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Controlling the electron emission of microfabricated field emitters can be challenging. Here the authors report controllable and tunable graphene thermionic micro-emitters with well-defined turn-on voltages and switching times in the microsecond range and fabricate uniform micro-emitter arrays.

Electron emission from a two-dimensional (2D) crystal with atomic thickness is theoretically studied with all the features associated with the low dimensionality and the atomic thickness being well considered. It is shown that, the atomic thickness results in quantum confinement of electrons in the crystal along thickness direction, and consequently two different ways of electron emission from it without and with quantum confinement of electrons normal to emission boundary: edge emission and surface emission. While electron emission from the edge of a 2D crystal can be described by the existing model, electron emission from the surface goes beyond its reach. Here, to describe the latter electron emission, a model based on the energy band theory with the quantum confinement along thickness direction being considered is proposed. It is shown that, the proposed model is a general one capable of describing not only electron emission with quantum confinement normal to an emission boundary but also electron emission without the regarded quantum confinement. The model is expected to advance the understanding and description of electron emission from a solid.

Carbon nanotube thin film transistors (CNT-TFTs) are promising candidates for future high performance and low cost macro-electronics. However, most of the reported CNT-TFTs are fabricated in small quantities on a relatively small size substrate. The yield of large scale fabrication and the performance uniformity of devices on large size substrates should be improved before the CNT-TFTs reach real products. In this paper, 25 200 devices, with various geometries (channel width and channel length), were fabricated on 4-in. size ridged and flexible substrates. Almost 100% device yield were obtained on a rigid substrate with high out-put current (>8 μA/μm), high on/off current ratio (>105), and high mobility (>30 cm²/V·s). More importantly, uniform performance in 4-in. area was achieved, and the fabrication process can be scaled up. The results give us more confidence for the real application of the CNT-TFT technology in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resist residue from the device fabrication process is a significant source of contamination at the metal/graphene contact interface. Ultraviolet Ozone (UVO) treatment is proven here, by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman measurement, to be an effective way of cleaning the metal/graphene interface. Electrical measurements of devices that were fabricated by using UVO treatment of the metal/graphene contact region show that stable and reproducible low resistance metal/graphene contacts are obtained and the electrical properties of the graphene channel remain unaffected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, hybrid perovskites have attracted great attention because of their promising applications in solar cells. However, perovskite solar devices reported till now are mostly based on transparent conducting oxide (TCO) substrates which account for a large proportion in the total cost. Herein, TCO-free perovskite solar cells are fabricated. A photo-electricity conversion efficiency of 5.27% is obtained with short circuit current density (Jsc) of 10.7 mA/cm², open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.837 V, and fill factor of 0.588. This study points a feasible way of replacing TCO substrate by low cost substrates, indicating promising potentials in solar energy conversion applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charge transport properties in close-packed nanoparticle arrays with thickness crossing over from two dimensions to three dimensions have been studied. The dimensionality transition of nanoparticle arrays was realized by continually printing spatially well-defined nanoparticle monolayers on top of the device in situ. The evolution of charge transport properties depending on the dimensionality has been investigated in both the Efros-Shaklovskii variable-range-hopping (ES-VRH) (low temperature) regime and the sequential hopping (SH) (medium temperature) regime. We find that the energy barriers to transport decrease when the thickness of nanoparticle arrays increases from monolayer to multilayers, but start to level off at the thickness of 4-5 monolayers. The energy barriers are characterized by the coefficient βD at ES-VRH regime and the activation energy Ea at SH regime. Moreover, a turning point for the temperature coefficient of conductance was observed in multilayer nanoparticle arrays at high temperature, which is attributed to the increasing mobility with decreasing temperature of hopping transport in three dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unique positive-to-negative transition of temperature coefficient of conductance (TCC) was observed in self-assembled close-packed Au nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays. The transition of TCC can be interpreted properly with a diffusive hopping model, in which the Coulomb charging energy Ea plays a significant role. Two parameters of AuNP arrays, the nearest neighboring number and the particle core size, have been varied to tune Ea. Our data show that the positive-to-negative transitions of TCC are relevant to both parameters, which confirms the validity of the diffusive hopping model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probing the validity of classical macroscopic physical laws at the nanoscale is important for nanoscience research. Herein, we report on experimental evidence that electron emission from individual hot carbon nanotubes (CNTs) heated by self-Joule-heating does not obey Richardson's law of thermionic emission. By using an in-situ multi-probe measurement technique, electron emission density (J) and temperature (T) of individual self-Joule-heated CNTs are simultaneously determined. Experimental ln(J/T²) - 1/T plots are found to exhibit an upward bending feature deviating from the straight lines in Richardson plots, and the measured electron emission density is more than one order of magnitude higher than that predicted by Richardson's law. The breakdown of Richardson's law implies a much better electron emission performance of individual CNTs as compared to their macroscopic allotropes and clusters, and the need of new theoretical descriptions of electron emission from individual low-dimensional nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the author of the article "Unexpected size effect in the thermopower of thin-film stripes," in the 2014 issue is presented.

