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Materials with adjustable wide-ranging thermal conductivity are desired to tackle the problem of thermal management for electronic devices operating in an extended range of temperature. In this study, graphene aerogels (GAs) are fabricated and transformed from thermal insulators to thermal conductors by high-temperature annealing. The highest through-plane and in-plane thermal conductivity of annealed GA reaches 3.3 and 96 W/m·K, respectively, under 95% compressive strain. Using the annealed GA as thermal interface material leads to superior performance than commercially available products that have higher through-plane thermal conductivity in dissipating heat for high-power electronic devices (e.g., LED lamp). Furthermore, due to excellent elasticity, the thermal resistance of annealed GAs can be reversibly tuned about six-fold by compressive strain. This paves a novel venue in designing thermal management system for devices, which not only need excellent heat dissipation but also good thermal insulation at various operating environments.

Steadily, continuously, and precisely adjusting infrared emissivity of materials is of great importance for various applications, such as thermal camouflage. Herein, a method is proposed to fine-tune the emissivity of multilayer graphene (MLG) by ion intercalation with assistance of pulse voltage. The dynamic ion intercalation process in MLG-based emissivity modulators is investigated by a home-made electrical-optical synchronizing test system, which consists of a potentiostat and a thermal camera. It is observed that the apparent temperature of MLG is closely correlated with pulse duration and residual charges. Based on a second-order RC model, the ion transportation and charge transfer in the modulator are likely affected by three factors (i.e., internal resistance, electric field, and concentration gradient), which changes the doping level of MLG. Hence, the emissivity of MLG can be finely adjusted by regulating the duration of the voltage pulse. This also leads to a wavelength dependence of emissivity modulation, which is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The observations offer a promising venue for precise and continuous adjustment of MLG's emissivity, which is of great significance for many practical applications, such as simulating complex and subtle thermal images.

Actively controlling the infrared emissivity of materials is critical for many applications, such as radiative cooling and thermal camouflage. Multilayer graphene (MLG) has shown great potential as a functional material with a tunable infrared emissivity. However, the spatial homogeneity in adjusting MLG's emissivity through ion intercalation is rather poor, which limits its practical applications. Here, we study how mixing various molecular components (e.g., ethanol) with ionic liquids affects the performance of MLG-based infrared emissivity modulators. The results indicate that introducing a moderate concentration of molecular components not only significantly improves spatial homogeneity in tuning emissivity but also enhances modulation depth, dynamic response, and the stability of the modulators. This is likely due to the increasing conductivity of the mixture and the improved wetting properties between the mixture and the separator, which leads to more effective charge transfer from ions in ionic liquids to carbons in graphene. The microscopic structure of MLG, revealed by Raman spectroscopy, confirms that the improvement in modulator performance is mostly due to homogeneous transportation of ions in the modulators. This not only sheds light on the underlying physics of the modulator but also greatly expands the options when selecting ionic liquids, thereby opening a new route for the modulator design.

Removal of expression of concern for 'Controllable 2H-to-1T' phase transition in few-layer MoTe

Two-dimensional layered heterostructures show great potential to develop optoelectronic systems. Here, we have investigated the photoresponse properties of two contact interfaces in few-layer graphene–WSe2 heterostructures. The photoresponsivity of graphene–WSe2 contact interface is about 2.67 mA/W, and the photoresponsivity of WSe2–metal contact interface is about 0.2 mA/W. Photocurrent images show that the two contact interfaces behave differently under drain voltage from − 0.5 V to 0.5 V. The photoresponsivity of one contact interface increases with the drain voltage, and that of the other decreases with the drain voltage. Experimental results and band diagram studies prove that the photoresponse properties of contact interfaces are tuned by small drain voltage. This study will be beneficial for understanding the effect of drain voltage on the heterostructures.

Controllable synthesizing of one-dimensional-two-dimensional (1D-2D) heterostructures and tuning their atomic and electronic structures is nowadays of particular interest due to the extraordinary properties and potential applications. Here, we demonstrate the temperature-induced phase-controlled growth of 1D Mo

Nanoparticles and their ordered arrays have many important applications in fields such as electronic, optical, memory storage devices and sensors. Herein, a simple method was used for fabricating three-dimensional ordered gold nanoparticle arrays with template technique. Gold films were deposited onto anodic aluminum oxide by using electron beam evaporation. After thermal annealing, interestingly, order arrays of gold nanoparticles were obtained by a thermodynamically driven self-assembled process. The spectrum taken by UV-Vis spectrophotometer demonstrates clear surface plasmon resonance at around 500 nm, which appears blue-shift compared with usual gold nanoparticles.

