Epitaxial growth of ZnO layers using nanorods with high crystalline quality

Epitaxial ZnO films were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition using a ZnO multi-dimensional structure having the sequence of ZnO film/ZnO nanorods/sapphire. The vertically well-aligned one-dimensional ZnO nanorods were grown epitaxially on the sapphire substrate with in-plane alignment under suitable growth conditions and then used as seeds for the subsequent epitaxial ZnO layer. For the transition of the ZnO structures from the nanorods to the film, the growth temperature and working pressure were controlled, while keeping the other conditions fixed. The growth of the ZnO films on the well-aligned ZnO nanorods results in homoepitaxial growth with the identical orientation relationship along the in-plane direction as well as the same c-axis orientation. The microstructural analysis of the multi-dimensional structure and analysis of the microstructural evolution from the one-dimensional nanorods to the two-dimensional film were conducted using transmission electron microscopy.     

Growth of compact arrays of optical quality single crystalline ZnO nanorods by low temperature method

We report the synthesis and optical properties of compact and aligned ZnO nanorod arrays (dia, ∼ 50–200 nm) grown on a glass substrate with varying seed particle density. The suspension of ZnO nanoparticles (size, ∼ 15 nm) of various concentrations are used as seed layer for the growth of nanorod arrays via selfassembly of ZnO from solution. We studied the effect of various growth parameters (such as seeding density, microstructure of the seed layer) as well as the growth time on the growth and alignment of the nanorods. We find that the growth, areal density and alignment of the nanorods depend on the density of seed particles which can be controlled. It is observed that there is a critical density of the seed particles at which nanorod arrays show maximum preferred orientation along [002] direction. The minimum and maximum radius of the aligned nanorods synthesized by this method lie in the range 50–220 nm which depend on the seeding density and time of growth. These nanorods have a bandgap of 3.3 eV as in the case of bulk crystals and show emission in the UV region of the spectrum (∼ 400 nm) due to excitonic recombination and defect related emission in the visible region.     

Cucurbit[8]uril as building block for facile fabrication of well-defined organic crystalline nano-objects with multiple morphologies and compositions

Cucurbit[n]urils (CB[n]) have great potential in material and medical applications due to their advantageous molecular recognition properties. Despite organic microcrystals being highly desirable in materials science and the medical industry, CB[n]-based micro- and nanocrystals have not been reported. A facile and efficient approach for producing CB[8]-based organic crystals with well-defined micro- and nanostructures is described, based on the unique host-guest chemistry of CB[8] macrocycle with small guest molecules. The described strategy allows fabrication of micro- and nanocrystals with multiple morphologies and compositions by simply adjusting the preparation conditions and the type of guest molecules. The mechanisms for the formation of the micro/nanocrystals are studied, and morphology-dependent optical and thermal properties typical of organic micro/nanocrystals are described. Additionally, attractive potentials of the prepared microcrystals are shown upon storing small molecules, and in optical applications. The molecular recognition abilities of CB[8] are highlighted in both its preparation process and potential application.     

氧化锌纳米阵列场发射性能研究

采用物理气相沉积的方法通过控制生长参数，在硅衬底上获得不同形貌的氧化锌纳米阵列。在金属场发射系统中测量了它们的场致电子发射性能，发现阴极发射电流不稳定主要是由于氧化锌纳米阵列的不均匀性造成的．采用高压励炼技术可以增强氧化锌场发射的稳定性，使电流波动明显降低．此外，形貌对氧化锌纳米阵列的场发射电流密度和阈值电压有明显影响，而且不同形貌的氧化锌纳米阵列的抗溅射能力也不相同．     

On the photoluminescence emission of ZnO nanocrystals

Photoluminescence emission (PL) behaviour of ZnO nanocrystals capped by different organic molecules and dispersed in solvents with increasing dielectric constant is studied. PL energy is observed to red shift or blue shift or even remains invariant with increasing dielectric constant of the dispersing medium depending on the capping agent. The effective dielectric constant of the dispersing medium shifts the surface defect levels energetically and governs the interfacial charge re-organisation. Further, solvent relaxation effects also cause lowering of the energy levels. Defects located at the surface of nanocrystals profoundly influence the luminescence behaviour.     

Position-, size-, and shape-controlled highly crystalline ZnO nanostructures

Highly ordered ZnO nanoboxes and nanowire structures with a width of ～ 20 nm have been successfully fabricated by the combination of nanoimprint lithography and pulsed laser deposition utilizing a glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. The periodicity, size, and shape of the ZnO nanoboxes and nanobelts can be easily controlled over a large area by changing the molds and deposition conditions. At the initial stage of growth by GLAD, nanonucleation led to nanopillar structures, which agglomerated to form nanobox and nanobelt structures at room temperature (RT). The ZnO nanostructures have a c-axis orientation along the nanopillar direction after postannealing and exhibit an intense cathodoluminescence peak around 380 nm at RT.     

