Diameter-dependent ultra-high thermoelectric performance of ZnO nanowires

Zinc oxide(ZnO)shows great potential in electronics,but its large intrinsic thermal conductivity limits its thermoelectric applications.In this work,we explore the significant carrier transport capacity and diameter-dependent thermoelectric characteristics of wurtzite-ZnO(0001)nanowires based on first-principles and molecular dynamics simulations.Under the synergistic effect of band degeneracy and weak phonon-electron scattering,P-type(ZnO)_(73) nanowires achieve an ultrahigh power factor above 1500μW·cm^(-1)·K^(-2)over a wide temperature range.The lattice thermal conductivity and carrier transport properties of ZnO nanowires exhibit a strong diameter size dependence.When the ZnO nanowire diameter exceeds 12.72A,the carrier transport properties increase significantly,while the thermal conductivity shows a slight increase with the diameter size,resulting in a ZT value of up to 6.4 at 700 K for P-type(ZnO)_(73).For the first time,the size effect is also illustrated by introducing two geometrical configurations of the ZnO nanowires.This work theoretically depicts the size optimization strategy for the thermoelectric conversion of ZnO nanowires.

ZnO nanowires based degradable high-performance photodetectors for eco-friendly green electronics

Disposable devices designed for single and/or multiple reliable measurements over a short duration have attracted considerable interest recently. However, these devices often use non-recyclable and non-biodegradable materials and wasteful fabrication methods. Herein, we present ZnO nanowires(NWs) based degradable high-performance UV photodetectors(PDs) on flexible chitosan substrate. Systematic investigations reveal the presented device exhibits excellent photo response, including high responsivity(55 A/W), superior specific detectivity(4×10^(14) jones), and the highest gain(8.5×10~(10)) among the reported state of the art biodegradable PDs. Further, the presented PDs display excellent mechanical flexibility under wide range of bending conditions and thermal stability in the measured temperature range(5–50 ℃).The biodegradability studies performed on the device, in both deionized(DI) water(pH≈6) and PBS solution(pH=7.4),show fast degradability in DI water(20 mins) as compared to PBS(48 h). These results show the potential the presented approach holds for green and cost-effective fabrication of wearable, and disposable sensing systems with reduced adverse environmental impact.

Pick-up strategies for and electrical characterization of ZnO nanowires with a SEM-based nanomanipulator

Because of their unique mechanical and electrical properties,zinc oxide(ZnO)nanowires are used widely in microscopic and nanoscopic devices and structures,but characterizing them remains challenging.In this paper,two pick-up strategies are proposed for characterizing the electrical properties of ZnO nanowires using SEM equipped with a nanomanipulator.To pick up nanowires efficiently,direct sampling is compared with electrification fusing,and experiments show that direct sampling is more stable while electrification fusing is more efficient.ZnO nanowires have cut-off properties,and good Schottky contact with the tungsten probes was established.In piezoelectric experiments,the maximum piezoelectric voltage generated by an individual ZnO nanowire was 0.07 V,and its impedance decreased with increasing input signal frequency until it became stable.This work offers a technical reference for the pick-up and construction of nanomaterials and nanogeneration technology.

An Evanescent Coupling Approach for Optical Characterization of ZnO Nanowires

Using a nanoscale silica fiber taper,light can be efficiently coupled into a single ZnO nanowire by means of evanescent coupling. The method is valid for launching light into a single nanowire in the ultraviolet to infrared range with a coupling efficiency of 25%, Low-loss optical guiding of ZnO nanowires is demonstrated, and the photoluminescence of a single ZnO nanowire is also observed. Compared to conventional approaches in which a lensfocused laser beam is used to excite nanowires at specific wavelengths,this evanescent coupling approach has advantages such as high coupling efficiency and broad-band validity, and it is promising for the optical characterization of semiconductor nanowires or nanoribbons.

