Search

Single phase materials with both spontaneous electric polarization and magnetization are rare, despite remarkable efforts in developing magnetoelectric multiferroics. In this work, a single-phase polycrystalline GdFe0.5Cr0.5O3 (GFCO) thin film was spin-coated onto a platinized silicon substrate. X-ray diffraction data suggest that the film exhibits an orthorhombic perovskite structure with a Pbnm space group. No other impurity phases were detected. Magnetization measurements reveal the Néel temperature of the GFCO film to be ∼220 K and illustrate a weak ferromagnetic component at 5 K, which could be due to spin canting. Frequency dependent ferroelectric–paraelectric transition was observed around 480 K, indicating the diffuse relaxor-like behavior. The electric field dependent polarization measurements show a lossy behavior below 200 K. The electric field dependent dielectric constant (tunability) measured at 1 MHz in a wide temperature range reveals that the tunability maximizes near the observed dielectric maxima, which further confirms the ferroelectric to paraelectric transition in the present film.

Monitoring and control of the gaseous combustion process are critically important in advanced energy systems such as power plants, gas turbines, and automotive engines. However, very limited gas sensing solutions are available in the market for such applications due to the inherent high temperature of the combustion gaseous atmosphere. In this study, we fabricated and demonstrated high-performance metal oxide based nanorod array sensors assisted with ultra-violet (UV) illumination for in situ and real-time high-temperature gas detection. Without UV-illumination, it was found that surface decoration of either 5 nm LSFO or 1 nm Pt nanoparticles can enhance the sensitivity over CO at 500 °C by an order of magnitude. Under the 254 nm UV illumination, the CO gas-sensing performance of Ga2O3-based nanorod array sensors was further enhanced with the sensitivity boosted by 125% and the response time reduced by 30% for the La0.8Sr0.2FeO3(LSFO)-decorated sample. The UV-enhanced detection of CO might be due to the i...

Polar surface dominated ZnO nanopropeller arrays were synthesized by a two-step high temperature solid-vapor deposition process. The axis of the nanopropellers is a straight nanowire along the c axis and enclosed by {2110} surfaces, which grew first; the sixfold symmetric nanoblades are later formed along the crystallographic equivalent a axes (〈2110〉) perpendicular to the nanowire; and the array is formed by epitaxial growth of nanoblades on the nanowire. The top surface of the nanoblade is the Zn terminated +c plane, showing surface steps and possible secondary growth of nanowires due to higher self-catalytic activity, while the back surface is the oxygen-terminated −c plane, which is smooth and inert.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanobelts synthesized by thermal evaporation have been ion implanted with 30 keV Mn+ ions. Both transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence investigations show highly defective material directly after the implantation process. Upon annealing to 800 °C, the implanted Mn remains in the ZnO nanobelts and the matrix recovers both in structure and luminescence. The produced high-quality ZnO:Mn nanobelts are potentially useful for spintronics.

The mechanical resonance of a single ZnO nanobelt, induced by an alternative electric field, was studied by in situ transmission electron microscopy. Due to the rectangular cross section of the nanobelt, two fundamental resonance modes have been observed corresponding to two orthogonal transverse vibration directions, showing the versatile applications of nanobelts as nanocantilevers and nanoresonators. The bending modulus of the ZnO nanobelts was measured to be ∼52 GPa and the damping time constant of the resonance in a vacuum of 5×10−8 Torr was ∼1.2 ms and quality factor Q=500.

Three-dimensional (3D) cubic perovskite (La,Sr)MnO3 (LSMO) nanofilms have been deposited on ZnO nanorod arrays with controlled dimensionality and crystallinity by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering and post thermal annealing. Compared to the two-dimensional (2D) LSMO nanofilm on flat Si, the structure and magnetic properties of 3D LSMO nanofilms on ZnO nanorod arrays have a strong anisotropic morphology and thickness dependence. Ferromagnetic property has been observed in both 2D and 3D LSMO nanofilms while a ferromagnetic–superparamagnetic transition was revaled in 3D LSMO nanofilms on ZnO nanorod array with decreasing nanofilm thickness, due to a large surface dispersion effect. The LSMO/ZnO nanofilm/nanorod structures could open up new avenues for intriguing magnetic properties studies and applications of nanoscale perovskites.

The effects of gas adsorption and high current on the field emission characteristics of ZnO nanoneedles grown directly from metal electrodes have been systematically investigated. Exposure of nanoneedles to H2, N2, or O2 gas degraded the field emission characteristics, with O2 having the strongest impact. Complete recovery of emission current following H2 and N2 treatment was accomplished by vacuum annealing at 450 °C. Meanwhile, changes induced by O2 adsorption were irreversible. First-principle calculations revealed electronic structure modifications through change of work function and charge density distribution upon gas exposure. It is suggested that the emission current degradation originates from shifts in the Fermi level caused by charge transfer from nanoneedle surface to gas adsorbates. Moreover, field emission degradation has been observed at high currents as a result of surface melting at the nanoneedles apex caused by resistive heating.

Solution-processed Mg-alloyed ZnO nanowire arrays have been achieved recently without using high temperature annealing process. By introducing thermal annealing processes in oxygen-rich ambient condition, the UV near-band-edge (NBE) emission was surprisingly mitigated until disappeared with annealing temperature increasing from 400 to 900 °C. As the annealing temperature increased, intensity of UV peak decreased while intensity of visible peak (490–520 nm) increased. The structure evolution upon thermal annealing was revealed to be responsible for these abnormal photoluminescence property variations, where unusual (Zn,Mg)1.7SiO4 epitaxially evolved on ZnMgO nanowires surface and contributed to the quenching of UV NBE emission. The structure evolution induced UV-NBE quenching and nanoscale localized alloying in semiconductor ZnMgO nanowires could bring up opportunities in catalysis, optoelectronics, spintronics, and sensors.

A method is presented for quantifying oxygen diffusion behavior in a nanodevice fabricated using individual ZnO nanowire/nanobelt. A nanodevice was built using a single nanobelt. Defects are introduced into nanobelt during specific nanofabrication procedure. Then, after the device being exposed to atmosphere for several days, oxygen in air diffused into the nanobelt and significantly changed the conductivity of the device. By comprising the experimentally measured conductivity and that of simulated result, the diffusion coefficient of oxygen in ZnO nanowires/nanobelts has been derived.

Semiconducting and piezoelectric zinc oxide has two important structure characteristics: the multiple and switchable growth directions: ⟨011¯0⟩, ⟨21¯1¯0⟩, and ⟨0001⟩; and the {0001} polar surfaces. The fast growth directions create nanobelts of different crystallographic facets, and the polar surfaces result in bending of the nanobelt for minimizing the spontaneous polarization energy. A combination of these distinct growth characteristics results in a group of unique nanostructures, including several types of nanorings, nanobows, platelet circular structures, Y-shape split ribbons, and crossed ribbons. We present here the as-grown nanoarchitectures naturally created by combining some of the fundamental structure configurations of ZnO, which could be unique for many applications in nanotechnology.