Table of contents

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have attracted much attention as they can achieve 100% theoretical internal quantum efficiency without using expensive noble metals. However, efficient red TADF emitters are hard to realize according to the energy gap law. Here, three donor-acceptor-donor type TADF emitters with the same acceptor of o-phthalodinitrile (PN) but different donors (9, 9-dimethyl-9, 10-dihydroacridine (DMAC), phenoxazine (PXZ), and phenothiazine (PTZ) for DMAC-PN, PXZ-PN, and PTZ-PN, respectively) have been synthesized, and it is observed that the performance of the emitters can be improved by reducing the intra-molecular π–π stacking. DMAC-PN with reduced intra-molecular π–π stacking shows a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 20.2% in degassed toluene solution, much higher than those of PXZ-PN, and PTZ-PN (0.8%, 0.2%, respectively). An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) employing DMAC-PN doped into 4,4'-bis(9H-carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl (CBP) as the emitting layer exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 10.2% with the emission peak at 564 nm. Moreover, when DMAC-PN is doped into a polar host, bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl] ether oxide (DPEPO), the OLED shows a large redshift of the emission maximum to 594 nm, while maintaining a peak EQE as high as 7.2%, indicating that efficient red TADF OLEDs can be fabricated by doping orange TADF emitters into hosts with proper polarity.

We study spin transport in lateral spin valves with constricted channels. Using electromigration, we modulate the spin accumulation by continuously varying the width of the non-magnetic (NM) channel at a single location. By fitting the non-local spin signal data as a function of the NM channel resistance, we extract all the relevant parameters regarding spin transport from a single device. Simulations show that constricting the channel blocks the diffusion of the accumulated spins rather than causing spin flipping. This result could be used to improve the design of future spintronic devices devoted to information processing.

In this work, we report an all-solution route to produce semi-transparent high efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Instead of an energy-consuming vacuum process with metal deposition, the top electrode is simply deposited by spray-coating silver nanowires (AgNWs) under room temperature using fabrication conditions and solvents that do not damage or dissolve the underlying PSC. The as-fabricated semi-transparent perovskite solar cell shows a photovoltaic output with dual side illuminations due to the transparency of the AgNWs. With a back cover electrode, the open circuit voltage increases significantly from 1.01 to 1.16 V, yielding high power conversion efficiency from 7.98 to 10.64%.

In this study, the strategy of using an organic–inorganic hybrid planar heterojunction consisting of polymeric semiconductors and inorganic nanocrystals is introduced to realize a high-performance hybrid photodiode (HPD) with low dark current and high detectivity. To prevent undesired charge injection under the reverse bias condition, which is the major dark current source of the photodiode, a well-defined planar heterojunction is strategically constructed via smart solution process techniques. The optimized HPD renders a low dark current of ∼10⁻⁵ mA cm⁻² at −5 V and ∼10⁻⁶ mA cm⁻² at −1 V, as well as a high detectivity ∼10¹² Jones across the entire visible wavelength range. Furthermore, excellent photocurrent stability is demonstrated under continuous light exposure. We believe that the solution-processed planar heterojunction with inverted structure can be an attractive alternative diode structure for fabricating high-performance HPDs, which usually suffer from high dark current issues.

We propose a bottom-up procedure to fabricate an easy-to-engineer graphene-based device, consisting of a microstrip-like circuit where few-layer graphene nanoplatelets are used to contact two copper electrodes. The graphene nanoplatelets are obtained by the microwave irradiation of intercalated graphite, i.e., an environmentally friendly, fast and low-cost procedure. The contact is created by a bottom-up process, driven by the application of a DC electrical field in the gap between the electrodes, yielding the formation of a graphene carpet. The electrical resistance of the device has been measured as a function of the gap length and device temperature. The possible use of this device as a gas sensor is demonstrated by measuring the sensitivity of its electrical resistance to the presence of gas. The measured results demonstrate a good degree of reproducibility in the fabrication process, and the competitive performance of devices, thus making the proposed technique potentially attractive for industrial applications.

