Photocatalytic activity of α‐PbO2‐type TiO2

The α‐PbO₂‐type TiO₂ is synthesized under high‐pressure and high‐temperature environment and it shows higher photocatalytic activity as compared to rutile and anatase under UV irradiation. The reduction in α‐PbO₂‐type TiO₂ induces visible‐light photocatalytic activity. These results indicate that α‐PbO₂‐type TiO₂ is an important candidate material for use in a photocatalytic matrix.

     

Ag fractals formed on top of a porous TiO2 thin film

This work demonstrates the formation of Ag fractals on top of a Ag:TiO₂ thin film. The dendrite‐type objects emerged from a homogeneous and highly transparent Ag:TiO₂ nanocomposite, via the mechanism of diffusion‐limited‐aggregation of Ag atoms, during heat‐treatment at 500 °C. A porous TiO₂ matrix was also formed during this process, opening a wide range of possible applications, namely in sensing‐based ones, together with surface enhanced spectroscopies. Furthermore, fractals incorporate a wide range of shapes and spatial scales, inducing a potentially interesting optical response, over the whole visible range, presumably related with localized surface plasmon modes with very broad spectral distribution.

     

On the assessment of CIGS surface passivation by photoluminescence

An optimized test structure to study rear surface passivation in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells by means of photoluminescence (PL) is developed and tested. The structure – illustrated in the abstract figure – is examined from the rear side. To enable such rear PL assessment, a semi‐transparent ultra‐thin Mo layer has been developed and integrated in place of the normal rear contact. The main advantages of this approach are (i) a simplified representation of a rear surface passivated CIGS solar cell is possible, (ii) it is possible to assess PL responses originating close to the probed rear surface, and (iii) a stable PL response as a function of air exposure time is obtained. In this work, PL measurements of such structures with and without rear surface passivation layers have been compared, and the measured improvement in PL intensity for the passivated structures is associated with enhanced CIGS rear interface properties.

     

Low leakage stoichiometric SrTiO3 dielectric for advanced metal–insulator–metal capacitors

Metal–insulator–metal capacitors (MIMCAP) with stoichiometric SrTiO₃ dielectric were deposited stacking two strontium titanate (STO) layers, followed by intermixing the grain determining Sr‐rich STO seed layer, with the Ti‐rich STO top layer. The resulted stoichiometric SrTiO₃ would have a structure with less defects as demonstrated by internal photoemission experiments. Consequently, the leakage current density is lower compared to Sr‐rich STO which allow further equivalent oxide thickness downscaling.

Schematic of MIMCAP with stoichiometric STO dielectric formed from bottom Sr‐rich STO and top Ti‐rich STO after intermixing during crystallization anneal.     

Lead‐free mesoscopic Cs2SnI6 perovskite solar cells using different nanostructured ZnO nanorods as electron transport layers

Lead‐free and more air‐stable perovskite Cs₂SnI₆ absorber with a direct bandgap of 1.48 eV is synthesized via a modified solution process. Different nanostructured ZnO nanorod arrays as electron transport layers and hole blocking layers are grown by controlling the seed layer and used to fabricate mesoscopic perovskite solar cells with Cs₂SnI₆ as light absorber layer. The influences of ZnO seed layers and nanorod morphology on the device photovoltaic performance were also investigated. With careful control of ZnO nanorod length and pore size to ensure high loading of the Cs₂SnI₆ absorber, we achieved power conversion efficiency of near 1%.

     

Nonhydrogenic exciton spectrum in perovskite CH3NH3PbI3

The excitons in the orthorhombic phase of the perovskite CH₃NH₃PbI₃ are studied using the effective mass approximation. The electron–hole interaction is screened by a distance‐dependent dielectric function, as described by the Haken potential or the Pollmann–Büttner potential. The energy spectrum and the eigenfunctions are calculated for both cases. The results show that the Pollmann–Büttner model, using the corresponding parameters obtained from ab initio calculations, provides better agreement with the experimental results.

     

High‐temperature ferroelectricity and strong magnetoelectric effects in a hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite framework

A Cu‐based organic–inorganic perovskite framework exhibits high‐temperature ferroelectricity with strong magnetoelectric effects. Both electric field control of magnetization and magnetic field control of polarization are realized. Theoretical calculations suggest that a new mechanism of hybrid improper ferroelectricity arising from the Jahn–Teller distortions of magnetic metal ions and tilting of the organic cations are responsible for the peculiar multiferroic behaviors.

     

Transition absorption as a mechanism of surface photoelectron emission from metals

Transition absorption of a photon by an electron passing through a boundary between two media with different permittivities is described both classically and quantum mechanically. Transition absorption is shown to make a substantial contribution to photoelectron emission at a metal/semicon‐ductor interface in nanoplasmonic systems, and is put forth as a possible microscopic mechanism of the surface photoelectric effect in photodetectors and solar cells containing plasmonic nanoparticles.

     

Observation of negative refraction in the graphene/ferrite composite

An observation of negative refraction in the naturally obtained composition of graphene and barium ferrite is reported. The capacitance and inductance measurements revealed the electric and magnetic resonances accompanied with the negative values of permittivity and permeability in the overlapped frequency range. According to the “left‐handed” media approach such a material is characterized by negative refraction. The derived values of the real part of refractive index are negative at the frequencies above 500 MHz.

     

Spontaneous Ga incorporation in ZnO nanowires epitaxially grown on GaN substrate

Surface‐diffusion‐induced spontaneous Ga incorporation process is demonstrated in ZnO nanowires grown on GaN substrate. Crucially, contrasting distributions of Ga atoms in axial and radial directions are experimentally observed. Ga atoms uniformly distribute along the ～10 μm long ZnO nanowire and show a rapidly gradient distribution in the radial direction, which is attributed substantially to the difference between surface and volume diffusion. The understanding on the incorporation process can potentially modulate doping and properties in semiconductor nanomaterials.

     

Impact of strain induced by polymer curing in benzocyclobutene embedded semiconductor nanostructures

Polymers such as benzocyclobutene are commonly used as embedding materials for semiconductor nanostructures. During the curing process of the polymer up to 250 °C, a significant impact of strain can be induced on the embedded semiconductor material due to different thermal expansion coefficients. This strain has been revealed by X‐ray diffraction in free‐standing GaAs nanowires grown on a silicon substrate, embedded in a polymer matrix. It will be shown that this strain is released during the X‐ray irradiation if additionally an external static electric field is applied.

     

P‐type tin‐oxide thin film transistors for blue‐light detection application

We reported the characteristics of p‐type tin‐oxide (SnO) thin film transistors (TFTs) upon illumination with visible light. Our p‐type TFT device using the SnO film as the active channel layer exhibits high sensitivity toward the blue‐light with a high light/dark read current ratio (I_light/I_dark) of 8.2 × 10³ at a very low driven voltage of <3 V. Since sensing of blue‐light radiation is very critical to our eyes, the proposed p‐type SnO TFTs with high sensitivity toward the blue‐light show great potential for future blue‐light detection applications.

     

MOCVD synthesis of compositionally tuned topological insulator nanowires

Device applications involving topological insulators (TIs) will require the development of scalable methods for fabricating TI samples with sub‐micron dimensions, high quality surfaces, and controlled compositions. Here we use Bi‐, Se‐, and Te‐bearing metalorganic precursors to synthesize TIs in the form of nanowires. Single crystal nanowires can be grown with compositions ranging from Bi₂Se₃ to Bi₂Te₃, including the ternary compound Bi₂Te₂Se. These high quality nanostructured TI compounds are suitable platforms for on‐going searches for Majorana fermions (Mourik et al., Science 336 , 1003 (2012) and Cook et al., Rev. B 86 , 155431 (2012) [1, 2]).

     

Probing Dy3+ magnetic moments in multiferroic perovskite DyMnO3 by optical spectroscopy

We present a detailed temperature‐dependent (4–300 K) spectroscopic study of DyMnO₃ single crystals with distorted perovskite structure. Energies of 36 crystal‐field levels of Dy³⁺ in paramagnetic DyMnO₃ were determined. The Dy³⁺ ground Kramers doublet does not split at and splits below T_lock = 18 K. The splitting grows fast at temperatures near and reaches Δ₀ ≈ 11 ± 2 cm^–1 at 4 K. Using the experimental temperature dependence Δ₀(T), we calculate the dysprosium magnetic moment m_Dy(T) and the dysprosium contribution into specific heat and magnetic susceptibility. Analysing all the experimental data, we conclude that the Dy–Mn interaction is of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya type.

Intensity map in the temperature–wave number coordinates for a spectral line corresponding to the f–f transition of Dy³⁺ in DyMnO₃ and a scheme of the splitting of the Dy ground Kramers doublet. Arrows represent Dy magnetic moments.     

