Search

Organic molecule (Histidine) embedded cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocomposites are prepared by the solvothermal method. CdS nanocomposite, prepared with 1:1 M ratio of S2− to Cd2+, shows the highest crystallinity and highest hydrogen production via water splitting. Optimization of Pt deposition indicates that 5.5 wt% of Pt deposition on CdS nanocomposite produces the highest amount of H2 gas. Moreover, the contents of histidine in CdS were changed from 0.0 to 2.5 mmol, and the result shows that CdS nanocomposite with 1 mmol of histidine has the highest rate of hydrogen production (21.35 mmol/g/h). This is one of the highest rates of hydrogen production from a single semiconductor photocatalyst system under visible light irradiation. These results indicate that organic molecules embedded CdS nanocomposites could be a promising photocatalyst for hydrogen production via water splitting.

We report on the magnetic and optical properties of DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 nanoparticles synthesized by a sol–gel method. Rietveld refinement of a powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the formation of an orthorhombic disordered phase with the Pnma space group. The formation of nano-sized particles, with an average size of 42(±12) nm, was approximated by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image analysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of this compound reveals the presence of Fe2+/Fe3+ and Cr2+/Cr3+ mixed-valence states as a consequence of oxygen vacancies present at the surface of nanoparticles. The temperature-dependent magnetization (M–T) shows a finite non-zero magnetization up to 300 K and the field-dependent magnetization (M–H) curve exhibits a weak ferromagnetic (WFM) nature at 300 K with a clear hysteresis loop, which is quite appealing compared to that of the previously reported micron-sized DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3. These observations indicate that the large concentration of uncompensated surface spin of nanoparticles could be responsible for the observed room-temperature ferromagnetism. Moreover, DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 nanoparticles show a significantly narrow band gap (Eg ∼ 2.0 eV). Meanwhile, the oxygen vacancies may generate shallow trap energy levels within the band gap as observed from photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The observed band gap narrowing by Fe doping and the effect of oxygen vacancies on the band gap are consistent with the predictions of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The evidence of room-temperature ferromagnetism in DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 nanoparticles compared to their bulk counterparts and the significantly narrow band gap in the visible range manifest the potential of this material in spintronic and optical applications.

Multilayer antireflection coatings (ARCs) for solar cells are conventionally designed to enhance the photocurrent level obtained at normal incidence. This is mainly because outdoor solar panels are usually placed such that they can receive strong midday sunlight at a nearly vertical angle. However, in the case of indoor photovoltaic devices, the direction of light changes considerably with changes in the relative position and angle between the device and light sources; therefore, it is often difficult to predict the incident angle. In this study, we explore a method to design ARCs suitable for indoor photovoltaics by essentially taking into account the indoor lighting environment, which is different from the outdoor conditions. We propose an optimization-based design strategy that aims to enhance the average level of the photocurrent generated when a solar cell receives irradiance randomly from all directions. We apply the proposed method to design an ARC for organic photovoltaics, which are expected to be promising indoor devices, and numerically compare the resultant performance with that obtained using a conventional design method. The results demonstrate that our design strategy is effective for achieving excellent omnidirectional antireflection performance and allows the realization of practical and efficient ARCs for indoor devices.

Multiple layers of aluminum silicate and SiO2 are deposited at room temperature (RT) by repeating a combination of aluminum-silicate atomic layer deposition (ALD) and a plural number of SiO2 ALDs. The RT-ALD is performed by using precursors of tris(dimethylamino)silane and trimethyl aluminum (TMA). The oxidizing gas is plasma excited humidified Ar. A cross-sectional transmission electron microscope and angle resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggest that aluminum from the TMA molecule is diffused to SiO2 to form an aluminum silicate layer with the Al rich surface at RT. The deposited film shows an enhanced Na sorption in an NaCl aqueous solution of 10 mM, compared with the pure aluminum silicate layer without the SiO2 layer. It is assumed that the bond formation of Al–O–Al in the aluminum silicate film is suppressed by limiting the thickness of the aluminum silicate layer. Multiple films are also applicable for Cs and K ion sorption. The effects of the multiple layers on the ion sorptivity are discussed in the paper.

