Amorphous High-Entropy Hydroxides of Tunable Wide Solar Absorption for Solar Water Evaporation

The high-entropy materials have raised much attention in recent years due to their extraordinary performances in mechanical, catalysis, energy storage fields. Herein, a new type of high-entropy hydroxides (e.g., NiFeCoMnAl(OH)_x) that are amorphous and capable of broad solar absorption is reported. A facile one-pot co-precipitation method is employed to synthesize these amorphous high-entropy hydroxides (a-HEHOs) under ambient conditions. The a-HEHOs thus obtained display widely tunable bandgap (e.g., from 2.6 to 1.1 eV) due to their high-entropy and amorphous characteristics, enabling efficient light absorbance and photothermal conversion in the solar regime. Further solar water evaporation measurements show that the a-HEHOs delivered a considerable energy conversion efficiency of 55%, comparable to black titanium oxides that are synthesized using more complex and expensive methods.     

Overcoming the Inhibition Effects of Citrate: Precipitation of Ferromagnetic Magnetite Nanoparticles with Tunable Morphology,Magnetic Properties,and Surface Charge via Ferrous Citrate Oxidation

This study demonstrates how the method of thermally assisted oxidative precipitation in water can be opened for—the so far neglected—metal organic iron(II) complexes (herein: citrate) in order to obtain, in one step, ferromagnetic magnetite nanoparticles, possessing essential ligand properties. Based on a dedicated analysis of the specific precursor in combination with the consideration of known properties of the ligand, it is possible to identify existing inhibition-attributes of the iron organyl such that these can be overcome. Moreover, they can be exploited in a targeted manner; thus, simply by changing concentrations, a variety of magnetite nanoparticle morphologies with distinct properties can be obtained. In the case of the herein investigated ferrous citrate, three major inhibition effects are identified. While two of them efficiently prevent the formation of magnetite and need to be addressed to be overcome, the third can be exploited to selectively synthesize, for example, relatively stable carboxyl group-bearing nuclei clusters, exhibiting the properties of magnetically responsive photonic crystals, or relatively large mesocrystals, whose intraparticular magnetic interactions are apparently disturbed.     

Tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber

Optical fiber temperature sensors have been widely employed in enormous areas ranging from electric power industry, medical treatment, ocean dynamics to aerospace. Recently, graphene optical fiber temperature sensors attract tremendous attention for their merits of simple structure and direct power detecting ability. However, these sensors based on transfer techniques still have limitations in the relatively low sensitivity or distortion of the transmission characteristics, due to the unsuitable Fermi level of graphene and the destruction of fiber structure, respectively. Here, we propose a tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber (Gr-PCF) with the non-destructive integration of graphene into the holes of PCF. This hybrid structure promises the intact fiber structure and transmission mode, which efficiently enhances the temperature detection ability of graphene. From our simulation, we find that the temperature sensitivity can be electrically tuned over four orders of magnitude and achieve up to ～ 3.34×10^-3 dB/(cm·℃) when the graphene Fermi level is ～ 35 meV higher than half the incident photon energy. Additionally, this sensitivity can be further improved by ～ 10 times through optimizing the PCF structure (such as the fiber hole diameter) to enhance the light-matter interaction. Our results provide a new way for the design of the highly sensitive temperature sensors and broaden applications in all-fiber optoelectronic devices.     

Selective Excitation of Band Extrema in Valley Photonic Crystals

Flexible control of building blocks of photonic crystals enables achieving desirable band structures. Exploration of photonic band extrema has brought many fantastic features to design artificial optical materials, such as Brillouin‐zone‐corner extrema for valley photonic materials and zone‐center extremum for zero‐index metamaterials. However, two such kinds of extrema are always found independently in different photonic crystals. In this work, a kind of valley photonic crystals possessing both zone‐center and zone‐corner band extrema almost at the same frequency is proposed. Inspired by antennas theory, a three‐antenna array (TAA) source is devoted to individually manipulate each extremum. The correlation coefficient is given to determine the coupling efficiency between the TAA source and extrema eigenmodes. By using a source with a high correlation coefficient, these extrema bulk states are selectively excited consistent with their eigenfields. Furthermore, three control cases are shown that multiple extrema points are simultaneously excited, in order to confirm the validity of the correlation coefficient. Finally, a potential application of a beam‐steering device is proposed through selective excitation of ternary extrema. This work develops binary valley states into ternary mix states, rendering more degrees of freedom for on‐chip optical information transport, particularly for beam steering and mode division multiplexing.     

基于碳化硅衬底的宽禁带半导体外延

宽禁带半导体具备禁带宽度大、电子饱和飘移速度高、击穿场强大等优势,是制备高功率密度、高频率、低损耗电子器件的理想材料。碳化硅(SiC)材料具有热导率高、化学稳定性好、耐高温等优点,在SiC衬底上外延宽禁带半导体材料,对充分发挥宽禁带半导体材料的优势,并提升宽禁带半导体电子器件的性能具有重要意义。得益于SiC衬底质量持续提升及成本不断降低,基于SiC衬底的宽禁带半导体电子市场占比呈现逐年增加的态势。在SiC衬底上外延生长高质量的宽禁带半导体材料是提高宽禁带半导体电子器件性能及可靠性的关键瓶颈。本文综述了近年来国内外研究者们在SiC衬底上外延SiC、氮化镓(GaN)、氧化镓(Ga₂O₃)所取得的研究进展,并展望了SiC衬底上宽禁带半导体外延的发展及应用前景。     

High refractive index hyperbranched polyvinylsulfides for planar one‐dimensional all‐polymer photonic crystals