Heavily doped ZnO nanobelts and their violet emission

In-doped ZnO nanobelts have been synthesized by a thermal evaporation method with absence of catalysts. The morphology and microstructure of the doped ZnO nanobelts have been extensively investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results show that the belts grow along the (1010) direction with the typical lengths in the range of several tens to several hundreds of micrometers, and the typical widths of the belts are several hundreds of nanometers. According to the XRD pattern of the sample, the most of belts are ZnO with heavy doping content and ternary Zinc Indium Oxide (such as Zn5In2O8, Zn4In2O7). The X-ray energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analysis demonstrates that the In content in the as-examined belt is as high as 27 at%. Notably, the photoluminescence spectrum reveals a novel violet emission peak (425 nm) in the as-synthesized product.     

ZnO纳米锥光致发光性及印刷ZnO纳米锥场发射性能研究

利用物理热蒸发法制备大规模的蒲公英状的ZnO纳米锥,利用荧光光谱仪对ZnO纳米锥进行了光致发光性能测试.针对现有的丝网印刷碳纳米管(CNTs)薄膜需要各种后处理工艺后才能改善其场发射特性的问题,提出了一种不需任何后处理丝网印刷ZnO纳米锥的浆料配制工艺.用该工艺制备的丝网印刷ZnO纳米锥的场发射特性测试表明,ZnO纳米锥与制浆剂质量比为3∶5的薄膜的开启场强最低为2.25V/μm(电流密度为1μA/cm2),在4.6V/μm场强下,阳极荧光粉的发光点亮度高且分布均匀.说明该方法成本低,工艺简单,无需任何后处理,在ZnO纳米锥场发射显示器的制作中有很好的实际应用价值.     

Electron field emission studies on ZnO nanowires

The zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires with different morphology and diameter were synthesized on silicon (100) substrates by heating pure zinc powder at low temperatures of 450 °C and 480 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the morphology and diameter of samples. The electron field emission properties between different morphology of ZnO nanowires samples were compared. A low turn-on field at 3.6 V/μm was observed from nanorods due to better alignment, and a strong emission current density of 3.6 mA/cm² at electronic field 9.0V/μm was obtained from needle-like nanowires sample. The emission stability of ZnO samples is also presented.     

Atomistic study of structures and elastic properties of single crystalline ZnO nanotubes

The structural stability and Young's modulus of single crystalline ZnO nanotubes are investigated using atomistic simulations. Unlike the case for conventional layered nanotubes, the energetic stability of single crystalline ZnO nanotubes is related to the wall thickness. The potential energy of ZnO nanotubes with fixed outer and inner diameters decreases with increasing wall thickness, while the nanotubes with the same wall thickness are independent of the outer and inner diameters. The transformation of single crystalline ZnO nanotubes with a double layer from wurtzite phase to graphitic phase suggests the possibility of wall-typed ZnO nanotubes. The size-dependent Young's modulus of ZnO nanotubes is also investigated. The wall thickness plays a significant role in the Young's modulus of single crystalline ZnO nanotubes, whereas the variation of outer and inner diameters slightly affects the Young's modulus of nanotubes with same wall thickness.     

ZnO纳米材料制备及其场发射性能的研究

采用水热法制备形貌和尺寸各异的纳米ZnO材料。用X射线衍射分析仪(XRD)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)测试产物结构和表面形貌,分析影响纳米ZnO材料生长的因素,探讨纳米ZnO的生长机理。研究了各种形貌ZnO阵列的场致发射特性。实验结果表明,在各种ZnO纳米结构中,纳米管的场致发射性能最好,其最大电流密度可达到0.2mA/cm2,开启场强2.5V/μm,为寻求良好场发射性能的ZnO纳米材料提供了一个可行的途径。     

Crabwise ZnO nanowires: growth and field emission properties

Crabwise ZnO nanowires with an average length of 5 microm and an average diameter of 30 nm were selectively grown on ZnO:Ga/glass templates. Cathodoluminescence measurement indicated that the crystal quality of the crabwise ZnO nanowires was good. With an applied voltage of 120 V, the crabwise ZnO nanowire field emitters gave an emission current of 0.1 mA/cm2. Moreover, the field enhancement factor, beta, of the crabwise ZnO nanowires was approximately 980.     

