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We analyze the material dependence of the near-field coupling to band electrons of surface plasmons in metallic nanoparticles deposited on the top of a semiconductor substrate in nano-modified solar cells. Various materials for the metal and substrate are considered for comparison upon the Fermi Golden Rule approach to theoretical modeling of the plasmon-electron coupling. The material dependence of the plasmon effect in two types of solar cells, multi-crystalline Si and CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-diselenide), modified by various metallic nano-particles is illustrated by the experimental data and compared with the theoretical predictions.

The formation of dust particles in low-pressure plasmas is a 3-step process. The first one corresponds to nucleation and growth of nanoparticles by chain reactions between ions and gas molecules, the second one is agglomeration of the nanoparticles to form larger particles, and finally, the particles grow by radical deposition on their surfaces. In this work, the nucleation time for carbon dust particles was studied in low pressure acetylene/argon radio frequency (RF) plasmas. Since the self-bias voltage on a powered electrode was drastically affected by the transition from the nucleation to the agglomeration phases, the nucleation time was measured by observing the self-bias voltage time evolution. The nucleation time increases with the gas temperature and decreases when the gas pressure and the RF power are increased. A kinetic model, involving balance between diffusion and charging times of the nanoparticles as well as the chain reactions, is used to explain the exponential dependence of the nucleation...

This work deals with photoluminescence study of silicon nanoparticles produced by CO2-laser-induced decomposition of SiH4 mixed to helium in a controlled atmosphere reactor. By adjusting the pressure of both reactor and precursor gas and its dilution rate in helium, we were able to control, to a certain extent, the silicon growth rate and hence the particle diameter. This latter was determined by both small angle neutron scattering techniques and high resolution transmission electron microscopy observations. Particles with mean diameter ranging between 3 and 10 nm were submitted to photoluminescence and infrared absorption spectroscopy measurements. The photoluminescence spectra revealed two main peaks at about 1.7 and 2.1 eV. The peak position of the former was insensitive to the change of particle size, while its intensity increased after oxidation. The latter showed, however, a slight size dependence but had undergone a drastic decrease after oxidation. These features enabled us to ascribe the red peak...

Propylene carbonate shows appealing prospects as an energy storage medium in the compact pulsed power sources because of its large permittivity, high dielectric strength, and broad operating temperature range. In this paper, TiO2 nano-particles coated with γ-aminopropyltriethoxylsilane coupling agent are homogeneously dispersed into propylene carbonate and these nano-fluids (NFs) exhibit substantially larger breakdown voltages than those of pure propylene carbonate. It is proposed that interfaces between nano-fillers and propylene carbonate matrix may provide myriad trap sites for charge carriers. The charge carriers can be easily captured at the interfaces between NFs and the electrode, resulting in an increased barrier height and suppressed charge carriers injection, and in the bulk of NFs, the charge carriers' mean free path can be greatly shortened by the scattering effect. As a result, in order for charge carriers acquiring enough energy to generate a region of low density (the bubble) and initiate breakdown in NFs, much higher applied field is needed.

We report a series of metal insulator semiconductor devices with embedded Pt nano particles (NPs) fabricated using a low temperature atomic layer deposition process. Optically sensitive nonvolatile memory cells as well as optical sensors: (i) varactors, whose capacitance-voltage characteristics, nonlinearity, and peak capacitance are strongly dependent on illumination intensity; (ii) highly linear photo detectors whose responsivity is enhanced due to the Pt NPs. Both single devices and back to back pairs of diodes were used. The different configurations enable a variety of functionalities with many potential applications in biomedical sensing, environmental surveying, simple imagers for consumer electronics and military uses. The simplicity and planar configuration of the proposed devices makes them suitable for standard CMOS fabrication technology.

A series of Co1−xZnxFe2O4 particulate nano-ferrites with x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8, fabricated by the co-precipitation method, have been investigated. The lattice parameter is found to increase and particle size decreases with increasing x. Mossbauer spectroscopy at room temperature exhibits ferromagnetic hyperfine splitting sextet peaks with a doublet peak overlapping at its center as Zn contents x

The luminescence from europium doped lanthanum trifluoride (Eu3+:LaF3) nano-crystals can be greatly enhanced by capping with β-diketonate organic ligands. Here, we report on photo-stability measurements for the case of nano-crystals capped with thenoyltrifluroacetone (TTA) and compared with those capped with an inactive ligand, oleic acid. With exposure to UV pump light, we observed significant decrease in fluorescence and change in emission spectrum of the TTA-capped nano-particles whilst the fluorescence lifetime remained approximately constant. After a dose of order 70 kJ cm−2, the luminescence level was similar to that of oleic acid capped nano-crystals. We discuss possible mechanisms.

