Effects of post-thermal annealing temperature on the optical and structural properties of gold particles on silicon suboxide films

In this work, silicon suboxide (SiO_x) thin films were deposited using a RF magnetron sputtering system. A thin layer of gold (Au) with a thickness of about 10 nm was sputtered onto the surface of the deposited SiO_x films prior to the thermal annealing process at 400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C and 1000 °C. The optical and structural properties of the samples were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and optical transmission and reflection spectroscopy. SEM analyses demonstrated that the samples annealed at different temperatures produced different Au particle sizes and shapes. SiO_x nanowires were found in the sample annealed at 1000 °C. Au particles induce the crystallinity of SiO_x thin films in the post-thermal annealing process at different temperatures. These annealed samples produced silicon nanocrystallites with sizes of less than 4 nm, and the Au nanocrystallite sizes were in the range of 7-23 nm. With increased annealing temperature, the bond angle of the Si-O bond increased and the optical energy gap of the thin films decreased. The appearance of broad surface plasmon resonance absorption peaks in the region of 590-740 nm was observed due to the inclusion of Au particles in the samples. The results show that the position and intensity of the surface plasmon resonance peaks can be greatly influenced by the size, shape and distribution of Au particles.     

Pre-treatment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes for polyetherimide mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes

A facile and bio-inspired route for the preparation of pure and highly crystalline metastable α-AgVO(3) is presented. Three kinds of proteins (bovine hemoglobin, bovine serum albumin, and lysozyme) were employed as inducer, which had substantial effects on the nucleation and growth of α-AgVO(3). Moreover, the amount of proteins also played a key role over the morphology and crystalline of products. The VO(3)(-)/protein complex acted as a driver to induce the formation of metastable phase, which was confirmed by resonance Rayleigh scattering and UV-vis absorption spectra. The results indicated that tailoring an interaction between protein and inorganic molecules was the key in bio-inspired selective synthesis of metastable phase, which may find applications in the design of other new functional inorganic materials.     

Electrochemical Oxidation of Methionine Mediated by a Fullerene‐C60 Modified Gold Electrode

The usefulness of a C₆₀‐fullerene modified gold (Au) electrode in mediating the oxidation of methionine in the presence of potassium ions electrolyte has been demonstrated. During cyclic voltammetry, an oxidation peak of methionine appearing at +1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl was observed. The oxidation current of methionine is enhanced by about 2 times using a C₆₀ modified gold electrode. The current enhancement is significantly dependent on pH, temperature and C₆₀ dosage. Calibration plot reveals linearity of up to 0.1 mM with a current sensitivity of close to 50 mA L mol^?1 and detection limit of 8.2×10^?6 M. The variation of scan rate study shows that the system undergoes diffusion‐controlled process. Diffusion coefficient and rate constant of methionine were determined using hydrodynamic method (rotating disk electrode) with values of 1.11×10^?5 cm² s^?1 and 0.0026 cm s^?1 respectively for unmodified electrode while the values of diffusion coefficient and rate constant of methionine using C₆₀ modified Au electrode are 5.7×10^?6 cm² s^?1 and 0.0021 cm s^?1 respectively.     

Supramolecular side chain liquid crystalline polymers assembled via hydrogen bonding between carboxylic acid-containing polysiloxane and azobenzene derivatives

Supramolecular side chain liquid crystalline polymers were prepared from poly(3-carboxypropylmethylsiloxane) (PSI100) and azobenzene derivatives through intermolecular hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) between the carboxylic acid groups in the PSI100 and the imidazole rings in the azobenzene derivatives. The existence of H-bonding has been confirmed using FTIR spectroscopy. The polymeric complexes behave as liquid crystalline (LC) polymers and exhibit stable mesophases. The LC behaviour of these H-bonded polymeric complexes was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The complexes exhibit nematic LC phases identified on the basis of Schlieren optical textures. On increasing spacer length or the concentration of the H-bonded mesogenic unit in the complex, the clearing temperature and the temperature range of the LC phase of the polymeric complex increase. The terminal group plays a critical role in determining the LC properties of the polymeric complexes. A terminal methoxy group is more efficient than a nitro group in increasing the clearing temperature. The electron donor-acceptor interactions between the H-bonded mesogenic units containing methoxy and nitro terminal groups in supramolecular 'copolymeric' complexes lead to an increase in the clearing temperature and a wider temperature range for the LC phase.     

On solving the chaotic Chen system: a new time marching design for the variational iteration method using Adomian’s polynomial

This paper centres on the effectiveness of the variational iteration method and its modifications for numerically solving the chaotic Chen system, which is a three-dimensional system of ODEs with quadratic nonlinearities. This research implements the multistage variational iteration method with an emphasis on the new multistage hybrid of variational iteration method with Adomian polynomials. Numerical comparisons are made between the multistage variational iteration method, the multistage variational iteration method using the Adomian’s polynomials and the classic fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Our work shows that the new multistage hybrid provides good accuracy and efficiency with a performance that surpasses that of the multistage variational iteration method.     

