In this study, we successfully synthesized copper oxide (Cu2O) particles through a hydrothermal method at a relatively low temperature (150℃). The synthesis involved the precise control of molar concentrations of NaOH. Notably, Cu2O particles were effectively synthesized when NaOH concentrations of 0.15 M and 0.20 M were utilized. While attempts were made at different molar concentrations, the synthesis of pure Cu2O particles was only achieved at concentrations of 0.15 M and 0.20 M. In this experimental investigation, Cu2O synthesized under these specific conditions exhibited absorption characteristics within the wavelength range of 640 to 570 nm, consistently exhibiting a band gap energy of 1.9 eV. These Cu2O particles, characterized by their small band gap energy and straightforward synthetic method, hold significant promise for various applications including semiconductors and solar cells.
Recently, with the development of the smart device market, the integration of high-functional devices has increased the heat density, causing overload of the device, and resulting in various problems such as shortened lifespan, performance degradation, and failure. Therefore, research on heat dissipation materials is being actively conducted to realize next-generation electronic products. The heat dissipation material is characterized in that it is easy to dissipate heat due to its high thermal conductivity and minimizes leakage current flowing through the heat dissipation material due to its low electrical conductivity. In this study, flower-shaped Al2O3 and BN composites were engineered with a simple hydrothermal synthesis approach, and their thermal conductivity characteristics were compared and evaluated for each synthesis condition for the application to a heat dissipation material. Spherical BN and flower-shaped Al2O3 were easily obtained, and SEM/EDS analyses confirmed the uniform presence of BN between the Al2O3, and it can be expected that these shapes can affect the thermal conductivity.
Nitrogen-doped graphene was synthesized by a hydrothermal method using graphene oxide (GO) as the raw material, urea as the reducing agent and nitrogen as the dopant. The morphology, structure, composition and electrochemical properties of the samples are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), nitrogen adsorptiondesorption analysis, electrical conductivity and electrochemical tests. The results show that urea can effectively reduce GO and achieve nitrogen doping under the hydrothermal conditions. By adjusting the mass ratio of raw materials to dopants, the graphene with different nitrogen doping contents can be obtained; the nitrogen content range is from 5.28~6.08% (atomic fraction percentage).When the ratio of dopant to urea is 1:30, the nitrogen doping content reaches a maximum of 6.08%.The supercapacitor performance test shows that the nitrogen content prepared by the ratio of 6.08% is the best at 0.1 A·g-1. The specific capacitance is 95.2 F·g-1.
A hybrid supercapacitor is a promising energy storage device in view of its excellent capacitive performance. Commercial three-dimensional foam nickel (Ni) can be used as an ideal framework due to an interconnected network structure. However, its application as an electrode material for supercapacitors is limited due to its low specific capacity. Herein, we report a successful growth of MnO2 on the surface of graphene by a one-step hydrothermal method; thus, forming a three-dimensional MnO2-graphene-Ni hybrid foam. Our results show that the mixed structure of MnO2 with nanoflowers and nanorods grown on the graphene/Ni foam as a hybrid electrode delivers the maximum specific capacitance of 193 F·g-1 at a current density 0.1 A·g-1. More importantly, the hybrid electrode retains 104% of its initial capacitance after 1,000 charge-discharge cycles at 1 A·g-1; thus, showing the potential application as a stable supercapacitor electrode.
The carbonaceous materials have attracted much attention for utilization of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Among them, hollow carbon spheres have great advantages (high specific capacity and good rate capability) to replace currently used graphite anode materials, due to their unique features such as high surface areas, high electrical conductivities, and outstanding chemical and thermal stability. Herein, we have synthesized various sizes of hollow carbon spheres by a facile hard-template method and investigated the anode properties for lithium-ion batteries. The obtained hollow carbon spheres have uniform diameters of 350 ~ 600 nm by varying the template condition, and they do not have any cracks after the optimization of the process. Increasing the diameter of hollow carbon spheres decreases their specific capacities, since the larger hollow carbon spheres have more useless spaces inside that could have a disadvantage for lithium storage. The hollow carbon spheres have outstanding rate and cyclic performance, which is originated from the high surface area and high electrical properties of the hollow carbon spheres. Therefore, hollow carbon spheres with smaller diameters are expected to have higher specific capacities, and the noble channel structures through various doping approaches can give the great possibility of high lithium storage properties.
