0000000000164044
AUTHOR
Philippe Miele
Optical properties of ultrathin Al2O3/ZnO nanolaminates
Abstract Because of their high resistance against ultraviolet and high energy particles, ultrathin amorphous nanolaminates can be very attractive for aerospace application. Here we report on the optical and structural properties of ultrathin Al2O3/ZnO nanolaminates deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition. Structural properties of nanolaminates were studied by GIXRD and AFM. Optical characterization was performed by transmittance, spectroscopic ellipsometry and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Regression analysis of ellipsometric spectra has shown that absorption peak decreases and blue shifted with the decrease of bilayer thickness in the stack. On the basis of the analysis of structural a…
Tuning Optical Properties of Al 2 O 3 /ZnO Nanolaminates Synthesized by Atomic Layer Deposition
Nanolaminates are of great interest for their unique properties such as high dielectric constants and advanced mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. Here we report on the tuning of optical and structural properties of Al2O3/ZnO nanolaminates designed by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Structural properties of nanolaminates were studied by SEM, GIXRD, and AFM. Optical characterization was performed by transmittance and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Complex study of monolayer properties was performed by ellipsometry. Optical constants for Al2O3 and ZnO monolayer were calculated. The band gap of ZnO single layers and the excitonic PL peak position were shifted to the UV region …
Enhancement of calcium copper titanium oxide photoelectrochemical performance using boron nitride nanosheets
International audience; Photoelectrochemical water splitting under visible light has attracted attention for renewable hydrogen production. Despite prevalent investigations, many challenges still hindered an efficient energy conversion, such as enhancing the reaction efficiency in visible light. Thus controlling the photoelectrode materials is an essential step in designing new materials for water splitting. CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) has received great attention as photocatalyst under solar light due to its combined band gap as result of the presence in its structure of TiO2 active in UV light and CuO active under visible light. In this work, a cubic CCTO with different amount of exfoliated hexago…
Optical and structural properties of Al 2 O 3 doped ZnO nanotubes prepared by ALD and their photocatalytic application
Abstract Al2O3 doped ZnO nanotubes with controlled ratio of Al2O3 were successfully designed by combining the two techniques of atomic layer deposition (ALD) and electrospinnig. In order to study the effect of Al2O3 doping on optical and structural properties of Al2O3 doped ZnO nanotubes, the prepared samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), reflectance emission and room temperature photoluminescence (PL). The photocatalytic activity and stability of these materials under UV light was studied by the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO). The results indicate that Al2O…
Optical properties of ZnO deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on Si nanowires
International audience; In this work, we report proof-of-concept results on the synthesis of Si core/ ZnO shell nanowires (SiNWs/ZnO) by combining nanosphere lithography (NSL), metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) and atomic layer deposition (ALD). The structural properties of the SiNWs/ZnO nanostructures prepared were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopies. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that all samples have a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The grain sizes are found to be in the range of 7-14 nm. The optical properties of the samples were investigated using reflectance and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The study o…
Evolution of microstructure and related optical properties of ZnO grown by atomic layer deposition.
