Hi Gyu Moon

High Output Piezo/Triboelectric Hybrid Generator

Recently, piezoelectric and triboelectric energy harvesting devices have been developed to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Especially, it is well known that triboelectric nanogenerators have a simple structure and a high output voltage. However, whereas nanostructures improve the output of triboelectric generators, its fabrication process is still complicated and unfavorable in term of the large scale and long-time durability of the device. Here, we demonstrate a hybrid generator which does not use nanostructure but generates much higher output power by a small mechanical force and integrates piezoelectric generator into triboelectric generator, derived from the simultaneous use of piezoelectric and triboelectric mechanisms in one press-and-release cycle. This hybrid generator combines high piezoelectric output current and triboelectric output voltage, which produces peak output voltage of ~370 V, current density of ~12 μA·cm−2, and average power density of ~4.44 mW·cm−2. The output power successfully lit up 600 LED bulbs by the application of a 0.2 N mechanical force and it charged a 10 μF capacitor to 10 V in 25 s. Beyond energy harvesting, this work will provide new opportunities for developing a small, built-in power source in self-powered electronics such as mobile electronics.

Self-activated ultrahigh chemosensitivity of oxide thin film nanostructures for transparent sensors

One of the top design priorities for semiconductor chemical sensors is developing simple, low-cost, sensitive and reliable sensors to be built in handheld devices. However, the need to implement heating elements in sensor devices, and the resulting high power consumption, remains a major obstacle for the realization of miniaturized and integrated chemoresistive thin film sensors based on metal oxides. Here we demonstrate structurally simple but extremely efficient all oxide chemoresistive sensors with ~90% transmittance at visible wavelengths. Highly effective self-activation in anisotropically self-assembled nanocolumnar tungsten oxide thin films on glass substrate with indium-tin oxide electrodes enables ultrahigh response to nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds with detection limits down to parts per trillion levels and power consumption less than 0.2 microwatts. Beyond the sensing performance, high transparency at visible wavelengths creates opportunities for their use in transparent electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices with avenues for further functional convergence.

Extremely sensitive and selective NO probe based on villi-like WO3 nanostructures for application to exhaled breath analyzers.

Self-assembled WO3 thin film nanostructures with 1-dimensional villi-like nanofingers (VLNF) have been synthesized on the SiO2/Si substrate with Pt interdigitated electrodes using glancing angle deposition (GAD). Room-temperature deposition of WO3 by GAD resulted in anisotropic nanostructures with large aspect ratio and porosity having a relative surface area, which is about 32 times larger than that of a plain WO3 film. A WO3 VLNF sensor shows extremely high response to nitric oxide (NO) at 200 °C in 80% of relative humidity atmosphere, while responses of the sensor to ethanol, acetone, ammonia, and carbon monoxide are negligible. Such high sensitivity and selectivity to NO are attributed to the highly efficient modualtion of potential barriers at narrow necks between individual WO3 VLNF and the intrinsically high sensitivity of WO3 to NO. The theoretical detection limit of the sensor for NO is expected to be as low as 88 parts per trillion (ppt). Since NO is an approved biomarker of chronic airway inflammation in asthma, unprecedentedly high response and selectivity, and ppt-level detection limit to NO under highly humid environment demonstrate the great potential of the WO3 VLNF for use in high performance breath analyzers.

Au-decorated WO3 cross-linked nanodomes for ultrahigh sensitive and selective sensing of NO2 and C2H5OH

Au-decorated WO3 cross-linked nanodomes are fabricated using soft templates composed of highly ordered polystyrene beads and self-agglomeration of Au. The distribution and size of Au nanoparticles on the surface of WO3 cross-linked nanodomes are controlled by varying the thickness of the initial Au film. The responses of Au-decorated WO3 cross-linked nanodomes to various gases such as NO2, CH3COCH3, C2H5OH, NH3, CO, H2, and C6H6 are at least 5 times higher than those of bare WO3 cross-linked nanodomes. The response enhancement by Au decoration is dependent on the target gas, which is attributed to an interplay between electronic and chemical sensitizations. In particular, the Au-decorated WO3 cross-linked nanodomes exhibit extremely high sensitivities and selectivities, and ppt-level detection limits to NO2 and C2H5OH at 250 °C and 450 °C, respectively. These results suggest that Au-decorated WO3 cross-linked nanodomes are very promising for use in breath analysers to diagnose both asthma and lung cancer from exhaled human breath.

Chemiresistive Electronic Nose toward Detection of Biomarkers in Exhaled Breath

Detection of gas-phase chemicals finds a wide variety of applications, including food and beverages, fragrances, environmental monitoring, chemical and biochemical processing, medical diagnostics, and transportation. One approach for these tasks is to use arrays of highly sensitive and selective sensors as an electronic nose. Here, we present a high performance chemiresistive electronic nose (CEN) based on an array of metal oxide thin films, metal-catalyzed thin films, and nanostructured thin films. The gas sensing properties of the CEN show enhanced sensitive detection of H2S, NH3, and NO in an 80% relative humidity (RH) atmosphere similar to the composition of exhaled breath. The detection limits of the sensor elements we fabricated are in the following ranges: 534 ppt to 2.87 ppb for H2S, 4.45 to 42.29 ppb for NH3, and 206 ppt to 2.06 ppb for NO. The enhanced sensitivity is attributed to the spillover effect by Au nanoparticles and the high porosity of villi-like nanostructures, providing a large surface-to-volume ratio. The remarkable selectivity based on the collection of sensor responses manifests itself in the principal component analysis (PCA). The excellent sensing performance indicates that the CEN can detect the biomarkers of H2S, NH3, and NO in exhaled breath and even distinguish them clearly in the PCA. Our results show high potential of the CEN as an inexpensive and noninvasive diagnostic tool for halitosis, kidney disorder, and asthma.

