Activator-assisted electroless deposition of copper nanostructured films

This paper showed simple and effective synthesis of copper nanoparticles within controlled diameter using direct electroless deposition on glass substrates, following the sensitization and activation steps. Electroless-deposited metals, such as Cu, Co, Ni, and Ag, and their alloys had many advantages in micro- and nanotechnologies. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of copper deposits were characterized using X-ray diffraction （XRD）, atomic force microscopy （AFM）, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The structural data was further analyzed using the Rietveld refinement program. Structural studies reveal that the deposited copper prefers a （111） orientation. AFM studies suggest the deposited materials form compact, uniform, and nanocrystalline phases with a high tendency to self-organize. The data show that the particle size can be controlled by controlling the activator concentration. The absorption spectra of the as-deposited copper nanoparticles reveal that the plasmonic peak broadens and exhibits a blue shift with decreasing particle size.

Partial electrical potential distribution around nanospheres in metallic nanostructured films

In light of the nanostructured surface model, where half-spherical nanoparticles grow out symmetrically from a plane metallic film, the mathematical model for the partial electrical potential around nanospheres is developed when a uniform external electric field is applied. On the basis of these models, the three-dimensional spatial distribution of the partial electrical potential is obtained and given in the form of a curved surface using a numerical computation method. Our results show that the electrical potential distribution around the nanospheres exhibits an obvious geometrical symmetry. These results could serve as a reference for investigating many abnormal phenomena such as abnormal infrared effects, which are found when CO molecules are adsorbed on the surface of nanostructured transition metals.

Facile Synthesis of 3D Porous Flower-like ZnO Micro/nanostructure Films and Their Photocatalytic Performance

3D porous flower-like ZnO micro/nanostructure films grown on Ti substrates are synthesized via a very facile electrodeposition technique followed by heat treatment process. The ZnO architecture is assembled with ultra thin sheets, which consist of numbers of nanoparticles and pores, and the size of the nanoparticles can be controlled by adjusting the electrodepo- sition time or calcination temperature. It is worth noting that this synthetic method can provide an effective route for other porous metal oxide nanostructure films. Moreover, the photocatalytic performance shows the porous ZnO is an ideal photocatalyst.

Gas sensor using gold doped copper oxide nanostructured thin films as modified cladding fiber

We investigate the spectral response of nanostructured copper oxides thin film. Gold was doped in two different concentrations(2% and 4%) using the spray method. A novel ammonia gas sensor at various concentrations(0–500 ppm)was fabricated by replacing CuO films with a clad region. In addition, the effect of gold doping on structural, optical,and morphological properties has been demonstrated. The study shows that the spectral intensity increases linearly with ammonia concentration. The 4% Au doped CuO presents higher sensitivity compared with 2% doped and pure copper oxides. Time response characteristics of the sensor are also reported.

Electrochemical Deposition and Optimization of Thermoelectric Nanostructured Bismuth Telluride Thick Films

Bismuth telluride thick films are suitable for thermoelectric (TE) devices covering large areas and operating at small-to-moderate temperature differences (20 - 200 K). High efficiency and high coefficient of performance (COP) are expected to be achieved by using thick films in some cooling applications. Bismuth telluride thick films fabrication have been achieved with Galvanostatic and Potentionstatic deposition. Stoichiometric bismuth telluride thick film was obtained by Galvanostatic deposition at current density of 3.1 mAcm-2. Bismuth telluride films with average growth rate of 10 μmh-1 and different composition were obtained. Effects of current density and composition of electrolyte in Galvanostatic deposition were studied. The current density affected the film compactness, where films deposited at lower current density were more compact than those deposited at higher current density. The morphology of the films did not depend on the current density, but chemical composition was observed when different composition of electrolyte was used. Effects of distance between electrodes, composition of electrolyte solution, and stirring in Potentionstatic deposition were studied. The shorter the distance between electrodes, the higher the electric field, thus the higher current density was applied and the deposited film was less compact. The current density increased more rapidly with stirring during electrodeposition which leads to less compact film. Through this study, films electrode-posited from solution containing 0.013 M Bi(NO3)3.5 H2O, 0.01 M TeO2 and 1 M HNO3 at 3.1 mA cm-2 for 6 hours without stirring and with interelectrode distance of 4.5 cm were free-standing with average film thickness of 60 μm and optimum film composition of Bi2Te3. The crystallite size of the later films was found to be around 4.3 nm using Scherrer’s equation from XRD patterns. Also, negative Seebeck coefficient for the same samples was revealed with an average value of -82 μV.K-1.