Enhancement of green emission from Sn-doped ZnO nanowires

Oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in the emission characteristics of oxide nanomaterials. In this study, we found that the green emission intensity of ZnO nanowires can be enhanced through a Sn-doping concentration which increases the number of oxygen vacancies. Undoped ZnO nanowires showed blue emission at 380 nm, but as the concentration of Sn was increased, the green emission peak at around 500 nm, which is attributed to oxygen vacancies, showed drastic enhancement. On the basis of XPS compositional analysis, it was confirmed that the green luminescence intensity was closely related to the number of oxygen vacancies in Sn-doped ZnO nanowires. These results pave the way to a greater understanding of tunable light emission from nanowires, which could be a key technology for next-generation display devices, including flexible and transparent displays.     

Optical gain and stimulated emission in periodic nanopatterned crystalline silicon

Persistent efforts have been made to achieve efficient light emission from silicon in the hope of extending the reach of silicon technology into fully integrated optoelectronic circuits, meeting the needs for high-bandwidth intrachip and interchip connects. Enhanced light emission from silicon is known to be theoretically possible, enabled mostly through quantum-confinement effects. Furthermore, Raman-laser conversion was demonstrated in silicon waveguides. Here we report on optical gain and stimulated emission in uniaxially nanopatterned silicon-on-insulator using a nanopore array as an etching mask. In edge-emission measurements, we observed threshold behaviour, optical gain, longitudinal cavity modes and linewidth narrowing, along with a collimated far-field pattern, all indicative of amplification and stimulated emission. The sub-bandgap 1,278 nm emission peak is attributed to A-centre mediated phononless direct recombination between trapped electrons and free holes. The controlled nanoscale silicon engineering, combined with the low material loss in this sub-bandgap spectral range and the long electron lifetime in such A-type trapping centres, gives rise to the measured optical gain and stimulated emission and provides a new pathway to enhance light emission from silicon.     

Fabrication and optical emission of TiO2-sheathed ZnO nanowires

The ZnO nanowires were synthesized by using vapor-liquid-solid mechanism and then the ZnO nanowires were sheathed with TiO2 by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The coaxial nanowires were 30-200 nm in diameter and up to 0.2 microm in length. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis results showed that the ZnO cores and TiO2 shells of the core-shell nanowires had wurtzite and amorphous structures, respectively. Photoluminescence measurement showed that TiO2 coating increased and decreased the near-band edge (NBE) and deep-level emissions of the ZnO nanowires in intensity, respectively. However, it appeared that subsequent annealing was undesirable since it decreased the NBE emission in intensity.     

Influence of sputtering parameters on crystalline structure of ZnO thin films

The relations between the sputtering parameters and the crystalline microstructure of ZnO thin films are presented. The energetic bombardment of substrate by neutral atoms, ions and electrons during sputtering is characterized by total energy flux density which affects the film. This parameter can be estimated by RF power, substrate bias voltage and concentration of reactive gases. Substrate temperature and total energy flux density are the major parameters which have a significant influence on ZnO thin film crystalline structure.     

Single crystalline ZnO nanorods grown by a simple hydrothermal process

Single crystalline ZnO nanorods with wurtzite structure have been prepared by a simple hydrothermal process. The microstructure and composition of the products were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM, energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS) and Raman spectrum. The nanorods have diameters ranging from 100 nm to 800 nm and length of longer than 10 µm. Raman peak at 437.8 cm^− 1 displays the characteristic peak of wurtzite ZnO. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum shows a blue light emission at 441 nm, which is related to radiative recombination of photo-generated holes with singularly ionized oxygen vacancies.     

Multi-phonon excitations in ZnO textured crystalline films by Raman spectroscopy

Perfect ZnO crystalline films were prepared by magnetron sputtering. In the Raman spectra of the films we observed from 6 to 8 phonon repetitions, similar to the bulk ZnO crystal. The Raman spectra were analyzed using a theory which takes into account many-particle interaction between electrons and phonons. Our calculations show a rather good correlation with the experimental multi-phonon spectra and enable one to calculate correctly an important parameter of ZnO films—the constant of electron-phonon coupling and accordingly to estimate the film quality.     

Electrodeposited ZnO films with high UV emission properties

We report here our results in the preparation of ZnO films with high UV band to band characteristic luminescence emission by potentiostatic electrodeposition. Zinc nitrate aqueous baths with different concentration and additives were employed for the preparation of the films on platinum substrates. We focused our research in determining how the electrodeposition bath composition, i.e. zinc nitrate concentration and addition of KCl or polyvinyl pyrolidone and applied overpotential influence the morphological and optical properties of the oxide films. Scanning electron microscopy was employed for characterizing the films in terms of morphology. Optical reflection, photoluminescence spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence were used for determining the optical characteristics of the samples. The morphology of the deposit varies from hexagonal prisms to platelets as a function of the deposition rate. This experimental parameter also influences the luminescence properties. We found that at low deposition rates high UV luminescent material is obtained.