No Arabic abstract
Hybridisation is a powerful strategy towards the next generation of multifunctional materials for environmental and sustainable energy applications. Here, we report a new inorganic nanocarbon hybrid material prepared with atomically controlled deposition of a monocrystalline TiO2 layer that conformally coats a macroscopic carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber. Through X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and photoemission spectroscopy we detect the formation of a covalent Ti-O-C bond at the TiO2/CNT interface and a residual strain of approximately 0.7-2 %, which is tensile in TiO2 and compressive in the CNT. It arises after deposition of the amorphous oxide onto the CNT surface previously functionalized by the oxygen plasma used in ALD. These features are observed in samples of different TiO2 thickness, in the range from 10 to 80 nm. Ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy on a 20 nm-thick TiO2 coated sample gives a work function of 4.27 eV, between that of TiO2 (4.23 eV) and the CNT fiber (4.41 eV), and the presence of new interband gap states that shift the valence band maximum to 1.05 eV below the Fermi level. Photoelectrochemical measurements demonstrate electron transfer from TiO2 to the CNT fiber network under UV irradiation. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements reveal a low resistance for charge transfer and transport, as well as a large capacitance. Our results point to the fact that these hybrids, in which each phase has nanometric thickness and the current collector is integrated into the material, are very different from conventional electrodes and can provide a number of superior properties.
A novel strategy for the large scale and continuous production of aligned carbon nanotube arrays using millimeter-diameter spheres as growth substrates is reported. The present technique is more productive than the conventional process on flat wafers because of the higher available growth surface and the good fluidity of the spherical substrates. It can be adapted for the industrial production and application of aligned carbon nanotube arrays with lengths up to millimeter.
An attractive class of materials for photo(electro)chemical reactions are hybrids based on semiconducting metal oxides and nanocarbons (e.g. carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene), where the nanocarbon acts as a highly-stable conductive scaffold onto which the nanostructured inorganic phase can be immobilised; an architecture that maximises surface area and minimises charge transport/transfer resistance. TiO$_{2}$/CNT photoanodes produced by atomic layer deposition on CNT fabrics are shown to be efficient for H$_{2}$ production ($0.07 mu mol/min$ $H_{2}$ at $0.2V$ $vs Ag/AgCl$), nearly doubling the performance of TiO$_{2}$ deposited on planar substrates, with $100 %$ Faradaic efficiency. The results are rationalised based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements showing a large reduction in photoelectron transport resistance compared to control samples and a higher surface area. The low TiO$_{2}$/CNT interfacial charge transfer resistance ($10 Omega$) is consistent with the presence of an interfacial Ti-O-C bond and corresponding electronic hybridisation determined by spatially-resolved Scanning Photoelectron Microscopy (SPEM) using synchrotron radiation.
The paper presents results for zinc oxide films grown at low temperature regime by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). We discuss electrical properties of such films and show that low temperature deposition results in oxygen-rich ZnO layers in which free carrier concentration is very low. For optimized ALD process it can reach the level of 10^15 cm-3, while mobility of electrons is between 20 and 50 cm2/Vs. Electrical parameters of ZnO films deposited by ALD at low temperature regime are appropriate for constructing of the ZnO-based p-n and Schottky junctions. We demonstrate that such junctions are characterized by the rectification ratio high enough to fulfill requirements of 3D memories and are deposited at temperature 100degC which makes them appropriate for deposition on organic substrates.
We report on an extensive structural and electrical characterization of under-gate dielectric oxide insulators Al2O3 and HfO2 grown by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). We elaborate the ALD growth window for these oxides, finding that the 40-100 nm thick layers of both oxides exhibit fine surface flatness and required amorphous structure. These layers constitute a base for further metallic gate evaporation to complete the Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor structure. Our best devices survive energizing up to ~3 MV/cm at 77 K with the leakage current staying below the state-of-the-art level of 1 nA. At these conditions the displaced charge corresponds to a change of the sheet carrier density of 3 times 1013 cm-2, what promises an effective modulation of the micromagnetic properties in diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors.
We introduce selective area grown hybrid InAs/Al nanowires based on molecular beam epitaxy, allowing arbitrary semiconductor-superconductor networks containing loops and branches. Transport reveals a hard induced gap and unpoisoned 2e-periodic Coulomb blockade, with temperature dependent 1e features in agreement with theory. Coulomb peak spacing in parallel magnetic field displays overshoot, indicating an oscillating discrete near-zero subgap state consistent with device length. Finally, we investigate a loop network, finding strong spin-orbit coupling and a coherence length of several microns. These results demonstrate the potential of this platform for scalable topological networks among other applications.