Curved surface effect and emission on silicon nanostructures

The curved surface （CS） effect on nanosilicon plays a main role in the activation for emission and photonic manipulation. The CS effect breaks the symmetrical shape of nanosilicon on which some bonds can produce localized electron states in the band gap. The investigation in calculation and experiment demonstrates that the different curvatures can form the characteristic electron states for some special bonding on the nanosilicon surface, which are related to a series of peaks in photoluminecience （PL）, such as LN, LNO, Lo1, and Lo2 lines in PL spectra due to Si-N, Si-NO, Si=O, and Si-O-Si bonds on curved surface, respectively. Si-Yb bond on curved surface of Si nanostructures can provide the localized states in the band gap deeply and manipulate the emission wavelength into the window of optical communication by the CS effect, which is marked as the Lyb line of electroluminescence （EL） emission.

Fabrication of Silicon Crystal-Facet-Dependent Nanostructures by Electron-Beam Lithography

Silicon crystal-facet-dependent nanostructures have been successfully fabricated on a （100）-oriented silicon-oninsulator wafer using electron-beam lithography and the silicon anisotropic wet etching technique. This technique takes advantage of the large difference in etching properties for different crystallographic planes in alkaline solution. The minimum size of the trapezoidal top for those Si nanostructures can be reduced to less than 10nm. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and atomic force microscopy （AFM） observations indicate that the etched nanostructures have controllable shapes and smooth surfaces.

Enhanced Current Transportation in Siliconriched Nitride(SRN)/Silicon-riched Oxide(SRO)Multilayer Nanostructure

A novel structure of silicon-riched nitride(SRN)/silicon-riched oxide(SRO) is proposed and prepared using RF reactive magnetron co-sputtering. High temperature annealing of SRN/SRO multilayers leads to formation of Si nanocrystals(NC) from isolating SRN and SRO layers simultaneously, which efficiently improves carrier transport ability compared to conventional SRN/Si_3N_4 counterpart. Micro-Raman scattering analysis reveals that SRN layer has dominating number of denser and smaller Si NCs, while SRO layer has relatively less, sparser and bigger Si NCs, as confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy observation. The substitute SRO layers for Si_3N_4 counterparts significantly increase the amount of Si NCs as well as crystallization ratio in SRN layers; while the average Si NC size can be well controlled by the thickness of SRN layers and the content of N, and hence an obvious stronger absorption in UV region for the novel structure can be observed in absorption spectra. The I-V characteristics show that the current of hybrid SRN/SRO system increases up to 2 orders of magnitude at 1 V and even 5 orders of magnitude at 4 V compared to that of SRN/Si_3N_4 structure. Si NCs in Si Oylayers provide a transport pathway for adjacent Si NCs in Si Nxlayers. The obvious advantage in carrier transportation suggests that SRN/SRO hybrid system could be a promising structure and platform to build Si nanostructured solar cells.

Effect of TMS(nanostructured silicon dioxide) on growth of Changbai larch seedlings

The roots of 200 one-year-old Changbai Larch (Larix olgensis) seedlings were soaked for 6 hours at the TMS concentrations of 2000, 1000, 500, 250, 125, and 62 μL·L?1. Mean seedling height, root collar diameter, main root length and number of lateral roots were measured every 15 days during growing season from May 30 to Oct. 20. Experimental results showed that TMS treatments greatly promoted seedling growth and improved seedling quality. The treatment by 500 μL·L?1 TMS produced the best result, for which the mean height, root collar diameter, main root length, and the number of lateral roots of seedlings were increased by 42.5%, 30.7%, 14.0%, and 31.6%, respectively, compared to that of the control seedlings. As to seedling quality, grade-I seedling and grade-II seedlings were fifty-fifty, and no grade-III seedlings was found. The treatment by 500 μL·L?1 TMS resulted in the highest chlorophyll concentration. Keywords Changbai Larch - Larix olgensis - Seedling production - Nanostructured silicon dioxide CLC number S143.8 Document code B Foundation item: This study is supported by Jilin Forestry Group Co.Biography: LIN Baoshan (1955-), male, Associate professor at the college of forestry, Beihua University, Jilin City 132011, Jilin Province, P.R China.Responsible editor: Chai Ruihai.

Electrochemical behavior of insulin on pretreated carbon black electrode enhanced with silicon carbide nanostructure

We previously reported the direct electrochemical detection of insulin at bare carbon electrodes. Here a novel modified acetylene carbon black paste electrode(SiC/CB-CPE), based on the outstanding characteristics of silicon carbide nanostructure,was developed for the electrooxidation of insulin in alkaline solution and it was characterized by cyclic voltammetry(CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS) in 5 mmol/L Fe(CN)63-/4- solution. It is found that silicon carbide nanostructure doped into the CB-CPE greatly facilitates the redox electrochemistry of Fe(CN)63-/4- probe and the electrochemical oxidation of insulin. The electrooxidation of insulin is a one-electron and one-proton reaction and an irreversible adsorption-controlled electrode process. The anodic oxidation current increases linearly with the concentration of insulin from 1×10-7mol/L to1.2×10-6mol/L in 0.1 mol/L Na2CO3-NaHCO3 buffer solution(pH 10.0) and the detection limit was 50 nmol/L. In addition, the SiC/CB-CPE shows good sensitivity, reproducibility, renewability and capacity of resisting disturbance.

