Dielectric properties of conducting polyaniline films by THz time-domain spectroscopy

The dielectric function of composite polyaniline (PANI)/polyurethane (PU) is studied in the terahertz range. Different free-standing films of composite PANI-CSA/PU with different PANI concentrations are measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The Fourier transmission spectrum, the permittivity and conductivity are then precisely obtained between 0.1 and 4 THz. The behaviour of the dielectric function does not follow Drude theory and the extracted data are well fitted by Jonscher’s universal dielectric response. Furthermore, the percolation threshold is also deduced from the insulating to conducting transition extracted for several doping level at very high frequency.     

Enhancement of electrical conductivity,director relaxation frequency and slope of electro-optical characteristics in the composites of single-walled carbon nanotubes and a strongly polar nematic liquid crystal

In the present work, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were dispersed in a room temperature nematic liquid crystal 4-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl at the concentration of 0.02 and 0.05 wt%. Differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-dependent dielectric studies suggest decrease in clearing temperature of the composite materials as compared to the pure material. Ionic conductivity increases by two orders of magnitude due to the dispersion of such a low concentration (0.05 wt%) of SWCNTs. Dielectric studies also show that the presence of the SWCNTs decreases the effective longitudinal as well as transverse components of the dielectric permittivity. For homeotropic aligned samples, a relaxation mechanism has been detected in the lower MHz region both for the pure as well as dispersed samples. Presence of SWCNTs increases the relaxation frequency corresponding to flip-flop motion of molecules around their short axes. From frequency-dependent dielectric studies, important dielectric parameters such as relaxation frequency, dielectric strength and distribution parameters have been determined. Electro-optical experiments show that the threshold voltage decreases and the steepness of the transmission voltage curve improves due to the dispersion of SWCNTs.     

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of imidazolium ionic liquids

We have measured the terahertz (THz) complex dielectric spectra of imidazolium ionic liquids by THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) in the frequency range from 5 (0.15 THz) to 140 cm(-1) (4.2 THz). The ionic liquids investigated are 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMIm+)/trifluoromethanesulfonate (TfO-), EMIm+/tetrafluoroborate (BF(4)-), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium (BMIm+)/TfO-, and BMIm+/BF(4)-. The dielectric values of the ionic liquids in the THz region are similar to those of short-chain alcohols. The THz dielectric values are related to subpicosecond-to-picosecond dynamics. The same trend has been observed in the empirical polarity ET(30) although it is related to the static characteristics of polarity and hydrogen bonding ability. A difference between the two types of liquids is observed in the THz dielectric spectral shapes: the ionic liquids show structured lineshapes but short-chain alcohols show much less structured ones. The structured lineshapes of the ionic liquids reflect the low-frequency motions of interion and/or intramolecular vibrations. When the ionic liquids composed of the different imidazolium cations contain the same anions as counterions, their density-normalized THz dielectric spectra above 20 cm(-1) bear strong resemblance to each other in shape and magnitude. It shows clearly that the THz spectra do not originate from the intramolecular vibrations of the imodazolium cations. All of the intramolecular vibrations of the anions are located above 140 cm(-1) except the CF3-SO3 torsion of TfO-, the band of which alone cannot explain the broad THz dielectric spectra of the ionic liquids. Therefore, we conclude that the interion vibrations rather than the intramolecular vibrations dominantly contribute to the THz dielectric spectra. The results strongly indicate that even in the liquid phase the ionic liquids have local structures similar to their solid-phase structures.     

New technique of synthesizing single-walled carbon nanotubes from ethanol using fluidized-bed over Fe-Mo/MgO catalyst

A new technique of synthesizing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) has been developed by means of the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method from ethanol over MgO supported catalyst using fluidized-bed. Ethanol vapor was introduced into the fluidized-bed from a temperature-controlled bubbler by the flow of Ar without rotary pump. With this technique, the reaction conditions can be controlled simply. The fluidized-bed was applied as the reactor instead of quartz boats. Ethanol vapor and the powder of catalyst can be mixed with each other more sufficiently. MgO support can be easily removed from SWCNTs by acid solution. Characteristics of as-grown SWCNTs were presented using Raman spectroscopic and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), revealing that the SWCNTs produced by this method possess the significant quality of being free from amorphous carbons and having uniform diameter.     

