Synthesis of Ni nanowires via a hydrazine reduction route in aqueous ethanol solutions assisted by external magnetic fields

One-dimensional Ni nanostructures were synthesized via a hydrazine reduction route under external magnetic fields. The mixture of de-ionized water and ethanol was used as the reaction solvent and hydrazine hydrate as reducing agents. The morphology and properties of Ni nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffractometer(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM). It was found that the magnetic field strength, concentration of Ni ions,reaction time and temperature as well as p H values played key roles on formation, microstructures and magnetic properties of Ni nanowires. The optimal wires have diameter of ~200 nm and length up to ~200 μm. And their coercivity is ~260 Oe, which is much larger than the commercial Ni powders of 31 Oe. This work presents a simple, low-cost, environment-friendly and large-scale production approach to fabricate one-dimensional magnetic materials. The resulting materials may have potential applications in conductive filters, magnetic sensors and catalytic agents.

Photovoltaic enhancement of Si solar cells by assembled carbon nanotubes

Photovoltaic conversion was enhanced by directly assemble of a network of single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs) onto the surface of n-p junction silicon solar cells. When the density of SWNTs increased from 50 to 400 tubes μm^(-2), an enhancement of 3.92% in energy conversion efficiency was typically obtained. The effect of the SWNTs network is proposed for trapping incident photons and assisting electronic transportation at the interface of silicon solar cells.

Preparation and growth mechanism of nickel nanowires under applied magnetic field

Nickel nanowires with large aspect ratio of up to 300 have been prepared by a hydrazine hydrate reduction method under applied magnetic field. The diameter of nickel nanowires is about 200 nm and length up to 60 μm. The role of magnetic field on the growth of magnetic nanowires is discussed and a magnetic nanowire growth mechanism has been proposed. Nickel ions are firstly reduced to nickel atoms by hydrazine hydrates in a strong alkaline solution and grow into tiny spherical nanoparticles. Then, these magnetic particles will align under a magnetic force and form linear chains. Furthermore, the as-formed chains can enhance the local magnetic field and attract other magnetic particles nearby, resulting finally as linear nanowires. The formation and the size of nanowires depend strongly on the magnitude of applied magnetic field.

Magnetic Behaviour and Heating Effect of Fe3O4 Ferrofluids Composed of Monodisperse Nanoparticles

Fe3O4 ferrofluids containing monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles with different diameters of 8, 12, 16 and 18nm are prepared by using high-temperature solution phase reaction. The particles have single crystal structures with narrow size distributions. At room temperature, the 8-nm ferrofluid shows superparamagnetic behaviour, whereas the others display hysteresis properties and the coercivity increases with the increasing particle size. The spin glass-like behaviour and cusps near 190K are observed on all ferrofluids according to the temperature variation of field-cooled （FC） and zero-field-cooled （ZFC） magnetization measurements. The cusps are found to be associated with the freezing point of the solvent. As a comparison, the ferrofluids are dried and the FC and ZFC magnetization curves of powdery samples are also investigated. It is found that the blocking temperatures for the powdery samples are higher than those for their corresponding ferrofluids. Moreover, the size dependent heating effect of the ferrofluids is also investigated in ac magnetic field with a frequency of 55 kHz and amplitude of 200 Oe.

Resonance Transport of Graphene Nanoribbon T-Shaped Junctions

We investigate the transport properties of T-shaped junctions composed of armchair graphene nanoribbons of different widths. Three types of junction geometries are considered. The junction conductance strongly depends on the atomic features of the junction geometry. When the shoulders of the junction have zigzag type edges, sharp conductance resonances usually appear in the low energy region around the Dirac point, and a conductance gap emerges. When the shoulders of the junction have armchair type edges, the conductance resonance behavior is weakened significantly, and the metal-metal-metal junction structures show semimetallic behaviors. The contact resistance also changes notably due to the various interface geometries of the junction.

