displacement threshold energies determined exhibit a dependence on sizes, which decrease with decreasing diameter of the nanotubes. The Stone-Wales (SW) defect, which is a common defect configurations induced through irradiation in nanotubes, has also been investigated, and the formation energies of the SW defects increase with increasing diameter of the nanotubes. The mean threshold energies were found to be 23 and 18 eV for Si and C in armchair (5,5) nanotubes. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3238307]

Quantum mechanical simulation of nanosized metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor using empirical pseudopotentials: A comparison for charge density occupation methods

The atomistic pseudopotential quantum mechanical calculations are used to study the transport in million atom nanosized metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. In the charge self-consistent calculation, the quantum mechanical eigenstates of closed systems instead of scattering states of open systems are calculated. The question of how to use these eigenstates to simulate a nonequilibrium system, and how to calculate the electric currents, is addressed. Two methods to occupy the electron eigenstates to yield the charge density in a nonequilibrium condition are tested and compared. One is a partition method and another is a quasi-Fermi level method. Two methods are also used to evaluate the current: one uses the ballistic and tunneling current approximation, another uses the drift-diffusion method. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3248262]

Observation of intershell and hybridized energy states in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We have investigated the evolution of exciton state filling as a function of excitation power density in InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs). In addition to the emission bands of exciton recombination corresponding to the atom-like S, P, and D, etc. shells of quantum dots, it was observed that some extra states, P-' (between the S and P shells) and D-' (between the P and D shells), appear in the spectra with increasing number of excitons occupying the QDs. The emergence of these intershell excitonic levels is an experimental demonstration of strong exciton-exciton exchange interaction and coupling as well as state mixing and hybridization of a multiexciton system in quantum dots.

Correlation effects for semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes: A density matrix renormalization group study

In this paper we report the applicability of the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) approach to the cylindrical single wall carbon nanotube (SWCN) for the purpose of its correlation effect. By applying the DMRG approach to the t+U+V model, with t and V being the hopping and Coulomb energies between the nearest neighboring sites, respectively, and U the on-site Coulomb energy, we calculate the phase diagram for the SWCN with chiral numbers (n(1)=3, n(2)=2), which reflects the competition between the correlation energy U and V. Within reasonable parameter ranges, we investigate possible correlated ground states, the lowest excitations, and the corresponding correlation functions in which the connection with the excitonic insulator is particularly addressed.

Polarity determination for GaN thin films by electron energy-loss spectroscopy

The intensity of the N K edge in electron energy-loss spectra from a GaN thin film shows a pronounced difference when the orientation of the film approaches the (0002) and (000-2) Bragg reflections, along the polar direction. This experimental result can be interpreted by the effect associated with interference between the Bloch waves of the incident electron in the GaN crystal. The theoretical calculations indicate that, at the Bragg condition of g=0002 along the Ga-N bond direction, the thickness-averaged electron current density on the N atom plane is much higher than that at g=000 (2) over bar, with a maximum as the specimen thickness is about 0.4xi(0002) (the two-beam extinction distance). The delocalization effect on the experimental spectra is also discussed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Numerical evaluation of energy loss rate for hot carriers in quantum wells

Using the Frohlich potential associated with realistic optical phonon modes in quantum well systems, the energy loss rates of hot electrons, holes, and electron-hole pairs are calculated, with special emphasis on the effects of carrier density, hot phonon population, quantum well width, and phonon dispersion on the hot-carrier relaxation process in quasi-two-dimensional systems. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.

Abnormal temperature dependent photoluminescence of self-assembled InAs/GaAs surface quantum dots with high areal density

We have investigated temperature dependent photoluminescence of both buried and surface self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots with an areal density up to similar to 10(11)/cm(2). Different from the buried quantum dots, the peak energy of surface quantum dots shows a blueshift relative to the bulk material variation from 15 to 130K. Besides the line width and the integrated intensity both first decrease and then increase in this temperature interval. The observed phenomena can be explained by carrier trapping effects by some shallow localized centers near the surface quantum dots.

Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation of Nanotubes: Interplay of Bundling and Surfactants Encapsulation

Density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) has emerged as a promising tool to prepare chirality enriched nanotube samples. Here, we assess the performance of different surfactants for DGU. Bile salts (e.g., sodium cholate (SC), sodium deoxycholate (SDC), and sodium taurodeoxycholate (TDC)) are more effective in individualizing Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) compared to linear chain surfactants (e.g., sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS)) and better suited for DGU. Using SC, a narrower diameter distribution (0.69-0.81 nm) is achieved through a single DGU step on CoMoCAT tubes, when compared to SDC and TDC (0.69-0.89 nm). No selectivity is obtained using SDBS. due to its ineffectiveness in debundling. We assign the reduce selectivity of dihydroxy bile salts (S DC and TDC) in comparison with trihydroxy SC to the formation of secondary micelles. This is determined by the number and position of hydroxyl ( OH) groups on the a-side of the steroid backbone. We also enrich CoMoCAT SWNT in the 0.84-0.92 nm range using the Pluronic F98 triblock copolymer. Mixtures of bile salts (SC) and linear chain surfactants (SOS) are used to enrich metallic and semiconducting laser-ablation grown SWNTs. We demonstrate enrichment of a single chirality, (6,5), combining diameter and metallic versus semiconductillg separation on CoMoCAT samples.

CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATIONS OF A DUAL MASS-SELECTED LOW-ENERGY ION-BEAM SYSTEM

A direct ion beam deposition system designed for heteroepitaxy at a low substrate temperature and for the growth of metastable compounds has been constructed and tested. The system consists of two mass-resolved low-energy ion beams which merge at the target with an incident energy range 50-25 000 eV. Each ion beam uses a Freeman ion source for ion production and a magnetic sector for mass filtering. While a magnetic quadrupole lens is used in one beam for ion optics, an electrostatic quadrupole lens focuses the other beam. Both focusing approaches provide a current density more than 100-mu-A/cm2, although the magnetic quadrupole gives a better performance for ion energies below 200 eV. The typical current of each beam reaches more than 0.3 mA at 100 eV, with a ribbon beam of about 0.3-0.5 x 2 cm2. The target is housed in an ultrahigh vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 1 x 10(-7) Pa and a typical pressure of 5 x 10(-6) Pa when a noncondensable beam like argon is brought into the chamber. During deposition, the target can be heated to 800-degrees-C and scanned mechanically with an electronic scanning control unit. The dual beam system has been used to grow GaN using a Ga+ and a N+ beam, and to study the oxygen and hydrogen ion beam bombardment effects during carbon ion beam deposition. The results showed that the simultaneous arrival of two beams at the target is particularly useful in compound formation and in elucidation of growth mechanisms.