蒿甲醚在单壁碳纳米管修饰电极上的电催化还原

研制了单壁碳纳米管(SWCNTs)修饰玻碳电极。用交流阻抗谱法(EIS)和扫描电镜(SEM)研究了电极膜性能,应用循环伏安法(CV)、计时库仑法(CC)、计时电流法(CA)研究了蒿甲醚在修饰电极上的电化学行为。结果表明,SWCNTs修饰电极对蒿甲醚的还原有良好的电催化活性,其还原反应为双电子过程,电极反应的扩散系数及速率常数分别为6·67×10-4cm2·s-1及8·54×10-2mol·L-1·s-1。在优化实验条件下,还原峰的峰电位位于-0·85V,其峰电流与蒿甲醚浓度在6·71×10-7~2·45×10-4mol·L-1范围内呈良好线性,检出限达4·02×10-7mol·L-1,相对标准偏差(n=10)为4·2%,可用于蒿甲醚样品的含量测定。     

Enhancement of third-order optical nonlinearities in 3-dimensional films of dielectric shell capped Au composite nanoparticles

The composite nanoparticles of Au-core capped by CdS shells of different thickness were prepared and assembled into densely packed 3-dimensional films by the layer-by-layer self-assembly (LBL) technique. These films exhibited the 3-dimensional structure of densely packed Au@CdS composite nanoparticles and the shell thickness was tunable by changing the concentration of Cd2+-thiourea complexes. These multilayer films exhibited enhanced third-order optical nonlinear responses and ultrafast response times (several picoseconds). The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of the film with the CdS shell thickness of 4.4 nm was estimated to be 1.48 x 10(-9) esu and the value decreases with the increase of the CdS shell thickness. The enhancement of the optical nonlinearity was explained based on the calculation according to the electrostatic approximation by the solution of Laplace's equation under the boundary conditions appropriate to the model of core-shell nanoparticles, and mainly attributed to localized electric field effects in the CdS shell region. Additionally, the nonlinearity was optimized by determination of the values of the dielectric constant and thickness of the different shell.     

Ultrafast nonlinear optical response of Ag nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous thin films

Highly dispersed silver nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous thin films (MTFs) have been synthesized by modification of the interior surface of mesoporous silica with ethylenediamine moieties, which provided the coordination sites for the Ag ions, and subsequent reduction under hydrogen atmosphere. TEM observations show the mesoporous parent films have effectively controlled the growth of the synthesized silver nanoparticles. The composite films had an ultrafast nonlinear response time, as fast as 200 fs, and a third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of 0.94 × 10^?10 esu, which was enhanced by the local field enhancement effect that was present when the silver nanoparticles were embedded in the surrounding dielectric matrix. The origin of the ultrafast nonlinear response and the enhanced nonlinearity of the composite films are attributed to the intraband transition of the free electrons near the Fermi surface of the incorporated silver nanoparticles.     

New materials for optical rectification and electrooptic sampling of ultrashort pulses in the terahertz regime

The synthesis and nonlinear optical characterization of new electrooptic (EO) materials useful for terahertz (THz) applications is presented. Semiempirical calculations were used to guide the development of a series of chromophores on the basis of 2‐dicyanomethylen‐3‐cyano‐4,5,5‐trimethyl‐2,5‐dihydrofuran acceptors acting as guests in polymer films used in the generation of THz radiation via optical rectification. Amorphous films, 65–250 μm thick, with EO coefficients as high as 52 pm/V at 785 nm were used to generate sub‐picosecond pulses with bandwidths up to 3 THz. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2492–2500, 2003     

接枝聚合制备具有超低介电常数聚酰亚胺纳米复合物材料

通过热引发甲基丙烯酸环戊基-立方低聚倍半硅氧烷(R7R′Si8O12,POSS)(MA-POSS)与臭氧预处理的含氟聚酰亚胺(FPI)自由基接枝共聚制得了含多面体低聚倍半硅氧烷(POSS)的FPI纳米复合物.用核磁共振(NMR)、X-射线衍射(XRD)及场发射扫描电镜(FESEM)等手段对POSS/FPI纳米复合物的化学组成及其形貌结构进行了表征.POSS/FPI纳米复合物薄膜与原始FPI薄膜相比具有更低的、可调的介电常数,它的介电常数(κ)在2.5~2.1之间.     

Far-infrared characteristics of ZnS nanoparticles measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

The optical and dielectric properties of ZnS nanoparticles are studied by use of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) over the frequency range from 0.3 to 3.0 THz. The effective medium approach combined with the pseudo-harmonic model of the dielectric response, where nanoparticles are embedded in the host medium, provides a good fit on the experimental results. The extrapolation of the measured data indicates that the absorption is dominated by the transverse optical mode localized at 11.6+/-0.2 THz. Meanwhile, the low-frequency phonon resonance of ZnS nanoparticles is compared with the single-crystal ZnS. The THz-TDS clearly reveals the remarkable distinction in the low-frequency phonon resonances between ZnS nanoparticles and single-crystal ZnS. The results demonstrate that the acoustic phonons become confined in small-size nanoparticles.     