We report on the growth and characterization of one‐dimensional (1D) planar all‐polymer photonic crystals (PhC) with high dielectric contrast (Δn = 0.3) prepared by spin coating using hyperbranched polyvinylsulfide polymers (HB‐PVS) as high refractive index material and cellulose acetate as low refractive index material. Solution processable HB‐PVS show a near ultraviolet absorption inducing an increased refractive index in the visible‐near infrared (n = 1.68, λ = 1000 nm). HBPVS:Cellulose Acetate Distributed Bragg Reflectors show a very clear fingerprint of the photonic band gap possessing the expected polarized dispersion properties as a function of the incidence angle. Moreover, engineered microcavities tuned on the weak fluorescence spectrum of the HB‐PVS show directional fluorescence enhancement effects due to spectral redistribution of the emission oscillator strength. The combination of all these properties testifies the high optical quality of the obtained photonic structures thus indicating HB‐PVS as an interesting material for the preparation of such PhC. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 73–80     

Tuning the electronic properties of hydrogen passivated C3N nanoribbons through van der Waals stacking

The two-dimensional (2D) C₃N has emerged as a material with promising applications in high performance device owing to its intrinsic bandgap and tunable electronic properties. Although there are several reports about the bandgap tuning of C₃N via stacking or forming nanoribbon, bandgap modulation of bilayer C₃N nanoribbons (C₃NNRs) with various edge structures is still far from well understood. Here, based on extensive first-principles calculations, we demonstrated the effective bandgap engineering of C₃N by cutting it into hydrogen passivated C₃NNRs and stacking them into bilayer heterostructures. It was found that armchair (AC) C₃NNRs with three types of edge structures are all semiconductors, while only zigzag (ZZ) C₃NNRs with edges composed of both C and N atoms (ZZCN/ CN) are semiconductors. The bandgaps of all semiconducting C₃NNRs are larger than that of C₃N nanosheet. More interestingly, AC-C₃NNRs with CN/CN edges (AC-CN/CN) possess direct bandgap while ZZ-CN/CN have indirect bandgap. Compared with the monolayer C₃NNR, the bandgaps of bilayer C₃NNRs can be greatly modulated via different stacking orders and edge structures, varying from 0.43 eV for ZZ-CN/CN with AB′-stacking to 0.04 eV for AC-CN/CN with AA-stacking. Particularly, transition from direct to indirect bandgap was observed in the bilayer AC-CN/CN heterostructure with AA′-stacking, and the indirect-to-direct transition was found in the bilayer ZZ-CN/CN with ABstacking. This work provides insights into the effective bandgap engineering of C₃N and offers a new opportunity for its applications in nano-electronics and optoelectronic devices.     

A microfluidics-dispensing-printing strategy for Janus photonic crystal microspheres towards smart patterned displays

From the implementation point of view, the printable magnetic Janus colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs) microspheres are highly desirable. Herein, we developed a dispensing-printing strategy for magnetic Janus CPCs display via a microfluidics-automatic printing system. Monodisperse core/shell colloidal particles and magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles precursor serve as inks. Based on the equilibrium of three-phase interfacial tensions, Janus structure is successfully formed, followed by UV irradiation and self-assembly of colloid particle to generate magnetic Janus CPCs microspheres. Notably, this method shows distinct superiority with highly uniform Janus CPCs structure, where the TMPTA/Fe₃O₄ hemisphere is in the bottom side while CPCs hemisphere is in the top side. Thus, by using Janus CPCs microspheres with two different structural colors as pixel points, a pattern with red flower and green leaf is achieved. Moreover, 1D linear Janus CPCs pattern encapsulated by hydrogel is also fabricated. Both the color and the shape can be changed under the traction of magnets, showing great potentials in flexible smart displays. We believe this work not only offers a new feasible pathway to construct magnetic Janus CPCs patterns by a dispensing-printable fashion, but also provides new opportunities for flexible and smart displays.     

Mixed Fano-SP resonant absorption of THz electromagnetic waves in a photonic resonator contacting with a metal film

In terahertz frequency region, we have investigated theoretically the correlation between spectra of a free photonic structure and that deposited on a metal for several models of metal. It was found that for quasi-normal incidence of p-polarized electromagnetic field the presence of metal generates narrow spectral wells in the middle of reflection windows existing in a free photonic crystal. Quite another manifestation of metal-resonator inter-influence takes place at incident angles exceeding the Brewster angle when reflection spikes coincide with modes of photonic crystal resonator and they are absent throughout the stopband areas. The effects are strongly depended on polarization, number of periods and angle of incidence.     

Anisotropic phononic crystal structure with low-frequency bandgap and heat flux manipulation

This study presents a two-dimensional phononic crystal with heat flux manipulation and wide bandgaps of out-of-plane modes within the low-frequency range. The anisotropic matrix made of spiral-multilayered materials with different thermal conductivities, and the coating layer inserted with metal are designed for heat flux manipulation. Rubber-coated metal cylinders are periodically embedded in the anisotropic matrix to obtain the low-frequency bandgaps of out-of-plane modes. Numerical simulation is carried out to validate the heat and elastic characteristics of the spiral-multilayered anisotropic structure and reveal the effects of the laying angle and temperature on the bandgaps. Subsequently, a spiral-multilayered plate with periodic structures is studied, which shows an obvious vibration attenuation in the frequency ranges of the bandgaps and a deflected heat flux from the initial propagation direction. In the experimental investigation, the multi-phase spiral-multilayered anisotropic plate is simplified to a single-phase anisotropic plate made of aluminum. The characteristics of this type of anisotropic phononic crystal structure may pave the way for the design of a new kind of thermo-acoustic metamaterial serving in combined thermal and acoustic environments.