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) grown on metal substrates are of great importance for their applications in thermal and electrical devices. However, synthesizing better quality and long CNTs on metal substrates is still a big challenge. We have synthesized vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on different metal substrates (i.e. copper and iron)by chemical vapor deposition and vertically aligned CNTs with lengths ranging from 2 to 400 µmwere obtained. Moreover, the length of CNT on iron substrate has reached over 1mm,whichis relatively high CNT arrays using CVD on metal substrate to date.

We reported a facile synthesis route for size controlled preparation of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) by controlling concentration of the reducing agent and temperature. Nearly monodisperse Au NPs with mean diameters of 2-6 nm are acquired via the reduction of HAuCl4by NaBH4in the presence of tri-n-octyl amine and dodecanethiol in solvent of toluene. Results indicate that concentration of the reducing agent and temperature are key factors to tune the particle size and uniformity in the synthesis of Au NPs. The as-synthesized Au NPs show size dependent surface plasmonic properties between 510 and 525 nm, while Au NPs with size smaller than 3 nm do not clearly show the property.

The piezoelectric potential generated in a bent ZnO nanorod cantilever is analyzed by means of the first piezoelectric effect approximation. The results show that the piezoelectric potential in the nanorod is proportional to lateral force but is independent along the longitudinal direction. And the electric potential in the tensile area and that of compressive area are antisymmetric in cross section of the nanorod, which makes the nanorod become a "parallel plated capacitor" for piezoelectric nanodevices, such as nanogenerator. The investigation of the carriers influence on the piezoelectric potential in a bent ZnO nanorod reveals that the positive piezoelectric potential in stretched side of the bent nanorod is significantly screened by the carriers and the negative potential in compressed side is well preserved when considering a moderate carrier concentration of

The Au/SiO2nanocomposite was produced using surface active agent P123, and its optical absorption spectra was measured by spectrophotometer. It was found that the intensity of absorption peak was strengthened and underwent a red-shift as the neutralization reaction time extended. The variation of optical extinction property of one gold particle (GP) with different size had been investigated by Mie theory. It was found that the extinction property of the single spherical GP possessed an obvious size effect. The extinction property of Au/SiO2nanocomposite had been analyzed by Maxwell-Garnett (MG) theory. It showed that the extinction peak underwent a red-shift and the extinction intensity was strengthened when the size of gold nanoparticles (GNs) increased. The theoretical and the experimental results show that the extinction property of Au/SiO2nanocomposite changes because the scattering effect of GNs are strengthened when their sizes increased by controlling the neutralization reaction time.

A single electron transistor based on the ordered nanodot arrays was reported. The gold nanoparticles self-assembled in the ordered mesoporous silica thin films were used as the Coulomb islands. The Coulomb blockade and Coulomb oscillation are demonstrated at room temperature, and the SIMON simulations are consistent with the experimental results.

The graphene, as a one atomic-layer material, is very sensitive to the environment and easy to be polluted. Here, we propose an in situ fabrication and characterization method for graphene electronic devices using the Dual Beam system. Instead of the conventional photo/e-beam lithography, plasma etching and lift-off techniques, the focused ion beam (FIB) is employed to pattern the graphene and the e-beam induced deposition of platinum (Pt) is adopted to fabricate the electrodes. Using the nano-probes in the specimen chamber, we obtained the typical electronic bipolar behavior of graphene in situ both with the Pt/graphene contact and the nano-probes/graphene direct contact. In the whole process of the fabrication and characterization, the graphene sample is kept in high vacuum condition all the time.

For the first time, novel β-C3N4/CuO composites with superior photocatalytic activity are successfully fabricated via a facile reflux method followed by a thermal process. The morphologies, particle size and microstructure of the synthesized β-C3N4/CuO composites largely depended upon copper chloride and the volume ratio of V water:V ethanol in the mixed precursors. The fabricated β-C3N4/CuO nanoflakes exhibited obviously enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) with an ~3.4 and 1.9 fold increase in efficiency over that of pure g-C3N4 and commercial P25, respectively. The β-C3N4/CuO composite photocatalyst also showed photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange (MO). Moreover, the β-C3N4/CuO nanoflakes showed almost no loss of photocatalytic activity after three recycles of the degradation of the MB. A multiple synergetic mechanism in β-C3N4/CuO nanoflakes, which is featured by the highly reactive {0 0 2} facets, exposed many active sites of nanoflakes and the efficient charge separation are proposed to account for the distinguished photocatalytic activity. This work provides a facile and cost-effective strategy for designing novel β-C3N4/CuO photocatalysts for application in environmental purification.

