Strong quantum confinement effect in nanocrystalline CdS

CdS quantum dots have been prepared by chemical method. The X-ray diffraction results indicated the formation of CdS nanoparticles with hexagonal phase and grain size 2.5 nm. The HRTEM analysis reveals the formation of CdS quantum dots with an average grain size of ~2.5 nm. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra exhibit the 3d _5/2 and 3d _3/2 peaks corresponding to cadmium and the S2p _3/2 peak corresponding to sulphur. Optical studies by UV–vis spectroscopy show a blue shifted absorption at 471 nm because of the quantum confined excitonic absorption. The photoluminescence spectra of CdS exhibited a broad green emission band centred at around 494 nm.     

Strong quantum confinement effects in polymer-based PbS nanostructures prepared by ion-exchange method

Nanostructures of narrow band-gap semiconductiors such as PbS provide a large scope for band-gap engineering as strong quantum confinement effects can alter the bulk band-gap value all the way from 0.41 to 2.3 eV, rendering the material transparent in most of the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This paper discusses the preparation and characterization of polymer-based PbS nanostructures showing large characteristic blue shift in optical absorption. Enhancement in electrical resistivity is observed as a result of quantum confinement. This material is found to exhibit strong thermal lens effects, which is utilized to achieve optical limiting at low laser power levels.     

Enhanced conductance fluctuation by quantum confinement effect in graphene nanoribbons

Conductance fluctuation is usually unavoidable in graphene nanoribbons (GNR) due to the presence of disorder along its edges. By measuring the low-frequency noise in GNR devices, we find that the conductance fluctuation is strongly correlated with the density-of-states of GNR. In single-layer GNR, the gate-dependence of noise shows peaks whose positions quantitatively match the subband positions in the band structures of GNR. This correlation provides a robust mechanism to electrically probe the band structure of GNR, especially when the subband structures are smeared out in conductance measurement.     

Observation of quantum confinement effect on ZnO embedded mesoporous silica

Nonionic surfactant as liquid organic template and tetraethoxysilane as silica precursor were used for the synthesis of mesoporous silica with ordered arrangement of nanopores (diameters are about 1-6 nm). The synthesized mesoporous silica was used as the template for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using zinc acetylacetonate as ZnO precursor. The as synthesized ZnO incorporated in the mesoporous silica nanocomposite were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, TEM and Photoluminescent spectrum. ZnO introduction has no extensive influence on the mesoporous structure of silica. Quantum confinement effects are observed in the case of ZnO nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous silica. The particle size of ZnO is about 3.2 nm. The band gap is broadening to 3.47 eV.     

Growth and quantum confinement in AgI nanowires

Silver iodide nanowires were synthesized in W/O microemulsions by using cyclohexane/Triton X-100/n-pentanol system. Most likely, surfactants form rod-like aggregates that can serve as template for growth of two dimensional nanomaterials. It was found that the length of the AgI nanowires increases as a function of aging time, while the diameter decreases. Final length of the AgI nanowires is several microns, while the diameter is smaller than 3 nm. Morphological changes are accompanied by optical and structural changes. Large blue shift of excitonic peak from bulk value at 420 to 326 nm was observed as a consequence of the size quantization effect. Decrease of diameter is followed by the amorphization of AgI nanowires.     

Strong electronic coupling and ultrafast electron transfer between PbS quantum dots and TiO2 nanocrystalline films

Hot carrier and multiple exciton extractions from lead salt quantum dots (QDs) to TiO(2) single crystals have been reported. Implementing these ideas on practical solar cells likely requires the use of nanocrystalline TiO(2) thin films to enhance the light harvesting efficiency. Here, we report 6.4 ± 0.4 fs electron transfer time from PbS QDs to TiO(2) nanocrystalline thin films, suggesting the possibility of extracting hot carriers and multiple excitons in solar cells based on these materials.     

Amphoteric CdSe nanocrystalline quantum dots

The nanocrystal quantum dot (NQD) charge states strongly influence their electrical transport properties in photovoltaic and electroluminescent devices, optical gains in NQD lasers, and the stability of the dots in thin films. We report a unique electrostatic nature of CdSe NQDs, studied by electrophoretic methods. When we submerged a pair of metal electrodes, in a parallel plate capacitor configuration, into a dilute solution of CdSe NQDs in hexane, and applied a DC voltage across the pair, thin films of CdSe NQDs were deposited on both the positive and the negative electrodes. Extensive characterizations including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman studies revealed that the films on both the positive and the negative electrodes were identical in every respect, clearly indicating that: (1)?a fraction (<1%) of the CdSe NQDs in free form in hexane solution are charged and, more importantly, (2)?there are equal numbers of positive and negative CdSe NQDs in the hexane solution. Experiments also show that the number of deposited dots is at least an order of magnitude higher than the number of initially charged dots, indicating regeneration. We used simple thermodynamics to explain such amphoteric nature and the charging/regeneration of the CdSe NQDs.     

Transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional quantum confinement in semiconductor quantum wires/quantum dots

We report the photoluminescence (PL) and polarization-resolved PL characteristics of a novel GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire/dot semiconductor system, realized by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy of site-controlled, self-assembled nanostructures in inverted tetrahedral pyramids. By systematically changing the length of the quantum wires, we implement a continuous transition between the regimes of two-dimensional and three-dimensional quantum confinement. The two main evidences for this transition are observed experimentally and confirmed theoretically: (i) strongly blue-shifted ground-state emission, accompanied by increase separation of ground and excited transition energies; and (ii) change in the orientation of the main axis of linear polarization of the photoluminescence, from parallel to perpendicular with respect to the wire axis. This latter effect, whose origin is shown to be purely due to quantum confinement and valence band mixing, sets in at wire lengths of only approximately 30 nm.     

Observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in an oxide

The quantum Hall effect arises from the cyclotron motion of charge carriers in two-dimensional systems. However, the ground states related to the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect, respectively, are of entirely different origin. The former can be explained within a single-particle picture; the latter arises from electron correlation effects governed by Coulomb interaction. The prerequisite for the observation of these effects is extremely smooth interfaces of the thin film layers to which the charge carriers are confined. So far, experimental observations of such quantum transport phenomena have been limited to a few material systems based on silicon, III-V compounds and graphene. In ionic materials, the correlation between electrons is expected to be more pronounced than in the conventional heterostructures, owing to a large effective mass of charge carriers. Here we report the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, in which the electron mobility exceeds 180,000 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Fractional states such as ν = 4/3, 5/3 and 8/3 clearly emerge, and the appearance of the ν = 2/5 state is indicated. The present study represents a technological advance in oxide electronics that provides opportunities to explore strongly correlated phenomena in quantum transport of dilute carriers.     

纳米氧化锌的制备

以硫酸锌和碳酸铵为原料,直接沉淀法制得纳米氧化锌的前驱体,然后煅烧得到纳米氧化锌.采用 TG-DTG、XRD和TEM等测试手段对其进行了表征.结果表明,前驱体为Zn4(OH)6CO3.通过控制煅烧温度、反应温度和反应物浓度可以得到不同粒径的球形纳米氧化锌.得出了最佳制备工艺条件.     

Self-assembly of cerium oxide nanostructures in ice molds

The formation of nanorods, driven by the physicochemical phenomena during the freezing and after the aging of frozen ceria nanoparticle suspensions, is reported. During freezing of a dilute aqueous solution of CeO2 nanocrystals, some nuclei remain in solution while others are trapped inside micro- and nanometer voids formed within the growing ice front. Over time (2-3 weeks) the particles trapped within the nanometer-wide voids in the ice combine by an oriented attachment process to form ceria nanorods. The experimental observations are consistent with molecular dynamics simulations of particle aggregation in constrained environments. These observations suggest a possible strategy for the templated formation of nanostructures through self-assembly by exploiting natural phenomena, such as voids formed during freezing of water. This research suggests a very simple, green chemical route to guide the formation of one- and three-dimensional self-assembled nanostructures.     

Site-controlled formation of InGaAs quantum nanostructures-Tailoring the dimensionality and the quantum confinement

We report on InGaAs quantum disks (QDks) controllably formed on the top (001) facet of nano-patterned GaAs pyramidal platforms. The QDks exhibit pyramidal shape with special facets and varied dimensions, depending on the GaAs pyramidal buffer and the amount of InGaAs deposited. The formation of QDks is explained by the overgrowth of an InGaAs layer and thereafter coalescence of small InGaAs islands. Photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of ensemble QDks and exciton features of individual QDks together demonstrate that we may achieve a transition from zero-dimensional (0D) to two-dimensional (2D) quantum structure with increasing QDk size. This transition provides the flexibility to continuously tailor the dimensionality and subsequently the quantum confinement of semiconductor nanostructures via site-controlled self-assembled epitaxy for device applications based on single quantum structures.      

