In this study, the morphological changes of chemically treated (orpreserved) with aqueous solutions of 1) a sodium chloride (NaCl) and 2) acompound containing sodium silicate, so called “wasserglass”, and untreatedI-type collagen fibers of Mongolian goatskin are investigated by atomicforce microscopy in ambient condition and at room temperature. Theexperimental results show that the difference between D period for bothchemically treated and untreated collagen fibers are a relatively stable formorphological behavior. However, we find that the width of collagen fiberstreated with the NaCl solution is more increasing with approximately 112 nmthan those of samples (untreated and treated with wasserglass solution) forthe range 93.4-94.8 nm. We also observe that a typically structure of thecollagen fibers generally, a dense packing of the untreated and treated bywasserglass collagen fibers in bundles in a nearly parallel arrangement,with little changes in orientation can be seen. The collagen fibers treatedby NaCl are a more destructive than untreated and treated by wasserglass forcollagen fibers.

The effect of the nanofiller chemistry on the mechanical behaviour of thermoset polymer matrix nanocomposites is investigated. The interaction between a crosslinked polymer resin and the reinforcing nanofibers driven by their chemistry is revealed by molecular dynamics simulations. Specifically, crosslinked network systems of neat epoxy and epoxy-P(St-co-GMA) are modeled to discuss the effect of various molecular interactions as a function of temperature on a molecular basis. At 433K°, incorporation of single molecule of bonded P(St-co-GMA) and nonbonded P(St-co-GMA) lead to increase in Young’s modulus by 10% and 6%, respectively, compared to neat epoxy system.

Nanocrystalline Zn1-xCoxO powders exhibiting a preferential crystal growth along the (002) plane have been synthesized in the atomic fraction, ‘x’, range of 0.0-0.0625 by a wet chemical method. The effect of the dopant concentration on the corresponding structural, optical and magnetic properties was also evaluated. XRD analyses evidenced the development of single-phase wurtzite with no traces of any impurity for all the dopant levels. The higher intensity of the (002) peak, when compared to the XRD peaks in bulk ZnO, indicates the preferential crystal growth along the c-axis in hexagonal wurtzite cell. The linear dependence of cell parameters a and c with ‘x’ suggests the actual replacement of Zn by Co ions in the host oxide lattice. Micro Raman spectroscopy measurements showed a band centered at 535cm-1, which can be assigned to a local vibrational mode related to Co species in addition to the normal modes associated with wurtzite. The relative broadening of this band at 535cm-1 was enhanced by increasing ‘x’. The other characteristic bands of ZnO corresponding to A1 (E2, E1) and E2 High modes were red shifted for all Co contents. UV-vis measurements showed that the energy band gap of as-synthesized nanopowders decreased with increasing Co2+ content up to x = 0.03 and increased for higher contents. Room-temperature magnetization measurements revealed the paramagnetic behavior of the Co-doped ZnO nanopowders.

We describe two techniques to create sharp tips. The first involves thebuckling of thin metal films deposited on soft, stretchable substrates. Thesecond involves the formation of narrow necked capillary bridges.

Hybrid field-effect-transistors (FETs) with germanium nanowire (NW) arrays and organic gate dielectric are presented. The nanowire deposition steps are fully compatible with printed electronics route. NW FETs demonstrate good performance with On/Off ratios of ~103 and hole mobilities of ~13 cm2/Vs in both nitrogen and air atmosphere. These results suggest that the hybrid nanowire FETs could be used in large area inexpensive electronics.

CdS host nanocrystals with 4.2-5.5 nm in diameter have been synthesized from air stable precursors via a synthetic chemical route and doped with rare earth (RE) terbium (Tb3+) and ytterbium (Yb3+) ions. RE3+-doped CdS cores were shelled by ZnS layers of different thicknesses. The resulting core/shell nanocrystals show a complete broadband absorption below 400-460 nm to the deep UV region depending on the size of the cores. RE3+-doped CdS nanocrystals showed a red shift in the emission as observed under irradiation of 302 nm UV light and was confirmed by room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The nanocrystals were further characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis. The results show that these RE3+-doped nanocrystals can be used as solar spectral matching downconversion material to enhance photovoltaic efficiency of existing solar cells.