Non-uniform photocurrent is usually generated at the overlapped region of the heterostructures, and its potential applications may be hindered by the spatial uniformity issue of the device photoresponse. Here, nearly a uniform photoresponse at the overlapped region of the thermally oxidized Ni and molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) heterostructures is obtained. Further characterizations reveal that several nanometers Ni is rightly under the NiOx layer formed at the surface of the film in the oxidation process. The heterostructures based on layered MoS2/NiOx/Ni with highly conductive bottom Ni show a high uniform photoresponse with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 1.4% at 532 nm. Moreover, successful integration of multiple devices suggests a great priority for such a structure for highly integrated uniform photodetectors.

In order to study the influencing factors on Raman spectroscopy, we research a series of comparative Raman spectroscopy of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) with different tube diameter and length. The results suggest that the G peak and D peak of MWCNT are all red-shifted as compared to that of polycrystalline graphite; In the same conditions, the peak intensity (G peak and D peak) is directly proportional to the diameter of the MWCNT, and inversely proportional to the length of the MWCNT; G peak frequency shift is closely related to the MWCNT diameter and length, which are inversely proportional to the diameter (with identical results of the single-walled carbon nanotube radial breathing modes) and direct proportional to the length. While, the influences of the diameter and length on D peak frequency shift are weak, and future analysis for the reason of this kind of phenomenon is as follows. Subsequently, we investigated the relation between D peak frequency shift and MWCNT aspect ratio, the relationship between G peak frequency shift and aspect ratio is nearly linear increase. Using the same analysis method, we plotted the different graphs of G peak and D peak intensity vs the aspect ratio of MWCNT, respectively. As the expected, the linear degression relation are existent in the two relationships.

A simply and reproducible way is proposed to significantly suppress the nucleation density of graphene on the copper foil during the chemical vapor deposition process. By inserting a copper foil into a tube with one close end, the nucleation density on the copper foils can be reduced by more than five orders of magnitude and an ultra-low nucleation density of ~10 nucleus/cm(2) has been achieved. The structural analyses demonstrate that single crystal monolayer graphene with a lateral size of 1.9 mm can be grown on the copper foils under the optimized growth condition. The electrical transport studies show that the mobility of such single crystal graphene is around 2400 cm(2)/Vs.

Metal nanoparticles or nanoclusters have been widely used to functionalize semiconductor metal oxide nanostructures-based gas sensors or photodetectors to significantly enhance the device performance. It is crucial to reach a thorough understanding of the interfacial coupling between the metal nanoclusters and the metal oxide nanostructures. Here, in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) have been used to investigate the interfacial interactions between metals (Au and Co) and molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) films. In spite of the high work function ([Formula: see text]6.8[Formula: see text]eV) of the thermally evaporated MoO3 films, only weak interaction is observed at the Au/MoO3 interface. Au clusters or films can remain their neutral and nonchemically reacted state on MoO3 film. In contrast, the interfacial chemical reaction between Co and MoO3 is significantly strong. A band-bending in MoO3 and two interface states have been observed at the Co/MoO3 interface.

Raman spectrum was applied to analyze the synthesis mechanism of nanostructure porous ZnO microspheres prepared via hydrothermal method assisted with trisodium citrate. The Raman spectrum characteristics of the sample revealed that the ZnO microspheres contained Zn-citrate complex, which was the complex of citrate acid group and Zn2+ in the reaction solution. The complex was chemisorbed on (204) and (503) faces of the Zn(OH)2 crystallite in the reacting solution, resulting in Zn(OH)2 nanosheet from the crystallite. Large quantities of Zn(OH)2 nanosheets aggregated as porous microspheres in hydrothermal process. Zn-citrate complex chemisorbed on the nanosheet improved the thermal stability of Zn(OH)2, which means a decomposition temperature over 200 degrees C. Nanostructure porous ZnO microspheres were obtained by heating Zn(OH)2 microspheres at 300 degrees C and the nanosheet structure was maintained.

Two kinds of mesoporous silica thin films (MSTFs), embedded with gold nanocrystals (GNCs), are synthesized using different surfactants. The MSTFs are composed of well-ordered mesostructures and the GNCs are well crystallized in the pores of the thin films. Optical absorption peaks, due to the surface plasmon resonance of the GNCs, are observed. Both classical and semi-classical methods are used to describe the dielectric function of the GNCs in the analysis, which showed that the particle size, particle shape, particle filling ratio and the matrix structure determine the absorption properties of the GNC/MSTF nanocomposite. Third-order optical nonlinearity of the nanocomposite was studied by the z-scan technique. The GNC/MSTF nanocomposites exhibited large optical nonlinearities.