Structural,Morphological and Electrical Properties of In-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanostructure Thin Films Grown on p-Type Gallium Nitride by Simultaneous Radio-Frequency Direct-Current Magnetron Co-Sputtering

Zinc oxide （ZnO） is one of the most promising and frequently used semiconductor materials. In-doped nanos- tructure ZnO thin films are grown on p-type gallium nitride substrates by employing the simultaneous rf and dc magnetron co-sputtering technique. The effect of In-doping on structural, morphological and electrical properties is studied. The different dopant concentrations are accomplished by varying the direct current power of the In target while keeping the fixed radio frequency power of the ZnO target through the co-sputtering deposition technique by using argon as the sputtering gas at ambient temperature. The structural analysis confirms that all the grown thin films preferentially orientate along the c-axis with the wurtzite hexagonal crystal structure without having any kind of In oxide phases. The presenting Zn, 0 and In elements＇ chemical compositions are identified with EDX mapping analysis of the deposited thin films and the calculated M ratio has been found to decrease with the increasing In power. The surface topographies of the grown thin films are examined with the atomic force microscope technique. The obtained results reveal that the grown film roughness increases with the In power. The Hall measurements ascertain that all the grown films have n-type conductivity and also the other electrical parameters such as resistivity,mobility and carrier concentration are analyzed.

Enhancing low-field magnetoresistance of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 films deposited on anodized aluminium-oxide membranes

In this paper we report a new method to fabricate nanostructured films, La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 （LCMO） nanostructured films have been fabricated by using pulsed electron beam deposition （PED） on anodized aluminium oxide （AAO） membranes, The magnetic and electronic transport properties are investigated by using the Quantum Design physics properties measurement system （PPMS） and magnetic properties measurement system （MPMS）. The resistance peak temperature （Tp） is about 85 K and the Curie temperature （To） is about 250 K for the LCMO film on an AAO membrane with a pore diameter of 20nm. Large magnetoresistance ratio （MR） is observed near Tp. The MR is as high as 85% under 1 T magnetic field. The great enhancement of MR at low magnetic fields could be attributed to the lattice distortion and the grain boundary that are induced by the nanopores on the AAO membrane.

MLCROSTRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF C-Cu NANOSTRUCTURE THIN FILM

Nanostructured C-Cu thin films were deposited by reactive sputtering method and cosputtering method. The relationships between microstructures, properties, and deposition parameters were studied and the results obtained from TEM, AFM, and XPS. indicate that the thin films are nanostructural, and have good in-depth uniformity. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) found that the nanosize Cu particles have the fcc structure and the others are amorphous carbon or nanocrystallized graphitic carbon. The peak positions of the Cu and C in XPS indicate them to be at the elemental state. In the JR transmission spectrum, diamond two-phonon absorption and graphite Reman peaks were observed, which suggests microcrystal diamond particles and graphite components exrist in the C-Cu film. The higher electrical resistivity was obtained.

Microstructure and optical absorption properties of Au/NiO thin films

Au nanoparticles dispersed NiO composite films were prepared by a chemical solution method.The phase structure,microstructure,surface chemical state,and optical absorption properties of the films were characterized by X-ray diffraction,transmission electron microscopy,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,and Uv-vis spectrometer.The results indicate that Au particles with the average diameters of 35-42 nm are approximately spherical and disperse in the NiO matrix.The optical absorption peaks due to the surface plasmon resonance of Au particles shift to the shorter wavelength and intensify with the increase of Au content.The bandwidth narrows when the Au content increases from 8.4wt% to 45.2wt%,but widens by further increasing the Au content from 45.2wt% to 60.5wt%.The band gap Eg increases with the increase of Au contents from 8.4wt% to 45.2wt%,but decreases by further increasing the Au content.

Soft magnetic properties of (Ni_(50)Fe_(50)) SiO_2 granular thin films for high frequency application

A series of (Ni50Fe50)x(SiO2)(1-x) films with different volume fraction x was fabricated by magnetron co-sputtering technique. The microstructure, magnetic and electrical properties were investigated systematically by using X-ray diffraction, transmission electronic microscope, vibrating sample magnetometer and the traditional four point measurement method of resistivity. The results show that the samples consist of nano-scaled Ni50Fe50 metallic particles with fcc structure uniformly embedded in amorphous insulating SiO2 matrix, and the particle size decreases with the decrease of x. The rapid change of coercivity with x is observed, and a minimum value 160 A·m-1 of Hc was obtained for the sample of x=0.83 with film thickness of 180 nm, which can be contributed to the exchange coupling between nano-scaled Ni50Fe50 particles. At the frequency lower than 1 GHz, the real part μ′ of complex permeability keeps about 110 and the image part μ″ is less than 15. Besides, this film exhibits high resistivity ρ=263 μΩ·cm, high saturation magnetization 4πMs=1.25 T, high in-plane magnetic anisotropy field Hk=6.37 kA·m-1, and the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) frequency is estimated to be 2.8 GHz. Therefore, this film can be used in high frequency devices operating over 2 GHz.

