Graphene and its composites are widely investigated as supercapacitor electrodes due to their large specific surface area. However, the severe aggregation and disordered alignment of graphene sheets ...hamper the maximum utilization of its surface area. Here we report an optimized structure for supercapacitor electrode, i.e., the vertical graphene sheets, which have a vertical structure and open architecture for ion transport pathway. The effect of morphology and orientation of vertical graphene on the performance of supercapacitor is examined using a combination of model calculation and experimental study. Both results consistently demonstrate that the vertical graphene electrode has a much superior performance than that of lateral graphene electrode. Typically, the areal capacitances of a vertical graphene electrode reach 8.4 mF/cm2 at scan rate of 100 mV/s; this is about 38% higher than that of a lateral graphene electrode and about 6 times higher than that of graphite paper. To further improve its performance, a MnO2 nanoflake layer is coated on the surface of graphene to provide a high pseudocapacitive contribution to the overall areal capacitance which increases to 500 mF/cm2 at scan rate of 5 mV/s. The reasons for these significant improvements are studied in detail and are attributed to the fast ion diffusion and enhanced charge storage capacity. The microscopic manipulation of graphene electrode configuration could greatly improve its specific capacitance, and furthermore, boost the energy density of supercapacitor. Our results demonstrate that the vertical graphene electrode is more efficient and practical for the high performance energy storage device with high power and energy densities.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Large‐scale, uniform, vertically standing graphene with atomically thin edges are controllably synthesized on copper foil using a microwave‐plasma chemical vapor deposition system. A growth mechanism ...for this system is proposed. This film shows excellent field‐emission properties, with low turn‐on field of 1.3 V μm−1, low threshold field of 3.0 V μm−1 and a large field‐enhancement factor more than 10 000.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
One of the main bottlenecks in the development of terahertz (THz) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) technologies is the limited intrinsic response of traditional materials. Hyperbolic phonon polaritons ...(HPhPs) of van der Waals semiconductors couple strongly with THz and LWIR radiation. However, the mismatch of photon - polariton momentum makes far-field excitation of HPhPs challenging. Here, we propose an In-Plane Hyperbolic Polariton Tuner that is based on patterning van der Waals semiconductors, here α-MoO
, into ribbon arrays. We demonstrate that such tuners respond directly to far-field excitation and give rise to LWIR and THz resonances with high quality factors up to 300, which are strongly dependent on in-plane hyperbolic polariton of the patterned α-MoO
. We further show that with this tuner, intensity regulation of reflected and transmitted electromagnetic waves, as well as their wavelength and polarization selection can be achieved. Our results can help the development of THz and LWIR miniaturized devices.
Plasmonic gold nanorods play important roles in nowadays state-of-the-art plasmonic sensing techniques. Most of the previous studies and applications focused on gold nanorods with relatively small ...aspect ratios, where the plasmon wavelengths are smaller than 900 nm. Gold nanorods with large aspect ratios are predicted to exhibit high refractive-index sensitivity (Langmir 2008, 24, 5233⁻5237), which therefore should be promising for the development of high-performance plasmonic chemical- and bio-sensors. In this study, we developed gold nanorods with aspect ratios over 7.9, which exhibit plasmon resonances around 1064 nm. The refractive index (RI) sensitivity of these nanorods have been evaluated by varying their dielectric environment, whereby a sensitivity as high as 473 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) can be obtained. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the large-aspect-ratio nanorods as efficient substrate for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), where an enhancement factor (EF) as high as 9.47 × 10⁸ was measured using 4-methylbenzenethiol (4-MBT) as probe molecule. Finally, a type of flexible SERS substrate is developed by conjugating the gold nanorods with the polystyrene (PS) polymer. The results obtained in our study can benefit the development of plasmonic sensing techniques utilized in the near-infrared spectral region.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Dendritic patterns generated in non‐equilibrium growth processes are prevalent in nature while their formation mechanisms are far from fully understood. Here, we report a coverage‐dependent fractal ...degree evolution of monolayer 2H‐MoS2 dendrites synthesized on a symmetry‐disparate substrate of SrTiO3 (001). Surprisingly, various characterizations have revealed that the monolayer dendrites featured with orthogonal backbones are single crystalline, possessing both peculiar adlayer‐substrate interaction and abnormal indirect bandgap on SrTiO3 (001). Further theoretical calculations indicate that a prominent diffusion anisotropy of monomer precursors, combined with the disparate adlayer‐substrate symmetry, determine the diffusion‐limited aggregation of MoS2 towards dendritic shapes. This work provides brand‐new insights in the morphological engineering of two‐dimensional atomic crystals, and contributes greatly to an in‐depth understanding of the detailed dynamics in non‐equilibrium crystal growth.
