ZnCdO: Status after 20 years of research

With the increasing attention devoted to ZnO in the late nineties, the discovery of ZnCdO as a means of reducing its bandgap towards visible wavelengths promised it a bright future in optoelectronics, which should run in parallel to its possible applications as a transparent conducting oxide. This review will cover the developments achieved so far in the growth of ZnCdO, in the understanding of its structural properties, paying special attention to the competition between wurtzite and rocksalt phases, as well as in the analysis of its optical and electronic properties. Finally, some of the devices demonstrated with ZnCdO will be reviewed together with the difficulties they have encountered.     

第一性原理计算N掺杂对InNbO4电子结构的影响

宽带隙（3.83 eV）半导体光催化材料InNbO4在紫外光作用下具有分解水和降解有机物的性能。最近实验发现了N掺杂InNbO4具有可见光下分解水制氢的活性。为了从理论上解释这一实验现象，本文采用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算了N掺杂对InNbO4的能带结构、态密度和光学性质的影响。分析能带结构可得，N掺杂后在InNbO4的价带（O 2p）上方形成N 2p局域能级，导致电子跃迁所需的能量减小。吸收光谱表明，N掺杂后InNbO4的光吸收边出现了红移，实现了可见光吸收。     

Structural,electronic, and magnetic properties of zigzag-edged BN nanoribbons with 558-type line defects

The 558-type line defect is introduced into zigzag-edged BN nanoribbons (ZBNNRs), similar to that be found in graphene, and the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties for such defective ZBNNRs are investigated systematically. It shows that they are highly stable. In the nonmagnetic state, the metallic property of ZBNNRs remains unchanged regardless of the defect positions, but different defect positions give rise to different influences on the total DOS and PDOS at the Fermi level. Interestingly, in the magnetic state, the thermal stability of magnetism is enhanced greatly when the line defect appears at most positions, even comparable with room temperature. When the line defect position shifts from the B-edge to the N-edge, the transition from the half-metal to the magnetic semiconductor or spin unpolarized semiconductor is induced. And also, the response of defect ribbons to an in-plane transverse electric field is essentially different from defect-free ribbons, and the half-metallic feature can be enhanced by an electric field for the line defect introduced into certain positions in a ribbon.     

Electronic transport study of PbSe pellets prepared from self-assembled 2D-PbSe nanostructures

This work presents a study of the electronic transport properties of PbSe pellets fabricated starting of PbSe nanostructures that exhibited a flake-like 2D morphology, which were synthesized by the co-precipitation method. Seebeck coefficient measurements revealed that the PbSe sample displays n-type conductivity, a maximum Seebeck coefficient of −512.6 μV/K around 380 K, and that the carriers scattering is dominated by acoustic and optical phonons. The Fermi level dependence on the temperature and the band gap energy are also reported. Interestingly, size-dependent confinement effects due probably to the reminiscent PbSe 2D character could be evidenced.     

Hybrid film of chemically modified graphene and vapor-phase-polymerized PEDOT for electronic nose applications

A hybrid of graphene and conducting polymer holds great potential as the active materials for high performance chemical sensor application. In this work, a thin hybrid film of reduced graphene oxide (RG-O) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) was fabricated by means of vapor phase polymerization and explored as active material for chemical sensors. The chemical sensors based on hybrid film of RG-O and PEDOT are capable of detecting electrical signals caused by the absorption of trace levels of different analyte vapors with high sensitivity, selectivity and fast response.     

Transport properties of mesoscopic graphene rings

Based on a recursive Green's function method, we investigate the conductance of mesoscopic graphene rings in the presence of disorder, in the limit of phase coherent transport. Two models of disorder are considered: edge disorder and surface disorder. Our simulations show that the conductance decreases exponentially with the edge disorder and the surface disorder. In the presence of flux, a clear Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillation with the period Φ₀ (Φ₀=h/e) is observed. The edge disorder and the surface disorder have no effect on the period of AB oscillation. The amplitudes of AB oscillations vary with gate voltage and flux, which is consistent with the previous results. Additionally, ballistic rectification and negative differential resistance are observed in I-V curves, with on/off characteristic.     

First-principles study of new half Heusler for optoelectronic applications

We report investigations of the structural, electronic and optical properties of 36 half-Heusler compounds in comparison with II–VI semiconductors using the first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. In this work, we demonstrate the similarity in the electronic structure of these materials with that of II–VI semiconductors through the analysis of lattice parameters, band gaps and static dielectric constants at ambient pressure. The evolution of these properties under pressure is also necessary to predict new candidates for the optoelectronic devices.     

Controlling the interface energetics of PCPDTBT by p-doping

The doping of organic semiconductors is a promising way for both improving the charge carrier transport and tuning the energy level alignment at interfaces. We study the influence of p-doping of the low band gap polymer PCPDTBT with F4-TCNQ on the energy level alignment in a prototype organic solar cell structure with ITO as an electrode material and the fullerene C₆₀ as electron acceptor material using Ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As a consequence of the doping, a Quasi-Ohmic contact at the interface to ITO is formed, whereas the energy level alignment to C₆₀ is almost not affected. In contrast to a related system, we observe a depletion of the dopant at the polymer surface. The change of the energy level alignment only at the electrode interface might be advantageous for the application in organic solar cell devices.     

Unity direct chain with feedback series impedance based innovative negative group delay circuit

An innovative negative group delay (NGD) circuit theory on unity direct chain (UDC) topology is developed in this paper. The NGD UDC cells are based on the operational amplifier adder with feedback series impedance. Innovative topologies of high-pass NGD UDC cell composed of RL-series network, all-pass RC-parallel network and low-pass RC-series network are identified. It is a first time that all-pass NGD original topologies are defined. NGD analyses and synthesis methods of each NGD UDC cells are provided. The UDC cell based NGD functions are validated with SPICE simulations. The proofs-of-concept (POC) of UDCs behave as all-pass and low-pass NGD functions with group delay equal to −1 ms at very low frequencies. The low-pass NGD cut-off frequency is 424 Hz. The high pass NGD circuit generates −1 µs at the optimal NGD frequency of about 5.15 kHz. Further analysis of the operational amplifier gain and bandwidth effects is performed. The operational amplifier gain affects significantly the NGD level and bandwidth for the all considered UDC cells. Nevertheless, only the RC-parallel feedback based UDC cell is particularly sensitive to the operational bandwidth.     

Structure and electronic properties of MNO3 (M: Li,Na, K,NH4) under pressure: DFT-D study

The structural and electronic properties of crystalline nitrates have been investigated within the framework of density functional theory including van der Waals interactions. Pressure behavior of nitrates has been investigated using semiempirical dispersion correction scheme DFT-D. The optimizations of the crystal structures have been done with full relaxation of the atomic positions and lattice parameters under the experimentally determined crystal symmetries. The pressure dependences of geometrical parameters, band gaps, densities of states, charge distributions, overlap populations and atomic charges are computed. The predicted results agree well with the available experimental data.