Probe the Effects of Surface Adsorbates on ZnO Nanowire Conductivity using Dielectric Force Microscopy

Characterization of electric properties of nanomaterials usually involves fabricating field effect transistors （FET） and deriving materials properties from device performances. However, the quality of electrode contacts in FET devices heavily influences the device performance, which makes it difficult to obtain the intrinsic electric properties of nanomaterials. Dielectric force microscopy （DFM）, a contactless method developed recently, can detect the low-frequency dielectric responses of nanomaterials without electric contact, which avoids the influence of electric contact and can be used to study the intrinsic conductivity of nanomaterials. Here we study the influences of surface adsorbates on the conductivity of ZnO nanowires （NWs） by using FET and DFM methods. The conductivity of ZnO NW is much larger in N2 atmosphere than that in ambient environment as measured by FET device, which is further proven by DFM measurement that the ZnO NW exhibits larger dielectric response in N2 environment, and the influence of electrode contacts on measurement can be ruled out. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the adsorbates on ZnO NW surface highly influence the conductivity of ZnO NW rather than the electrode contact. This work also verifies the capability of DFM in measuring electric properties of nanomaterials.

Optoelectronic characterisation of an individual ZnO nanowire in contact with a micro-grid template

Optoelectronic characterisation of an individual ZnO nanowire in contact with a micro-grid template has been studied. The low-cost micro-grid template made by photolithography is used to fabricate the ohmic contact metal electrodes. The current increases linearly with the bias, indicating good ohmic contacts between the nanowire and the electrodes. The resistivity of the ZnO nanowire is calculated to be 3.8 Ω·cm. We investigate the photoresponses of an individual ZnO nanowire under different light illumination using light emitting diodes （λ= 505 nm, 460 nm, 375 nm） as excitation sources in atmosphere. When individual ZnO nanowire is exposured to different light irradiation, we find that it is extremely sensitive to UV illumination; the conductance is much larger upon UV illumination than that in the dark at room temperature. This phenomenon may be related to the surface oxygen molecule adsorbtion, which indicates their potential application to the optoelectronic switching device.

Effect of growth time on morphology and photovoltaic properties of ZnO nanowire array films

Single-crystalline ZnO nanowire arrays with different aspect ratios and nanowire densities were prepared by the hydrothermal growing method using polyethyleneimine （PEI） as a surfactant. PEI can only hinder the lateral growth of the ZnO nanowires, which is observed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM） analysis. Dye-sensitized solar cells were assembled by the ZnO nanowire arrays with different thicknesses, which can be controlled by the growing time and characterized using photocurrent-voltage measurements. Their photocurrent densities and energy allover conversion efficiencies increased with increasing ZnO nanowire lengths. Short-circuit current density of 4.31 mA.cm-2 and allover energy conversion efficiency of 0.87% were achieved with 12.9-μm-long ZnO nanowire arrays.

First-principles study of the electronic and optical properties of ZnO nanowires

The geometric, energetic, electronic structures and optical properties of ZnO nanowires （NWs） with hexagonal cross sections are investigated by using the first-principles calculation of plane wave ultra-soft pseudo-potential technology based on the density functional theory （DFT）. The calculated results reveal that the initial Zn-O double layers merge into single layers after structural relaxations, the band gap and binding energies decrease with the increase of the ZnO nanowire size. Those properties show great dimension and size dependence. It is also found that the dielectric functions of ZnO NWs have different peaks with respect to light polarization, and the peaks of ZnO NWs exhibit a significant blueshift in comparison with those of bulk ZnO. Our results gives some reference to the thorough understanding of optical properties of ZnO, and also enables more precise monitoring and controlling during the growth of ZnO materials to be possible.

Lasing behaviour from the condensation of polaronic excitons in a ZnO nanowire

Atoms under optical and magnetic trapping in a limited space at a very low temperature can lead to Bose-Einstein condensation （BEC）, even in a one-dimensional （1D） optical lattice. However, can the confinment of dense excitons in a 1D semiconductor microstructure easily reach the excitonic BEC？ A lightly Mn（II）-doped ZnO nanowire under a femtosecond laser pulse pump at room temperature produces single-mode lasing from coherent bipolaronic excitons, which is much like a macroscopic quantum state due to the condensation of the bipoaronic excitons if not real BEC. In this process, longitudinal biphonon binding with the exciton plays an important role. We revisit this system and propose possibility of bipolaronic exciton condensation. More studies are needed for this condensation phenomenon in 1D microcavity systems.

Low-temperature synthesis of novel ZnO nanowire microspheres on silicon substrates

Microspheres covered with ZnO nanowires were fabricated by oxidative evaporation of pure zinc powder without catalyst at 450℃. X-my diffraction （XRD） demonstrates that the as-obtained sample can be indexed to high crystaUinity with wurtzite structure. The structural features associated with different growth stages were monitored using scanning elec- tron microscope （SEM）, which described the direct observation nucleation and growth process. Meanwhile, room temperature photoluminescence （PL） spectrum showed a UV emission at -388 nm and a broad green emission at -505 nm. The ZnO nanowires with the self-catalyzed growth mechanism were discussed in detail.

