Jie Yao

Synthesis of MoS2 and MoSe2 Films with Vertically Aligned Layers

Layered materials consist of molecular layers stacked together by weak interlayer interactions. They often crystallize to form atomically smooth thin films, nanotubes, and platelet or fullerene-like nanoparticles due to the anisotropic bonding. Structures that predominately expose edges of the layers exhibit high surface energy and are often considered unstable. In this communication, we present a synthesis process to grow MoS2 and MoSe2 thin films with vertically aligned layers, thereby maximally exposing the edges on the film surface. Such edge-terminated films are metastable structures of MoS2 and MoSe2, which may find applications in diverse catalytic reactions. We have confirmed their catalytic activity in a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), in which the exchange current density correlates directly with the density of the exposed edge sites.

Optical Negative Refraction in Bulk Metamaterials of Nanowires

Negative refraction in metamaterials has generated great excitement in the scientific community. Although negative refraction has been realized in microwave and infrared by using metamaterials and by using two-dimensional waveguide structures, creation of a bulk metamaterial showing negative refraction at visible frequency has not been successful, mainly because of the significant resonance losses and fabrication difficulties. We report bulk metamaterials made of nanowires that show such negative refraction for all incident angles in the visible region. Moreover, the negative refraction occurs far from any resonance, resulting in a low-loss and a broad-band propagation at visible frequencies. These remarkable properties can substantially affect applications such as imaging, three-dimensional light manipulation, and optical communication.

Transparent and conductive paper from nanocellulose fibers

Here we report on a novel substrate, nanopaper, made of cellulose nanofibrils, an earth abundant material. Compared with regular paper substrates, nanopaper shows superior optical properties. We have carried out the first study on the optical properties of nanopaper substrates. Since the size of the nanofibrils is much less than the wavelength of visible light, nanopaper is highly transparent with large light scattering in the forward direction. Successful depositions of transparent and conductive materials including tin-doped indium oxide, carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires have been achieved on nanopaper substrates, opening up a wide range of applications in optoelectronics such as displays, touch screens and interactive paper. We have also successfully demonstrated an organic solar cell on the novel substrate.

Broadband light management using low-Q whispering gallery modes in spherical nanoshells

Light trapping across a wide band of frequencies is important for applications such as solar cells and photodetectors. Here, we demonstrate a new approach to light management by forming whispering-gallery resonant modes inside a spherical nanoshell structure. The geometry of the structure gives rise to a low quality-factor, facilitating the coupling of light into the resonant modes and substantial enhancement of the light path in the active material, thus dramatically improving absorption. Using nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) as a model system, we observe broadband absorption enhancement across a large range of incident angles. The absorption of a single layer of 50-nm-thick spherical nanoshells is equivalent to a 1-μm-thick planar nc-Si film. This light-trapping structure could enable the manufacturing of high-throughput ultra-thin film absorbers in a variety of material systems that demand shorter deposition time, less material usage and transferability to flexible substrates.

Plasmonic Fabry-Perot Nanocavity

We experimentally demonstrate a novel, all-plasmonic nanoscopic cavity exhibiting Q-factors up to 200 at visible frequencies. The Fabry-Pérot type resonator uses tall metallic fins that reflect up to 98% of incident surface plasmon to concentrate light within a subwavelength cavity mode. High aspect ratio metal fins, constructed using lithography and electroplating, reduce surface plasmon scattering out of the surface, while a short cavity length reduces the propagation loss. A simple Fabry-Pérot cavity model adapted for surface plasmon dispersion and reflection describes the underlying physics of the nanocavities and the results agree well with Johnsons and Christies permittivity data. The occurrence of an optimum wavelength for plasmon storage in these cavities allows us to clearly visualize the fundamental trade-off between propagation loss and the spatial extent of surface plasmon polaritons. The subwavelength optical mode area within these cavities enables the enhancement of weak optical processes such as spontaneous emission and nonlinear optics at nanoscale dimensions.

