Boosting the energy storage performance of BCZT-based capacitors by constructing a Schottky contact.

Multilayer thin films composed of dielectric BaCaZrTiO (BCZT) and oxygen-deficient BCZT (BCZT-OD) were fabricated on (001)-oriented NSTO substrates using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Unlike conventional approaches to energy storage capacitors, which primarily focus on compositional or structural modifications, this study explored the influence of the layer sequence and periodicity. The interface between the NSTO substrate and the BCZT-OD layer forms a Schottky barrier, resulting in electric field redistribution across the sublayers of the BCZT/BCZT-OD//(1P) thin film.

Ultrahigh Energy Storage in (Ag,Sm)(Nb,Ta)O Ceramics with a Stable Antiferroelectric Phase, Low Domain-Switching Barriers, and a High Breakdown Strength.

AgNbO (AN) antiferroelectrics (AFEs) are regarded as a promising candidate for high-property dielectric capacitors on account of their high maximum polarization, double polarization-electric field (-) loop characteristics, and environmental friendliness. However, high remnant polarization () and large polarization hysteresis loss from room-temperature ferrielectric behavior of AN and low breakdown strength () cause small recoverable energy density () and efficiency (η). To solve these issues, herein, we have designed Sm and Ta co-doped AgNbO.

Surprising Effects of Ti and AlO Coatings on Tribocatalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes by GaN Nanoparticles.

GaN is more stable than most metal oxide semiconductors for the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in harsh conditions, while its catalytic efficiency has been difficult to be substantially improved. In this study, the tribocatalytic degradation of organic dyes by GaN nanoparticles has been investigated. Stimulated through magnetic stirring using homemade Teflon magnetic rotary disks in glass beakers, the GaN nanoparticles were found to induce negligible degradation in rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) solutions.

Utilizing Domain Engineering to Achieve High-Polarization Relaxor Ferroelectrics for Low-Consumption Ceramic Capacitors.

This study focuses on incorporating NaNbO (NN) into the BaCaZrTiO (BCZT) lattice to form (1 - )BCZT-NN ceramics. Although antiferroelectricity was not observed, an observed domain-movement-diminishment behavior with increasing NN dopant induced the formation of high polarization walls (HPWs) between adjacent -phases. The 0.

Giant Piezoelectric Output and Stability Enhancement in Piezopolymer Composites with Liquid Metal Nanofillers.

Integrating nanomaterials into the polymer matrix is an effective strategy to optimize the performance of polymer-based piezoelectric devices. Nevertheless, the trade-off between the output enhancement and stability maintenance of piezoelectric composites usually leads to an unsatisfied overall performance for the high-strength operation of devices. Here, by setting liquid metal (LM) nanodroplets as the nanofillers in a poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) matrix, the as-formed liquid-solid/conductive-dielectric interfaces significantly promote the piezoelectric output and the reliability of this piezoelectric composite.

Effect of Strontium Substitution on the Tribocatalytic Performance of Barium Titanate.

This study investigates the impact of Sr doping on the tribocatalytic performance of BaTiO in degrading organic pollutants. BaSrTiO (x = 0-0.3) nanopowders are synthesized and their tribocatalytic performance evaluated.

Fast, Sensitive, and Highly Selective Room-Temperature Hydrogen Sensing of Defect-Rich Orthorhombic NbO Nanobelts with an Abnormal -Type Sensor Response.

The research and development of low-power-consumption and room-temperature hydrogen sensors are of great significance for the safe application of hydrogen energy. Herein, orthorhombic NbO nanobelts are prepared through a combined procedure of hydrothermal, ion exchange, and annealing treatment in Ar. The topological transformation process results in the formation of abundant surface defects including chemical defects such as Nb, oxygen vacancies, and disordered microregions, which lead to the abnormal -type conducting and hydrogen sensing behavior.

Aging Behavior and Heat Treatment for Room-Temperature CO-Sensitive Pd-SnO Composite Nanoceramics.