A heterostructure of graphene and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) is fabricated by sandwiching an array of ZnO NWs between two graphene layers for an ultraviolet (UV) photodetector. This unique structure allows NWs to be in direct contact with the graphene layers, minimizing the effect of the substrate or metal electrodes. In this device, graphene layers act as highly conducting electrodes with a high mobility of the generated charge carriers. An excellent sensitivity is demonstrated towards UV illumination, with a reversible photoresponse even for a short period of UV illumination. Response and recovery times of a few milliseconds demonstrated a much faster photoresponse than most of the conventional ZnO nanostructure-based photodetectors. It is shown that the generation of a built-in electric field between the interface of graphene and ZnO NWs effectively contributes to the separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs for photocurrent generation without applying any external bias. Upon application of external bias voltage, the electric field further increases the drift velocity of photogenerated electrons by reducing the charge recombination rates, and results in an enhancement of the photocurrent. Therefore, the graphene-based heterostructure (G/ZnO NW/G) opens avenues to constructing a novel heterostructure with a combination of two functionally dissimilar materials.

Here we report the fabrication of high-performance all-carbon temperature and infrared (IR) sensors with a solvent-free multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) trace as the sensing element and commercial graphite pencil trace as the electrical contact on recyclable and biodegradable cellulose filter paper without using any toxic materials or complex procedures. The temperature sensor shows a large negative temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) in the range of −3100 ppm K⁻¹ to −4900 ppm K⁻¹, which is comparable to available commercial temperature sensors, and an activation energy of 34.85 meV. The IR sensor shows a high responsivity of 58.5 V W⁻¹, which is greater than reported IR sensors with similar dimensions. A detailed study of the conduction mechanism in MWCNTs with temperature and the photo response with IR illumination was done and it was found that the conduction is due to thermally assisted hopping in band tails and the photo response is bolometric in nature. The successful fabrication of these sensors on cellulose filter paper with a comparable performance to existing components indicates that it is possible to fabricate high-performance electronics using low-cost, eco-friendly materials without the need for expensive clean-room processing techniques or harmful chemicals.

Graphene has been extensively investigated for its use in flexible electronics, especially graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). To enhance the flexibility of CVD graphene, wrinkles are often introduced. However, reports on the flexibility of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) films are few, because of their weak conductivity and, in particular, poor flexibility. To improve the flexibility of RGO, reduced graphene oxide nanoshells are fabricated, which combine self-assembled polystyrene nanosphere arrays and high-temperature thermal annealing processes. The resulting RGO films with nanoshells present a better resistance stabilization after stretching and bending the devices than RGO without nanoshells. The sustainability and performance advances demonstrated here are promising for the adoption of flexible electronics in a wide variety of future applications.

Guided-mode resonance (GMR) structures consisting of sub-wavelength periodic gratings are capable of producing narrow-linewidth optical resonances. This paper describes a sol–gel-based imprint lithography method for the fabrication of submicron 1D and 2D GMR structures. This method utilizes a patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold to fabricate the grating coupler and waveguide for a GMR device using a sol–gel thin film in a single step. An organic–inorganic hybrid sol–gel film was selected as the imprint material because of its relatively high refractive index. The optical responses of several sol–gel GMR devices were characterized, and the experimental results were in good agreement with the results of electromagnetic simulations. The influence of processing parameters was investigated in order to determine how finely the spectral response and resonant wavelength of the GMR devices could be tuned. As an example potential application, refractometric sensing experiments were performed using a 1D sol–gel device. The results demonstrated a refractive index sensitivity of 50 nm/refractive index unit. This one-step fabrication process offers a simple, rapid, and low-cost means of fabricating GMR structures. We anticipate that this method can be valuable in the development of various GMR-based devices as it can readily enable the fabrication of complex shapes and allow the doping of optically active materials into sol–gel thin film.