We report site-selective studies of the Zeeman splittings that are observed for magnetic fields up to 6.6T for different Eu incorporation sites in GaN. Utilizing resonant excitation with visible light, we are able to distinguish the site and find for one center (Eu1) a splitting into five components as expected for C3v symmetry. The corresponding g-values are 1.66 and 1.90. The two lines of another center Eu2 each split into two levels corresponding to g-values of 1.9 and 2.84. Most surprisingly a third center, for which only one line is clearly identified, a g-value of 6.16 is found which is larger than can be explained for a 7F2 purely ionic Eu state.

Intermetallic γ-TiAl based alloys with additional amounts of the ternary bcc β phase attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their improved workability at elevated temperatures. At lower temperatures the ductile high-temperature β phase can transform to several ordered phases. However, actually available phase diagrams of these multiphase alloys are quite uncertain and the precipitation kinetics of some metastable phases is far from understood.

In the present study various transformations of the third phase are observed in situ by means of high-energy x-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation. A Ti-45Al-10Nb (at.%) specimen is subject to a temperature ramp of repeated heating cycles (700 °C - 1100 °C) with subsequent quenching at different rates. Depending on the quenching rate reversible transformations of the B2-ordered βo phase to different ω related phases are observed in Ti-45Al-10Nb. At low quenching rates the hexagonal B82-ordered ωo phase is formed while at high quenching rates the metastable intermediate trigonal ω’’ phase can be preserved. The results indicate that the complete transformation from βo to hexagonal B82-ordered ωo consists of two steps which are both diffusion controlled.

We are developing highly transparent ceramic oxide scintillators for high energy (MeV) radiography screens. Lutetium oxide doped with europium (Lu2O3:Eu) is the material of choice due to its high light yield and stopping power. As an alternative to hot-pressing, we are utilizing vacuum sintering followed by hot isostatic pressing (HIP). Nano-scale starting powder was uniaxially pressed into compacts and then sintered under high vacuum, followed by HIP’ing. Vacuum sintering temperature proved to be a critical parameter in order to obtain highly transparent Lu2O3:Eu. Under-sintering resulted in open porosity disabling the driving force for densification during HIP’ing, while over-sintering lead to trapped pores in the Lu2O3:Eu grain interiors. Optimal vacuum sintering conditions allowed the pores to remain mobile during the subsequent HIP’ing step which provided enough pressure to close the pores completely resulting in fully-dense highly transparent ceramics. Currently, we have produced 3 mm thick by 4.5 cm diameter ceramics with excellent transparency, and anticipate scaling to larger sizes while maintaining comparable optical properties.

Magnesium and titanium doped indium oxide (IMTO) thin films were grown using pulsed laser deposition technique. Magnesium was added to enhance the bandgap, whereas titanium was added to improve carrier concentrations and mobility of indium oxide films. The effect of growth temperature on structural, optical, and electrical properties were studied. It was observed that the optical transparency of the films strongly depends on growth temperature and increases with increase in growth temperature. The films grown at 600 °C showed optical transparency > 85%. We observed widening in bandgap of indium oxide by doping with magnesium and titanium. The bandgap of IMTO films increases with increase in growth temperature. The maximum bandgap of 3.9 eV was observed for film grown at 600 °C. It was observed that growth temperature strongly affects the electrical properties such as resistivity, carrier concentration, and mobility. The electrical resistivity and mobility of the films increases with increase in growth temperature. On the other hand, carrier concentration decreases with increase in growth temperature. Temperature dependence electrical resistivity measurements showed that films grown at low temperatures are semiconducting in nature, while films grown at high temperature showed transition from semiconducting to metallic behavior. These wide bandgap, highly transparent, and high mobility films could be used for photovoltaic applications.