A study of transmittance and photoluminescence spectra on the growth of oxygen-rich ultra-thin ZnO films prepared by atomic layer deposition is reported. The structural transition from an amorphous to a polycrystalline state is observed upon increasing the thickness. The unusual behavior of the energy gap with thickness reflected by optical properties is attributed to the improvement of the crystalline structure resulting from a decreasing concentration of point defects at the growth of grains. The spectra of UV and visible photoluminescence emissions correspond to transitions near the band-edge and defect-related transitions. Additional emissions were observed from band-tail states near th…
The influence of localized plasmons on the optical properties of Au/ZnO nanostructures
Optical and structural experiments have been carried out on Si/ZnO thin films modified with ultra-thin gold layers of different thicknesses. ZnO was produced via Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Au via Physical Vapor Deposition (sputtering). The structural properties of nanostructures were studied by XRD and AFM. Optical characterization was performed by absorbance, photoluminescence (PL) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). A transition from cluster-to-thin films with the increase of Au thickness has been revealed from an analysis of optical and structural parameters. The analysis of optical features of the system has shown that slight changes of the localized plasmon absorption peaks in …
Highly textured boron/nitrogen co-doped TiO2 with honeycomb structure showing enhanced visible-light photoelectrocatalytic activity
International audience; In this work, we report a novel photocatalyst based on boron and nitrogen co-doped TiO2 rutile (1 1 0) honeycomb structures. The photocatalyst has been prepared by simultaneously oxidizing and doping a Ti-foil substrate at 750 degrees C. The unit cell volume and the crystallite size of grown TiO2 films were measured by Rietveld refinement analysis. The co-doping by boron and nitrogen was achieved simultaneously with the oxidation of the titanium, resulting in a rutile (1 1 0) textured TiO2 film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed the presence of Ti-O-N and Ti-O-B-N bonds, and the presence of crystal defects in the lattice was detected and displayed by…
ALD thin ZnO layer as an active medium in a fiber-optic Fabry–Perot interferometer
Abstract A novel optical fiber sensor of temperature using a thin ZnO layer fabricated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is demonstrated for the first time. The thin ZnO layer was grown on the face of a standard optical telecommunication fiber SMF-28 and operates as a Fabry–Perot interferometer sensitive to temperature. The interferometer characterization was made in the temperature range extending from 50 to 300 °C with resolution equal to 1 °C. The output signal was analyzed by measurement of the shift of the maxima in spectral pattern. The sensitivity of temperature measurement is about 0.05 nm/°C. Furthermore, very good linearity of the sensor was achieved with correlation coefficient R2…
Tuning of ZnO 1D nanostructures by atomic layer deposition and electrospinning for optical gas sensor applications
We explored for the first time the ability of a three-dimensional polyacrylonitrile/ZnO material—prepared by a combination of electrospinning and atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a new material with a large surface area—to enhance the performance of optical sensors for volatile organic compound (VOC) detection. The photoluminescence (PL) peak intensity of these one-dimensional nanostructures has been enhanced by a factor of 2000 compared to a flat Si substrate. In addition, a phase transition of the ZnO ALD coating from amorphous to crystalline has been observed due to the properties of a polyacrylonitrile nanofiber template: surface strain, roughness, and an increased number of nucleation …
Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to τ+τ− pairs in proton–proton collisions at s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
A search for neutral Higgs bosons decaying to pairs of tau leptons with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, recorded in 2010 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb^-1. After signal selection, 276 events are observed in this data sample. The observed number of events is consistent with the total expected background of 269 +/- 36 events. Exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived for the production cross section of a generic Higgs boson phi as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for A/H/h production in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as a function of…
Photoluminescence: A very sensitive tool to detect the presence of anatase in rutile phase electrospun TiO 2 nanofibers
Abstract This paper reports on the synthesis and the characterization of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanofibers prepared by electrospinning. The samples were annealed at various temperatures in air for 4 h. The as-spun and annealed TiO2/PVP composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The results show that the heat treatment has an effect on the crystallization process. Even if the XRD data shows a complete anatase-to-rutile transition in the TiO2 nanofibers at 900 °C, photoluminescence reveals a small portion of anatase in rutile sample.…
Photoluminescence Study of Defects in ZnO-Coated Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibers
International audience; Core-shell nanostructures of one-dimensional (1D) polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/zinc oxide (ZnO) were obtained by combining atomic layer deposition (ALD) and electrospinning. Nanofibers with different ZnO thicknesses were synthesized and investigated. The present work offers novel information about 1D ZnO structural defects and activation energies (Ea) by performing photoluminescence (PL) measurements. PL measurements of 1D ZnO/PAN samples were investigated from 77 K to 273 K (room temperature). By analyzing the obtained data of the emission spectrum, Ea and temperature coefficients were calculated. The results let us suggest an approximate model of defects in 1D ZnO/PAN s…
Mesoporous ZnFe2O4@TiO2 Nanofibers Prepared by Electrospinning Coupled to PECVD as Highly Performing Photocatalytic Materials
International audience; Zinc ferrite @ titanium dioxide (ZnFe2O4@TiO2) composite nanofibers were elaborated by combining the two different techniques: electrospinning and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The nanofiber compositions were controlled using different ratios of zinc to iron. Their structural, morphological, and optical properties were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, BET surface area, Raman spectroscopy, and UV–visible spectrophotometry. The photocatalytic activity has been investigated by the degradation of methylene blue under visible light. The results indicate that the combination of spinel st…
Enhanced photocatalytic performance of novel electrospun BN/TiO 2 composite nanofibers
International audience; High activity boron nitride/titanium dioxide (BN/TiO2) composite nanofiber photocatalysts were synthesized for the first time via the electrospinning technique. The as-spun nanofibers with a controlled ratio of boron nitride nanosheets (BN) were calcined under air at 500 °C for 4 hours. Their morphological, structural and optical properties were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), BET surface area, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, UV-Visible spectrophotometry and room temperature photoluminescence (PL). The effect of loading different BN sheet amounts on the photocat…
BN/GdxTi(1-x)O(4-x)/2 nanofibers for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light
Abstract BN/GdxTi(1-x)O(4-x)/2 nanofibers were elaborated via electrospinning technique. The properties of the prepared nanofibers were controlled using different ratios of gadolinium. All the prepared nanofibers exhibit the tetragonal structure of anatase TiO2 phase. An increase in the unit cell volume and a decrease in the crystallite size were observed with increasing the doping amount of Gd3+ as revealed by Rietveld refinement analysis. The defect in TiO2 lattice was observed by Raman. The Gd3+ incorporation inside TiO2 lattice, which is accompanied by the creation of Ti-O-Gd bond, was characterized by the X-ray photoelectron spectra. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that the a…
Natural payload delivery of the doxorubicin anticancer drug from boron nitride oxide nanosheets
International audience; We studied the behavior of doxorubicin (DOX; an anticancer drug) molecules loaded on a boron nitride oxide nanosheet (BNO-NS) using the density functional theory (DFT), time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation methods. We found that DOX molecules in pi-pi or covalent interaction with BNO-NS preserve their optical properties in water. Moreover, the BNO-NS vector allowed stabilizing the DOX molecules on a cellular membrane contrary to isolated DOX that randomly moved in the solvent box without any interaction with the cell membrane. From these results, we conclude that hydrophilic BNO-NS represents a good candidate for DOX…
Optical and structural properties of Al 2 O 3 /ZnO nanolaminates deposited by ALD method
International audience; We report on the investigation of optical and structural properties of Al2O3/ZnO nanolaminates. The nanolaminates were deposited on Si and glass substrates by Atomic layer deposition method. Structural properties of nanolaminates were studied by SEM, GIXRD, and AFM. Optical characterization was performed by transmittance and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Complex analysis of monolayer properties was done by ellipsometry. Optical constants for Al2O3 and ZnO monolayer were calculated.
Synthesis of novel ZnO/ZnAl2O4 multi co-centric nanotubes and their long-term stability in photocatalytic application
Based on the Kirkendall effect, novel double, triple and quadruple co-centric nanotubes of ZnO/ZnAl2O4 have been successfully fabricated by combining the two techniques of electrospinning and atomic layer deposition. The as-prepared samples were annealed at 900 °C under air. Their morphological, structural and optical properties were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-visible spectrophotometry, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) and reflectance emission. The performances and long-term stability of these multi co-centric nanotubes for photocatalytic applications…
High photodegradation and antibacterial activity of BN–Ag/TiO 2 composite nanofibers under visible light
To develop material with good photocatalytic properties for organic compound degradation and bacterial removal, we produced Ag/TiO2 and BN–Ag/TiO2 composite nanofibers that included controlled amounts of boron nitride (BN) nanosheets and silver (Ag). After annealing at 500 °C under air, we used scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller analysis, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV-visible reflectance spectroscopy and room temperature photoluminescence to investigate the morphological, structural and optical properties of all samples. The photocatalytic tests using methylene blue under visible light, in r…