Introducing a single silicon nanowire with a known orientation and dimensions to a specific layout location constitutes a major challenge. The challenge becomes even more formidable, if one chooses to realize the task in a monolithic fashion with an extreme topography, a characteristic of microsystems. The need for such a monolithic integration is fueled by the recent surge in the use of silicon nanowires as functional building blocks in various electromechanical and optoelectronic applications. This challenge is addressed in this work by introducing a top-down, silicon-on-insulator technology. The technology provides a pathway for obtaining well-controlled silicon nanowires along with the surrounding microscale features up to a three-order-of-magnitude scale difference. A two-step etching process is developed, where the first shallow etch defines a nanoscale protrusion on the wafer surface. After applying a conformal protection on the protrusion, a deep etch step is carried out forming the surrounding microscale features. A minimum nanowire cross-section of 35 nm by 168 nm is demonstrated in the presence of an etch depth of 10 μm. Nanowire cross-sectional features are characterized via transmission electron microscopy and linked to specific process steps. The technology allows control on all dimensional aspects along with the exact location and orientation of the silicon nanowire. The adoption of the technology in the fabrication of micro and nanosystems can potentially lead to a significant reduction in process complexity by facilitating direct access to the nanowire during surface processes such as contact formation and doping.

We demonstrate a simple, planar manufacturing process-compatible fabrication of highly efficient UV sensors based on a hybrid heterojunction of an array of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (NRs) and PEDOT:PSS. The ZnO NR array was grown by the solution growth process and the aspect ratio (length 1 to 4 μm, diameter ∼80 nm) of the rods was controlled by varying the growth time. UV sensors based on (i) naked ZnO NRs and (ii) ZnO NR/PEDOT:PSS heterojunctions were fabricated and tested. The UV sensitivity of bare ZnO NRs was found to increase with increasing aspect ratio of the NRs due to the increase in the photogenerated charge carriers as the fraction of material interacting with the light increases. Under 5 V bias, naked ZnO NR arrays showed a photocurrent of 8.84 × 10⁻⁵ A, a responsivity of 0.538 A W⁻¹ and a sensitivity of 4.80 under UV (λ = 256 nm, 130 μW) illumination. ZnO NR/PEDOT:PSS hybrid heterojunctions showed diode-like behavior with a leakage current less than 2.54 × 10⁻⁸ A at −5 V and forward turn-on voltage of 1.1 V. ZnO NR/polymer-based hybrid heterojunctions show a photocurrent of 6.74 × 10⁻⁴ A, responsivity of 5.046 A W⁻¹ and excellent sensitivity of 37.65 under UV (λ = 256 nm, 130 μW) illumination. Compared with bare ZnO NR arrays, the ZnO NR/polymer heterojunction device shows responsivity enhanced by a factor of 10, sensitivity enhanced by a factor of 8 and faster rise and decay time. The enhanced performance may be due to effective charge separation guided by the built-in potential formed at the interface between ZnO NRs and PEDOT:PSS.

In this paper, we demonstrate a new integration of printed circuit board (PCB) technology-based self-powered sensors (PSSs) and direct-write, near-field electrospinning (NFES) with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) micro/nano fibers (MNFs) as source materials. Integration with PCB technology is highly desirable for affordable mass production. In addition, we systematically investigate the effects of electrodes with intervals in the range of 0.15 mm to 0.40 mm on the resultant PSS output voltage and current. The results show that at a strain of 0.5% and 5 Hz, a PSS with a gap interval 0.15 mm produces a maximum output voltage of 3 V and a maximum output current of 220 nA. Under the same dimensional constraints, the MNFs are massively connected in series (via accumulation of continuous MNFs across the gaps ) and in parallel (via accumulation of parallel MNFs on the same gap) simultaneously. Finally, encapsulation in a flexible polymer with different interval electrodes demonstrated that electrical superposition can be realized by connecting MNFs collectively and effectively in serial/parallel patterns to achieve a high current and high voltage output, respectively. Further improvement in PSSs based on the effect of cooperativity was experimentally realized by rolling-up the device into a cylindrical shape, resulting in a 130% increase in power output due to the cooperative effect. We assembled the piezoelectric MNF sensors on gloves, bandages and stockings to fabricate devices that can detect different types of human motion, including finger motion and various flexing and extensions of an ankle. The firmly glued PSSs were tested on the glove and ankle respectively to detect and harvest the various movements and the output voltage was recorded as ∼1.5 V under jumping movement (one PSS) and ∼4.5 V for the clenched fist with five fingers bent concurrently (five PSSs). This research shows that piezoelectric MNFs not only have a huge impact on harvesting various external sources from mechanical energy but also can distinguish different motions as a self-powered active deformation sensor.