Metallic thin film depth measurements by X-ray microanalysis

In this study, a low-cost technique, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), was used to explore the application of X-ray microanalysis in depth determination of metallic films. Al, Ni and Au films with varied thicknesses from 50 to 400 nm were deposited on silicon (Si) substrates by magnetron sputtering. Electron beam energies ranging from 4 to 30 keV were applied while other parameters were kept constant to determine the electron beam energy required to penetrate the films. The effect of the atomic number of the metallic films on the penetration capability of the electron beam was investigated. Based on the experimental results, mathematical models for Al, Ni and Au films were established and the interaction volume was simulated using a Monte Carlo program. The simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results. Al/Ni/Au multilayers were also studied.     

A Stochastic Model for Nucleation Kinetics Determination in Droplet-Based Microfluidic Systems

The measured induction times in droplet-based microfluidic systems are stochastic and are not described by the deterministic population balances or moment equations commonly used to model the crystallization of amino acids, proteins, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. A stochastic model in the form of a Master equation is formulated for crystal nucleation in droplet-based microfluidic systems for any form of nucleation rate expression under conditions of time-varying supersaturation. An analytical solution is provided to describe the (1) time evolution of the probability of crystal nucleation, (2) the average number of crystals that will form at time t for a large number of droplets, (3) the induction time distribution, and (4) the mean, most likely, and median induction times. These expressions are used to develop methods for determining the nucleation kinetics. Nucleation kinetics are determined from induction times measured for paracetamol and lysozyme at high supersaturation in an evaporation-based high-throughput crystallization platform, which give low prediction errors when the nucleation kinetics were used to predict induction times for other experimental conditions. The proposed stochastic model is relevant to homogeneous and heterogeneous crystal nucleation in a wide range of droplet-based and microfluidic crystallization platforms.     

Plasma-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition of AlN thin films on ZnO buffer layer: toward highly c-axis-oriented,uniform, insulative films

c-Axis-oriented aluminum nitride (AlN) thin film with improved quality was deposited on Si(111) substrate using ZnO buffer layer by plasma-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition. The optical and electrical properties and surface morphology as well as elemental composition of the AlN films deposited with and without ZnO buffer layer were investigated using a host of measurement techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and current–voltage (I–V) characteristic measurement. The XRD and XPS results reveal that the AlN/ZnO/Si films are free of metallic Al particles. Also, cross-sectional FESEM observations suggest formation of a well-aligned, uniform, continuous, and highly (002) oriented structure for a bi-layered AlN film when Si(111) is covered with ZnO buffer. Moreover, a decrease in full width at half maximum of the E₂ (high)-mode peak in Raman spectrum indicates a better crystallinity for the AlN films formed on ZnO/Si substrate. Finally, I–V curves obtained indicate that the electrical behavior of the AlN thin films switches from conductive to insulative when film is grown on a ZnO-buffered Si substrate.     

Symmetric and antisymmetric tight wavelet frames

For a given set of wavelets Ψ, we provide a general, and yet simple, method to derive a new set of wavelets ${\Psi }^{\prime }$ such that each wavelet in ${\Psi }^{\prime }$ is either symmetric or antisymmetric. The affine system generated by ${\Psi }^{\prime }$ is a tight frame for the space $L_2({\mathbb{R}}^d)$ whenever the affine system generated by Ψ is so. Further, when Ψ is constructed via a multiresolution analysis, ${\Psi }^{\prime }$ can also be derived from a, but possibly different, multiresolution analysis. If moreover the multiresolution analysis for constructing Ψ is generated by a symmetric refinable function, then ${\Psi }^{\prime }$ is obtained from the same multiresolution analysis.     

Structural and photoluminescence investigation on the hot-wire assisted plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition growth silicon nanowires

High density of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were synthesized by a hot-wire assisted plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. The structural and optical properties of the as-grown SiNWs prepared at different rf power of 40 and 80 W were analyzed in this study. The SiNWs prepared at rf power of 40 W exhibited highly crystalline structure with a high crystal volume fraction, X_C of ～82% and are surrounded by a thin layer of SiO_x. The NWs show high absorption in the high energy region (E>1.8 eV) and strong photoluminescence at 1.73 to 2.05 eV (red–orange region) with a weak shoulder at 1.65 to 1.73 eV (near IR region). An increase in rf power to 80 W reduced the X_C to ～65% and led to the formation of nanocrystalline Si structures with a crystallite size of <4 nm within the SiNWs. These NWs are covered by a mixture of uncatalyzed amorphous Si layer. The SiNWs prepared at 80 W exhibited a high optical absorption ability above 99% in the broadband range between 220 and ～1500 nm and red emission between 1.65 and 1.95 eV. The interesting light absorption and photoluminescence properties from both SiNWs are discussed in the text.