We report on the magnetic and optical properties of DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 nanoparticles synthesized by a sol-gel method. Rietveld refinement of a powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the formation of an orthorhombic disordered phase with the Pnma space group. The formation of nano-sized particles, with an average size of 42(±12) nm, was approximated by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image analysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of this compound reveals the presence of Fe2+/Fe3+ and Cr2+/Cr3+ mixed-valence states as a consequence of oxygen vacancies present at the surface of nanoparticles. The temperature-dependent magnetization (M-T) shows a finite non-zero magnetization up to 300 K and the field-dependent magnetization (M-H) curve exhibits a weak ferromagnetic (WFM) nature at 300 K with a clear hysteresis loop, which is quite appealing compared to that of the previously reported micron-sized DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3. These observations indicate that the large concentration of uncompensated surface spin of nanoparticles could be responsible for the observed room-temperature ferromagnetism. Moreover, DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 nanoparticles show a significantly narrow band gap (Eg ∼ 2.0 eV). Meanwhile, the oxygen vacancies may generate shallow trap energy levels within the band gap as observed from photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The observed band gap narrowing by Fe doping and the effect of oxygen vacancies on the band gap are consistent with the predictions of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The evidence of room-temperature ferromagnetism in DyFe0.5Cr0.5O3 nanoparticles compared to their bulk counterparts and the significantly narrow band gap in the visible range manifest the potential of this material in spintronic and optical applications.

Room-temperature atomic layer deposition (RT-ALD) of iron oxide is developed with a precursor of bis(N, N′-diisopropyl-propionamidinate)iron [(DIPPA)2Fe] and plasma excited humidified Ar. Saturated conditions of (DIPPA)2Fe and plasma excited humidified Ar exposures at room temperature (23–25 °C) are investigated by in situ IR absorption spectroscopy for finding the RT-ALD process condition. Using the designated process, the growth per cycle of the iron oxide RT-ALD is confirmed as 0.15 nm/cycle based on the film thicknesses measured by the spectroscopic ellipsometer. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggests that the stoichiometry of the deposited iron oxide is closed to that of Fe2O3. The grown film is composed of partly crystallized iron oxides, confirmed by cross-sectional TEM and AFM. The RT deposited iron oxide exhibits a magnetic volume susceptibility of 1.52, which implies the applicability of the present coating for magnetic drug delivery. We discuss the surface reaction with the IR absorption spectroscopy and the quartz crystal microbalance. The (DIPPA)2Fe molecule is suggested to adsorb on the Fe2O3 surface with mixed first- and second-order reactions at RT. It is also suggested that amidinate ligands in (DIPPA)2Fe are released in the course of the adsorption and the remaining ligands are oxidized by the plasma excited humidified Ar. The RT iron oxide deposition is demonstrated, and the reaction mechanism of room-temperature ALD is discussed in this paper.

Excessive synchronization in neural activity is a hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). A promising technique for treating PD is coordinated reset (CR) neuromodulation in which a neural population is desynchronized by the delivery of spatially-distributed current stimuli using multiple electrodes. In this study, we perform numerical optimization to find the energy-optimal current waveform for desynchronizing neuronal network with CR stimulation, by proposing and applying a new optimization method based on the direct search algorithm. In the proposed optimization method, the stimulating current is described as a Fourier series, and each Fourier coefficient as well as the stimulation period are directly optimized by evaluating the order parameter, which quantifies the synchrony level, from network simulation. This direct optimization scheme has an advantage that arbitrary changes in the dynamical properties of the network can be taken into account in the search process. By harnessing this advantage, we demonstrate the significant influence of externally applied oscillatory inputs and non-random network topology on the efficacy of CR modulation. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of brain stimulation for desynchronization may depend on various factors modulating the dynamics of the target network. We also discuss the possible relevance of the results to the efficacy of the stimulation in PD treatment.