For the Ga-assisted growth of GaAs nanowires on Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy, growth temperature, As flux, and Ga flux have been systematically varied across the entire window of growth conditions that result in the formation of nanowires. A range of GaAs structures was observed, progressing from pure Ga droplets under negligible As flux through horizontal nanowires, tilted nanowires, vertical nanowires, and nanowires without droplets to crystallites as the As flux was increased. Quantitative analysis of the resulting sample morphology was performed in terms of nanowire number and volume density, number yield and volume yield of vertical nanowires, diameter, length, as well as the number and volume density of parasitic growth. The result is a growth map that comprehensively describes all nanowire and parasitic growth morphologies and hence enables growth of nanowire samples in a predictive manner. Further analysis indicates the combination of global Ga flux and growth temperature determines the total density of all objects, whereas the global As/Ga flux ratio independently determines the resultant sample morphology. Several dependencies observed here imply that all objects present on the substrate surface, i.e. both nanowires and parasitic structures, originate from Ga droplets.

To realize flexible lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the design of flexible electrode/current collector materials with high mechanical flexibility, superior conductivity and excellent electrochemical performance and electrical stability are highly desirable. In this work, we developed a new ternary Cd₂GeO₄ nanowire/graphene oxide/carbon nanotube nanocomposite (Cd₂GeO₄ NW/GO/CNT) film electrode. Benefiting from the efficient combination of GO and Cd₂GeO₄ NWs, our Cd₂GeO₄ NW/GO/CNT composite film exhibits a capacity of 784 mA h g⁻¹ after 30 cycles at 200 mA g⁻¹, which is 2.7 times higher than that of Cd₂GeO₄ NW/CNT film (290 mA h g⁻¹). At a higher rate of 400 mA g⁻¹ and 1 A g⁻¹, the Cd₂GeO₄ NW/GO/CNT film delivers a stable capacity of 617 and 397 mA h g⁻¹, respectively. Even at 2.5 A g⁻¹, it still exhibits a high rate capacity of 180 mA h g⁻¹. The flexible Cd₂GeO₄ NW/GO/CNT film clearly demonstrates good cycling stability and rate performance for anode materials in LIBs. This route may be extended to design other flexible free-standing metal germanate nanocomposite anode materials.

Cancer is a cell dysfunction disease. The detection of cancer cells is extremely important for early diagnosis and clinical treatments. At present, the pretreatment for the detection of cancer cells is costly, complicated and time-consuming. As different species of the analytes may give rise to specific voltammetric signals at distinctly different potentials, simple potential sensing has the specificity to detect different cellular species. By taking advantage of the different electrochemical characteristics of normal cells, cancer cells and biointeractions between anticancer drugs and cancer cells, we develop a specific, sensitive, direct, cost-effective and rapid method for the detection of cancer cells by electrochemical potential sensing based on Au/TiO₂ nanobelt heterostructure electrodes that will be of significance in early cancer diagnosis, in vitro screening of anticancer drugs  and molecular biology research.