Defects inside oxide ceramics of magnesium oxide (MgO) and sapphire (Al2O3) were formed using femtosecond laser irradiation. The laser irradiance in these ceramics forms various defects classified as dislocations, twins, or nano cracks near the focal point due to the increase of temperature and successive generation of shockwave within several picoseconds. The morphology of defects mainly depends on the crystal structure; dense dislocations inside MgO with a rock-salt type structure, and nanocracks, dislocations, or twins in sapphire with a corundum structure. The TEM analysis revealed that the dense dislocations formed on the two slip planes {110} to form a cross-shaped pattern when the laser beam focused on the (100) plane in MgO. In case of sapphire crystal, cracks propagated from the focal point that has an amorphous structure along R-planes {11-02}, which had the lowest fracture surface energy. The nano crack transformed into the aligned void and dislocation structure during the heat treatment over 1573K, which is one of the crack healing effect.

Emulsions are usually metastable systems of two non-miscible phases stabilized by surface active species like surfactant molecules. Emulsions stabilized by solid colloidal particles adsorbed at the interface (Pickering emulsions) offer some competitive advantages with respect to classical emulsions. Most studies published up to now concern emulsions stabilized by inorganic (metallic oxides, exfoliated clays, carbonates and phosphates) or polymeric particles while biomass derived alternatives have only been explored to a limited extent. For the first time, we report the stabilization of emulsions by unmodified cellulose nanocrystals [1, 2] . Cellulose nanocrystals were produced from bacterial cellulose and used to form Pickering emulsions. We demonstrate by SEM that the nanocrystals are adsorbed at the oil/water interface. We also study the size distribution of the droplets that was found to range around 4μm in diameter with very narrow dispersity. The stability of the emulsions was also investigated. The fabrication of new armored microparticles exposing cellulose acicular nanocrystals from cellulose nanocrystals opens opportunities to build materials from low cost and environmental friendly resource.

MEMS community is increasingly using SU-8 as a structural material because it is self-patternable, compliant and needs a low thermal budget. While the exposed layers act as the structural layers, the unexposed SU-8 layers can act as the sacrificial layers, thus making it similar to a surface micromachining process. A sequence of exposed and unexposed SU-8 layers should lead to the development of a SU-8 based MEMS chip integrated with a pre-processed CMOS wafer. A process consisting of optical lithography to obtain SU-8 structures on a CMOS wafer is described in this paper.

Because of their large interfacial area, the presence of nanoplatelets in the polymeric matrix decelerates the process of diffusion of gases through the material. The particles are impermeable barriers to the diffusing molecules, forcing them to follow complicated paths, increasing, thus, the diffusion length. The barrier properties of the nanocomposites depend on the properties of the polymeric matrix, the volume fraction of the nanoplatelets, their aspect ratio, their orientation, and their interactions with the matrix. The mobility of the molecules is hindered by the crystallinity but it is facilitated by the free volume within the material. The size and shape of the free volume holes in the polymer affect, thus, the rate of diffusion. Interactions between the nanoparticles and the matrix may lower the barrier properties because they may increase the free volume in the material. The estimation of free volume in the nanocomposite is important for the proper choice of components and the manufacturing of nanocomposite coatings with optimum barrier properties. Detailed information about the diffusion mechanisms at atomic and molecular levels can be obtained using the approach of free volume.

An organic molecular beam deposition system coupled to a soft x-ray excitation source has been developed to monitor the growth of organic semiconductor thin films in-situ and in real-time. Rapid collection of photoelectron spectra has been enabled using a multichannel array detector coupled to a hemispherical analyzer. The organic semiconductor tin phthalocyanine (SnPc) exhibits a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode on a polycrystalline gold substrate where the transition thickness between layered and clustered growth has been determined to be comparable to the thickness of a single molecular layer within which the molecules are standing on edge relative to the substrate plane.