An optically triggered nonvolatile memory based on platinum nano-particles embedded within a SiO2 and HfO2 dielectric stack on a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate is presented. The memory cell exhibits a very wide spectral response, from 220 nm to 950 nm; much wider than common photo-detectors fabricated on SOI. It offers several functionalities including a low programming voltage and wide hysteresis of the capacitance-voltage characteristics, an illumination and voltage sweep amplitude dependent hysteresis of the current-voltage characteristics, and plasmonic enhanced, efficient broad-band photo detection.

Double tunnel barrier structures were obtained by using a scanning tunneling microscope and samples composed of metallic nanoparticles deposited onto an oxidized bottom electrode. The nanoparticles were formed by evaporating subpercolation thin metallic layers. Due to the small size of the particles their energy spectrum is discrete, which is evidenced by the measured quantized current-voltage characteristics. Current rectification ratios of 100–1000 for tunneling through such quantum dots are demonstrated at room temperature.

The iron nanoparticles coated with oleic acid and drugs such as folic acid/Amoxicillin were synthesized by high energy ball milling and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Transmission electron microscope, zeta potential, dynamic light scattering, Fourier Transform Infra red (FT-IR) measurements, and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). FT-IR and TGA measurements show good adsorption of drugs on oleic acid coated nanoparticles. Magnetic measurements indicate that saturation magnetization is larger for amoxicillin coated particles compared to folic acid coated particles. The biocompatibility of the magnetic nanoparticles prepared was evaluated by in vitro cytotoxicity assay using L929 cells as model cells. � 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

We describe a new metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) device in which cobalt based nano particles (NPs) in a core-shell structure (Co–core and Co3O4-shell) are embedded between a thermally grown SiO2 layer and a HfO2 film deposited by atomic layer deposition. Two additional structures were prepared for comparison. One had no NPs and the other included the Fe NPs, prepared using the same procedure as used for the Co film. All devices exhibited the classic behavior of a voltage variable MIS capacitor with or without a large hysteresis as in non-volatile memory (NVM) systems. However, only the device with the Co core-shell structure exhibits a negative photoconductivity (NPC) effect as well as NVM capabilities in both the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. The dependence of C-V and current voltage I-V characteristics on illumination intensity and wavelength (from ultraviolet to near infrared) as well as on temperature was characterized. Illumination enhances the NPC effect as well as the flat-band voltage shift determined from C-V characteristics and hence the memory width. Illumination in the wavelength range of 735–780 nm caused a current decrease, at a given voltage, by up to a factor of two. The NPC effect stimulates an annihilation of the stored charges and therefore erases the system instantly at a small applied bias. The main cause of the NPC effect under illumination is the photo excitation of supplementary trap channels in the Co3O4 shell, which lowers the free carrier density and hence the conductivity of the MIS structure.We describe a new metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) device in which cobalt based nano particles (NPs) in a core-shell structure (Co–core and Co3O4-shell) are embedded between a thermally grown SiO2 layer and a HfO2 film deposited by atomic layer deposition. Two additional structures were prepared for comparison. One had no NPs and the other included the Fe NPs, prepared using the same procedure as used for the Co film. All devices exhibited the classic behavior of a voltage variable MIS capacitor with or without a large hysteresis as in non-volatile memory (NVM) systems. However, only the device with the Co core-shell structure exhibits a negative photoconductivity (NPC) effect as well as NVM capabilities in both the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. The dependence of C-V and current voltage I-V characteristics on illumination intensity and wavelength (from ultraviolet to near infrared) as well as on temperature was characterized. Illumination enhances the NPC effect a...

Plasma chemical reactions in complex Ar/C2H2 and Ar/C2H2/O2 radiofrequency plasmas with formation of nano-particles are investigated. Growing nano-particles cause a growth instability, which leads to temporal variations and a cyclic behaviour of plasma properties. Mass spectrometric observations show the consumption of C2H2 and the formation of polyacetylene C2nH2 molecules which increases with acetylene gas flow. The cycle frequency is a decreasing function of acetylene consumption. The addition of oxygen to the discharge reduces the cycle frequency and the formation of nano-particles and leads to the formation of CO and CO2 molecules presumably through the oxidation of C2H radicals which are formed in the discharge.