Ultrathin films of functionalised single-walled carbon nanotubes: a potential bio-sensing platform

ABSTRACT

The Langmuir monolayer is a special class of lyotropic liquid crystalline system wherein phase transition essentially depends on surface density, temperature and ion-content in the aqueous medium. The variety of surface phases can be transferred onto devices by the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique. The Langmuir monolayer of pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) exhibited gas and liquid-like phases. The LB film of SWCNTs shows target surface pressure dependent interesting morphologies. The methane gas sensing using parallel alignment of SWCNTs was found to be better than that of randomly oriented SWCNTs. The SWCNTs can be functionalised chemically to enhance the ease of film processability and affinity towards analytes. These are essential parameters for the development of a sensor. In this article, we present our work on Langmuir monolayer and LB films of octadecylamine functionalised SWCNTs (ODACNTs) and its sensing application towards bio-analytes, e.g. L-aspartic acid and bovine serum albumin. The sensing performance of LB film of ODACNTs was compared with that of spin-coated films of ODACNTs. The sensing performance of LB films of ODACNTs indicated a potential platform for bio-sensing application.     

A technique of purification process of single-walled carbon nanotubes with air

A technique of purifying SWCNTs has been developed by means of oxidizing carbonaceous particles with air using fluidized-bed. Air was introduced into the fluidized-bed by pump with controllable flux. The powders were "boiling" at a temperature of 550 degrees C for 50 min. With this technique, the flux can be controlled simply. The fluidized-bed was applied as the heating apparatus instead of rotated quartz tubes. The air and the powders can be mixed with each other more sufficiently. Characteristics of the raw and purified powder were presented using Raman spectroscopy and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), revealing that the purified powder is free from carbonaceous particles.     

Flexible Liquid Crystal Polymer Technologies from Microwave to Terahertz Frequencies

With the emergence of fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks, millimeter-wave (mmW) and terahertz (THz) frequencies have attracted ever-growing interest for advanced wireless applications. The traditional printed circuit board materials have become uncompetitive at such high frequencies due to their high dielectric loss and large water absorption rates. As a promising high-frequency alternative, liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have been widely investigated for use in circuit devices, chip integration, and module packaging over the last decade due to their low loss tangent up to 1.8 THz and good hermeticity. The previous review articles have summarized the chemical properties of LCP films, flexible LCP antennas, and LCP-based antenna-in-package and system-in-package technologies for 5G applications, although these articles did not discuss synthetic LCP technologies. In addition to wireless applications, the attractive mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties of LCP films enable interesting applications in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), biomedical electronics, and microfluidics, which have not been summarized to date. Here, a comprehensive review of flexible LCP technologies covering electric circuits, antennas, integration and packaging technologies, front-end modules, MEMS, biomedical devices, and microfluidics from microwave to THz frequencies is presented for the first time, which gives a broad introduction for those outside or just entering the field and provides perspective and breadth for those who are well established in the field.     

NONLINEAR LASERSPECTROSCOPIC INVESTIGATIONS OF THE PIGMENT-PIGMENT INTERACTION WITHIN THE LIGHT-HARVESTING COMPLEX OF PHOTOSYSTEM II

Using a pump and test beam technique in the frequency domain with pump pulses in the nanosecond time range, the nonlinear transmission properties were investigated at room temperature in photosystem (PS) II membrane fragments and isolated light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein preparations (LHC II preparations). In LHC II preparations and PS II membrane fragments, respectively, pump pulses of 620 nm and 647 nm cause a transmission decrease limited to a wavelength region in the nearest vicinity of the pump pulse wavelength (full width at half maximum ' 0.24 nm). In contrast, at 670 nm neither a transmission decrease nor a narrow band feature were observed. The data obtained for PS II membrane fragments and LHC II preparations at shorter wavelengths (620 nm, 647 nm) were interpreted in terms of excited state absorption of whole pigment-protein clusters within the light-harvesting antenna of photosystem II. The interpretation of the small transmission changes as homogeneously broadened lines led to a transversal relaxation time for chlorophyll in the clusters of about 4 ps.     

SYNTHESIS AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYIMIDE-Al2O3 COMPOSITES

Polyimide-alumina hybrid films were synthesized via in situ polymerization and thermal imidation process from a solution of polyimide precursor and nanosized alumina in N,N-dimethylacetamide, and the microstructure of the hybrid films was characterized by transmission electron microscope （TEM） and infra-red （IR） spectrometry. The dependence of thermal stability, tensile properties, dielectric properties and degradation endurance under corona on the nano-Al2O3 content of polyimide-alumina hybrid films was studied. The results show that with the increase of Al2O3 content, the thermal stability and the dielectric properties of the hybrids increase, while the tensile properties decrease. Better corona resistance can be achieved if the PI film is filled with α-Al2O3 nanometric particle.     

To dope or not to dope: the effect of sonicating single-wall carbon nanotubes in common laboratory solvents on their electronic structure

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are commonly dispersed via sonication in a solvent prior to functionalization. We show that solvents such as dichloromethane, chloroform, 1,2-dichloroethane, and o-dichlorobenzene lead to an upward shift in the Raman response of the SWCNTs. We have used o-dichlorobenzene as a model molecule to explain this effect, and an upward shift of 9 cm(-1) is observed in the D* band. This blue shift is associated with p-type doping and is triggered only when the nanotubes are sonicated in the solvent. Sonication decomposes the chlorinated solvents, and new species (Cl2 and HCl(g)) are formed. The catalytic Fe nanoparticles inherently present in the nanotubes are etched by chlorine and hydrogen chloride to form iron chlorides during sonication in the solvent. The dopant was identified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. With such knowledge of doping, the choice of solvent becomes crucial for any chemical reaction and can be intentionally tuned to produce SWCNTs films for electronics applications.     

Dramatic reduction of IR vibrational cross sections of molecules encapsulated in carbon nanotubes

Combined temperature-programmed desorption and IR studies suggest that absorption cross sections of IR-active vibrations of molecules "strongly" bound to single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are reduced at least by a factor of 10. Quantum chemical simulations show that IR intensities of endohedrally encapsulated molecules are dramatically reduced, and identify dielectric screening by highly polarizable SWCNT sidewalls as the origin of such "screening". The observed intensity reduction originates from a sizable cancellation of adsorbate dipole moments by mirror charges dynamically induced on the nanotube sidewalls. For exohedrally adsorbed molecules, the dielectric screening is found to be orientation-dependent with a smaller magnitude for adsorption in groove and interstitial sites. The presented results clearly demonstrate and quantify the screening effect of SWCNTs and unequivocally show that IR spectroscopy cannot be applied in a straightforward manner to the study of peapod systems.     

Improvement of SWCNT transparent conductive films via transition metal doping

To realize transparent conductive films based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), we applied a spray coating process with transition metal doping to SWCNT networks. Schottky contacts between metallic and semiconducting SWCNTs changed to Ohmic contacts due to the reduction of metals on the SWCNT surfaces via direct conversion from solution.     

Synthesis and optical properties of poly (vinyl acetate)/bismuth oxide nanorods

Poly (vinyl acetate) (PVAc) loaded bismuth oxide (Bi₂O₃) nanorods were successfully prepared at ambient pressure. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the final product. It was found that Bi₂O₃ nanorods were formed and the diameter of the rods was confined to about 8 nm. The diameter and length of formed rods were found to increase by increasing the bismuth oxide concentration in the PVAc matrix. The optical properties of the nanocomposite films were characterized from the analysis of the experimentally recorded transmittance and reflectance data in the spectral wavelength range of 300–800 nm. The values of some important parameters of the studied films are determined such as refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), optical absorption coefficient (α), and band energy gap (E_g). According to the analysis of dispersion curves, it has been found that the dispersion data obeyed the single oscillator of the Wemple–DiDomenico model, from which the dispersion parameters and high‐frequency dielectric constant were determined. In such work, from the transmission spectra, the dielectric constant (ε_∞) and the third‐order optical nonlinear susceptibility χ⁽³⁾ were determined. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemically assisted directed assembly of carbon nanotubes for the fabrication of large-scale device arrays

We report the directed assembly of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at lithographically defined positions on gate oxide surfaces, allowing for the high yield ( approximately 90%) and parallel fabrication of SWCNT device arrays. SWCNTs were first chemically functionalized through diazonium chemistry with a hydroxamic acid end group that both renders the SWCNTs water-soluble and discriminately binds the SWCNTs to basic metal oxide surfaces (i.e., hafnium oxide (HfO2)). The functionalized SWCNTs are then assembled from an aqueous solution into narrow trenches etched into SiO2 films with HfO2 at the bottom. The side walls of the patterned trenches induce alignment of the SWCNTs along the length of the trenches. Heating the structures to 600 degrees C removes the organic moieties, leaving pristine SWCNTs as evidenced by Raman spectroscopy and electrical measurements. Palladium source-drain electrodes deposited perpendicular to the trench length readily contact the ends of the aligned SWCNTs. The resultant devices exhibit the electrical performance expected for SWCNT devices, with no performance deterioration as a result of the placement process. This technique allows for the directed assembly and alignment of SWCNTs over a large area and results in a high yield of working devices, presenting a promising path toward large-scale SWCNT device integration.