W. K. Chan

Defect emissions in ZnO nanostructures

Defects in three different types of ZnO nanostructures before and after annealing under different conditions were studied. The annealing atmosphere and temperature were found to strongly affect the yellow and orange-red defect emissions, while green emission was not significantly affected by annealing. The defect emissions exhibited a strong dependence on the temperature and excitation wavelength, with some defect emissions observable only at low temperatures and for certain excitation wavelengths. The yellow emission in samples prepared by a hydrothermal method is likely due to the presence of OH groups, instead of the commonly assumed interstitial oxygen defect. The green and orange-red emissions are likely due to donor acceptor transitions involving defect complexes, which likely include zinc vacancy complexes in the case of orange-red emissions.

Influence of annealing on stimulated emission in ZnO nanorods

Vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays with rod lengths in the range of 200–1500nm were fabricated by a hydrothermal method. No stimulated emission was observed in as grown nanorods. Annealing of the rods in forming gas and oxygen significantly affected their optical properties and enabled the achievement of stimulated emission. The lowest lasing threshold and defect emission as well as the longest spontaneous emission decay times were obtained for nanorods annealed in oxygen flow. This indicates that interstitial oxygen, which is commonly assumed to be the cause of yellow-green defect emission, is not the dominant defect in hydrothermally grown nanorods.

Titania-nanotube-array-based photovoltaic cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells based on perpendicular titania nanotube arrays were fabricated. Titania nanotube arrays were prepared by anodization of Ti foil. The cell performance as a function of nanotube length and anodization method was investigated. Short circuit current density and cell efficiency increased with the nanotube length. Device performance was also affected by anodization method, spacer layer thickness, and annealing conditions. With optimized device structure and titania annealing procedure, short circuit current density of 3.28mA∕cm2 could be achieved under AM 1.5 simulated solar irradiation.

Antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles with a modified surface under ambient illumination

In various practical applications, nanomaterials typically have functionalized surfaces. Yet, the studies of toxicity and antibacterial activity of functionalized nanoparticles are scarce. We investigated the effect of surface modifications on antibacterial activity of ZnO under ambient illumination, and we found that nanoparticles coated with different surface modifying reagents could exhibit higher or lower toxicity compared to bare ZnO, depending on the surface modifying reagent used. Different surface modifying reagent molecules resulted in differences in the release of Zn(2+) ions and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the antibacterial activity did not correlate with the ROS levels or the Zn(2+) ion release. One of the surface-modified ZnO samples exhibited significantly lower Zn(2+) ion release while at the same time exhibiting improved antibacterial activity. In all cases, damage of the cell wall membranes and/or changes in the membrane permeability have been observed, together with the changes in ATR-FTIR spectra indicating differences in protein conformation. Mechanisms of antibacterial activity are discussed.

Dye-sensitized solar cells using ZnO tetrapods

One dimensional (1D) ZnO nanostructures are of interest for applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) since they exhibit significantly improved electron transport compared to that in porous films. However, 1D nanostructures also have a significantly lower surface area than the porous films. Thus, the achieved solar cell efficiencies are typically much lower in spite of the improved charge transport. In this work, we investigated DSSCs based on ZnO tetrapods to achieve an increased surface area compared to that of 1D nanostructures. The cell performance as a function of the tetrapod film thickness and the dye used was studied. To further increase the surface area, mixed morphologies (tetrapods with nanoparticles) were also investigated. Under optimal conditions, an AM 1.5 power conversion efficiency of ∼1.2% was achieved.

GaN/ZnO nanorod light emitting diodes with different emission spectra

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) consisting of p-GaN epitaxial films and n-ZnO nanorods have been fabricated and characterized. The rectifying behavior and emission spectra were strongly dependent on the electronic properties of both GaN film and ZnO nanorods. Light emission under both forward and reverse bias was obtained in all cases, and emission spectra could be changed by annealing the ZnO nanorods. The emission spectra could be further tuned by using a GaN LED epiwafer as a substrate. Both forward and backward diode behavior has been observed and the emission spectra were significantly affected by both the properties of the GaN substrate and the annealing conditions for the ZnO nanorods.

Hydrothermal Synthesis vs Electrodeposition for High Specific Capacitance Nanostructured NiO Films

NiO nanostructured films were synthesized by hydrothermal and electrodeposition methods at different deposition temperatures. Films fabricated by different methods had similar crystalline structures, but different morphologies. The electrochemical properties of the NiO films were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. For both fabrication methods, annealing was necessary to convert the films to NiO. After annealing at 300°C, all films behaved as pseudocapacitors. The electrodeposited film fabricated at a deposition temperature of 70°C on Ti foil exhibited a high value of pseudocapacitance (148 F/g at 100 mV/s CV scan rate), which suggests that electrodeposited films are promising for supercapacitor applications.

Low-band-gap, sublimable rhenium(I) diimine complex for efficient bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices

The use of chlorotricarbonyl rhenium(I) diimine complex as photosensitizing molecule in photovoltaic cells is demonstrated. Unlike other transition-metal-based sensitizers, the complex is sublimable and has low band gap. It also exhibits bipolar charge transport character with relatively high carrier mobilities on the order of 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1. Multilayer heterojunction and bulk heterojunction devices with fullerene as the electron accepting molecule were prepared. For the bulk heterojunction devices, the fill factor and power conversion efficiency under simulated solar light illumination were 0.56 and 0.48%, respectively. Atomic force microscopic images showed that the complex dispersed evenly with fullerene molecules in solid state.

The influence of the ZnO seed layer on the ZnO Nanorod/GaN LEDs

We have studied the influence of the seed layer on the growth of ZnO nanorods on GaN by vapor deposition and the performance of the p-GaN/ZnO nanorod light emitting diodes (LEDs). The seed layer had a significant influence on the orientation and density of the ZnO nanorods as well as on the current-voltage curves of the devices, while optical properties exhibited a weaker dependence on the seed layer. A uniform and bright yellow electroluminescence was observed in all the devices, while the photoluminescence spectra exhibited a prominent UV emission and a weak green emission.

PHOTOLUMINESCENCE AND UPCONVERSION OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CAS:SM3+ NANOCRYSTALLITES

The CaS:Sm3+  nanocrystallites are synthesized by the modified sol-gel technique. The grain size of the nanocrystallites is approximately 60 nm, which is determined by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and UV-vis absorption spectrum. Compared to the CaS:Sm3+ macrocrystallites, the absorption and emission of the nanocrystallites have a blueshift in their spectra, and the emission spectrum of the host CaS appears in the region of 400–500 nm. It was also found that the efficiencies of both photoluminescence and upconversion in the nanocrystallites are higher than those in the macrocrystallites.