Giant Blistering of Nanometer-Thick AlO/ZnO Films Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition: Mechanism and Potential Applications.

Giant circular blisters of up to 300 μm diameter and 10 μm deflection have been produced on nanometer-thick AlO-on-ZnO stacks grown by atomic layer deposition at 150 °C followed by annealing at elevated temperatures. Their shape changes upon varied ambient pressures provide evidence that their formation is related to an anneal-induced outgassing combined with their impermeability. The former mainly occurs in the bottom ZnO layer that recrystallizes and releases residual hydroxide ions at elevated temperatures while the latter is dominantly contributed by the pinhole-free AlO layer on top.

Optimal Shell Thickness of Metal@Insulator Nanoparticles for Net Enhancement of Photogenerated Polarons in P3HT Films.

Embedding metal nanoparticles in the active layer of organic solar cells has been explored as a route for improving charge carrier generation, with localized field enhancement as a proposed mechanism. However, embedded metal nanoparticles can also act as charge recombination sites. To suppress such recombination, the metal nanoparticles are commonly coated with a thin insulating shell.

Atomic layer deposition of a MoS₂ film.

A mono- to multilayer thick MoS₂ film has been grown by using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique at 300 °C on a sapphire wafer. ALD provides precise control of the MoS₂ film thickness due to pulsed introduction of the reactants and self-limiting reactions of MoCl₅ and H₂S. A post-deposition annealing of the ALD-deposited monolayer film improves the crystallinity of the film, which is evident from the presence of triangle-shaped crystals that exhibit strong photoluminescence in the visible range.

[Influence of combined ecological floating bed on nitrogen and phosphorus between overlying water and sediment].

A new type of combined ecological floating bed was developed on Swan Lake. It was combined with aquatic and hydrophilous plants and ancillary equipments that included floating controllers, water-cycling aerator systems and wave-making systems. Combined ecological floating bed changed the physical and chemical environment of Swan Lake and had an effect on the transportation and transformation of TN, NH4(+) -N and TP between overlying water and sediment during the experiment.

[Experimental studies on stability of flocs from cadmium pollution emergency treatment].

Taking the flocs from cadmium pollution emergency treatment of Longjiang River in Guangxi province as the research object, the stability of the flocs in the simulated static reservoirs and acidic floods was investigated based on the effects of disturbance and pH on the stability of the flocs. The results indicated that disturbance and pH had great effects on the stability of the flocs, and the concentrations of Cd2+ followed the order of pH 5.0 >> pH 6.

A novel T-type overhangs improve the enzyme-free cloning of PCR products.

PCR product cloning is the foundational technology for almost all fields in the life sciences. Numerous innovative methods have been designed during the past few decades. Enzyme-free cloning is the only one that avoids post-amplification enzymatic treatments, making the technique reliable and cost effective.

Atomic layer deposition assisted template approach for electrochemical synthesis of Au crescent-shaped half-nanotubes.

This paper reports on a novel and versatile method to synthesize sharp-edged crescent-shaped half-nanotubes (HNTs) using a flexible template-based nanofabrication method assisted by atomic layer deposition. This was achieved by electrodeposition inside crescent-shaped nanochannels created by a controlled removal of a sacrificial layer, which was deposited by atomic layer deposition onto the pore walls of an anodic aluminum oxide template. This method provides a high degree of freedom in the manipulation of the morphological properties of HNTs such as the edge sharpness, opening, gap size, and the wall thickness.

The transition between conformal atomic layer epitaxy and nanowire growth.

Conformal atomic layer deposition of thin Sb(2)S(3) layers takes place epitaxially on suitable substrates at 90 degrees C. More elevated deposition temperatures increase the mobility of the solid and result in the diffusion of Sb(2)S(3) along surface energy gradients. On an Sb(2)Se(3) wire that presents the high-energy c facet at its extremity, this results in the axial elongation of the wire with a Sb(2)S(3) segment.

Clomazone dissipation, adsorption and translocation in four paddy topsoils.

Laboratory experiments about the dissipation, adsorption and translocation in four paddy topsoils were conducted in this paper. From the results it can be concluded as follows: the dissipation rate of clomazone differed greatly in different paddy soil derived from different parent materials. The half-lives for clomazone degradation in paddy soils ranged from 5.