Flexible electrically pumped random lasing from ZnO nanowires based on metal–insulator–semiconductor structure

Flexible electrically pumped random laser（RL） based on ZnO nanowires is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. The ZnO nanowires each with a length of 5 μm and an average diameter of 180 nm are synthesized on flexible substrate（ITO/PET） by a simple hydrothermal method. No obvious visible defect-related-emission band is observed in the photoluminescence（PL） spectrum, indicating that the ZnO nanowires grown on the flexible ITO/PET substrate have few defects. In order to achieve electrically pumped random lasing with a lower threshold, the metal–insulator–semiconductor（MIS） structure of Au/SiO2/ZnO on ITO/PET substrate is fabricated by low temperature process. With sufficient forward bias, the as-fabricated flexible device exhibits random lasing, and a low threshold current of ～ 11.5 m A and high luminous intensity are obtained from the ZnO-based random laser. It is believed that this work offers a case study for developing the flexible electrically pumped random lasing from ZnO nanowires.

Optical processes in the formation of stimulated emission from ZnO nanowires

This paper studies power dependent photoluminescence spectra, the stimulated emission occurring at ultraviolet （UV） band instead of the green emission band of ZnO nanowires, which are prepared with a chemical reduction method. The dynamics of the UV emission and green emission is given to demonstrate the reason of stimulated emission occurring at UV band but not the green emission band under high excitation, which indicates that the slow decay rate of trap state makes it easy to be fully filled and saturated, while the fast decay rate of near-band-edge exciton state makes the UV emission dominate the radiative recombination under high excitation. The UV emission, as well as the corresponding stimulated emission, occurs in competition with the green deep-trap emission. In addition, when pump fluence further increases, the multiple lasing modes appear. The dependence of these lasing modes on the pump fluence is first discussed. This diagram should be helpful to understand and design the optical nanodevices of ZnO nanowires.

Seed Free Growth of Aligned ZnO Nanowire Arrays on AZO Substrate

In the absence of commonly used seed layer, we can still successfully synthesized aligned ZnO nanowire arrays by the hydrothermal method. By using aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) glass as a substrate, high-density and vertically aligned ZnO nanowires were synthesized directly on the substrate in the absence of the ZnO seed layer. The current-voltage curve indicated that the sample grown on AZO glass substrate in the absence of seed layer possesses better conductivity than that synthesized on FTO glass substrate with ZnO seed layer. Thus, a simplified, seed-free and low-cost experimental protocol was reported here for large-scale production of high quality ZnO nanowire arrays with promoted conductivity.

Effect of Sb-doping on the morphology and dielectric properties of chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters

Chrysanthemum-like ZnO nanowire clusters with different Sb-doping concentrations were prepared using a hy- drothermal process. The microstructures, morphologies, and dielectric properties of the as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM）, field emission environment scanning electron microscope （FEESEM）, and microwave vector network analyzer respectively. The results indicate that the as-prepared products are Sb-doped ZnO single crystallines with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, the flower bud saturation degree Fd is obviously different from that of the pure ZnO nanowire clusters, the good dielectric loss property is found in Sb-doped ZnO products with low density, and the dielectric loss tangent tanSe increases with the increase of the Sb-doping concentration in a certain concentration range.

Emerging of Ag particles on ZnO nanowire arrays for blue-ray hologram storage

Noble-metal/metal-oxide-semiconductor nanostructures as an important material platform have been applied in massive data storage. ZnO exhibits excellent optical modulation ability. However, plasmon induced charge separation effect in Ag/ZnO systems is very weak due to the low chemical activity on surface of the oxide. Herein, we prepare ZnO nanowire arrays via the hydrothermal method, and measure their absorption spectra, photoluminescence spectra and electron paramagnetic resonance, proving the existence of oxygen defects in ZnO. Accordingly, an idea of “electron reverse transfer” is proposed such that blue-ray(403.4 nm) induces reduction of Ag^(+) ions through the excitation of ZnO. Rod-like and spherical silver nanoparticles emerge on the surface and in the gap of ZnO nanowire arrays, respectively, after the visible light stimulus. It is found that nanowire density, oxygen defects and surface roughness are dependent on hydrothermal time. The optimized diffraction efficiency of 0.08% is obtained for reconstructing hologram in the nanocomposite film. This work provides a bright way for construction of ZnO-based optoelectronic integrated devices.

