Ni-rich cathode materials have been developed as the most promising candidates for next-generation cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries because of their high capacity and energy density. In particular, the electrochemical performance of lithium-ion batteries could be enhanced by increasing the contents of nickel ion. However, there are still limitations, such as low structural stability, cation mixing, low capacity retention and poor rate capability. Herein, we have successfully developed the nanorod-type Ni-rich cathode materials by using co-precipitation method. Particularly, the nanorod-type primary particles of LiNi_0.7Co_0.15Mn_0.15O₂ could facilitate the electron transfer because of their longitudinal morphology. Moreover, there were holes at the center of secondary particles, resulting in high permeability of the electrolyte. Lithium-ion batteries using the prepared nanorod-type LiNi_0.7Co_0.15Mn_0.15O₂ achieved highly improved electrochemical performance with a superior rate capability during battery cycling.

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).

Even though nano-scale materials were very advantageous for various applications, there are still problems to be solved such as the stabilization of surface state and realization of low contact resistances between a semiconducting nanowire and electrodes in nano-electronics. It is well known that the effects of contacts barrier between nano-channel and metal electrodes were dominant in carrier transportation in individual nano-electronics. In this report, it was investigated the electrical properties of GaN nanorod devices after chemical etching and rapid thermal annealing for making good contacts. After KOH wet-etching of the contact area the devices showed better electrical performance compared with non-treated GaN individual devices but still didn`t have linear voltage-current characteristics. The shape of voltage-current properties of GaN devices were improved remarkably after rapid thermal annealing as showing Ohmic behaviors with further bigger conductivities. Even though chemical etching of the nanorod surfaces could cause scattering of carriers, in here it was shown that the most important and dominant factor in carrier transport of nano-electronics was realization of low contact barrier between nano-channel and metal electrodes surely.