We present the structural and optical properties of Au@TiO2 core-shell microsphere structure prepared by a hydrothermal synthesis method. As a way to improve the efficiency of organic solar cells, the Au@TiO2 core-shell microsphere was synthesized to use the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon. The synthesized results were confirmed to have the Au@TiO2 core-shell structure using a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. An absorption was observed to occur at 527 nm belonging to the visible light region using a visible light spectroscopy, which supports the LSPR phenomenon. We suggest that the Au@TiO2 core-shell microsphere is highly likely to be applied to organic solar cells including dye-sensitized solar cells. In addition, we expect it to be widely used not only in the energy but also in the bio as well as in the environmental fields.
Thermal batteries are specialized as primary reserve batteries that operate when the internal heat source is ignited and the produced heat (450~550oC) melts the initially insulating salt into highly conductive eutectic electrolyte. The heat source is composed of Fe powder and KClO4 with different mass ratios and is inserted in-between the cells (stacks) to allow homogeneous heat transfer and ensure complete melting of the electrolyte. An ideal heat source has following criteria to satisfy: sufficient mechanical durability for stacking, appropriate heat calories, ease of combustion by an igniter, stable combustion rate, and modest peak temperature. To satisfy the aforementioned requirements, Fe powder must have high surface area and porosity to increase the reaction rate. Herein, the hydrothermal and spray drying synthesis techniques for Fe powder samples are employed to investigate the physicochemical properties of Fe powder samples and their applicability as a heat source constituent. The direct comparison with the state-of-the-art Fe powder is made to confirm the validity of synthesized products. Finally, the actual batteries were made with the synthesized iron powder samples to examine their performances during the battery operation.
Epitaxial ZnO nanowires (NWs) were synthesized on sapphire (001) substrates using a hydrothermal process. The effects of the pH value of the precursor solution on the structural and optical properties of the resulting NWs was studied. The epitaxial relationship and the domain matching configuration between the sapphire (001) substrate and the as-grown ZnO NWs were determined using synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements. The (002) plane of wurtzite ZnO NW grows in the surface normal direction parallel to the sapphire (001) direction. However, three types of in-plane domain matching configurations were observed, such as the on-position, 30°-rotated position, and ±8.5°-rotated position relative to the on-position, which might be attributed to inheriting the in-plane domain configuration of the ZnO seed layer.
In this paper, the ZnS nanoparticles were synthesized according to the process conditions of hydrothermal synthesis. When the molar ratio of Zn to S was 1:1.2, it was confirmed that it had a cubic single phase and a high crystal phase. After the molar ratio is fixed, hydrothermal synthesis was conducted at 180℃ for 24, 36, 72 and 96 h in order to confirm the structural change with the change of hydrothermal synthesis times. As the hydrothermal synthesis times increased, the particle size increased. The hydrothermal synthesized particle size for 72 h was considered to be suitable for sintering. The ZnS ceramic had a density of 99.7% and an excellent transmittance of ~70% in the long-wavelength region.
Fe3O4 was prepared on the TiO2-coated natural mica substrate. The natural mica has an average particle size of 22 ㎛. The substrate was coated on TiO2 thin films using hydrothermal synthesis at pH 1.5-2.5 at 75℃. The Fe precursor solution was prepared by mixing FeSO4 (for Fe2+ ion) and FeCl3 (for Fe3+ ions) with different molar ratios such as 1/2, 1/1, 2/1, 3/0, and Fe3O4 only. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the crystal structure depends on the FeCl3-to-FeSO4 molar ratio. Fe3O4 crystal phase could be obtained at higher FeSO4 contents.