Mechanical and field-emission properties of individual ZnO nanowires studied in situ by transmission electron microscopy

The mechanical and field-emission properties of individual ZnO nanowires,grown by a solid-vapour phase thermal sublimation process,were studied in situ by transmission electron microscopy(TEM)using a home-made TEM specimen holder.The mechanical resonance is electrically induced by applying an oscillating voltage,and in situ imaging has been achieved simultaneously.The mechanical results indicate that the elastic bending modulus of individual ZnO nanowires were measured to be～58 GPa.A nanobalance was buil...

The research on suspended ZnO nanowire field-effect transistor

This paper reports that a novel type of suspended ZnO nanowire field-effect transistors （FETs） were successfully fabricated using a photolithography process, and their electrical properties were characterized by I-V measurements. Single-crystalline ZnO nanowires were synthesized by a hydrothermal method, they were used as a suspended ZnO nanowire channel of back-gate field-effect transistors （FET）. The fabricated suspended nanowire FETs showed a pchannel depletion mode, exhibited high on-off current ratio of -10^5. When VDS = 2.5V, the peak transconductances of the suspended FETs were 0.396 μS, the oxide capacitance was found to be 1.547 fF, the pinch-off voltage VTH was about 0.6 V, the electron mobility was on average 50.17cm2/Vs. The resistivity of the ZnO nanowire channel was estimated to be 0.96 × 10^2 Ω cm at VGS = 0 V. These characteristics revealed that the suspended nanowire FET fabricated by the photolithography process had excellent performance. Better contacts between the ZnO nanowire and metal electrodes could be improved through annealing and metal deposition using a focused ion beam.

Effect of grain boundary on electric performance of ZnO nanowire transistor with wrap-around gate

A novel grain boundary(GB) model characterized with different angles and positions in the nanowire was set up.By means of device simulator,the effects of grain boundary angle and location on the electrical performance of ZnO nanowire FET(Nanowire Field-Effect Transistor) with a wrap-around gate configuration,were explored.With the increase of the grain boundary angle,the electrical performance degrades gradually.When a grain boundary with a smaller angle,such as 5° GB,is located close to the source or drain electrode,the grain boundary is partially depleted by an electric field peak,which leads to the decrease of electron concentration and the degradation of transistor characteristics.When the 90° GB is located at the center of the nanowire,the action of the electric field is balanced out,so the electrical performance of transistor is better than that of the 90° GB located at the other positions.

Reduction of defect-induced ferromagnetic stability in passivated ZnO nanowires

First-principles calculations are performed to study the electronic structures and magnetic properties of ZnO nanowires（NM）. Our results indicate that the single Zn defect can induce large local magnetic moment（～ 2μB） in the ZnO NWs, regardless of the surface modification. Interestingly, we find that local magnetic defects have strong spin interaction, and favor room-temperature ferromagnetism in bared ZnO NW. On the other hand, although H passivation does not destroy the local magnetic moment of Zn vacancy, it does greatly reduce the spin interaction between magnetic defects. Therefore, our results indicate that H passivation should be avoided in the process of experiments to maintain the room-temperature ferromagnetism.

Characterization of ZnO nanowire field-effect transistors exposed to ultraviolet radiation

A ZnO nanowire （NW） field-effect transistor （FET） is fabricated and characterized, and its characterization of ultraviolet radiation is also investigated. On the one hand, when the radiation time is 5 min, the radiation intensity increases to 5.1μW/cm^2, while the saturation drain current （Idss） of the nanowire FET decreases sharply from 560 to 320 nA. The field effect mobility（μ） of the ZnO nanowire FET drops from 50.17 to 23.82cm^2/（V·s） at VDS= 2.5V, and the channel resistivity of the FET increases by a factor of 2.0n the other hand, when the radiation intensity is 2.5μW/cm^2, the DC performance of the FET does not change significantly with irradiation time （its performances at irradiation times of 5 and 20 min are almost the same）; in particular, the Idss of NW FET only reduces by about 50 nA. Research is underway to reveal the intrinsic properties of suspended ZnO nanowires and to explore their device