Characteristics of Disorder and Defect in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Nitride Thin Films Containing Silicon Nanograins

The hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride （SiNx） thin films embedded with nano-structural silicon were prepared and the micro- structures at the interface of silicon nano-grains/SiNx were identified by the optical absorption and Raman scattering measurements. Characterized by the exponential tail of optical absorption and the band-width of the Raman scattering TO mode, the disorder in the interface region increases with the gas flow ratio increasing. Besides, as reflected by the sub-gap absorption coefficients, the density of interface defect states decreases, which can be attributed to the structural mismatch in the interface region and also the changes of hydrogen content in the deposited films. Additional annealing treatment results in a significant increase of defects and degree of disorder, for which the hydrogen out-diffusion in the annealing process would be responsible.

Investigations of a nanostructured FeMnSi shape memory alloy produced via severe plastic deformation

Low-cost iron-based shape memory alloys（SMAs） show great potential for engineering applications. The developments of new processing techniques have recently enabled the production of nanocrystalline materials with improved properties. These developments have opened avenues for newer applications for SMAs. The influence of severe plastic deformation induced by the high-speed high-pressure torsion（HSHPT） process on the microstructural evolution of an Fe–Mn–Si–Cr alloy was investigated. Transmission electron microscopic analysis of the alloy revealed the existence of nanoscale grains with an abundance of stacking faults. The high density of dislocations characteristic of severe plastic deformation was not observed in this alloy. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the presence of ε-martensite with an HCP crystal structure and γ-phase with an FCC structure.

Research on the surface passivation of nanostructure-textured crystalline silicon solar cell

Nanostructure-textured solar cell owns unique properties but has some shortages especially in its fabrication and passivation.In this paper,nanostructures for crystalline silicon solar cell have been synthesized by controllable method based on silver catalyzed chemical etching.In this way,only the front surface of cell is etched and rear surface is protected.It was found that cells textured via the new method obtained equally excellent optical while superior electrical properties compared with those textured via traditional HF/AgNO3 etching.The V OC and I SC of the cell were improved by 6% and 11%,respectively.Then the cells were passivated via a bi-layer passivation(SiO2 & SiN x),in contrast to traditional SiN x passivation.It was also found that cells with new passivation exhibited improved V OC and I SC by 4% and 25%,respectively.The encouraging results can provide fundamental data for developing the nanostructure-textured crystalline silicon solar cell in following researches.

Properties of fluorescence based on the immobilization of graphene oxide quantum dots in nanostructured porous silicon films

The fluorescence of graphene oxide quantum dots （GOQDs） that are infiltrated into porous silicon （PSi） is investigated. By dropping activated GOQDs solution onto silanized PSi samples, GOQDs are successfully in- filtrated into a PSi device. The results indicate that the intensity of the fluorescence of the GOQD-inflltrated multilayer with a high reflection band located at its fluorescence spectra scope is approximately double that of the single layer sample. This indicates that the multilayer GOQD-infiltrated PSi substrate is a suitable material for the preparation of sensitive photoluminescence biosensors.

Strong contact coupling of neuronal growth cones with height-controlled vertical silicon nanocolumns

In this study, we report that height-controlled vertically etched silicon nano- column arrays （vSNAs） induce strong growth cone-to-substrate coupling and accelerate in vitro neurite development while preserving the essential features of initial neurite formation. Large-scale preparation of vSNAs with flat head morphology enabled the generation of well-controlled topographical stimulation without cellular impalement. A systematic analysis on topography- induced variations on cellular morphology and cytoskeletal dynamics was conducted. In addition, neurite development on the grid-patterned vSNAs exhibited preferential adhesion to the nanostructured region and outgrowth directionality. The arrangement of cytoskeletal proteins and the expression of a focal adhesion complex indicated that a strong coupling existed between the underlying nanocolumns and growth cones. Furthermore, the height-controlled nanocolumn substrates differentially modulated neurite polarization and elongation. Our findings provide an important insight into neuron-nanotopography interactions and their role in cell adhesion and neurite development.

Femtosecond laser irradiation-induced infrared absorption on silicon surfaces

The near-infrared(NIR)absorption below band gap energy of crystalline silicon is significantly increased after the silicon is irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses at a simple experimental condition.The absorption increase in the NIR range primarily depends on the femtosecond laser pulse energy,pulse number,and pulse duration.The Raman spectroscopy analysis shows that after the laser irradiation,the silicon surface consists of silicon nanostructure and amorphous silicon.The femtosecond laser irradiation leads to the formation of a composite of nanocrystalline,amorphous,and the crystal silicon substrate surface with microstructures.The composite has an optical absorption enhancement at visible wavelengths as well as at NIR wavelength.The composite may be useful for an NIR detector,for example,for gas sensing because of its large surface area.