Precise control over the morphology of nanostructures is critical for tailoring their physical and chemical properties. This study addresses the challenge of developing a simple, integrated method for synthesizing both 1D and 2D colloidal Cu nanostructures in a single system, achieving successful tuning of their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties. A facile hydrothermal synthesis utilizing potassium iodide (KI) and hexadecylamine (HDA) is presented for controlling Cu nanostructure morphologies. The key to achieving 1D nanowires (NWs) and 2D nanoplates (NPs) depends on the controlled adsorption of HDA molecules and iodide (I-) ions on specific crystal facets. Depending on the morphologies, the resultant Cu nanostructures exhibit tunable LSPR peaks from 558 nm [nanoplates (NPs)] to 590 nm [nanowires (NWs)]. These results pave the way for the scalable and cost-effective production of plasmonic Cu nanostructures with tunable optical properties, holding promise for applications in sensing, catalysis, and photonic devices.
Dielectric ceramic capacitors present high output power density due to the fast energy charge and discharge nature of dielectric polarization. By forming dense ceramic films with nano-grains through the Aerosol Deposition (AD) process, dielectric ceramic capacitors can have high dielectric breakdown strength, high energy storage density, and leading to high power density. Dielectric capacitors fabricated by AD process are expected to meet the increasing demand in applications that require not only high energy density but also high power output in a short time. This article reviews the recent progress on the dielectric ceramic capacitors with improved energy storage properties through AD process, including energy storage capacitors based on both leadbased and lead-free dielectric ceramics.
For the past several decades, various next-generation patterning methods have been developed to obtain well-designed nano-to-micro structures, such as imprint lithography, nanotransfer printing (nTP), directed self-assembly (DSA), E-beam lithography, and so on. Especially, nTP process has much attention due to its low processing cost, short processing time, and good compatibility with other patterning techniques in achieving the formation of high-resolution functional patterns. To transfer functional patterns onto desirable substrates, the use of soft materials is required for precise replication of master mold. Here, we introduce a simple and practical nTP method to create highly ordered structures using various polymeric replica materials. We found that polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), and polyvinylpyridine (PVP) are possible candidates for replica materials for reliable duplication of Si master mold based on systematic analysis of pattern visualization. Furthermore, we successfully obtained well-defined metal and oxide nanostructures with functionality on target substrates by using replica patterns, through deposition and transfer process. We expect that the several candidates of replica materials can be exploited for effective nanofabrication of complex electronic devices.
Aluminum is a lightweight metal and has excellent properties with regard to conductivity, workability, and strength. It has been used in various industries owing to its economic benefits. To improve upon the mechanical properties and processability by adding various alloying elements to aluminum, improving the corrosion resistance and heat resistance by electrochemically forming a porous anodic film having a thickness and hardness on the surface of the aluminum alloy is crucial. In this study, the aluminum 6061 alloy was controlled by an anodization process in a 0.3M oxalic acid electrolyte at room temperature to investigate the oxide film parameters such as porosity and thickness depending on the modulating applied voltage and time. The anodizing experiment was performed by increasing the time from 1 h to 9 h at 2-h intervals at applied voltages of 50 V and 60 V.
Skutterudite materials show PGEC (phonon glass electron crystal) characteristics which is an optimal strategy for designing high performance thermoelectric materials. Now two methods are in parallel to control thermal conductivity of skutterudites, a rattler-atoms doping method and a process for nanostructured bulk materials. Amount of rattler atoms in p-type skutterudite are depends on a Fe/Co ratio of matrix, and the optimal Fe/Co ratio has been reported about from 3:1 to 3.5:0.5 in R(Fe,Co)₄Sb12 structure. In this paper, our discussion for rattler doping research was concentrated on double-rattler systems and DD-doped systems in p-type skutterudites. A melt spinning precess combined with high energy ball milling were suggested as a strategy for nanostructured bulk materials with PGEC (phonon glass electron crystal) characteristics in p-type skutterudites.
The effect of oxygen pressure in the synthesis of ZnO nanostructures through thermal evaporation of Zn powder was investigated. The thermal evaporation process was carried out in oxygen ambient for 1 hr at 1,000℃ under different pressures. The oxygen pressure was changed in range of 0.5 ? 900 Torr. Any nanostructure was not formed on the specimens prepared at oxygen pressures lower than 10 Torr. When oxygen pressure was 100 Torr, ZnO nanowires were observed. With increasing the oxygen pressure to 500 Torr, the morphology of ZnO nanostructures changed from wire to tetrapod. For all the samples, room temperature photoluminescence spectra show a strong green emission peak at around 550 nm.
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.
Multifunctional structures with two kinds of materials have been intensively investigated in order to improve their electrical characteristic with two functions simultaneously. However, the research regarding of multifunctional ceramic sensor is still in a preliminary stage and how to integrate them with low-cost and high-yield mass production process remains a challenge issue. In this study, we fabricated the multifunctional ceramic sensor composed of temperature and gas sensors. Moreover, we investigated the CO sensing properties of three dimensional nanostuctured Nb2O5 thin film gas sensors fabricated with silica (SiO2) nanosphere (Ø= 750 nm). Compared to plain films, the nanostructured films show enhanced gas sensing of greater sensitivity and a faster response. This result reveals that significantly increased sensitivity is an increase in the effective surface area for the adsorption of gas molecules.
ZnO nanostructures were developed on a Si (100) substrate from powder mixture of ZnO and 5 mol% Pd (ZP-5) as reactants by × sccm oxygen pressures(x= 0, 10, 20, 40). DTA (differential thermal analysis) result shows the Pd(5 mol%)+ZnO mixtured powder(PZ-5) is easily evaporated than pure ZnO powder. The PZ-5 mixtured powder was characterized by DTA to determine the thermal decomposition which was found to be at 800℃, 1,100℃. Weight loss(%) and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) analysis reveal that Zn vaporization is decreased by increased oxygen pressures from the PZ-5 at 1,100℃ for 30 mins. Needle-like ZnO nanostructures array developed from 10 sccm oxygen pressure, was well aligned vertically on the Si substrate at 1,100℃ for 30 mins. The lengths of the Needle-like ZnO nanostructures is about 2 μm with diameters of about 65 nm. The developed ZnO nanostructures exhibited growth direction along [001] with defect-free high crystallinity. It is considered that Zn vaporization is responsible for the growth of Needle-like ZnO nanostructures by controlling the oxygen pressures. The photoluminescence spectra of ZnO nanostructures exhibited stronger 376.7 nm NBE (near band-edge emission) peak and 529.3 nm DLE (deep level energy) peak.
The present study introduces a novel wet etching technique for nanostructure fabrications which usually requires low surface roughness. Using the current method, acquired profiles were smooth even in the nanoscale, which cannot be easily achieved with conventional wet or dry etching methods. As one of the most popular single crystal silicon etchant, potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution was used as a base solvent and two additives, antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) and ethyl alcohol were employed in. Four experimental parameters, concentrations of KOH, Sb2O3, and ethyl alcohol and temperature were optimized at 60 wt.%, 0.003 wt.%, 10 v/v%, and 23℃, respectively. Effects of additives in KOH solution were investigated on the profiles in both (110) and (111) planes of single crystal silicon wafer. The preliminary results show that additives play a critical role to decrease etch rate significantly down to ~2 nm/min resulting in smooth side wall profiles on (111) plane and enhanced surface roughness.