Exciton emissions of CdS nanowire array fabricated on Cd foil by the solvothermal method

Nanowires have recently attracted more attention because of their low-dimensional structure, tunable optical and electrical properties for next-generation nanoscale optoelectronic devices. Cd S nanowire array, which is(002)-orientation growth and approximately perpendicular to Cd foil substrate, has been fabricated by the solvothermal method. In the temperature-dependent photoluminescence, from short wavelength to long wavelength, four peaks can be ascribed to the emissions from the bandgap, the transition from the holes being bound to the donors or the electrons being bound to the acceptors, the transition from Cd interstitials to Cd vacancies, and the transition from S vacancies to the valence band,respectively. In the photoluminescence of 10 K, the emission originated from the bandgap appears in the form of multiple peaks. Two stronger peaks and five weaker peaks can be observed. The energy differences of the adjacent peaks are close to 38 me V, which is ascribed to the LO phonon energy of Cd S. For the multiple peaks of bandgap emission, from low energy to high energy, the first, second, and third peaks are contributed to the third-order, second-order, and first-order phonon replica of the free exciton A, respectively;the fourth peak is originated from the free exciton A;the fifth peak is contributed to the first-order phonon replica of the excitons bound to neutral donors;the sixth and seventh peaks are originated from the excitons bound to neutral donors and the light polarization parallel to the c axis of hexagonal Cd S, respectively.

CdS/Si nanofilm heterojunctions based on amorphous silicon films:Fabrication,structures,and electrical properties

Shortening the distance between the depletion region and the electrodes to reduce the trapped probability of carriers is a useful approach for improving the performance of heterojunction.The CdS/Si nanofilm heterojunctions are fabricated by using the radio frequency magnetron sputtering method to deposit the amorphous silicon nanofilms and Cd S nanofilms on the ITO glass in turn.The relation of current density to applied voltage(I-V)shows the obvious rectification effect.From the analysis of the double logarithm I-V curve it follows that below~2.73 V the electron behaviors obey the Ohmic mechanism and above~2.73 V the electron behaviors conform to the space charge limited current(SCLC)mechanism.In the SCLC region part of the traps between the Fermi level and conduction band are occupied,and with the increase of voltage most of the traps are occupied.It is believed that Cd S/Si nanofilm heterojunction is a potential candidate in the field of nano electronic and optoelectronic devices by optimizing its fabricating procedure.

Extraction of optical constants and thickness of nanometre scale TiO2 film

TiO2 thin films were deposited on glass substrates by sputtering in a conventional rf magnetron sputtering system. X-ray diffraction pattern and transmission spectrum were measured. The curves of refraction index and extinction coefficient distributions as well as the thickness of films calculated from transmission spectrum were obtained. The optimization problem was also solved using a method based on a constrained nonlinear programming algorithm.

Mechanism of expanding swept volume by nano-sized oil-displacement agent

The effect of expanding swept volume by iNanoW1.0 nanoparticles in ultra-low permeability core was studied by low-field nuclear magnetic resonance(LF-NMR)technology,and the mechanism of expanding swept volume was explained by oxygen spectrum nuclear magnetic resonance(17O-NMR)experiments and capillarity analysis.The results of the LF-NMR experiment show that the nano-sized oil-displacement agent iNanoW1.0 could increase the swept volume by 10%-20%on the basis of conventional water flooding,making water molecules get into the low permeable region with small pores that conventional water flooding could not reach.17O-NMR technique and capillary analysis proved that iNanoW1.0 nanoparticles could weaken the association of hydrogen bonds between water molecules,effectively change the structure of water molecular clusters,and thus increasing the swept volume in the low permeable region.The ability of weakening association of hydrogen bonds between water molecules of iNanoW1.0 nanoparticles increases with its mass fraction and tends to be stable after the mass fraction of 0.1%.

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized by S-doping

An approach was presented for synthesis of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs) by sulfur(S) doping with the method of graphite arc discharge. Raman spectroscopy, UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy and electronic properties measurements indicated the semconducting properties of the SWNTs samples. Simulant calculation indicated that S doping could induce convertion of metallic SWNTs into semiconducting ones. This strategy may pave a way for the direct synthesis of pure semiconducting SWNTs.

Ferroelectric polarization-enhanced photocatalytic performance of heterostructured BaTiO_(3)@TiO_(2) via interface engineering

