Growth of c-plane and m-plane aluminium-doped zinc oxide thin films: epitaxy on flexible substrates with cubic-structure seeds.

Manufacturing high-quality zinc oxide (ZnO) devices demands control of the orientation of ZnO materials due to the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarity perpendicular to the c-plane. However, flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices are mostly built on polymers or glass substrates which lack suitable epitaxy seeds for the orientation control. Applying cubic-structure seeds, it was possible to fabricate polar c-plane and nonpolar m-plane aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films epitaxially on flexible Hastelloy substrates through minimizing the lattice mismatch.

Hybrid nanostructure heterojunction solar cells fabricated using vertically aligned ZnO nanotubes grown on reduced graphene oxide.

Using reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films as the transparent conductive coating, inorganic/organic hybrid nanostructure heterojunction photovoltaic devices have been fabricated through hydrothermal synthesis of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (ZnO-NRs) and nanotubes (ZnO-NTs) on rGO films followed by the spin casting of a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) film. The data show that larger interfacial area in ZnO-NT/P3HT composites improves the exciton dissociation and the higher electrode conductance of rGO films helps the power output. This study offers an alternative to manufacturing nanostructure heterojunction solar cells at low temperatures using potentially low cost materials.

Cu-doping induced ferromagnetism in ZnO nanowires.

Cu-doped and undoped ZnO nanowires have been successfully fabricated at 600 degrees C using a vapor transport approach. Comprehensive structural analyses on as-fabricated nanowires reveal highly crystalline ZnO nanowires with 0.5 at.

Temperature-controlled growth of ZnO nanowires and nanoplates in the temperature range 250-300 degrees C.

Starting from a mixture of Zn and BiI3, we grew nanowires and nanoplates on an oxidized Si substrate at relatively low temperatures of 250 and 300 degrees C, respectively. The ZnO nanowires had diameters of approximately 40 nm and grew along the [110] direction rather than the conventional [0001] direction. The nanoplates had thicknesses of approximately 40 nm and lateral dimensions of 3-4 microm.

The selectively manipulated growth of crystalline ZnO nanostructures.

Aligned ZnO nanorods on film, tetrapod nanowires and nanotubes have been selectively fabricated by a simple one-step route and characterized by x-ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and photoluminescence (PL). PL spectra exhibit different intensity of the green emission relative to the UV emission for different nanostructures. The effects of the process parameters on different nanostructures have been discussed.

Doping of Si into GaN nanowires and optical properties of resulting composites.

Doping of Si into GaN nanowires has been successfully attained via thermal evaporation in the presence of a suitable gas atmosphere. Analysis indicated that the Si-doped GaN nanowire is a single crystal with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, containing 2.2 atom % of Si.

Growth and characterization of tetragonal Mn3O4 nanowires.

Mn3O4 nanowires were synthesized by calcination of a precursor obtained in a novel microemulsion. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and selected area electron diffraction were used to characterize the structural features and chemical compositions of the as-synthesized nanowires. The results showed that the as prepared nanowires are composed of tetragonal Mn3O4, the diameters range from 50 to 800 nm, and lengths reach tens of micrometers.

Fabrication of Co3O4 nanorods by calcination of precursor powders prepared in a novel inverse microemulsion.

Co3O4 nanorods were prepared by improving traditional molten salt synthesis; the length and diameters of the Co3O4 nanorods were about 10 microns and 40-100 nm, respectively; the mechanism of formation of the Co3O4 nanorods is discussed.