Modulation of the cutoff wavelength in the spectra for solar selective absorbing coating based on high-entropy films

This paper demonstrates an intrinsic modulation of the cutoff wavelength in the spectra for solar selective absorbing coating based on high-entropy films.The(NiCuCrFeSi)N((NCCFS)N)films were deposited by a magnetron sputtering system.Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy analysis confirms the uniform composition and good homogeneity of these high-entropy films.The real and imaginary parts of the permittivity for the(NCCFS)N material are calculated on the basis of the reflectance spectral fitting results.A redshift cutoff wavelength of the reflectance spectrum with increasing nitrogen gas flow rate exists because of the different levels of dispersion when changing nitrogen content.To realize significant solar absorption,the film surface was reconstituted to match its impedance with air by designing a pyramid nanostructure metasurface.Compared with the absorptance of the as-deposited films,the designed metasurface obtains a significant improvement in solar absorption with the absorptance increasing from 0.74 to 0.99.The metasurfaces also show low mid-infrared emissions with thermal emittance that can be as low as 0.06.These results demonstrate a new idea in the design of solar selective absorbing surface with controllable absorptance and low infrared emission for high-efficiency photo-thermal conversion.

Structural and optical properties of nano-spin coated sol-gel porous TiO_2 films

Three thicknesses of TiO2 films, 174, 195, and 229 nm, were deposited onto quartz substrates by sol–gel spin coating method. The as-deposited thin films were characterized by nano-crystallite with different sizes (19–46 nm) and relatively high porous structure. Optical constants were determined and showed the lowest refractive index of 1.66 for the as-prepared films that ever reported till now. Obtained results were discussed through current theoretical ideas.

Strongly enhanced flux pinning in the YBa_2Cu_3O_(7-X) films with the co-doping of Ba TiO_3 nanorod and Y_2O_3 nanoparticles at 65 K

YBa2Cu3O7-x（YBCO） films with co-doping BaTiO3（BTO） and Y2O3 nanostructures were prepared by metal organic deposition using trifluoroacetates（TFA-MOD）. The properties of the BTO/Y2O3co-doped YBCO films with different excess yttrium have been systematically studied by x-ray diffraction（XRD）, Raman spectra, and scanning electron microscope（SEM）. The optimized content of yttrium excess in the BTO/Y2O3co-doped YBCO films is 10 mol.%, and the critical current density is as high as - 17 mA/cm^2（self-field, 65 K） by the magnetic signal. In addition, the Y2Cu2O5 was formed when the content of yttrium excess increases to 24 mol.%, which may result in the deterioration of the superconducting properties and the microstructure. The unique combination of the different types of nanostructures of BTO and Y2O3 in the doped YBCO films, compared with the pure YBCO films and BTO doped YBCO films, enhances the critical current density（JC） not only at the self-magnetic field, but also in the applied magnetic field.

Influence of preparation methods on photoluminescence properties of ZnO films on quartz glass

The influence of preparation methods on the photoluminescence properties of ZnO film was studied.Two methods were applied to fabricate ZnO films in a conventional pulsed laser deposition apparatus.One is high temperature(500-700 ℃)oxidation of the metallic zinc film that is obtained by pulsed laser deposition.The other is pulse laser ablation of Zn target in oxygen atmosphere at low temperature(100-250 ℃).The photoluminescence property was detected by PL spectrum.The room temperature PL spectra of the ZnO films obtained by oxidation method show single violet luminescence emission centered at 424 nm(or 2.90 eV)without any accompanied deep-level emission and UV emission.The violet emission is attributed to interstitial zinc in the films.Nanostructure ZnO film with c-axis(002)orientation is obtained by pulsed laser deposition.The ZnO film deposited at 200 ℃ shows single strong ultraviolet emission.The excellent UV emission is attributed to the good crystalline quality of the film and low intrinsic defects at such low temperature.

RESONANT PHOTOEMISSION OF BULK CeO_(2) AND NANO-CeO_(2) FILMS

Photoemission behaviors of nano-CeO2 films with particle sizes ranging from 8 nm to 50 nm and bulk CeO2 in Ce 4 d-4 f absorption region have been investigated. Resonant enhancements of Ce 4 f valance band and Ce 5 p bands for nano film and bulk material have been observed. The variation of electron density of states in valance bands of nano and bulk structures of CeO2 is discussed in terms of Ce 4 d-4 f resonance.