A catalyst of ferroelectric-BaTiO_(3)@photoelectric-TiO_(2) nanohybrids(BaTiO_(3)@TiO_(2))with enhanced photocatalytic activity was synthesized via a hydrolysis precipitation combined with a hydrothermal approach.Compared to pure TiO_(2),pure BaTiO_(3) and BaTiO_(3)/TiO_(2) physical mixture,the heterostructured BaTiO_(3)@TiO_(2) exhibits significantly improved photocatalytic activity and cycling stability in decomposing Rhodamine B(RhB)and the degradation efficiency is 1.7 times higher than pure TiO_(2) and 7.2 times higher than pure BaTiO_(3).These results are mainly attributed to the synergy effect of photoelectric TiO_(2),ferroelectric-BaTiO_(3) and the rationally designed interfacial structure.The mesoporous microstructure of TiO_(2) is of a high specific area and enables excellent photocatalytic activity.The ferroelectric polarization induced built-in electric field in BaTiO_(3) nanoparticles,and the intimate interfacial interactions at the interface of BaTiO_(3) and TiO_(2) are effective in driving the separation and transport of photogenerated charge carriers.This strategy will stimulate the design of heterostructured photocatalysts with outstanding photocatalytic performance via interface engineering.

Improvement of Electrical Properties of the Ge2Sb2Te5 Film by Doping Si for Phase-Change Random Access Memory

Si-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 films have been prepared by dc magnetron co-sputtering with Ge2Sb2Te5 and Si targets. The addition of Si in the Ge2Sb2Te5 film results in the increase of both crystallization temperature and phasetransition temperature from face-centred-cubic （fcc） phase to hexagonal （hex） phase. The resistivity of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film shows a significant increase with the Si doping. When doping 11.8 at.% of Si in the film, the resistivity after 460℃ annealing increases from 1 to 11 mΩ.cm and dynamic resistance increase from 64 to 99Ω compared to the undoped Ge2Sb2Te5 film. This is very helpful to writing current reduction of phase-change random access memory.

Cellulose-based materials in wastewater treatment of petroleum industry

The most abundant natural biopolymer on earth, cellulose fiber, may offer a highly efficient, low-cost, and chemical-free option for wastewater treatment. Cellulose is widely distributed in plants and several marine animals. It is a carbohydrate polymer consisting of β-1,4-linked anhydro-D-glucose units with three hydroxyl groups per anhydroglucose unit(AGU). Cellulose-based materials have been used in food, industrial, pharmaceutical, paper, textile production, and in wastewater treatment applications due to their low cost, renewability,biodegradability, and non-toxicity. For water treatment in the oil and gas industry, cellulose-based materials can be used as adsorbents, flocculants, and oil/water separation membranes. In this review, the uses of cellulose-based materials for wastewater treatment in the oil & gas industry are summarized, and recent research progress in the following aspects are highlighted: crude oil spill cleaning, flocculation of solid suspended matter in drilling or oil recovery in the upstream oil industry, adsorption of heavy metal or chemicals, and separation of oil/water by cellulosic membrane in the downstream water treatment.

Responsivity and noise characteristics of AlGaN/GaN-HEMTterahertz detectors at elevated temperatures

The responsivity and the noise of a detector determine the sensitivity. Thermal energy usually affects both the responsivity and the noise spectral density. In this work, the noise characteristics and responsivity of an antenna-coupled AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility-transistor(HEMT) terahertz detector are evaluated at temperatures elevated from 300 K to 473 K. Noise spectrum measurement and a simultaneous measurement of the source–drain conductance and the terahertz photocurrent allow for detailed analysis of the electrical characteristics, the photoresponse, and the noise behavior. The responsivity is reduced from 59 mA/W to 11 mA/W by increasing the detector temperature from 300 K to 473 K. However,the noise spectral density maintains rather constantly around 1–2 pA/Hz^(1/2) at temperatures below 448 K, above which the noise spectrum abruptly shifts from Johnson-noise type into flicker-noise type and the noise density is increased up to one order of magnitude. The noise-equivalent power(NEP) is increased from 22 pW/Hz^(1/2) at 300 K to 60 pW/Hz^(1/2) at 448 K mainly due to the reduction in mobility. Above 448 K, the NEP is increased up to 1000 pW/Hz^(1/2) due to the strongly enhanced noise. The sensitivity can be recovered by cooling the detector back to room temperature.

Cytotoxicity of fullerenols on Tetrahymena pyriformis

With the increasing use of fullerenes and their derivatives in a variety of fields, the toxicity and effects of fullerenes on humans and the environment have received considerable attention. In this study, the cytotoxicity of fullerene derivative, C60(OH)x, on Tetrahymena pyriformis was investigated. Cell growth inhibition was evaluated by counting with an optical microscope, and the generation time was calculated. It was indicated that the fullerenols caused a dose-dependent growth inhibition of the cells. The morphologic change in the damaged macronucleus of cells was observed using a fluorescent microscope. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), and glutathione reductase (GR) levels were also measured for Tetrahymena pyriformis, using conventional methods. The results showed that fullerenols could reduce GSH-PX and GR activities. But no noticeable difference in SOD ac- tivity was observed between the treated groups and the control group. This indicated that the antiproliferative effect of fullerenols might be mediated by the reduction in the activities of GSH-PX and GR of cells and the destruction of the macronucleus.

