Wenhao Guo

Oxygen‐Assisted Charge Transfer Between ZnO Quantum Dots and Graphene

Efficient charge transfer between ZnO quantum dots (QDs) and graphene is demonstrated by decorating ZnO QDs on top of graphene, with the assistance of oxygen molecules from the air. The electrical response of the device to UV light is greatly enhanced, and a photoconductive gain of up to 10(7) can be obtained.

Piezotronic Effects on the Optical Properties of ZnO Nanowires

We report the piezotronic effects on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of bent ZnO nanowires (NWs). We find that the piezoelectric field largely modifies the spatial distribution of the photoexcited carriers in a bent ZnO NW. This effect, together with strain-induced changes in the energy band structure due to the piezoresistive effects, results in a net redshift of free exciton PL emission from a bent ZnO NW. At the large-size limit, this net redshift depends only on the strain parameter, but it is size-dependent if the diameter of the NW is comparable to that of the depletion layer. The experimental data obtained using the near-field scanning optical microscopy technique at low temperatures support our theoretical model.

Raman spectroscopy of iodine molecules trapped in zeolite crystals

We study the Raman spectroscopy of neutral iodine molecules confined in the channels of zeolite AlPO4-5 (AFI) and AlPO4-11 (AEL) crystals, which shows that the molecular vibration states are significantly modified by the confinements from the nanosize channels. An iodine molecule trapped in the AEL crystal has an effective internuclear potential close to an ideal harmonic oscillator, while that in the AFI crystal behaves similarly to that in free space. The results are further confirmed by measuring the temperature dependence of Raman spectral width.

Nitrogen deep accepters in ZnO nanowires induced by ammonia plasma

Nitrogen doping in ZnO nanowires was achieved through ammonia plasma treatment followed by thermal annealing. The strong dependence of the red light emission from the nanowires excited by 2.4 eV on the nitrogen concentration, suggests that the red light emission originates from nitrogen related defects. The mechanism responsible for the red light emission is in good agreement with the deep-acceptor model of nitrogen defects, clarifying that nitrogen atoms caused deep accepters in ZnO nanowires. Based on this model, the enhanced green emission from defects in nitrogen-doped samples (excited by 325 nm line) can be well explained by the increase of the concentration of activated oxygen vacancies resulting from the compensation of nitrogen deep acceptors.

Estimating Atomic Sizes with Raman Spectroscopy

We demonstrate a technique to determine the Van der Waals radius of iodine atoms using Raman spectroscopy. The iodine diatomic molecules are diffused into the nano-scale channels of a zeolite single crystal. We found their polarized Raman spectroscopy, which corresponds to iodine molecules vibrational motion along the direction of molecular axis, is significantly modified by the interaction between the iodine molecules and the rigid frame of the crystals nano-channels. From the number of excitable vibration quantum states of the confined iodine molecules determined from Raman spectra and the size of the nano-channels, we estimate the iodine atomic radius to be 2.10 ± 0.05 Å. It is the first time that atomic sizes, which are far beyond the optical diffraction limit, have be resolved optically using Raman spectroscopy with the help of nano-scale structures.

Luminescence enhancement of ZnO-core/a-SiN x :H-shell nanorod arrays

We report a remarkable improvement of photoluminescence from ZnO-core/a-SiN(x):H-shell nanorod arrays by modulating the bandgap of a-SiN(x):H shell. The a-SiN(x):H shell with a large bandgap can significantly enhance UV emission by more than 8 times compared with the uncoated ZnO nanorods. Moreover, it is found that the deep-level defect emission can be almost completely suppressed for all the core-shell nanostructures, which is independent of the bandgaps of a-SiN(x):H shells. Combining with the analysis of infrared absorption spectrum and luminescence characteristics of NH(x)-plasma treated ZnO nanorods, the improved photoluminescence is attributed to the decrease of nonradiative recombination probability and the reduction of surface band bending of ZnO cores due to the H and N passivation and the screening effect from the a-SiN(x):H shells. Our findings open up new possibilities for fabricating stable and efficient UV-only emitting devices.

Effective control of photoluminescence from ZnO nanowires by a-SiN x :H decoration

The a-SiNx:H with a large bandgap of 3.8 eV was utilized to decorate ZnO nanowires. The UV emission from the a-SiNx:H-decorated ZnO nanowires are greatly enhanced compared with the undecorated ZnO nanowire. The deep-level defect emission has been completely suppressed even though the sample was annealed at temperatures up to 400 °C. The incorporation of H and N is suggested to passivate the defect states at the nanowire surface and thus result in the flat-band effect near ZnO surface as well as reduction of the nonradiative recombination probability.