Superhydrophobic materials can find promising applications in the field of building. However, their application has been very limited because the synthesis routes involve tedious processes, preventing large-scale application. A second drawback is related to their short-term life under outdoor conditions. A simple and low-cost synthesis route for producing superhydrophobic surfaces on building materials is developed and their effectiveness and their durability on clay roof tiles are evaluated. Specifically, an organic–inorganic hybrid gel containing silica nanoparticles is produced. The nanoparticles create a densely packed coating on the roof tile surface in which air is trapped. This roughness produces a Cassie–Baxter regime, promoting superhydrophobicity. A surfactant, n-octylamine, was also added to the starting sol to catalyze the sol–gel process and to coarsen the pore structure of the gel network, preventing cracking. The application of ultrasound obviates the need to use volatile organic compounds in the synthesis, thereby making a 'green' product. It was also demonstrated that a co-condensation process effective between the organic and inorganic species is crucial to obtain durable and effective coatings. After an aging test, high hydrophobicity was maintained and water absorption was completely prevented for the roof tile samples under study. However, a transition from a Cassie–Baxter to a Wenzel state regime was observed as a consequence of the increase in the distance between the roughness pitches produced by the aging of the coating.

Nanostructured Pt-based alloys show great promise, not only for catalysis but also in medical and magnetic applications. To extend the properties of this class of materials, we have developed a means of synthesizing Pt and Pt-based alloy nanoclusters in the capsid of a virus. Pure Pt and Pt-alloy nanoclusters are formed through the chemical reduction of [PtCl₄]⁻ by NaBH₄ with/without additional metal ions (Co or Fe). The opening and closing of the ion channels in the virus capsid were controlled by changing the pH and ionic strength of the solution. The size of the nanoclusters is limited to 18 nm by the internal diameter of the capsid. Their magnetic properties suggest potential applications in hyperthermia for the Co–Pt and Fe–Pt magnetic alloy nanoclusters. This study introduces a new way to fabricate size-restricted nanoclusters using virus capsid.

The design of a water pump, which has huge potential for applications in nanotechnology and daily life, is the dream of many scientists. In this paper, we successfully design a nanometer water pump by using molecular dynamics simulations. Ions of either sodium or chlorine in a narrow channel will generate electric current under electric fields, which then drives the water through a wider channel, similar to recent experimental setups. Considerable water flux is achieved within small field strengths that are accessible by experimentation. Of particular interest, is that for sodium the water flux increases almost linearly with field strengths; while for chlorine there exists a critical field strength, the water flux exhibits a plateau before the critical value and increases linearly after it. This result follows the behavior of ion velocity, which is related to friction behavior. We also estimate the power and energy consumption for such a pump, and compare it to the macroscopic mechanical pumps. A further comparison suggests that different ions will have different pumping abilities. This study not only provides new, significant results with possible connection to existing research, but has tremendous potential application in the design of nanofluidic devices.

Metallic nanoparticles with different physical properties have been screen printed as authentication tags on different types of paper. Gold and silver nanoparticles show unique optical signatures, including sharp emission bandwidths and long lifetimes of the printed label, even under accelerated weathering conditions. Magnetic nanoparticles show distinct physical signals that depend on the size of the nanoparticle itself. They were also screen printed on different substrates and their magnetic signals read out using a magnetic pattern recognition sensor and a vibrating sample magnetometer. The novelty of our work lies in the demonstration that the combination of nanomaterials with optical and magnetic properties on the same printed support is possible, and the resulting combined signals can be used to obtain a user-configurable label, providing a high degree of security in anti-counterfeiting applications using simple commercially-available sensors.

Using first-principles density functional theory (DFT) hybrid functional calculations, we demonstrate the formation of a quantum spin Hall (QSH) state on a Ge(111) surface. We show that a 1/3 monolayer (ML) Cl-covered Ge(111) surface offers an ideal template for metal, such as Bi, deposition into a stable hexagonal overlayer 2D lattice, which we refer to as Bi@Cl-Ge(111). The band structure and band topology of Bi@Cl-Ge(111) are analyzed with respect to the effect of spin–orbit coupling (SOC). The Bi@Cl-Ge(111) exhibits a QSH state with a band gap of 0.54 eV. In contrast, the Au@Cl-Ge(111) is found to be a trivial semiconducting surface. The Ge(111) substrate acts as an orbital filter to critically select the orbital composition around the Fermi level. Our findings offer another possible system for experimental exploration of the growth of 2D topological materials on conventional semiconductor substrates, where the 2D overlayer is atomically bonded to, but electronically decoupled from, the underlying substrate, exhibiting an isolated topological quantum state inside the substrate band gap.