A morphologically engineered growth of monolayer MoS2 dendrites is reported. Such diffusion‐limited aggregation behavior is proposed to be mediated by a prominent diffusion anisotropy of monomer MoS
x
precursors on SrTiO3 (001), in combination with the symmetry disparity of MoS2 adlayer and SrTiO3 substrates.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The electrical and photosensitive characteristics of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) related to the oxygen vacancies V̈ O are discussed. With the filling of ...V̈ O of ratio from 14 to 8, the electron density of the a-IGZO channel decreases from 7.5 to 3.8 ( ×10 16 cm -3 ); the saturation mobility of the TFT decreases from 3.1 to 1.4 cm -2 /(V · s); the threshold voltage increases from 7 to 11 V for the TFT with a lower on-current; and the subthreshold slope increases from 2.4 to 4.4 V/dec for the TFT with a higher interface defect density of 4.9 × 10 11 cm -2 , the worst electrical stability of V th ~ 10 V, and a hysteresis-voltage decrease from 3.5 to 2 V. The photoreaction properties of a-IGZO TFTs are also sensitive to the oxygen-content-related absorption of the a-IGZO channel. With the lowest content of oxygen in the channel, the TFT has the largest photocurrent gain of 50 μA (V g = 30 V; V d = 10 V) and decrease in V th ( V th V) at a high light intensity. The light-induced change of TFT characteristics is totally reversible with the time constant for recovery of about 2.5 h.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted great attention in the past few years and offer new opportunities for the development of high-performance and multifunctional bipolar junction ...transistors (BJTs). Here, a van der Waals BJT based on vertically stacked n+-MoS2/WSe2/MoS2 was demonstrated. The electrical performance of the device was investigated under common-base and common-emitter configurations, which show relatively large current gains of α ≈ 0.98 and β ≈ 225. In addition, the breakdown characteristics of the vertically stacked n+-MoS2/WSe2/MoS2 BJT were investigated. An open-emitter base-collector breakdown voltage (BVCBO) of 52.9 V and an open-base collector-emitter breakdown voltage (BVCEO) of 40.3 V were observed under a room-temperature condition. With the increase in the operating temperature, both BVCBO and BVCEO increased. This study demonstrates a promising way to obtain 2D-material-based BJT with high current gains and provides a deep insight into the breakdown characteristics of the device, which may promote the applications of van der Waals BJTs in the fields of integrated circuits.
Two-dimensional layered materials, characterized by their atomically thin thicknesses and surfaces that are free of dangling bonds, hold great promise for fabricating ultrathin, lightweight, and ...flexible bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). In this paper, a van der Waals (vdW) BJT was fabricated by vertically stacking MoS2, WSe2, and MoS2 flakes in sequence. The AC characteristics of the vdW BJT were studied for the first time, in which a maximum common emitter voltage gain of around 3.5 was observed. By investigating the time domain characteristics of the device under various operating frequencies, the frequency response of the device was summarized, which experimentally proved that the MoS2/WSe2/MoS2 BJT has voltage amplification capability in the 0–200 Hz region. In addition, the phase response of the device was also investigated. A phase inversion was observed in the low-frequency range. As the operating frequency increases, the relative phase between the input and output signals gradually shifts until it is in phase at frequencies exceeding 2.3 kHz. This work demonstrates the signal amplification applications of the vdW BJTs for neuromorphic computing and wearable healthcare devices.
Gigahertz to terahertz radiation sources based on cold-cathode vacuum electron technology are pursued, because its unique characteristics of instant switch-on and power saving are important to ...military and space applications. Gigahertz gyrotron was reported using carbon nanotube (CNT) cold-cathode. It is reported here in first time that a fully-sealed CNT cold-cathode 0.22 THz-gyrotron is realized, typically with output power of 500 mW. To achieve this, we have studied mechanisms responsible for CNTs growth on curved shape metal surface, field emission from the sidewall of a CNT, and crystallized interface junction between CNT and substrate material. We have obtained uniform growth of CNTs on and direct growth from cone-cylinder stainless-steel electrode surface, and field emission from both tips and sidewalls of CNTs. It is essential for the success of a CNT terahertz gyrotron to have such high quality, high emitting performance CNTs. Also, we have developed a magnetic injection electron gun using CNT cold-cathode to exploit the advantages of such a conventional gun design, so that a large area emitting surface is utilized to deliver large current for electron beam. The results indicate that higher output power and higher radiation frequency terahertz gyrotron may be made using CNT cold-cathode electron gun.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK