Enhanced Work Function of Al-Doped Zinc-Oxide Thin Films by Oxygen Inductively Coupled Plasma Treatment

Al-doped zinc-oxide （AZO） thin films treated by oxygen and chlorine inductively coupled plasma （ICP） were compared. Kelvin probe （KP） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） were employed to characterize the effect of treatment. The results of KP measurement show that the surface work function of AZO thin films can increase up to 5.92 eV after oxygen ICP （O-ICP）＇s treatment, which means that the work function was increased by at least 1.1 eV. However, after the treatment of chlorine ICP （CI-ICP）, the work function increased to 5.44 eV, and the increment was 0.6 eV. And 10 days later, the work function increment was still 0.4 eV after O-ICP＇s treatment, while the work function after Cl-ICP＇s treatment came back to the original value only after 48 hours. The XPS results suggested that the O-ICP treatment was more effective than CI-ICP for enhancing the work function of AZO films, which is well consistent with KP results.

Zinc-oxide/PDMS-clad tapered fiber saturable absorber for passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser

We propose and demonstrate a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL)based on zinc-oxide/polydimethylsiloxane(ZnO/PDMS)saturable absorber(SA)that evanescently interacts with the light on a tapered fiber.The ZnO/PDMS composite is coated on the whole surface of the tapered fiber to guarantee the maximum efficiency of the SA device,with a measured insertion loss of 0.87 dB and a modulation depth of 6.4%.The proposed laser can generate soliton mode-locking operation at a threshold power of 33.07 mW.The generated output pulse yields a repetition rate and pulse width of 9.77 MHz and 1.03 ps,respectively.These results indicate that the proposed ZnO/PDMS-clad tapered fiber could be useful as an efficient,compatible,and low-cost SA device for ultrafast laser applications.

White Light Emission from the Composite System of ZnO/Porous Si

We report that the composites of ZnO/porous Si （PS） can exhibit intensively white photoluminescence （PL） under proper excitation wavelength. The PS sample is formed by electrochemical anodization of n-type （111） silicon. ZnO films are then deposited on the PS surface by pulsed laser deposition （PLD）. ZnO is transparent in the visible region, so the red PL from PS can be transmitted through the ZnO films. White PL from the ZnO layer on PS can be obtained, which consists of blue-green emission from ZnO and red emission from PS. The x-ray diffraction （XRD） pattern shows that the ZnO films deposited on PS surface are non-crystalline. Due to the roughness of the PS surface, some cracks appear in the ZnO films, which could be seen from the scanning electron microscopy （SEM） images.

A Chemical Synthesis of Ferromagnetic Zn0.99Co0.01O Nano-Needles

Zn0.99Co0.01O nano-needles are synthesized by using pure ZnO powder as the starting material via chemical reactions in ammonia aqueous solution. The nano-needles show the room-temperature ferromagnetism （RTFM） characterized by using a superconducting quantum interference device. Non-reductive chemical synthesis steps ensure to prevent forming Co-metal nanoclusters within the doped sample. All the results of thermal gravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and ultraviolet spectroscopy demonstrate that Co ions have doped into ZnO lattices and occupied some Zn sites without changing the wurtzite structure of ZnO lattices, and no potential second phase except for the doped Co ions substituting the Zn sites in ZnO lattice can account for the observed RTFM behaviour. Moreover, the synthesis process is of high reproducibility over 80% which is higher than that of commonly-used sol-gel method.

Synthesis and Field Emission of ZnO Nanostructures on CuO Catalyzed Porous Silicon Substrate

Mass production of ZnO nanobelts and hexagonal nanorods has been successfully synthesized on CuO catalyzed porous silicon （PS） using a simple vapour-solid （VS） growth method. A comparison of their morphologies is investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The transmission electron microscopy （TEM） confirms that ZnO nanobelts and nanorods are single crystalline with the growth direction of （0110） and （0001）, respectively. Field emission tests indicate that the ZnO nanostructures on porous silicon have low turn-on field of about 3.6 V/μm （at 1.0μA/cm^2） and the threshold field of about 8.3 V/μm （at 1.0mA/cm^2）, high emission site density （ESD） of approximately 104 cm^-2.

Photovoltaic and Electroluminescence Characters in Hybrid ZnO and Conjugated Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Devices

We report electroluminescence in hybrid ZnO and conjugated polymer poly[2-methoxy-5-（3′, 7′-dimethyloctyloxy）- 1,4-phenylenevinylene] （MDMO-PPV） bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells. Photoluminescence quenching experimental results indicate that the ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer occurs from MDMO-PPV to ZnO under illumination. The ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer effect is induced because ZnO has an electron affinity a bout 1.2 e V greater than that of MDMO-PP V. Electron ＇back transfer＇ can occur if the interfacial barrier between ZnO and MDMO-PPV can be overcome by applying a substantial electric field. Therefore, electrolumi- nescence action due to the fact that the back transfer effect can be observed in the ZnO：MDMO-PPV devices since a forward bias is applied. The photovoltaic and electroluminescence actions in the same ZnO：MDMO-PPV device can be induced by different injection ways： photoinjection and electrical injection. The devices are expected to provide an opportunity for dual functionality devices with photovoltaic effect and electroluminescence character.

Structure and Photoluminescence of Polycrystalline MgxZn1-xO Films

Different photoluminescence （PL） spectra are observed for rf magnetron sputtered polycrystalline Mg0.25Zn0.75O and Mg0.37Zn0.63O films on silicon substrates when excited by different wavelengths. When the excitation wavelength is 280nm, a UV emission peak at 370nm and a blue peak at 462nm are generated for the Mg0.25Zn0.75O film, and those two peaks for the Mg0.37Zn0.63O film shift to 366nm and 466nm, respectively. The wavelengths of the PL peaks are related to the excitation wavelength. The stronger peak is obtained in the blue band due to a large number of oxygen vacancies caused by excess Zn and Mg atoms, while the weaker peak is obtained in the ultraviolet band.

ZnO Nanorods Produced by the Method of Arc Discharge

ZnO nanorods are fabricated by arc discharge with ZnO powder as source materials. The sample is characterized by x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering spectra, scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The ZnO nanorods exhibit single crystals with the hexagonal wurtzite structure. Many of them are tetrapod-like. The diameters range from several nanometres to about lOOnm, and the main diameters of the nanorods is around 20nm. The length-to-diameter ratio is more than 5, and the grown directions are along the [001] axis. Photoluminescence spectra show a narrow ultraviolet emission at around 389nm and a broad green emission at around 520 nm. The growth process can be interpreted by the vapour-solid mechanism.