A phase field model is developed to examine microstructural evolution of an infiltrated solid oxide fuel cell cathode. It is employed to generate the three-phase backbone microstructures and morphology of infiltrate nano-particles [La1−xSrxMnO3 (LSM)]. Two-phase Y2O3 + ZrO2 and LSM backbones composed of 0.5–1 μm particles are first generated and then seeded with infiltrate, and evolution is compared for starting infiltrate particle diameters of 5 nm and 10 nm. The computed lifetime triple phase boundary (3PB) density of the infiltrated cathode is then compared to the cathode backbone. Results indicate that initial coarsening of infiltrate nano-particles is the primary evolution process, and infiltrate coarsening is the majority contributor to 3PB reduction. However, at all times, the infiltrated cathode possesses significantly greater 3PB length than even the uncoarsened backbone. Infiltrate particle size effects indicate that the smaller particle size produces greater 3PB length for the same infiltration amount, consistent with intuition. A maximum 3PB enhancement is reached when increasing infiltrate particle loading, and the maximum enhancement depends on infiltrate particle size. It is found that architectural degradation modes will insignificantly affect the lifetime performance of infiltrated cathodes. This work suggests that lifetime optimized particle size/loading combinations are identifiable, and can be precise if additional fundamental data become available.

The energy transfer between nano-particles is of great importance for, solar cells, light-emitting diodes, nano-particle waveguides, and other photonic devices. This study shows through novel design and algorithm optimization, the energy transfer efficiency between plasmonic and dielectric nano-particles can be greatly improved. Using versatile designs including core-shell wrapping, supercells and dielectric mediated plasmonic scattering, 0.05 dB/μm attenuation can be achieved, which is 20-fold reduction over the baseline plasmonic nano-particle chain, and 8-fold reduction over the baseline dielectric nano-particle chain. In addition, it is also found that the dielectric nano-particle chains can actually be more efficient than the plasmonic ones, at their respective optimized geometry. The underlying physics is that although plasmonic nano-particles provide stronger coupling and field emission, the effect of plasmonic absorption loss is actually more dominant resulting in high attenuation. Finally, the group velocity for all design schemes proposed in this work is shown to be maintained above 0.4c, and it is found that the geometry optimization for transmission also boosts the group velocity.

All of the proposed ever since designs of metamaterials are characterized by ever-increasing sophistication of fabrication methods. Here, a comparatively simple recipe for the fabrication of a metamaterial, which is both gyrotropic and of the simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability, is proposed. The idea is to make a mixture of three ingredients, where one of them would be responsible for the negativity of μ, while the other two would be responsible for the negativity of e. The first component of the mixture is the “swarm” of single-domain ferromagnetic nano-particles, immersed in a mixture of other two, silver and mercury cadmium telluride. By carrying out the computer simulations, the domains of gyromagnetic metamaterial exist, relative to all parameters characterizing the model, that is, the temperature, external magnetic field, parameters of nano-particles, and the fraction of cadmium in Hg 1− x Cd x Te-compound as well as relative concentrations of the mixture components are established.

Nano-composite films of Tin Sulfide (SnS) and silver (Ag) fabricated by thermal evaporation showed two prominent peaks in the visible region of their extinction spectra. Theoretical modeling of the extinction spectra suggest that these two peaks (500 nm and 580 nm) correspond to the longitudinal mode (LM) and transverse mode (TM) surface plasmon resonance peaks arising from oblate silver nano-particles. Using grain size of silver and SnS obtained from structural and morphological characterizations of the samples and dielectric constants as per actuals, we have compared the experimental results with those from theory. The study shows that silver nano-particles efficiently scatters light and can be used for developing plasmonic based SnS solar cells with improved efficiencies., Comment: 9 pages and 9 figures