Highly Sensitive H2S Sensor Based on the Metal-Catalyzed SnO2 Nanocolumns Fabricated by Glancing Angle Deposition

As highly sensitive H2S gas sensors, Au- and Ag-catalyzed SnO2 thin films with morphology-controlled nanostructures were fabricated by using e-beam evaporation in combination with the glancing angle deposition (GAD) technique. After annealing at 500 °C for 40 h, the sensors showed a polycrystalline phase with a porous, tilted columnar nanostructure. The gas sensitivities (S = Rgas/Rair) of Au and Ag-catalyzed SnO2 sensors fabricated by the GAD process were 0.009 and 0.015, respectively, under 5 ppm H2S at 300 °C, and the 90% response time was approximately 5 s. These sensors showed excellent sensitivities compared with the SnO2 thin film sensors that were deposited normally (glancing angle = 0°, S = 0.48).

Enhanced piezoelectric properties of vertically aligned single-crystalline NKN nano-rod arrays

Piezoelectric materials capable of converting between mechanical and electrical energy have a great range of potential applications in micro- and nano-scale smart devices; however, their performance tends to be greatly degraded when reduced to a thin film due to the large clamping force by the substrate and surrounding materials. Herein, we report an effective method for synthesizing isolated piezoelectric nano-materials as means to relax the clamping force and recover original piezoelectric properties of the materials. Using this, environmentally friendly single-crystalline NaxK1-xNbO3 (NKN) piezoelectric nano-rod arrays were successfully synthesized by conventional pulsed-laser deposition and demonstrated to have a remarkably enhanced piezoelectric performance. The shape of the nano-structure was also found to be easily manipulated by varying the energy conditions of the physical vapor. We anticipate that this work will provide a way to produce piezoelectric micro- and nano-devices suitable for practical application, and in doing so, open a new path for the development of complex metal-oxide nano-structures.

Hollow Pt-Functionalized SnO2 Hemipill Network Formation Using a Bacterial Skeleton for the Noninvasive Diagnosis of Diabetes

Hollow-structured nanomaterials are presented as an outstanding sensing platform because of their unique combination of high porosity in both the micro- and nanoscale, their biocompatibility, and flexible template applicability. Herein, we introduce a bacterial skeleton method allowing for cost-effective fabrication with nanoscale precision. As a proof-of-concept, we fabricated a hollow SnO2 hemipill network (HSHN) and a hollow Pt-functionalized SnO2 hemipill network (HPN). A superior detecting capability of HPN toward acetone, a diabetes biomarker, was demonstrated at low concentration (200 ppb) under high humidity (RH 80%). The detection limit reaches 3.6 ppb, a level satisfying the minimum requirement for diabetes breath diagnosis. High selectivity of the HPN sensor against C6H6, C7H8, CO, and NO vapors is demonstrated using principal component analysis (PCA), suggesting new applications of HPN for human-activity monitoring and a personal healthcare tool for diagnosing diabetes. The skeleton method can be further employed to mimic nanostructures of biomaterials with unique functionality for broad applications.

Chemiresistive Sensor Array Based on Semiconducting Metal Oxides for Environmental Monitoring

We present gas sensing performance based on 22 sensor array with four different elements (TiO2, SnO2, WO3 and In2O3 thin films) fabricated by rf sputter. Each thin film was deposited onto the selected SiO2/Si substrate with Pt interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) of 5 m spacing which were fabricated on a SiO2/Si substrate using photolithography and dry etching. For 5 ppm NO2 and 50 ppm CO, each thin film sensor has a different response to offers the distinguishable response pattern for different gas molecules. Compared with the conventional micro-fabrication technology, 22 sensor array with such remarkable response pattern will be open a new foundation for monolithic integration of high-performance chemoresistive sensors with simplicity in fabrication, low cost, high reliablity, and multi- functional smart sensors for environmental monitoring.

Electrocaloric Effect in Pb0.865La0.09(Zr0.65Ti0.35)O3 Thin Film

Abstract The electrocaloric effect of 9/65/35 PLZT thin film fabricated by the sol-gel method, which has not been studied yet, was investigatedfor its structural, electrical properties as well as temperature change property. The relaxor ferroelectric property of 9/65/35 PLZT thinfilm was confirmed by examining its dielectric and electrical properties. The relaxor property can cause a more pronounced elec-trocaloric effect (ECE) in a wider temperature range than normal ferroelectric film. To avoid errors caused by using an indirect mea-surement method, the leakage current generated by increasing temperatures was minimized by using the optimal maximum electric field(350 kVcm -1 ) in the thin film. The largest temperature change ΔT (0.23 K) and the electrocaloric strength ξ (0.68 mkcm/kV), calculatedby equations were obtained. The maximum field change ΔE (191 kVcm -1 ) was in the vicinity of the curie temperature (200 o C).Keywords: Electrocaloric effect, Cooling device, PLZT, Ferroelectric material