Multiple-State Storage Capability of Stacked Chalcogenide Films （Si16Sb33Te51/Si4Sb45Te51/Si11Sb39Te50） for Phase Change Memory

The multiple-state storage capability of phase change memory （PCM） is confirmed by using stacked chalcogenide films as the storage medium. The current-voltage characteristics and the resistance-current characteristics of the PCM clearly indicate that four states can be stored in this stacked film structure. Qualitative analysis indicates that the multiple-state storage capability of this stacked film structure is due to successive crystallizations in different Si-Sb-Te layers triggered by different amplitude currents.

Molecular dynamics simulation study onπ-πstacking of Gemini surfactants in oil/water systems

Whereas theπ-πstacking interactions at oil/water interfaces can affect interfacial structures hence the interfacial properties,the underlying microscopic mechanism remains largely unknown.We reported an all-atom molecular dynamics(MD)simulation study to demonstrate how the Gemini surfactants with pyrenyl groups affect the interracial properties,structural conformations,and the motion of molecules in the water/n-octane/surfactant ternary systems.It is found that the pyrenyl groups tend to be vertical to the interface owing to theπ-πstacking interaction.Besides,a synergistic effect between theπ-πinteraction and steric hindrance is found,which jointly affects the coalescence of liquid droplets.Therefore,the existence of aromatic groups and a moderate number of surfactants helps to form microemulsion.This work provides a molecular understanding of Gemini surfactants with aromatic groups in microemulsion preparation and applications.

Numerical analysis of the three-dimensional aerodynamics of a hovering rufous hummingbird(Selasphorus rufus)

Hummingbirds have a unique way of hover- ing. However, only a few published papers have gone into details of the corresponding three-dimensional vortex struc- tures and transient aerodynamic forces. In order to deepen the understanding in these two realms, this article presents an integrated computational fluid dynamics study on the hovering aerodynamics of a rufous hummingbird. The original morphological and kinematic data came from a former researcher＇s experiments. We found that conical and sta- ble leading-edge vortices （LEVs） with spanwise flow inside their cores existed on the hovering hummingbird＇s wing surfaces. When the LEVs and other near-field vortices were all shed into the wake after stroke reversals, periodically shed bilateral vortex rings were formed. In addition, a strong downwash was present throughout the flapping cycle. Time histories of lift and drag were also obtained. Combining the three-dimensional flow field and time history of lift, we believe that high lift mechanisms （i.e., rotational circulation and wake capture） which take place at stroke reversals in insect flight was not evident here. For mean lift throughout a whole cycle, it is calculated to be 3.60 g （104.0 % of the weight support）. The downstroke and upstroke provide 64.2 % and 35.8 % of the weight support, respectively.

Effect of Chemicals on Chemical Mechanical Polishing of Glass Substrates

We investigate the effect of chemicals on chemical mechanical polishing （CMP） of glass substrates. Ceria slurry in an ultra-low concentration of 0.25 wt. % is used and characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Three typical molecules, i.e. acetic acid, citric acid and sodium acrylic polymer, are adopted to investigate the effect on CMP performance in terms of material removal rate （MRR） and surface quality. The addition of sodium acrylic polymer shows the highest MRR as well as the best surface by atomic force microscopy after CMP, while the addition of citric acid shows the worst performance. These results reveal a mechanism that a long-chain molecule without any branches rather than small molecules and common molecules with ramose abundant-electron groups is better for the dispersion of the slurry and thus better for the CMP process.

Aharonov-Bohm Oscillations and Fano Resonance of a Coupled Dot-Ring System

We derive an exact expression for the transmission coefficient through an Aharonov-Bohm ring with a side-coupled quantum dot using the scattering-matrix approach. We show a sudden AB phase change by π as the quantum dot is tuned across the resonance. The Aharonow-Bohm oscillation amplitude can be modulated effectively by tuning the quantum dot level, The transmission coefficient has an expression of the generalized Fano form with a complex Fano parameter q in the presence of the Aharonov-Bohm flux.