Search

The microstructure morphology, static magnetic properties, and electromagnetic absorption characteristics of nano FexCoNi alloy particles prepared by chemical liquid deposition with five different Fe content levels are investigated in this paper. The results show that spherical FexCoNi alloy particles with an average particle size of about 100–200 nm and a face-centered cubic crystal structure were obtained. All five samples exhibited soft magnetic behavior, with the saturation magnetization intensity showing an increasing-then-decreasing trend with increasing Fe content, peaking at 141.8 emu/g for Fe content x = 1.0. The dielectric constants (real and imaginary parts) of the prepared alloy particles exhibit significant differences with respect to the variation of Fe content, while the changes in the real and imaginary parts of the magnetic permeability show less pronounced effects with increasing Fe content. As the electromagnetic wave frequency increases, the real parts of the dielectric constants for all composites show minimal fluctuations, and the real parts of the magnetic permeability exhibit a decreasing trend. Moreover, the imaginary parts of the dielectric constants and magnetic permeability show an increasing followed by a decreasing trend as the frequency rises. The material with Fe content x = 1 demonstrated optimal dielectric loss performance and relatively excellent magnetic loss performance, with a sample thickness of 1.9 mm exhibiting the highest reflection loss (RLmax) of −24.2 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.48 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We fabricated a microfluidic channel with a graphene oxide (GNO)-doped polydimethylsiloxane photothermal heater for thermophoretically shifting particles. Under 808 nm near infrared (NIR) irradiation, GNO doped in one side of the channel walls would be heated through the photothermal effect, which would create a temperature gradient in the channel and drive particles shifting toward the cold side. By controlling NIR intensity and irradiation area, the temperature distribution in the channel can be conveniently adjusted, which can be used to separate micro- and nano-particles by changing the shifting distance of the particles. Meanwhile, as GNO was directly doped in channel walls, this method can fit channels with complex shapes well, which is useful for improving the separation efficiency by adding complex structures in channels. The study provides a controllable and convenient heating method for microfluidic thermophoresis experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of the photon total angular momentum in the incident direction in an axially symmetric scattering process is a very well known fact. Nonetheless, the redistribution of this conserved magnitude into its spin and orbital components, an effect known as the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of light, is still a matter of active research. Here, we discuss the effect of the absorption on the SOI in the scattering of a subwavelength silicon particle. Describing the scattering process of an electric and a magnetic dipole, we show via the asymmetry parameter that the SOI of light in the scattering of high refractive index nanoparticles endures in the presence of optical losses. This effect results in optical mirages whose maximum values surpass those of an electric dipolar scatterer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 time on the gas temperature. The balance between the times was especially indispensable to get good agreement between the model and the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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, non-linearity, 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. Mössbauer spectroscopy at room temperature exhibits ferromagnetic hyperfine splitting sextet peaks with a doublet peak overlapping at its center as Zn contents x<0.6, and only a single doublet as x⩾0.7. The fitting results of Mössbauer spectra reveal the occupation rule of nonmagnetic Zn2+ ions and superparamagnetic behavior. At room temperature, the superparamagnetic excitation plays an important role in the magnetic properties. The fitted hyperfine magnetic field of the octahedral and tetrahedral sublattices decreases with increasing Zn content. The saturation magnetization and coercivity monotonously reduce to a small value. However, at low temperature of 5K, the saturation magnetization (Ms) fully reflects the occupation of Zn ions. Zn substitutions that occupied first the tetrahedral sites cause the increase of magnetization when Zn content is below 0.4, while when Zn content is above 0.4, Zn substitutions occupied both the tetrahedral sites and the octahedral site, which leads to the decrease of magnetization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the photoluminescence study of silicon nanoparticles produced by CO[sub 2]-laser-induced decomposition of SiH4 mixed to helium in a controlled atmosphere reactor. Photoluminescence spectra.