A high long-term stability is crucial for room-temperature gas-sensitive metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) to find practical applications. A series of Pd-SnO mixtures with 2, 5, and 10 wt% Pd separately were prepared from SnO and Pd powders. Through pressing and sintering, Pd-SnO composite nanoceramics have been successfully prepared from the mixtures, which show responses of 50, 100, and 60 to 0.

Visualization of Bubble Nucleation and Growth Confined in 2D Flakes.

The nucleation and growth of bubbles within a solid matrix is a ubiquitous phenomenon that affects many natural and synthetic processes. However, such a bubbling process is almost "invisible" to common characterization methods because it has an intrinsically multiphased nature and occurs on very short time/length scales. Using in situ transmission electron microscopy to explore the decomposition of a solid precursor that emits gaseous byproducts, the direct observation of a complete nanoscale bubbling process confined in ultrathin 2D flakes is presented here.

Improvement of dielectric properties and energy storage performance in sandwich-structured P(VDF-CTFE) composites with low content of GO nanosheets.

Polymer-based dielectric capacitors play a notable part in the practical application of energy storage devices. Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets can improve the dielectric properties of polymer-based composites. However, the breakdown strength will greatly reduce with the increase of GO content.

Transforming Pt-SnO Nanoparticles into Pt-SnO Composite Nanoceramics for Room-Temperature Hydrogen-Sensing Applications.

Many low-dimensional nanostructured metal oxides (MOXs) with impressive room-temperature gas-sensing characteristics have been synthesized, yet transforming them into relatively robust bulk materials has been quite neglected. Pt-decorated SnO nanoparticles with 0.25-2.

Room-Temperature Hydrogen-Sensing Capabilities of Pt-SnO and Pt-ZnO Composite Nanoceramics Occur via Two Different Mechanisms.

Impressive room-temperature gas-sensing capabilities have been reported for nanomaterials of many metal oxides, including SnO, ZnO, TiO, WO, and FeO, while little attention has been paid to the intrinsic difference among them. Pt-SnO and Pt-ZnO composite nanoceramics have been prepared through convenient pressing and sintering. The former shows strong and stable responses to hydrogen in 20% O-N (synthetic air) at room temperature, while the responses to hydrogen in N cannot be stabilized in limited times; the latter shows strong and stable responses to hydrogen in N, while the responses to hydrogen in synthetic air are greatly depressed.

Crystal Structure and Ferroelectric Evidence of BaZnSi O , a Low-Permittivity Microwave Dielectric Ceramic.

BaZnSi O ceramic was prepared by the conventional solid-state method and sintered at 1100 °C. XRD and synchrotron Rietveld refinement analyses revealed the BaZnSi O ceramic presented a monoclinic structure with a space group of P2 /a (No.14), which is reported for the first time.

Rational Design and Synthesis of Ultra-Thin β-Ni(OH) Nanoplates for High Performance All-Solid-State Flexible Supercapacitors.

The all-solid-state flexible supercapacitor (AFSC), one of the most flourishing energy storage devices for portable and wearable electronics, attracts substantial attentions due to their high flexibility, compact size, improved safety, and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the current AFSCs usually show low energy density, which extremely hinders their practical applications. Herein, ultra-thin β-Ni(OH) nanoplates with thickness of 2.

Analysis on real-time phase delay in an interferometric FBG sensor array using polarization switching and the PGC hybrid processing method.

The polarization switching and phase generated carrier (PS-PGC) hybrid method is typically adopted to control signal fading induced by fiber birefringence and to precisely demodulate signals in interferometric fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor arrays. Unlike simple PGC demodulation, the real-time phase delay between the detected interference and the PGC carrier in the hybrid method has more adverse effects as both demodulation accuracy and background noise can be deteriorated, which may invalidate the polarization switching (PS) method. Aiming at this issue, the real-time phase delay and its compensation method were analyzed in detail in this paper.

Homogeneous ZnO nanowire arrays p-n junction for blue light-emitting diode applications.

