Crystalline Size Effects on Texture Coefficient,Electrical and Optical Properties of Sputter-deposited Ga-doped ZnO Thin Films

C-axis oriented Ga-doped ZnO(GZO) films with various thicknesses were deposited on glass substrate by radio frequency(RF) magnetron sputtering. The dependence of crystal structure,electrical,and optical properties of the GZO films on crystalline size were systematically studied. The results showed that the texture coefficient of (002) peak (TC(002)) decreases with increasing crystalline size. The Hall mobility m was reciprocal to electron effective mass and the fitted relaxation time s was 0.11±0.01 ms. With the increase of average crystalline size,the resistivity increased slightly,which is caused by the competition of (002) and(101) plane,introducing in some defects and leading to carrier density reduction. The optical band gap was in the range from 3.454 to 3.319 eV with increasing crystalline size from 26.96 to 30.88 nm,showing a negative relationship. The dependence of optical band gap (Eopg) on the crystalline size(R) can be qualitatively explained by a quantum confinement effect. The relationship between Eopg and R of GZO films suggests that tuning up optical properties for desired applications can be achieved by controlling the crystalline size.

Enhanced electrocaloric strength in P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) by decreasing the crystalline size

Through the modulation of the dipolar entropy under an applied electric field(E),a reversible temperature change(ΔT)could be achieved in a dielectric material,which is known as the electrocaloric(EC)effect.Among all EC materials,ferroelectric terpolymer P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)has been regarded as one of the most promising EC materials owing to its large EC effect and superior thermal stability.Yet,the low EC strength limits the application of terpolymers in realistic cooling devices.In this work,using the thermal treatment of quenching and low-temperature annealing,the terpolymers with significantly decreased crystalline size are prepared with their EC performances investigated.Compared to the normal ones,the terpolymers with smaller crystalline size exhibit substantially enhanced EC strength.The better EC performance may be mainly attributed to the lower energy barriers for dipole orientation,which gives rise to higher polarization at low electric fields.This work emphasizes the critical role of crystalline size on the macroscopic properties of EC polymers.

Determination of Particle Sizes and Crystalline Phases on Colloidal Silicon Nanoparticle Suspensions

Particle size and crystallinity of silicon nanoparticles were determined by analyzing the optical extinction spectra of colloidal suspensions. Experimental results from these colloids were anaiyzed using Mie theory in connection with effective medium theory, in order to determine particle sizes and their internal structure with the simple technique of optical transmission spectroscopy. By modeling an effective refractive index for the particles, the crystalline volume fraction can be extracted from extinction spectra in addition to information about the size. The crystalline volume fraction determined in this way were used to calibrate the ratio of the Raman cross sections for nanocrystalline and amorphous silicon, which was found to be σc./σa = 0.66

Effect of anions from calcium sources on the synthesis of nano-sized xonotlite fibers

The xonotlite fibers were synthesized via the hydrothermal synthesis method with CaO and SiO_2 as the raw materials and the molar ratio of Si/Ca of 1.0. Effect of anions from various calcium sources on the microstructure of the xonotlite fibers is studied in this paper. These obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), transmission electron microscope(TEM) and scanning electron microscope(SEM) techniques to investigate their crystalline phase, crystal structure and morphology. The results indicate that anion from various calcium sources has little influence on the crystalline phases of xonotlite fibers but poses a great impact on their morphologies. Xonotlite fibers with single crystal characteristics and large aspect ratio of 50—100 were successfully fabricated from CaCl_2 as calcium material at 225 °C for 15 h. The existence of Cl-anion in the CaO-SiO_2-H_2O system significantly contributes to the formation of xonotlite crystal.

Luminescent nanoscale metal–organic frameworks for chemical sensing

Metal–organic frameworks（MOFs） are a fascinating class of crystalline materials constructed from selfassembly of metal cations/clusters and organic ligands. Both metal and organic components can be used to generate luminescence, and can further interact via antenna effect to increase the quantum yield,providing a versatile platform for chemical sensing based on luminescence emission. Moreover, MOFs can be miniaturized to nanometer scale to form nano-MOF（NMOF） materials, which exhibit many advantages over conventional bulk MOFs in terms of the facile tailorability of compositions, sizes and morphologies, the high dispersity in a wide variety of medium, and the intrinsic biocompatibility. This review will detail the development of NMOF materials as chemical sensors, including the synthetic methodologies for designing NMOF sensory materials, their luminescent properties and potential sensing applications.