We propose a new antireflection (AR) design for organic photovoltaics (OPVs) to achieve broadband and omnidirectional enhancement of photocurrent. In the proposed design, a hybrid AR structure, which combines moth eye texturing and two-layer interference coating, is integrated with a glass substrate having a high refractive index (n). Using the optical simulation for OPV cells, we compare the performance of various AR configurations upon changing the refractive index of the glass substrate. We show that the short-circuit current density ( $$J_{SC}$$ ) is decreased by using the high-n glass substrate without AR coating, whereas $$J_{SC}$$ is significantly increased by applying the high-n glass substrate with the hybrid AR structure, suggesting an importance of the integrated design. In addition, we demonstrate that the proposed AR configuration is quite effective to attain broad angle performance and is robust against the variations in geometric features of moth eye texture. Finally, the spectral dependence of photocurrent generation is experimentally measured for the verification of the effectiveness of the integrated AR design. These results provide a practical and efficient AR technique that can further expand the potential of OPVs as energy supply devices.

The required thickness of the carbon steel overpack for high-level radioactive waste geological disposal in Japan was re-evaluated based on the latest scientific and engineering knowledge. The re-evaluation of the required thickness was carried out for the concept of vertical emplacement in a hard rock system (which requires the greatest overpack thickness). The re-evaluation was carried out to meet design requirements for corrosion resistance, structural integrity and the prevention/reduction of detrimental radiation effects on corrosion resistance. The re-evaluated minimum thicknesses to assure a lifetime greater than 1000 years were 122 mm for the flat end plate and 91 mm for the cylindrical body. Therefore, the applicability of the reference thickness (190 mm) for the overpack was reconfirmed.This paper is part of a supplement on the 6th International Workshop on Long-Term Prediction of Corrosion Damage in Nuclear Waste Systems.

Reservoir computing is a machine learning paradigm that was proposed as a model of cortical information processing in the brain. It processes information using the spatiotemporal dynamics of a large-scale recurrent neural network and is expected to improve power efficiency and speed in neuromorphic computing systems. Previous theoretical investigation has shown that brain networks exhibit an intermediate state of full coherence and random firing, which is suitable for reservoir computing. However, how reservoir performance is influenced by connectivity, especially which revealed in recent connectomics analysis of brain networks, remains unclear. Here, we constructed modular networks of integrate-and-fire neurons and investigated the effect of modular structure and excitatory-inhibitory neuron ratio on network dynamics. The dynamics were evaluated based on the following three measures: synchronous bursting frequency, mean correlation, and functional complexity. We found that in a purely excitatory network, the complexity was independent of the modularity of the network. On the other hand, networks with inhibitory neurons exhibited complex network activity when the modularity was high. Our findings reveal a fundamental aspect of reservoir performance in brain networks, contributing to the design of bio-inspired reservoir computing systems.

We considered a modular network with a binomial degree distribution and related the analytical relationships of the network properties (modularity, average clustering coefficient, and small-worldness) with structural parameters that define the network, i.e., number of nodes, number of modules, average node degree, and ratio of intra-modular to total connections. Even though modular networks are universally found in real-world systems and are consequently of broad interest in complex network science, the relationship between network properties and structural parameters has not yet been formulated. Here, we show that a series of equations for predicting the network properties can be related using a mean-field connectivity matrix that is defined on the basis of the structural parameters in the network generation algorithm. The theoretical results are then compared with values calculated numerically using the original connectivity matrix and are found to agree well, except when the connections between modules are sparse. Representation of the structure of the network using simple parameters is expected to be conducive for elucidating the structure–dynamics relationship.

Nanothick TiO2 channel-thin film transistors (TFTs) are examined as UV and gas sensors. The TiO2 thin films were deposited by atomic layer deposition on thermally oxidized n+ Si substrates with deposition thicknesses from 17 to 42 nm, where the channel length and width were fixed at 60 μm and 1 mm, respectively. The titanium drain and source electrodes were fabricated on the TiO2 channel and the n+ Si substrate was used as the gate electrode. The nanothick TiO2-channel TFT exhibits an extremely high drain current modulation of ∼20 μA in the atmosphere with a UV exposure of 1.6 × 10−5 W cm−2 and a wavelength of 278 nm. This corresponds to a UV sensitivity of 2 × 103 A W−1. The strong drain current modulation by the UV light is explained not only with the direct absorption of the UV photons in the channel but also with the surface interactions with gas molecules in the atmosphere. In the course of the mechanism study about the UV sensing, we confirm the strong modulation of the drain current with various ambience of air, dry air, N2, and vacuum, suggesting a possibility as the gas sensor in the dark. The operation mechanism of the nanothick TiO2 TFT is discussed in this paper.