The high-quality and low-cost of the graphene preparation method decide whether graphene is put into the applications finally. Enormous efforts have been devoted to understand and optimize the CVD process of graphene over various d-block transition metals (e.g. Cu, Ni and Pt). Here we report the growth of uniform high-quality single-layer, single-crystalline graphene flakes and their continuous films over p-block elements (e.g. Ga) liquid films using ambient-pressure chemical vapor deposition. The graphene shows high crystalline quality with electron mobility reaching levels as high as 7400 cm2 V-1s-1 under ambient conditions. Our employed growth strategy is ultra-low-loss. Only trace amounts of Ga are consumed in the production and transfer of the graphene and expensive film deposition or vacuum systems are not needed. We believe that our research will open up new territory in the field of graphene growth and thus promote its practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic TiO2 nano-strawberry rutile films, on which superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity can be reversibly switched by alternation of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and dark storage, were fabricated on a large scale from aqueous solution via a seeded growth method at low temperature without any pressure equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The whole-journey nanomaterial research from material synthesis, composition and structure characterizations, property measurements to device construction and tests in one equipment chamber provides a quick and unambiguous way of establishing the relationships between synthesis conditions, composition and structures, physical properties and nanodevice performances of nanomaterials; however, it still proves challenging. Herein, we report the whole-journey research of tungsten oxide nanowires in an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) equipped with an x-ray energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and a multifunctional nanoprobe system. Tungsten oxide nanowires are synthesized by irradiating a tungsten filament using a high-energy laser in O2 atmosphere with the dynamic growth processes of nanowires being directly visualized under ESEM observation. The as-synthesized nanowires are then characterized to be monoclinic W18O49 nanowires by combing in situ EDS and ex situ transmission electron microscopy. Important physical parameters, i.e. Young’s modulus, breaking strength, and electrical conductivity, of W18O49 nanowires are determined based on in situ property measurements. Two-terminal electronic devices employing single W18O49 nanowires as the channel are in situ constructed and their performances as near-infrared photodetectors and water vapor sensors are studied. The whole-journey research establishes the relationships between synthesis conditions, composition and structures, physical properties and nanodevice performances of tungsten oxide nanowires, and can be applied to other nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a crystalline characterization technique that adopts a low-energy electrostatically focused electron gun and a super-aligned carbon nanotube (SACNT) film sample support. Topics discussed include the rapid crystalline characterization of large-area graphene through this technique, the observation of a unique diffraction pattern of adsorbates on the suspended graphene at room temperature and the weak interaction with two-dimensional (2D) materials.

Recently emerging large-area single-layer MoS2 grown by chemical vapor deposition has triggered great interest due to its exciting potential for applications in advanced electronic and optoelectronic devices. Unlike gapless graphene, MoS2 has an intrinsic band gap in the visible which crosses over from an indirect to a direct gap when reduced to a single atomic layer. In this paper, we report a comprehensive study of fundamental optical properties of MoS2 revealed by optical spectroscopy of Raman, photoluminescence, and vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopic ellipsometry. A band gap of 1.42 eV is determined by the absorption threshold of bulk MoS2 that shifts to 1.83 eV in monolayer MoS2. We extracted the high precision dielectric function up to 9.0 eV, which leads to the identification of many unique interband transitions at high symmetry points in the MoS2 momentum space. The positions of the so-called A and B excitons in single layers are found to shift upwards in energy compared with those of the bulk form and have smaller separation because of the decreased interactions between the layers. A very strong optical critical point predicted to correspond to a quasiparticle gap is observed at 2.86 eV, which is attributed to optical transitions along the parallel bands between the M and Γ points in the reduced Brillouin zone. The absence of the bulk MoS2 spin-orbit interaction peak at ∼3.0 eV in monolayer MoS2 is, as predicted, the consequence of the coalescence of nearby excitons. A higher energy optical transition at 3.98 eV, commonly occurring in bulk semiconductors, is associated with a combination of several critical points. Additionally, extending into the vacuum ultraviolet energy spectrum are a series of newly observed oscillations representing optical transitions from valence bands to higher conduction bands of the monolayer MoS2 complex band structure. These optical transitions herein reported enhance our understanding of monolayer MoS2 as well as of two-dimensional systems in general and thus provide informative guidelines for MoS2 optical device designs and theoretical considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-trans-retinoic acid (ReA), a closed-shell organic molecule comprising only C, H, and O atoms, is investigated on a Au(111) substrate using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. In dense arrays single ReA molecules are switched to a number of states, three of which carry a localized spin as evidenced by conductance spectroscopy in high magnetic fields. The spin of a single molecule may be reversibly switched on and off without affecting its neighbors. We suggest that ReA on Au is readily converted to a radical by the abstraction of an electron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]