A simple, convenient method for the formation of hybrid metal/conductive polymer nanostructures is described. Polyimidazole (PIm) has been templated on λ-DNA via oxidative polymerisation of imidazole using FeCl₃ to produce conductive PIm/DNA nanowires. The PIm/DNA nanowires were decorated with Pd (Pd/PIm/DNA) by electroless reduction of ${{{\rm{PdCl}}}_{4}}^{2-}$ with NaBH₄ in the presence of PIm/DNA; the choice of imidazole was motivated by the potential Pd(II) binding site at the pyridinic N atom. The formation of PIm/DNA and the presence of metallic Pd on Pd/PIm/DNA nanowires were verified by FTIR, UV–vis and XPS spectroscopy techniques. AFM studies show that the nanowires have diameters in the range 5–45 nm with a slightly greater mean diameter (17.1 ± 0.75 nm) for the Pd-decorated nanowires than the PIm/DNA nanowires (14.5 ± 0.89 nm). After incubation for 24 h in the polymerisation solution, the PIm/DNA nanowires show a smooth, uniform morphology, which is retained after decoration with Pd. Using a combination of scanned conductance microscopy, conductive AFM and two-terminal measurements we show that both types of nanowire are conductive and that it is possible to discriminate different possible mechanisms of transport. The conductivity of the Pd/PIm/DNA nanowires, (0.1–1.4 S cm⁻¹), is comparable to the PIm/DNA nanowires (0.37 ± 0.029 S cm⁻¹). In addition, the conductance of Pd/PIm/DNA nanowires exhibits Arrhenius behaviour (E_a = 0.43 ± 0.02 eV) as a function of temperature in contrast to simple Pd/DNA nanowires. These results indicate that although the Pd crystallites on Pd/PIm/DNA nanowires decorate the PIm polymer, the major current pathway is through the polymer rather than the Pd.

A novel approach is presented to improve the oscillatory behavior of oscillators based on double-walled carbon nanotubes containing rotating inner tubes applied with different helical rises. The influence of the helical rise on the oscillatory amplitude, frequency, and stability of inner tubes with different helical rises in armchair@zigzag bitubes is investigated using the molecular dynamics method. Our simulated results show that the oscillatory behavior is very sensitive to the applied helical rise. The inner tube with h = 10 Å has the most ideal hexagon after the energy minimization and NVT process in the armchair@zigzag bitubes, superior even to the inner tube without a helical rise, and thus it exhibits better oscillatory behavior compared with other modes. Therefore, we can apply an appropriate helical rise on the inner tube to produce a stable and smooth oscillator based on double-walled carbon nanotubes.

Spectrally and spatially resolved cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements were carried out at 80 K on undoped/Mg-doped GaN core–shell nanorods grown by selective area growth metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy in order to investigate locally the optical activity of the Mg dopants. A study of the luminescence emission distribution over the different regions of the nanorods is presented. We have investigated the CL fingerprints of the Mg incorporation into the non-polar lateral prismatic facets and the semi-polar facets of the pyramidal tips. The amount of Mg incorporation/activation was varied by using several Mg/Ga flow ratios and post-growth annealing treatment. For lower Mg/Ga flow ratios, the annealed nanorods clearly display a donor–acceptor pair band emission peaking at 3.26–3.27 eV and up to 4 LO phonon replicas, which can be considered as a reliable indicator of effective p-type Mg doping in the nanorod shell. For higher Mg/Ga flow ratios, a substantial enhancement of the yellow luminescence emission as well as several emission subbands are observed, which suggests an increase of disorder and the presence of defects as a consequence of the excess Mg doping.