Exchange bias at low fields exhibited by the interface between epitaxial layers of ferromagnetic and charge‐ordered rare‐earth manganites

Epitaxial thin films of ferromagnetic La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) and charge‐ordered, antiferromagnetic Y_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ (YCMO) were deposited on SrTiO₃ (100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The heterostructure undergoes tetragonal distortion due to strong biaxial tensile strain imposed by the substrate. The LSMO–YCMO bilayers exhibit significant exchange bias (EB) across the interface even in a very small remnant magnetic field (～5 Oe) present in the superconductor magnet. The unidirectional exchange anisotropy at the interface can be switched by reversing the polarity of the remnant magnetic field.

     

High‐mobility pentacene OTFT with TaLaO gate dielectric passivated by fluorine plasma

Pentacene thin‐film transistor with high‐κ TaLaO as gate dielectric has been fabricated and shows a carrier mobility of 0.73 cm²/V s, much higher than that based on pure La₂O₃ (0.43 cm²/V s) due to the smoother surface of the TaLaO film and thus larger pentacene islands grown on it in the initial stage. Moreover, among various times for fluorine‐plasma treatment on the TaLaO gate dielectric, 100 seconds result in the highest carrier mobility of 1.12 cm²/V s due to (1) smoothest oxide surface achieved by fluorine passivation of oxide traps, as measured by AFM and supported by smallest sub‐threshold swing and lowest low‐frequency noise; (2) the largest pentacene grains grown on the smoothest oxide surface, as demonstrated by AFM.

     

Direct correlation of microstructure and device performance of liquid phase crystallized Si thin film solar cells on glass

Si thin films on glass grown by liquid phase crystallization (LPC) exhibit large grains resembling those in multicrystalline Si wafers. The present work gives direct insight into how planar defects in LPC‐Si thin films influence the device performance of the corresponding solar cells by acquiring electron‐backscatter diffraction maps and measuring solar cell parameters on the same identical positions. By this approach, it was possible to demonstrate how low scanning velocities of the laser line during the crystallization lead to lower densities of grain boundaries, to improved charge‐carrier diffusion lengths, and hence to improved device performances.

     

CVD grown 2D MoS2 layers: A photoluminescence and fluorescence lifetime imaging study

In this letter, we report on the fluorescence lifetime imaging and accompanying photoluminescence properties of a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) grown atomically thin material, MoS₂. µ‐Raman, µ‐photoluminescence (PL) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) are utilized to probe the fluorescence lifetime and photoluminescence properties of individual flakes of MoS₂ films. Usage of these three techniques allows identification of the grown layers, grain boundaries, structural defects and their relative effects on the PL and fluorescence lifetime spectra. Our investigation on individual monolayer flakes reveals a clear increase of the fluorescence lifetime from 0.3 ns to 0.45 ns at the edges with respect to interior region. On the other hand, investigation of the film layer reveals quenching of PL intensity and lifetime at the grain boundaries. These results could be important for applications where the activity of edges is important such as in photocatalytic water splitting. Finally, it has been demonstrated that PL mapping and FLIM are viable techniques for the investigation of the grain‐boundaries.

     

Spectral dependence of light extraction efficiency of high‐power III‐nitride light‐emitting diodes

Using the recently suggested method of processing the data on external quantum efficiency as a function of output optical power, we have estimated the dependence of light extraction efficiency of high‐power light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) on their emission wavelength varied between 425 nm and 540 nm. The extraction efficiency is found to increase with the wavelength from ～80% to ～85% in this spectral range and to correlate with the wavelength dependence of reflectivity of the large‐area p‐electrode being the essential unit of the LED chip design. The correlation found identifies the incomplete reflection of emitted light from the electrode as the major mechanism eventually controlling the spectral dependence of the efficiency of light extraction from the LEDs.

     

Bulk superconductivity in single‐phase Bi3O2S3

We report the synthesis of single‐phase Bi₃O₂S₃ sample and confirm the occurrence of bulk superconductivity with transition temperature at 5.8 K. The Bi₃O₂S₃ superconductor is categorized as typical type‐II superconductor based on the results of both temperature and magnetic field dependences of magnetization. Hall coefficient measurements give evidence of a multiband character, with a dominant conduction mainly by electron‐like charge carriers. The charge carrier density is about 1.45 × 10¹⁹ cm^–3, suggesting that the system has very low charge carrier density.