Ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of SnS nanoparticles:Electrode materials for lithium batteries,photoluminescence and photocatalytic activities

Tin mono-sulphide（Sn S） nanoparticles（Nps） have been successfully synthesised through ionic liquid assisted hydrothermal method using hydrated tin（II） chloride as a precursor, thiourea as sulphur source precursors using 2-Methoxy ethyl methyl imidazolium methane sulfonate ionic liquid as co-solvent. The Reitveld refinement on powder X-ray diffraction（PXRD） confirmed the presence of orthorhombic Sn S structure as major phase along with traces amount of Sn S2 and Sn2 S3. Diffuse reflectance spectrum studies revealed the energy band gap around 1.38 e V. TEM images confirmed the Sn S Nps with average particle size of 40 nm and HRTEM suggest good crystallinity. The electrochemical property for lithium storage behaviour shows an initial discharge capacity of 658 m Ah/g and it retains discharge capacity of 426 m Ah/g for 16 cycles, at current density 100 m A/g. The obtained results indicate that Sn S Nps to be one of the possible promising anode materials for next generation Lithium batteries. Photoluminescence study of Sn S Nps shows a strong green emission at 530 nm. Sn S Nps were also tested for the photocatalytic adsorption of methylene blue and Rhodamine B.

Excellent photoluminescence and electrochemical properties of Sm^(3+) doped Ca_(2)MgSi_(2)O_(7) nanophosphor:Display and electrochemical sensor applications

A series of orange-red light emitting Ca_(2)MgSi_(2)O_(7):Sm^(3+)nanopowders were fabricated via low-cost ecofriendly green combustion technique using Aloe vera gel as fuel.The phase purity of the samples were confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction(PXRD)technique.Pure single-phase tetragonal structure is observed from the PXRD results with no additional impurity peaks.The band gap energy of the fabricated powders was estimated by diffuse reflectance spectra(DRS)and is found to be in the range of 4.01-5.98 eV.A high resolution scanning electron microscope(SEM)was used to study the morphological behaviour of the samples.Honeycomb-like structures are observed from the SEM results.The particle size was evaluated by transmission electron microscopy(TEM)and is found to be~50 nm.The interplanar distance is found to be 0.53 nm.Photoluminescence properties were systematically studied in detail.The phosphors are successfully excited at 403 nm NUV light,producing reddish-orange characteristic emission.The emission peaks are centered at 558(^(4)G_(5/2)→^(6)H_(5/2)),607(^(4)G_(5/2)→^(6)H_(7/2))and 645 nm(^(4)G_(5/2)→^(6)H_(9/2)),respectively.Among the observed peaks the red emanation(^(4)G_(5/2)→^(6)H_(7/2))is stronger than the orange emission(^(4)G_(5/2)→^(6)H_(5/2))in the current investigation.The photoluminescent concentration quenching is noticed above 5 mol%Sm^(3+)ion doping content.The dipole-dipole interaction resulting in cross relaxation is found to be the principal cause of concentration quenching mechanism.The color features such as Commission Internationale de I’Eclairage(CIE)and correlated color temperature(CCT)were studied in detail.The optimized chromaticity coordinates were estimated to be(0.6363,0.3632),which fall in the reddish-orange region.The average CCT value obtained is 3362 K.The average color purity is found to be~82%.Sm^(3+)incorporated Ca_(2)MgSi_(2)O_(7) samples are possible contender for single white light generation commercial candidates owing to their strong hypersensitivity of Sm^(3+)ions through host,least possibility for re-absorption of blue-green emission owing to poor direct f-f excitation of Sm^(3+)ions,and high color purity(reddish-orange emission).The prepared powders exhibit excellent electrochemical redox properties and CPE modified optimized powders show outstanding sensitive response which indicates its use in the potential electrochemical sensor materials for drug sensing studies.

Electrical transport and current properties of rare-earth dysprosium Schottky electrode on p-type GaN at various annealing temperatures

The electrical and current transport properties of rapidly annealed Dy/p-GaN SBD are probed by I-V and C-V techniques. The estimated barrier heights（BH） of as-deposited and 200 ℃ annealed SBDs are 0.80 eV（I-V）/0.93 eV（C-V） and 0.87 eV（I-V）/1.03 eV（C-V）. However, the BH rises to 0.99 eV（I-V）/1.18 eV（C-V）and then slightly deceases to 0.92 eV（I-V）/1.03 eV（C-V） after annealing at 300 ℃ and 400 ℃. The utmost BH is attained after annealing at 300 ℃ and thus the optimum annealing for SBD is 300 ℃. By applying Cheung＇s functions, the series resistance of the SBD is estimated. The BHs estimated by I-V, Cheung＇s and ΨS-V plot are closely matched; hence the techniques used here are consistency and validity. The interface state density of the as-deposited and annealed contacts are calculated and we found that the NSS decreases up to 300 ℃ annealing and then slightly increases after annealing at 400 ℃. Analysis indicates that ohmic and space charge limited conduction mechanisms are found at low and higher voltages in forward-bias irrespective of annealing temperatures. Our experimental results demonstrate that the Poole-Frenkel emission is leading under the reverse bias of Dy/p-GaN SBD at all annealing temperatures.

Rauvolfia serpentina-Mediated Green Synthesis of CuO Nanoparticles and Its Multidisciplinary Studies

Copper oxide nanoparticles （CuO Nps） were successfully synthesized by solution combustion method using aqueous leaf extract of Rauvolfia serpentina as a fuel. The structure and morphology of the CuO nanoparticles （Nps） were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction （PXRD）, UV-visible spectroscopy （UV-visible）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, etc. The PXRD patterns reveal the formation of monoclinic phase with crystallite structure. SEM images indicate that the particles have sponge-like structure being highly porous and agglom- erated with large surface area. The average crystallite sizes were found to be in the range of 10-20 nm by Scherrer＇s method. The CuO Nps size was further confirmed by TEM. Further, CuO Nps exhibit good photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of trypan blue dye, indicating that it acts as a promising semiconducting material. The antibacterial properties of CuO nanoparticles were investigated against pathogenic bacterial strains, namely Gram -ve Escherichia coli （NCIM-5051） and Pseudomonas desmolyticum （NCIM-2028） and Gram ＋ve bacteria Staphylococcus aureus （NCIM- 5022） using the agar well diffusion method.