Room-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZrO2 is developed with tetrakis(ethylmethylamino)zirconium (TEMAZ) and a plasma-excited humidified argon. A growth per cycle of 0.17 nm/cycle at room temperature is confirmed, and the TEMAZ adsorption and its oxidization on ZrO2 are characterized by IR absorption spectroscopy with a multiple internal reflection mode. TEMAZ is saturated on a ZrO2 surface with exposures exceeding ∼2.0 × 105 Langmuir (1 Langmuir = 1.0 × 10−6 Torr s) at room temperature, and the plasma-excited humidified argon is effective in oxidizing the TEMAZ-adsorbed ZrO2 surface. The IR absorption spectroscopy suggests that Zr-OH works as an adsorption site for TEMAZ. The reaction mechanism of room-temperature ZrO2 ALD is discussed in this paper.

Pure cadmium sulfide and histidine decorated cadmium sulfide nanocomposites are prepared by the hydrothermal or solvothermal method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis shows that the particle sizes of pure cadmium sulfide (pu/CdS) and histidine decorated cadmium sulfide prepared by the hydrothermal method (hi/CdS) range from 0.75 to 3.0 &mu, m. However, when a solvothermal method is used, the particle size of histidine decorated cadmium sulfide (so/CdS) ranges from 50 to 300 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that all samples (pu/CdS, hi/CdS and so/CdS) have a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure but so/CdS has a poor crystallinity compared to the others. The as-prepared samples are applied to photocatalytic hydrogen production via water splitting and the results show that the highest H2 evolution rate for pu/CdS and hi/CdS are 1250 and 1950 &mu, mol&middot, g&minus, 1&middot, h&minus, 1, respectively. On the other hand, the so/CdS sample has a rate of 6020 &mu, 1, which is about five times higher than that of the pu/CdS sample. The increased specific surface area of so/CdS nanoparticles and effective charge separation by histidine molecules are attributed to the improved H2 evolution.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) has been attracting much attention since it has a wide direct transition band gap of 6.3 eV and it is applicable for UV-LEDs. The AlN films have been deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD). These conventional processes were performed at a temperature of 300 °C and higher. To apply the AlN coating on flexible films, the low temperature deposition process has been demanded. To demonstrate the AlN deposition at RT, an RT-ALD of AlN using trimethylaluminum (TMA) as an Al precursor and plasma-excited ammonia are studied based on study on multiple internal reflection infrared spectroscopy (MIR-IRAS). An n-type Si substrate was used as a prism for MIR-IRAS. The size of prism was 10×45 mm2 and its resistivity was 1000 Ωcm. 45° bevels on each of the short edges were formed. The prism was set in a reaction chamber for the ALD. If the IR spectra before and after the processes are defined as Ir and I0, respectively, we can calculate the absorbance (Abs) from the equation, Abs = log10(Ir/I0). TMA was used as the Al precursor. In the nitridation step, ammonia and argon was mixed with a volume ratio of 7:3, followed by being excited through a quartz tube with an RF power of 250 W and a frequency of 13.56 MHz. The flow rate of the mixed gas was 10 sccm. Ammonia molecules in the mixture were dissociated to NH radicals and some fragments. Plasma excited ammonia was provided in the chamber. We observed the surface reaction to confirm TMA adsorption and examine if the plasma-excited ammonia generated nitride on the TMA adsorbed surfaces. Fig. 1 shows IR spectra were obtained from a TMA adsorbed surface with exposures from 1000 to 400000 L at RT. Peaks at 2933, 2894, and 2829 cm-1 correspond to C-H vibrations in TMA. The positive peak indicates that the TMA was adsorbed on the surface at RT. Fig. 2 shows IR spectra measured from plasma excited ammonia treated TMA saturated surface. Negative peaks at 2933, 2894, and 2829 cm-1 suggests that the nitride was generated there at RT. We also confirmed the presence of AlN on the prism by an Al 2p peak at 73.3 eV and a N 1s peak at 398.1 eV by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These suggests that it is possible to deposit AlN at RT. Figure 1