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To more accurately describe the noncontact transport behavior of traveling acoustic waves, a nonlinear model is presented in this paper for the squeeze gas film with consideration of gas inertia in the case of a large amplitude motion and low viscosity of the gas. A closed form solution is derived for the vertical and horizontal forces of the film from this model. Our results have shown that the gas inertia has a significant influence on the pressure distribution in the squeeze film, and the inertial force is higher than the viscous force. The predicted levitation and horizontal driving forces are found to be in good agreement with our experimental measurements. Our inertia model provides a powerful tool for the force estimation and its potential benefits could be far reaching. The accurate prediction of these forces is useful to design the system for levitating and transporting planar objects, such as MEMS devices, glass substrates, and IC chips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relaxor ferroelectric Pb(Sc0.5Nb0.5)O3 ceramics were synthesized by a modified solid oxide reaction method. The x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering analysis affirmed that annealing dominated the ordering degree of PSN samples. The measurements on dielectric response and ferroelectric behavior indicate the prominent impact of the ordering degree. The dielectric response of a relaxor ferroelectric is determined by the growing and freezing behaviors of the polar regions, which is correlated with the ordering degree. In addition, the behavior of the ferroelectric phase transition was controlled by the lattice distortion in ordered domain due to the displacement of Pb and ferroelectrically active Nb cations in the PSN lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of biofilms on implant surfaces and the subsequent development of medical device-associated infections are difficult to resolve and can cause considerable morbidity to the patient. Over the past decade, there has been growing recognition that physical cues, such as surface topography, can regulate biological responses and possess bactericidal activity. In this study, diamond nanocone-patterned surfaces, representing biomimetic analogs of the naturally bactericidal cicada fly wing, were fabricated using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition, followed by bias-assisted reactive ion etching. Two structurally distinct nanocone surfaces were produced, characterized, and the bactericidal ability examined. The sharp diamond nanocone features were found to have bactericidal capabilities with the surface possessing the more varying cone dimension, nonuniform array, and decreased density, showing enhanced bactericidal ability over the more uniform, highly dense nanocone surface. Future research will focus on using the fabrication process to tailor surface nanotopographies on clinically relevant materials that promote both effective killing of a broader range of microorganisms and the desired mammalian cell response. This study serves to introduce a technology that may launch a new and innovative direction in the design of biomaterials with capacity to reduce the risk of medical device-associated infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to suppress the dark current, the barrier layer engineer for solution-processed PbSe colloidal quantum-dot (CQD) photodetectors has been investigated in the present study. It was found that the dark current can be significantly suppressed by implementing two types of carrier blocking layers, namely, hole blocking layer and electron blocking layer, sandwiched in between two active PbSe CQD layers. Meanwhile no adverse impact has been observed for the photo current. Our study suggests that this improvement resides on the transport pathway created via carrier recombination at intermediate layer, which provides wide implications for the suppression of dark current for infrared photodetectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the mild hydrothermal synthesis of single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays (NRAs). The method reported here shows great versatility and can be used to grow TiO2 NRAs on a large diversity of substrates including Si, Si/SiO2, sapphire, Si pillars, and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO)-covered glass. The average diameter and length of the nanorods prepared at typical conditions are ∼60 nm and 400 nm, respectively. Dye-sensitized solar cells assembled with the TiO2 NRAs grown on the FTO-covered glass as photoanode were prepared with a photoconversion efficiency of ∼1.10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A convenient nanotechnique is reported to tailor the light emission properties of organic emitter poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) by coupling to resonance-tuned silver nanoantenna arrays. It is revealed experimentally and theoretically that the enhanced photoluminescence from the MEH-PPV/silver nanoantenna complex may originate from the energy transfer effect in the surface plasmon resonance coupling between the MEH-PPV and silver nanocaps and from local electromagnetic field enhancement of nanogaps between the silver nanocaps in the background of the light-emitting MEH-PPV. The results are corroborated by the finite difference time domain simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-sensitivity detection of toxic heavy metal cations such as Hg2+ and Cd2+ ions was demonstrated using single silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW-FETs). The conduct-ance of FET fabricated from thermally oxidized SiNWs functionalized with 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane showed high sensitivity to Hg2+ and Cd2+ ions at a concentration down to 10-7 and 10-4M, respectively. Linear relationship between the logarithmic concentration of metal ions and the current change was observed. The SiNW sensor could be recycled to regain nearly the same sensitivity. Comparative experiments showed that SiNW-FET sensors have great selectivity for detecting Hg2+ and Cd2+ over other metal cations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-area, wafer-scale silicon nanowire arrays prepared by metal-induced chemical etching are shown as promising scalable anode materials for rechargeable lithium battery. In addition to being low cost, large area, and easy to prepare, the electroless-etched silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have good conductivity and nanometer-scale rough surfaces; both features facilitate charge transport and insertion/extraction of Li ions. The electroless-etched SiNWs anode showed larger charge capacity and longer cycling stability than the conventional planar-polished Si wafer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zn-doped In2O3 nanowires (NWs) were prepared by simple chemical vapor deposition and were systematically characterized. Field-effect transistors (FETs) constructed from the Zn-doped In2O3 nanowires exhibit excellent performance characteristics such as high mobility, “high-on-state” current of 105 A and large on/off current ratio of 107. Single-NW-FETs can successfully drive an organic light-emitting diode, revealing the application potential of Zn-doped In2O3 NW-FETs in high-performance displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]