Mg/Al layered double hydroxide with two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures was synthesized by a hydrothermal technique. The morphology and aspect ratio of Mg4Al2(OH)143H2O were controlled by the concentration and kinds of the hydrolysis agent, and temperature. The aspect ratio of Mg4Al2(OH)143H2O layered double hydroxides with the 2D hexagonal crystal structure was tailored from about 12.6 to about 45.7. The intercalated CO32- anions of the synthesized 2D Mg4Al2(OH)143H2O layered double hydroxides were exchanged to NO3- anions. The bulk 2D Mg4Al2(OH)143H2O layered double hydroxides with the increased space between two layers due to the anion exchange were exfoliated in a formamide solution. The aspect ratio of the exfoliated 2D Mg4Al2(OH)143H2O layered double hydroxides increased to 570.3.
Transparent ZnS ceramics were synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis (180℃ for 70 h), and were sintered by a hot press process at 950℃. To confirm the optical properties of the ZnS ceramics after sintering for various sintering holding times, we performed X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy. The ZnS nanopowders was found to be single-phase (cubic) without any hexagonal phase. However, the hexagonal phase is formed and increases in content with increasing sintering holding time. The density of the ZnS ceramics was above 99.7%, except for the unsintered one. The ZnS ceramics showed high transmittance (~70%) when sintered for more than 2 h.
Zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanoparticles were fabricated by hydrothermal synthesis at 180℃ for 12 h. Two kinds of ZnS powder (hydrothermal synthesized ZnS and commercial ZnS) were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for phase and microstructure, respectively. The XRD patterns showed that all ZnS nanoparticles have a sphalerite (cubic) structure. The nanoparticles of two different ZnS powders were sintered by spark plasma sintering. The sintered ZnS were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and FT-IR. We found that the transmittance of the infrared region is highly dependent on the density and crystal structure of sintered ZnS and the purity of the starting ZnS powder.
In this study, we fabricated a TFT gas sensor with ZnO nanorods grown by hydrothermal synthesis. The suggested devices were compared with the conventional ZnO film-type TFTs in terms of the gas-response properties and the electrical transfer characteristics. The ZnO seed layer is formed by atomic-layer deposition (ALD), and the precursors for the nanorods are zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO3)2·6H2O) and hexamethylenetetramine ((CH2)6N4). When 15 ppm of NO gas was supplied in a gas chamber at 150°C to analyze the sensing capability of the suggested devices, the sensitivity (S) was 4.5, showing that the nanorod-type devices respond sensitively to the external environment. These results can be explained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, which showed that the oxygen deficiency of ZnO nanorods is higher than that of ZnO film, and confirms that the ZnO nanorod-type TFTs are advantageous for the fabrication of high-performance gas sensors.
ZnO nanorods were grown on SiO2 coated Si wafers and glass by the hydrothermal method. The structural and optical properties variation of ZnO nanorods as a function of growing time was studied. ~10 nm-thick ZnO thin films deposited on substrates by rf magnetron sputtering were employed as seed layers. Zinc nitrate hexahydrate (0.05 M) and hexamethylenetetramine (0.05 M) mixed in DI water were used as a reaction solution. ZnO nanorods were respectively grown for 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, and 4 h by maintaining the reactor at 90℃. Crystallinity of ZnO nanorods was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, and the morphology of nanorods was observed by a field emission scanning electron microscope. Transmittance and absorbance were measured by a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and energy band gap and urbach energy were obtained from the data. Photoluminescence measurements were carried out using Nd-Yag laser (266 nm).
Nano-size BaTiO3 powder was synthesized by relatively simple hydrothermal reaction method. Finely dispersed Ti hydroxide precursor was first precipitated using Ti(SO4)2 and NaOH solution by applying ultrasonic power and washed thoroughly to remove SO4 2- and Na+ ion. Then hydrothermal reaction was done at 160℃ for 6 hrs using solution prepared by washed Ti hydroxide precursor slurry and Ba(OH)2ㆍ8H2O with Ti:Ba mole ratio of 1:1. 200 ~ 500 nm size and uniform size distributed BaTiO3 powder was synthesized by relatively low temperature and simple process.