International audience; Impedance spectroscopy experiments are able to reveal the fundamental charge transport properties of a wide variety of complex disordered and nano-structured materials provided that appropriate modeling tools are used. In this paper, we present a numerical simulation-based approach to model the dynamical conductivity of networks formed by self-assembled metal nanoparticles. Inter-particle nano-resistance and nano-capacitance are implemented at the nano-scale assuming inter-particle charge transfer and accumulation mechanisms that can be adapted depending on the nature of the nano-particles and the surrounding medium. The actual positions and spatial arrangements of the nanoparticles within the network are taken into consideration, allowing the attributes of percolating conducting routes to be extracted, classified, and compared in terms of path conductance and statistical distribution of path lengths. Our findings are contrasted to those obtained using analytic models, which are commonly used, but rely on strong assumptions about the electric properties of the conducting paths. We address these assumptions and show that in the case of weakly disordered systems, there is a general agreement between numerical simulations and analytic modeling-based approaches. In the case of disordered networks where the nano-particle size and position fluctuations are included, we show that the path length distribution is frequency-dependent and can differ significantly from the lognormal distribution usually assumed in the analytic models. The impedance of individual pathways may be extracted from the numerical simulations; we discovered that the conductance and susceptance of a specific path are frequency-dependent and inversely proportional to the path length only in ordered networks. Strong scattering of conductance values is caused by disorder effects. The developed numerical approach is generic and applies to most nano-devices where charge transport relies on percolation; it allows to bridge the gap between the nano-scale and micro-scale electric characteristics and, thus, permits a deeper understanding of the charge transport properties of nano-structured materials.

We demonstrate the enhancement of emission of InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well nanorods by nearly a factor of 2 by coupling them to localized surface plasmons of Au nano-particles (NPs). The Au NPs are fabricated in situ on the nanorods using a Ni/SiO2/Au/SiNx compound functional layer. This layer serves as a combination dry-etch mask for fabricating the nanorods and the Au NPs, as well as providing isolation necessary to prevent fluorescence quenching. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements confirm that emission enhancement originates from the coupling.

Microscale magnetic compasses have been synthesized with high yield. These ferromagnetic iron carbide nano-particles, which are encapsulated in a pair of parallel carbon needles, change their orientation in response to an external magnetic field. Electron holography reveals magnetic fields confined to the vicinity of the bicone-shaped particles, which are composed of only a few ferromagnetic domains. Aligned magnetically and encapsulated in an acrylate polymer matrix, these micro-compasses exhibit anisotropic bulk magnetic permeability with an easy axis normal to the needle direction that can be understood as a result of the anisotropic demagnetizing field of a non-spherical single-domain particle. This novel type of material with orthogonal magnetic and structural axes could be highly useful as magnetic components in electromagnetic wave absorbent materials and magnetorheological fluids.

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements of iron nano-islands grown on graphene and covered with a Au film for passivation reveal that the oxidation through defects in the Au film spontaneously leads to the formation of magnetite nano-particles (i.e, $Fe_3$$O_4$). The Fe nano-islands (20 and 75 monolayers; MLs) are grown on epitaxial graphene formed by thermally annealing 6H-SiC(0001) and subsequently covered, in the growth chamber, with nominal 20 layers of Au. Our X-ray absorption spectroscopy and XMCD measurements at applied magnetic fields show that the thin film (20 ML) is totally converted to magnetite whereas the thicker film (75 ML) exhibits properties of magnetite but also those of pure metallic iron. Temperature dependence of the XMCD signal (of both samples) shows a clear transition at $T_{\rm V}\approx 120$ K consistent with the Verwey transition of bulk magnetite. These results have implications on the synthesis of magnetite nano-crystals and also on their regular arrangements on functional substrates such as graphene., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

Composites of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric are of interest for studies on mechanical strain mediated magneto-electric (ME) interactions and for useful technologies. Here, we report on magnetic-field-assisted-assembly of barium titanate (BTO)-nickel ferrite (NFO) core-shell particles into linear chains and 2D/3D arrays and measurements of ME effects in such assemblies. First, we synthesized the core-shell nano-particles with 50–600 nm BTO and 10–200 nm NFO by chemical self-assembly by coating the ferroic particles with complementary coupling groups and allowing them to self-assemble in the presence of a catalyst via the “click” reaction. The core-shell structure was confirmed with electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy. We obtained superstructure of the core-shell particles by subjecting them to a magnetic field gradient that exerts an attractive force on the particles and align them toward the regions of high field strengths. At low particle concentration, linear chains were formed and they ...

Three optically transparent colorful (red, green, and blue) glasses were synthesized by the sol-gel method. Nano-sized precipitates were found in scanning electron microscopy images. The precipitates were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution TEM. The measured lattice parameters of these precipitates were found to fit the metallic copper in red glass but deviate from single valenced Cu oxides in green and blue glasses. The chemistry of these nano-sized particles was confirmed by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). By fitting the EELS spectra obtained from the precipitates with the linear combination of reference spectra from Cu reference compounds, the oxidation states of Cu in the precipitates have been derived. First principle calculations suggested that the Cu nano-particles, which are in the similar oxidation states as our measurement, would show green color in the visible light range.