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-composite films of Tin Sulfide (SnS) and silver fabricated by thermal evaporation showed two prominent peaks in the visible region of their extinction spectra. Theoretical modeling of the extinction spectra suggests that these two peaks (≈500 nm and ≈580 nm) correspond to the longitudinal mode and transverse mode 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 10nm. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 ϵ. The first component of the mixture is the "swarm" of single-domain ferromagnetic nanoparticles, 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 Hg1–xCdxTe-compound as well as relative concentrations of the mixture components are established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses band gap tunability of CdS nanoparticles in biotemplates deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). DNA is more efficient in controlling the size of the nanoparticles compared to BSA. Since nanoparticles are capped with biomaterials, they are very useful for biolabeling. The photo luminescence spectrum of CdS nanoparticles in DNA template shows sharp emission peak at 490 nm with shoulders at 430 nm and 530 nm while that of CdS in BSA template has emission peak at 530 nm with shoulders at 477 nm and 410 nm. The excitation wavelength dependent shift of photoluminescence peak is found to be between 40 and 50 nm for a change in excitation wavelength from 260 to 420 nm. We also studied excitation wavelength dependence on fluorescence emission of CdS nanoparticles stabilized with DNA and BSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastable induced electron spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy are employed to study the adsorption of silver on cinnamyl alcohol films prepared on Au(111) substrates by thermal evaporation. Additionally, the impact of an Ar atmosphere dielectric barrier discharge plasma applied to the cinnamyl alcohol film preliminary to the Ag adsorption is investigated. In both cases silver nano particles with an average diameter of 9 nm are formed. These particles do not interact chemically with the underlying cinnamyl alcohol film. We do not find any influence of the preliminary Ar plasma-treatment on the adsorption behavior at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed study on the influence of particle size varied from 8 nm to 53 nm on the structural and magnetic properties of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 - δ a has been done. The unit cell volume increases and the microstrain in the compound shows peak formation as the particle size decreases. Nano particles of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 - δ exhibit superparamagnetism whose blocking temperature has a nonlinear and logarithmic decreasing tendency as function of particle size and applied magnetic field, respectively. Evidence of formation of a magnetically dead layer at the surface has been found and the ratio of the thickness of the dead layer to the particle size increases exponentially with particle size. The coercivity of the nanoparicles increases manifold as particle size varies from 53 nm to 21 nm. In the single domain region the coercivity exhibits a d-1.125 behavior. The temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization shows strong collective excitation due to the spin wave that varies as Tα with α > αbulk of 3/2. Thus the spin wave does not follow the Bloch law in the case of nano particles of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 - δ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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., Fe3O4). 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 TV ≈ 120K 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxide-supported metal nano-particles are of great interest in catalysis but also in the development of new large-spectrum-absorption materials. The design of such nano materials requires threedimensional characterization with a high spatial resolution and elemental selectivity. The laser assisted Atom Probe Tomography (La-APT) presents both these capacities if an accurate understanding of laser-material interaction is developed. In this paper, we focus on the fundamental physics of field evaporation as a function of sample geometry, laser power, and DC electric field for Au nanoparticles embedded in MgO. By understanding the laser-material interaction through experiments and a theoretical model of heat diffusion inside the sample after the interaction with laser pulse, we point out the physical origin of the noise and determine the conditions to reduce it by more than one order of magnitude, improving the sensitivity of the La-APT for metal-dielectric composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinetic equations for magnetic nano particles dispersed in a viscous liquid are developed and analyzed numerically. Depending on the amplitude of an applied oscillatory magnetic field, the particles orient their time averaged anisotropy axis perpendicular to the applied field for low magnetic field amplitudes and nearly parallel to the direction of the field for high amplitudes. The transition between these regions takes place in a narrow field interval. In the low field region, the magnetic moment is locked to some crystal axis and the energy absorption in an oscillatory driving field is dominated by viscous losses associated with particle rotation in the liquid. In the opposite limit, the magnetic moment rotates within the particle while its easy axis being nearly parallel to the external field direction oscillates. The kinetic equations are generalized to include thermal fluctuations. This leads to a significant increase of the power absorption in the low and intermediate field regions with a pronounced absorption peak as function of particle size. In the high field region, on the other hand, the inclusion of thermal fluctuations reduces the power absorption. The illustrative numerical calculations presented are performed for magnetic parameters typical for iron oxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 evolved into 2D and 3D arrays at high particle concentrations. Magnetoelectric characterization on unassembled films and assembled arrays has been performed through measurements of low-frequency ME voltage coefficient (MEVC) by subjecting the sample to a bias magnetic field and an ac magnetic field. The MEVC is higher for fieldassembled samples than for unassembled films and is found to be sensitive to field orientation with a higher MEVC for magnetic fields parallel to the array direction than for magnetic fields perpendicular to the array. A maximum MEVC of 20 mV/cm Oe, one of the highest reported for any bulk nanocomposite, is measured across the array thickness. A model is provided for ME coupling in the superstructures of BTO-NFO particulate composites. First, we estimated the MEVC for a freestanding BTO-NFO core-shell particle and then extended the model to include an array of linear chains of the particles. The theoretical estimates are in qualitative agreement with the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 nanosized 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport behavior of gold nanostructures on Si(100) substrate during annealing under high vacuum has been investigated using in-situ real time transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A comparative study has been done on the morphological changes due to annealing under different vacuum environments. Au thin films of thickness ∼2.0 nm were deposited on native oxide covered silicon substrate by using thermal evaporation system. In-situ real time TEM measurements at 850 °C showed the isotropic growth of rectangular/square shaped gold-silicon alloy structures. During the growth, it is observed that the alloying occurs in liquid phase followed by transformation into the rectangular shapes. For similar system, ex-situ annealing in low vacuum (10-2 millibars) at 850 °C showed the spherical gold nanostructures with no Au-Si alloy formation. Under low vacuum annealing conditions, the rate of formation of the oxide layer dominates the oxide desorption rate, resulting in the creation of a barrier layer between Au and Si, which restricts the inter diffusion of Au in to Si. This work demonstrates the important role of interfacial oxide layer on the growth of nanoscale Au-Si alloy structures during the initial growth. The time dependent TEM images are presented to offer a direct insight into the fundamental dynamics of the sintering process at the nanoscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]