In this work, in order to manufacture the photoelectrode of dye-sensitized solar cells, thedifferent anatase TiO2 paste was prepared by simple route using hydrothermal method. In comparisonwith the traditional preparing process, the hydrothermally synthesized TiO2 gel was used to make pastedirectly. Thus, the making process was simplified and the solar conversion efficiency was improved. Incomparison with 5.34% solar energy efficiency of HP-1 photoelectrode, the 6.23% efficiency of HDP-1electrode was improved by 16.67%. This is because hydrothermally synthesized TiO2 gel was used tomake paste directly, the dispersibility between TiO2 particles was improved and get the smoothernetwork, leading to the charge transport ability of the electron generated in dye molecular was improved. Further, HDP-2 photoelectrode delivered the best results with Voc (open circuit voltage), Jsc (shortcircuit current density) FF (fill factor) and η(solar conversion efficiency) were 0.695 V, 15.81 mA cm-2,61.48% and 6.80%, respectively. In comparison with 5.34% of HP-1 photoelectrode, it was improved by27.34%.
Hydrothermal synthesis technique could be carried out for growth of ZnO nanowires atrelatively low process temperature, and it could be freely utilized with various substrates for fabricationprocess of functional electronic devices. However, it has also a demerit of relatively slow growthcharacteristics of the resulting ZnO nanowires. In this paper, an external DC bias of positive and negative0.5 [V] was applied in the hydrothermal synthesis process for 2∼8 [h] to prepare ZnO nanowires on aseed layer of AZO with high electrical conductivity. Growth characteristics of the synthesized ZnOnanowires were analyzed by FE-SEM. Material property of the grown ZnO nanowires was examined byPL analysis. The ZnO nanowires grown with positive bias revealed distinctively enhanced growthcharacteristics, and they showed a typical material property of ZnO.
In this work, according to temperature and time of hydrothermal synthesis, the electrochemical properties of TiIO2 particle using TTIP based on thanging temperature and time in the hydrothermal synthesis were analyzed and optimized temperature and time were derived. When hydrothermal synthesis were analyzed and optimized temperature and time were derived. When hydrothermal synthesis temperature and time were 200℃ and 1 h, respectively. The fabricated DSSC delivered the best electrochemical properties. In that case, TiO2 particle size was 13.018 nm, electron transport time was 2.34×103s and recombination time was 4.01×102s. The lowest impedance of 13.52 Ω and Voc, Jsc, FF is 0.70 V, 11.50 mAcm2, 65.62%, respectively and corresponding efficiency of 5.34% was considered as the optimal.
The prepartion of various metal oxide nanostructures via hydrothermal method, hydrolysis, thermal evaporation and electrospinning and their applications to chemoresistive sensors have been investigated. Hierarchical and hollow nanostructures prepared by hydrothermal method and hydrolysis showed the high response and fast responding kinetics on account of their high gas accessibility. Thermal evaporation and electrospinning provide the facile routes to prepare catalyst-loaded oxide nanowires and nanofibers, respectively. The loading of noble metal and metal oxide catalyst were effective to achieve rapid response/recovery and selective gas detection.
ZnO nanowires were synthesized by hydrothermal technique. Prepared synthesis aqueous solutions were preserved by preheating in autoclave type synthesis equipment with various preheating time of 1 h difference. ITO-coated corning glass substrates deposited with AZO seed layers were then inserted in the preheated synthesis aqueous solutions and ZnO nanowires were grown for 180 min at 90℃. Density, length and aspect ratio of the grown ZnO nanowires were investigated. Composition, structural and optical properties of the grown ZnO nanowires were analyzed, Characteristics of the ZnO nanowires were comparatively studied in relation with Zn2+ ion concentration measured directly after the preheating of synthesis aqueous solution.