Lithium phosphorus oxynitride (Lipon) thin films have been deposited by a plasmaenhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (PE-MOCVD) method using triethyl phosphate [(CH2CH3)3PO4] and lithium tert-butoxide [(LiOC(CH3)3] precursors. Growth rates were between 100 and 415 Å/min, and thicknesses ranged from 1 to 2.5 μm. X-ray powder diffraction showed that the films were amorphous, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed approximately 6.9 at.% carbon in the films. The ionic conductivity of Lipon was measured using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and approximately 1.02 μS/cm was obtained, which is consistent with the ionic conductivity of Lipon deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering of Li3PO4 targets. An all-solid-state thin-film lithium microbattery such as Li/Lipon/LiCoO2/Au/substrate was successfully fabricated with Lipon deposited by PE-MOCVD. The battery has a capacity of ca. 22 μAh/cm2μm.

Silicon nanostructures embedded in an amorphous matrix have been synthesized by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) at room temperature. The structural and optical properties of the materials were tailored by varying deposition parameters; attention has been devoted to the nanoscale morphology of the Si layers which has been varied from compact to open-porous by changing background gas (Ar) pressure (1-100 Pa). An adopted simple-minded strategy of a compact Si layer deposited on top of nanostructured layers showed to reduce quite successfully ex-situ oxidation. Raman spectroscopy suggests that as deposited samples are mainly constituted by amorphous silicon with nanocrystals (NCs) inclusions. The results indicate that the average size of the Si NCs varies in the range 2-6 nm. Photoluminescence (PL) responses are found to be strictly dependent on morphology and strengthen up the idea of the quantum confinement effect in the obtained nanostructured material. The results are interpreted in terms of particle size distribution, crystallinity and partial surface oxidation of the silicon nanostructures.

The Ni-doped (CuIn)0.2Zn1.6S2 photocatalysts were prepared via a two-step ultrasonic-hydrothermal method under an environmental-friendly condition. XRD pattern profiles suggested that Ni2+ successfully doped into (CuIn)0.2Zn1.6S2 lattice. UV-Vis spectra indicated that the optical properties of the photocatalysts greatly depended on the amount of Ni doped. SEM images show that the samples were microspheres. The microsphere structures were gradually damaged with the increment of Ni doping amount. The photoactivity of (CuIn)0.2Zn1.6S2 was enhanced when Ni2+ was doped into the crystal structure. The H2 evolution performance over the prepared samples from inorganic/organic sacrificial solution was systematic investigated.

Among the different recombination mechanisms in organic solar cells thephotoluminescence (PL) of charge transfer excitons (CTEs) has beenidentified has one of the most important, impacting both the open circuitvoltage and the short circuit current. Here, we study their recombinationdynamics, monitoring the decay of the PL on a time scale spanning threeorders of magnitude from nanoseconds to microseconds. As a model system weinvestigate blends of the conjugated polymerpoly(2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylene-vinylene) (MDMO-PPV)and the fullerene derivative [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM). We observe that the dynamics of recombination follows apower-law, which is independent of sample morphology. Upon application of atransient electric field, which is capable of separating the bound chargepairs, we observe different dynamics of recombination only for the separatedpairs. Those also follow a power-law and show a strong dependence on thefilm morphology.

Anodized Aluminum Oxide (AAO) based micro-channel plates (MCP) are fabricated in order to develop economical large-area photodetectors. Commercially available glass capillary array has a limitation to reach channel diameter below ~10 microns. However, smaller channel diameter is desired for better spatial and fast timing resolution. AAO based MCP is a good candidate to produce channel diameter less than 10 um by taking advantage of the nano-scale intrinsic pores during etching process. In this study, various channel diameters are fabricated with use of lithographic patterning techniques and wet etching; and characterized with optical, atomic force, and scanning electron microscopies. The channel diameter, channel length and related aspect ratio, as well as the open area are varied in order to maximize the MCP photon amplification.