Synthesis and conductivity of cerium oxide nanoparticles

Cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoparticles have been synthesized through composite-hydroxide-mediated approach. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) measurement proved that the pure cubic CeO₂ could be obtained at a low temperature region (170-220 °C). The particle size, micrograph morphology and microstructure were investigated by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). The conductivity of as-synthesized CeO₂ was measured by a standard four-probe method. The conductivity of CeO₂ increases slightly with the increase of temperature. And the conductivity increases rapidly to 0.02418 s cm^− 1 at 830 °C. The product is a potential material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (ITSOFC).     

表面包覆CeO2制备高耐候性钛白的研究

在金红石TiO2水性分散体浆料中,保持温度为70℃,PH值为9.5,分别加入TiO2基料的1%、0.2%、0.05%的硝酸铈溶液(w,以CeO2计)进行CeO2包膜,获得了光催化活性分别为0、0.13、0.47的高耐候性TiO2颜料.ξ电位测定表明,TiO2单分散的最佳条件是pH=9.5～10.5.热力学分析表明,CeO2在TiO2颗粒表面形核时的自由能ΔGh较小,CeO2可以顺利包覆于TiO2颗粒表面.     

Secondary emission of nanocrystalline zinc oxide

The Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of nanocrystalline zinc oxide produced by mechanochemical synthesis were measured using a pulsed nitrogen laser (337.1 nm) and xenon lamp (360 nm) as excitation sources in PL measurements and a cw Nd:YAG laser in Raman measurements. PL was observed in the range 400–800 nm. The Raman spectrum of nanocrystalline (90 nm) ZnO was compared to that of coarsegrained ZnO. The Raman bands of nanocrystalline zinc oxide were found to be shifted to lower frequencies and broadened. Laser radiation was shown to cause local heating of zinc oxide up to 1000 K, resulting in photoinduced formation of zinc nanoclusters. Mixtures of zinc oxide and sodium chloride powders are heated to substantially lower temperatures. Under nitrogen laser excitation, the green PL band (535 nm), characteristic of bulk ZnO, is shifted to longer wavelengths by 85 nm. The results are interpreted in terms of light confinement in zinc oxide microclusters consisting of large number of nanocrystallites. The photoinduced processes in question may be a viable approach to producing metal-insulator structures in globular photonic crystals, opals, filled with zinc oxide.     

Enhanced electrochromism in cerium doped molybdenum oxide thin films

Cerium (5-15% by weight) doped molybdenum oxide thin films have been prepared on FTO coated glass substrate at 250 °C using sol-gel dip coating method. The structural and morphological changes were observed with the help of XRD, SEM and EDS analysis. The amorphous structure of the Ce doped samples, favours easy intercalation and deintercalation processes. Mo oxide films with 10 wt.% of Ce exhibit maximum anodic diffusion coefficient of 24.99 × 10⁻¹¹ cm²/s and the change in optical transmittance of (ΔT at 550 nm) of 79.28% between coloured and bleached state with the optical density of (ΔOD) 1.15.     

Engineering quantum confinement and orbital couplings in laterally coupled vertical quantum dots for spintronic applications

We use three-dimensional self-consistent Kohn-Sham's equations coupled with Poisson's equation to investigate the electrical behavior of laterally coupled vertical quantum dots (LCVQD) for spin-qubit operation. The shape and the depth of the central gate are changed in different ways to correlate gate geometry with the coupling between the two quantum dots. Upon comparing LCVQD single-gate and the split-gate structures, we found that the two inherently different designs result in different energy barrier profiles leading to dissimilar wavefunction coupling between the two dots. Finally, we show that the doping concentrations in the layered structure could be optimized for practical two-qubit operation.     

Surface depletion field in 2D perovskite microplates: Structural phase transition,quantum confinement and Stark effect

Nano Research - Surface depletion field would introduce the depletion region near surface and thus could significantly alter the optical, electronic and optoelectronic properties of the materials,...     

Enhanced catalytic activity of nanostructured cerium oxide films

We study the catalytic activity and structure, density and morphology of nanostructured ceria (CeO_2−x, 0.15<x<0.05, grain size 4–28 nm) films using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflectivity (XRR). The voids content of the films was determined by XRR and was found to vary between 7% and 40%. The catalytic efficiency of the films is investigated using temperature programmed reaction (TPR) and monitoring the oxidation products. The TPR results are correlated with the density and grain size of the CeO_2−x films and show that smaller grain size may reduce the activation temperature of C combustion as low as ∼200 °C.