ZnO is a promising short-wavelength light-emitting materials for its wide bandgap (3.37 eV) and large exciton binding energy (∼60 meV), however, practical p-type doped ZnO is the main challenge in this field. Here, Blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on the homogeneous junctions of Sb doped ZnO nanowire arrays grown on Ga doped ZnO single crystal substrate are fabricated.

High-efficient synergy of piezocatalysis and photocatalysis in bismuth oxychloride nanomaterial for dye decomposition.

In this work, it is found that the hydrothermally-synthesized bismuth oxychloride can behave both the piezocatalysis and photocatalysis for the Rhodamine B dye decomposition. ∼99% decomposition efficiency is achieved after both vibrating and lighting the Rhodamine B dye solution for ∼96 min with the addition of bismuth oxychloride catalyst, while the ∼72% and ∼26% decomposition efficiencies are obtained for only photocatalysis or only piezocatalysis respectively. In bi-catalysis, the mechanical strain produced due to vibration will directly provide an electric field that will increase the separation between the photo-induced electron-hole pairs, yielding to the enhanced decomposition performance of bi-catalysis.

Influence of Structural Parameters on the Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering of Au Nanoarrays.

As an important research topic of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), periodic metal nanoarrays have attracted remarkable attention due to their superior properties, such as excellent enhancing ability, and high structural homogeneity and stability. In this work, periodic Au nanostructures with variable repetitive unit size, Au nanoparticle size, and gap sizes are fabricated by electron beam lithography on SiO₂/Si substrates to investigate the influence of these structural parameters on SERS performances. The SERS intensity is found to increase linearly with decreasing repetitive unit size (increase of Au nanoparticle number density), while shows no obvious dependence on the Au nanoparticle size.

Ultraviolet Detectors Based on Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Nanowire: A Review.

Ultraviolet (UV) detectors have attracted considerable attention in the past decade due to their extensive applications in the civil and military fields. Wide bandgap semiconductor-based UV detectors can detect UV light effectively, and nanowire structures can greatly improve the sensitivity of sensors with many quantum effects. This review summarizes recent developments in the classification and principles of UV detectors, i.

Room-temperature hydrogen sensing performance of NbO nanorod arrays.

NbO nanorod arrays with a hexagonal phase were grown on Nb foil a facile hydrothermal method. The aspect ratio and spacing of the NbO nanorods increased upon an increase in the reaction temperature. A pair of platinum electrodes was deposited on the surface of the NbO nanorod arrays to form a hydrogen sensor.

Remarkably Enhanced Room-Temperature Hydrogen Sensing of SnO₂ Nanoflowers via Vacuum Annealing Treatment.

In this work, SnO₂ nanoflowers synthesized by a hydrothermal method were employed as hydrogen sensing materials. The as-synthesized SnO₂ nanoflowers consisted of cuboid-like SnO₂ nanorods with tetragonal structures. A great increase in the relative content of surface-adsorbed oxygen was observed after the vacuum annealing treatment, and this increase could have been due to the increase in surface oxygen vacancies serving as preferential adsorption sites for oxygen species.

Fabrication of CuO-Pt core-shell nanohooks by in situ reconstructing the Pt-shells.

The design of various nanostructures with specific compositions and shapes is highly demanded due to the widespread use of micro/nano electro-mechanical systems. In this work, one-dimensional CuO-Pt core-shell nanowires (NWs) are acquired by depositing Pt nanoparticles onto CuO NWs and then mechanically-shaped into nanohooks. Subsequently, the hook-like shape is maintained by the Pt-shell which is reconstructed via Joule heat and re-solidified after cooling down, during which the elastic strain energy is stored in the CuO-core.

High-performance piezoelectric energy harvesting of vertically aligned Pb(Zr,Ti)O nanorod arrays.

Recent developments of self-powered devices and systems have attracted much attention. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) has been regarded as one of the most promising materials for building high-performance nanogenerators. Herein, vertically aligned PZT nanorod arrays were synthesized on a pre-oxidized Ti substrate in the presence of a surfactant by a one-step hydrothermal method.