Mn doped ZnO nano-particles were synthesized by a solution route and annealed in N2, O2, and Ar, respectively. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show that the samples possess typical wurtzite structure and have no other impurity phases. Magnetization loops for ZnO samples were measured and clearly show typical ferromagnetic saturation behavior. With the combination of defect analysis based on photoluminescence spectroscopy and first-principle calculations of the possible magnetic defect centers in Mn doped ZnO, the effect of defects on the nature and origin of ferromagnetism was investigated. The results suggest oxygen vacancies, especially singly ionized oxygen vacancies, play a crucial role in mediating ferromagnetism in the Mn doped ZnO system.

We report photoluminescence observed from ZnO nano particles/clusters formed in gaseous phase of two colliding plumes ZnO plasma using fourth harmonic 266 nm of Nd:YAG laser. The two expanding plumes generated using 1.06 μm of Nd:YAG laser interact with each other, resulting in an overlap region where the collision front in lateral direction of two plumes forms an overlapping region starting at ∼20 ns lasting ∼5 μs with respect to ablating pulse. The blue shift in peak position (∼30–5 meV) of photoluminescence profile of ZnO clusters to that observed in bulk ZnO shows the effect of quantum confinement. The dynamical growth of nanoparticles is ascertained using Rayleigh scattered second harmonic radiation at 532 nm of Nd:YAG laser. A combined photoluminescence and light scattering at longer time delays ∼1.5 ms where plasma emission is absent confirms the formation of the nano-particles/clusters of ZnO. Observed intensity variation in the Rayleigh scattered signal and blue shift in photoluminescence peak position at different temporal delays with respect to the ablation pulse corroborates the presence and size variation of nano-particles/clusters. The defect related emission band arising due to oxygen vacancy is not observed from the ZnO clusters.

Large negative magnetotransmission effect Δt/t0 = (tH − t0)/t0 (where tH, t0 are the light transmissions with and without magnetic field, respectively) of up to 9% was revealed in composites contained coarse-grained and nano-powders of Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 in the infrared (IR) range near the Curie temperature in magnetic field H = 8 kOe. The optical density spectra and magnetotransmission effect of the composites are discussed in the context of the polar centers phase model. In the nano-powder composite, the significant magnetotransmission of ∼7% takes place in wide temperature region far below TC. This fact is explained by the existence of the localized charge carriers and spin disorder at the nano-particles surface. An applied magnetic field reduces spin disorder and the localization of charge carriers resulting in negative magnetotransmission effect. Two magnetic phase transitions and phase separation in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 promote the large magnetotransmission effect in a wide temperature range. The Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 nano-powder composite is a promising material for magnetooptical devices with a wide working temperature range.

Ferrite samples of Li+ substituted MnFe2O4 nano particles were synthesized by sol-gel auto-combustion method. The samples were obtained by annealing at relatively low temperature at 600 °C and characterized by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Lattice parameter, x-ray density, specific surface area, and porosity are found to increase, whereas bulk density and crystallite size showed the decreasing trend with the Li+ content. Splitting of major absorption bands related to Li+ substituted ferrites were observed in IR spectra. Substitution of Li+ ions for Fe3+ caused a decrease in the saturation magnetization from 75.69 to 58.57 emu/g and the coercivity increased from 157 to 308 Oe. DC resistivity decreases with increase in Li+ content. The temperature dependent results indicate that the values of dielectric constant (e′) and loss tangent (e″) increase with the increase in temperature.

The inclusion of graphene into composite energetic materials to enhance their performance is a new area of interest. Studies have shown that the addition of graphene significantly enhances the thermal transport properties of an energetic composite, but how graphene influences the composite’s ignition sensitivity has not been studied. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of carbon additives in composite energetic material composed of aluminum and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon™) on ignition sensitivity due to low velocity, drop weight impact. Specifically, three forms of carbon additives were investigated and selected based on different physical and structural properties: spherically shaped amorphous nano particles of carbon, cylindrically shaped multi walled carbon nanotubes, and sheet like graphene flakes. Results show an interesting trend: composites consisting of carbon nanotubes are significantly more sensitive to impact ignition and require the lowest ignition energy. In contrast, graphene is least sensitive to ignition exhibiting negligible reduction in ignition energy with low concentrations of graphene additive. While graphene does not significantly sensitize the energetic composite to ignition, graphene does, however, result in greater overall reactivity as observed through images of the reaction. The enhanced thermal transport properties of graphene containing composites may promote greater energy transport once ignited, but those properties do not also increase ignition sensitivity. These results and the understanding of the structural arrangement of particles within a composite as a key parameter affecting impact ignition sensitivity will have an impact on the safe handling and use of composite energetic materials.