Three-dimensional nanometer-scale optical cavities of indefinite medium

Miniaturization of optical cavities has numerous advantages for enhancing light–matter interaction in quantum optical devices, low-threshold lasers with minimal power consumption, and efficient integration of optoelectronic devices at large scale. However, the realization of a truly nanometer-scale optical cavity is hindered by the diffraction limit of the nature materials. In addition, the scaling of the photon life time with the cavity size significantly reduces the quality factor of small cavities. Here we theoretically present an approach to achieve ultrasmall optical cavities using indefinite medium with hyperbolic dispersion, which allows propagation of electromagnetic waves with wave vectors much larger than those in vacuum enabling extremely small 3D cavity down to (λ/20)3. These cavities exhibit size-independent resonance frequencies and anomalous scaling of quality factors in contrast to the conventional cavities, resulting in nanocavities with both high Q/Vm ratio and broad bandwidth.

Broad Band Two-Dimensional Manipulation of Surface Plasmons

A plasmonic interference pattern can be formed when multiple surface plasmon waves overlap coherently. Utilizing a sharp edge coupling mechanism, we experimentally demonstrate plasmonic interference patterns that can be designed at will by shaping the edges in a metallic film. The patterns can also be dynamically tailored by adjusting the wavelength, the polarization, and the incident angle of the excitation light beam. Possessing the subdiffraction limited feature resolution, this dynamical manipulation method of surface plasmon patterns will have profound potentials in nanolithography, particle manipulation, and other related fields.

Optical transmission enhacement through chemically tuned two-dimensional bismuth chalcogenide nanoplates

Layer-structured two-dimensional nanomaterials are a family of materials with strong covalent bonding within layers and weak van der Waals interaction between layers, whose vertical thickness can be thinned down to few nanometer and even single atomic layer. Bismuth chalcogenides are examples of such two-dimensional materials. Here, we present our discovery of significant enhancement of light transmission through thin nanoplates of layered bismuth chalcogenides by intercalation of copper atoms, which is on the contrary to most bulk materials in which doping reduces the light transmission. This surprising behaviour results from two mechanisms: chemical tuning effect of substantial reduction of material absorption after intercalation and nanophotonic effect of zero-wave anti-reflection unique to ultra-small thickness of nanoplates. We demonstrate that the synergy of these two effects in two-dimensional nanostructures can be exploited for various optoelectronic applications including transparent electrode. The intercalation mechanism allows potential dynamic tuning capability.

Static Electricity Powered Copper Oxide Nanowire Microbicidal Electroporation for Water Disinfection

Safe water scarcity occurs mostly in developing regions that also suffer from energy shortages and infrastructure deficiencies. Low-cost and energy-efficient water disinfection methods have the potential to make great impacts on people in these regions. At the present time, most water disinfection methods being promoted to households in developing countries are aqueous chemical-reaction-based or filtration-based. Incorporating nanomaterials into these existing disinfection methods could improve the performance; however, the high cost of material synthesis and recovery as well as fouling and slow treatment speed is still limiting their application. Here, we demonstrate a novel flow device that enables fast water disinfection using one-dimensional copper oxide nanowire (CuONW) assisted electroporation powered by static electricity. Electroporation relies on a strong electric field to break down microorganism membranes and only consumes a very small amount of energy. Static electricity as the power source can be generated by an individual persons motion in a facile and low-cost manner, which ensures its application anywhere in the world. The CuONWs used were synthesized through a scalable one-step air oxidation of low-cost copper mesh. With a single filtration, we achieved complete disinfection of bacteria and viruses in both raw tap and lake water with a high flow rate of 3000 L/(h·m(2)), equivalent to only 1 s of contact time. Copper leaching from the nanowire mesh was minimal.

Imaging visible light using anisotropic metamaterial slab lens

It has been shown that an anisotropic metamaterial made of nanowire array can realize negative refraction of light even without a negative phase index of refraction. Such non-resonant bulk material can be fabricated by bottom-up electrochemical method. Using this material, we were able to achieve lensing action with micron-thick slab and demonstrate imaging of a slit object. The details of the focused light beam in 3-dimensional space have been mapped with near field scanning optical microscope (NSOM).