Effect of Pretreatment of TaN Substrates on Atomic Layer Deposition Growth of Ru Thin Films

The polycrystalline ruthenium films are grown on TaN substrates by atomic layer deposition （ALD） using bis（cyclopentadienyl） ruthenium [RuCp2] and oxygen as ruthenium precursor and reactant respectively at a deposition temperature of 330℃. The low-energy Ar ion bombardment and Ru pre-deposition are performed to the underlying TaN substrates before ALD process in order to improve the Ru nucleation. X-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy are carried out to characterize the properties of ALD Ru films. The results show that the nucleation density of Ru films with Ar^＋ bombardment to the underlying TaN substrates is much higher than that of the ones without any pretreatment. The possible reasons are discussed.

Synthesis and Growth Mechanism of Net-like Titanate Nanowire Films via Low-temperature and Low-alkali-concentration Route

Net-like titanate nanowire films can be grown on Ti substrates by non-hydrothermal treatment of Ti foils in alkali-H_2O_2 aqueous solutions with a low alkali concentration of 2 M at 60-80. The growth mechanism of such films has been investigated by identifying the role of both H_2O_2 and alkali in the nanowire formation and capturing the film morphology at early growth stages. It is found that the presence of H_2O_2 is necessary for the nanowire growth, and sufficient amount of H_2O_2 is needed to produce well-shaped nanowires.The nanowire growth is also strongly dependant on the alkali used, and nanowire films are formed only when metal hydroxides which can react with TiO_2 to form layer-structured titanates are chosen. Our results have also revealed that the heterogeneous deposition of titanate on Ti substrate results in the growth of titanate sheets, and the nanowire formation is via a splitting process by which each titanate sheet gradually evolves into nanowire thin layer. Based on the experimental results, a detailed mechanism is proposed for the growth of titanate nanowire films in alkali-H_2O_2 aqueous solutions at low temperature.

Mierostructral Evolution of Well-aligned ZnO Nanorods Array Films in Aqueous Solution

By means of scanning electron microscopope and X-ray diffraction, microstructural evolution of well-aligned ZnO nanorod array films was studied. The films were prepared on a glass using direct deposition method in an aqueous solution. The experimental results show that the highly oriented rods grew from the randomly oriented crystals. Those rod-like randomly oriented crystals began to impinge on other neighboring crystals and their growth became physically limited; only the rods perpendicular to the substrate were allowed to grow freely. This kinetically controlled nucleation and growth would be responsible for producing the uniformly oriented nanorods. During the ZnO rods＇ growth, the topology of their top faces changed from flat, prismatic to finally flat.

Evolution of copper nanowires through coalescing of copper nanoparticles induced by aliphatic amines and their electrical conductivities in polyester films

Copper nanowires were synthesized by the wet chemical reduction method using copper sulfate as the copper precursor,aliphatic amines(methylamine,ethanediamine,1,2-propanediamine)as the inducing reagents,and hydrazine hydrate as the reductant through the aging and reduction processes.The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM)images reveal that the copper nanowires were synthesized by coalescing extremely small-sized copper nanoparticles with the particle sizes of1–6 nm in copper complex micelles.A longer aging time period favored the coalescing of the copper nanoparticles to form thinner copper nanowires in the following reduction process.The coalescing extent of copper nanoparticles in copper nanowires was highly enhanced by ethanediamine and 1,2-propanediamine as compared with that by methylamine.The copper nanowire-filled polyester films had higher electrical conductivity than the copper nanoparticle-filled ones.

Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of Transparent Nanostructured BaTiO₃Film Electrodes

Transparent nanostructured BaTiO3 film electrodes were synthesized on conductive substrates from BaTiO3 nanocrystals forming at low temperature. Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical methods were employed to investigate its properties of band energetics and the trap state at different pH values. The flat band edges greatly depended on the pH value of electrolyte, and the flat band edges were -0.70, -0.92 and -1.20 V vs saturated Ag/AgCl at the pH value of 3.0, 6.8 and 13.0, respectively. The results showed that trap state densities also highly depended on pH. The total trap state densities were 3.73 × 1015, 4.02 × 1015 and 6.48 × 1016 cm-2 at pH value of 3.0, 6.8 and 13.0 respectively with maximum located at -0.36 V, -0.50 V and -0.80 V. The results obtained from CVs were in good agreement with that obtained from the measurements of time resolved currents. The size of the peak potentials in the cyclic voltammograms experiments was increased dramatically with the pH value increasing, indicating that traps were surface-related.