The work function of nano-crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films was examined using photoemission spectroscopy (PES). Colloidally dispersed ZnO nano-particles were electrospray-deposited in vacuum to form nano-crystalline thin films. The samples showed an immediate work function reduction by 0.35 eV during ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) measurements. This artifact was detected and quantified through low intensity x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (LIXPS) measurements, which use a very low photon flux. This prevented significant photochemical changes on the measured surface, i.e. the true work function unaffected by the UPS artifact can be measured. Annealing of an identical sample removed all ambient contamination from the ZnO surface with the effect to prevent the work function lowering artifact. This allowed the conclusion that ambient contamination is essential for the artifact to occur, similar to what was observed earlier on indium tin oxide and TiO2 surfaces. In an additional experiment, exposure of the annealed sample to the ambient resulted in a sample that again showed the artifact further demonstrating the necessity of water to be present. This experiment also demonstrated that the solubility enhancing surfactant shell of the nano-crystals does not play a significant role in the artifact, since it was removed during the annealing process.

The structure of sterically stabilized water-based ferrofluid in the vicinity of free interface with a gaseous atmosphere is studied by means of X-ray reflectometry and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. Experimental data unambiguously show that in-depth distribution of the magnetic nano-particles and surfactant molecules in the ferrofluid layer close to the interface is essentially non-uniform. Particularly, bulk homogeneous liquid is covered with a relatively thick layer (about 200 A) with enhanced concentration of the surfactant and reduced concentration of the magnetic particles, which is consequently overlayed with a thin layer (about 40 A) with increased concentration of the particles. Having the aim to obtain more homogeneous and controllable ferrofluid surface, we tried to eliminate this specific bilayer in two different ways—mechanically and by means of long-term sedimentation of a sample in a dropping funnel under hexadecane. However, in both case the same surface structure but with slightly d...

We studied the impact of aluminum particle size and the thickness of surrounding alumina layer on the dynamic pressure discharge of nanothermite reactions in the Bi2O3/Al system. A pressure discharge from 9 to 13 MPa was generated using as-synthesized Bi2O3 nano-particles produced by combustion synthesis and Al nanoparticles with size from 3 μm to 100 nm. The maximum reaction temperature was measured to be ∼2700 °C. The estimated activation energy of the reaction was 45 kJ/mol. A very large (several orders of magnitude) difference existed between the rate of the pressure pulse release by nanothermite reactions and by thermite reactions with large aluminum particles. The maximum observed pressurization rate was 3200 GPa/s. The time needed to reach the peak pressure was 0.01 ms and 100 ms for aluminum particles with diameter of 100 nm and 70 microns, respectively. The discharge pressure was a monotonic decreasing function of the thickness of the surrounding alumina layer.

Undoped ZnO nano-particles were synthesized by a solution route and annealed in N2, O2, and Ar, respectively. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show that the samples possess typical wurtzite structure and have no other impurity phases. Magnetization loops for the ZnO samples were measured and clearly show typical ferromagnetic saturation behavior. With the combination of defect analysis based on photoluminescence spectroscopy and first-principles calculations of the possible magnetic defect centers in ZnO, the effect of defects on the nature and origin of ferromagnetism was investigated. The results suggest oxygen defects, especially singly ionized oxygen vacancies, play a crucial role in mediating ferromagnetism in the undoped ZnO system.

We explore the evolution of metal plasma generated by high laser irradiances and its effect on the surrounding air by using shadowgraph images after laser pulse termination; hence the formation of laser supported detonation and combustion processes has been investigated. The essence of the paper is in observing initiation of chemical reaction between ablated aluminum plasma and oxygen from air by inducing high power laser pulse (>1000 mJ/pulse) and conduct a quantitative comparison of chemically reactive laser initiated waves with the classical detonation of exploding aluminum (dust) cloud in air. Findings in this work may lead to a new method of initiating detonation from metal sample in its bulk form without the need of mixing nano-particles with oxygen for initiation.