ZnO nanorod/porous silicon nanowire hybrid structures as highly-sensitive NO2 gas sensors at room temperature.

ZnO nanorod/porous silicon nanowire (ZnO/PSiNW) hybrids with three different structures as highly sensitive NO2 gas sensors were obtained. PSiNWs were first synthesized by metal-assisted chemical etching, and then seeded in three different ways. After that ZnO nanorods were grown on the seeded surface of PSiNWs using a hydrothermal procedure. ZnO/PSiNW hybrids showed excellent gas sensing performance for various NO2 concentrations (5-50 ppm) at room temperature, and the electrical resistance change rate reached as high as 35.1% when responding to 50 ppm NO2. The distinct enhancement was mainly attributed to the faster carrier transportation after combination, the increase in gas sensing areas and the oxygen vacancy (VO) concentration. Moreover, the p-type gas sensing behavior was explained by the gas sensing mechanism and the effect of VO concentration on gas sensing properties was also discussed concerning the photoluminescence (PL) spectra performance.

Enhanced field-emission of silver nanoparticle-graphene oxide decorated ZnO nanowire arrays.

This work presents a new method to improve the field emission (FE) properties of semiconductors decorated with low-cost graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and trace amounts of noble metal. The Ag/GO/ZnO composite emitter exhibited efficient FE properties with a low turn-on field of 1.4 V µm(-1) and a high field enhancement factor of 7018. The excellent FE properties of the Ag/GO/ZnO composite can be attributed to the tunneling effect of electrons through the heterojunction. The FE properties of the Ag/GO/ZnO composite are slightly better than those of the Ag/ZnO composite which forms an energy well that collects electrons on interfaces when an electric field is applied. This behavior is associated with heterostructures that offer more contact points and protrusions between ZnO nanowire arrays (NWAs) and Ag/GO, which leads to easier electron transfer. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to characterise the connection and evolution of the ZnO NWAs and Ag/GO composites.

Highly enhanced response of MoS2/porous silicon nanowire heterojunctions to NO2 at room temperature.

Molybdenum disulfide/porous silicon nanowire (MoS2/PSiNW) heterojunctions with different thicknesses as highly-responsive NO2 gas sensors were obtained in the present study. Porous silicon nanowires were fabricated using metal-assisted chemical etching, and seeded with different thicknesses. After that, MoS2 nanosheets were synthesized by sulfurization of direct-current (DC)-magnetic-sputtering Mo films on PSiNWs. Compared with the as-prepared PSiNWs and MoS2, the MoS2/PSiNW heterojunctions exhibited superior gas sensing properties with a low detection concentration of 1 ppm and a high response enhancement factor of ∼2.3 at room temperature. The enhancement of the gas sensitivity was attributed to the layered nanostructure, which induces more active sites for the absorption of NO2, and modulation of the depletion layer width at the interface. Further, the effects of the deposition temperature in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process on the gas sensing properties were also discussed, and might be connected to the nucleation and growth of MoS2 nanosheets. Our results indicate that MoS2/PSiNW heterojunctions might be a good candidate for constructing high-performance NO2 sensors for various applications.

Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Nanowires Doped with Mn2+ and Co2+ Ions.

In this research, ZnO nanowires doped with Mn2+ and Co2+ ions were synthesized through a facile and inexpensive hydrothermal approach, in which Mn2+ and Co2+ ions successfully substituted Zn2+ in the ZnO crystal lattice without changing the morphology and crystalline structure of ZnO. The atomic percentages of Mn and Co were 6.29% and 1.68%, respectively, in the doped ZnO nanowires. The photocatalytic results showed that Mn-doped and Co-doped ZnO nanowires both exhibited higher photocatalytic activities than undoped ZnO nanowires. Among the doped ZnO nanowires, Co-doped ZnO, which owns a twice active visible-light photocatalytic performance compared to pure ZnO, is considered a more efficient photocatalyst material. The enhancement of its photocatalytic performance originates from the doped metal ions, which enhance the light absorption ability and inhibit the recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs as well. The effect of the doped ion types on the morphology, crystal lattice and other properties of ZnO was also investigated.

Honeycomb-like ZnO Mesoporous Nanowall Arrays Modified with Ag Nanoparticles for Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Activity.

A new structure of honeycomb-like ZnO mesoporous nanowall arrays (MNWAs) with highly efficient photocatalytic activity was designed and successfully synthesized on Al foil by hydrothermal method. The nanowalls of ZnO-MNWAs have mesopores, which possess a large surface area. The visible light absorption of ZnO-MNWAs was efficiently stronger than ZnO nanowire, resulting in that the photocatalytic activity of ZnO-MNWAs, whose bandgap energy was 3.12 eV, was 5.97 times than that of ZnO nanowires in the degradation of methyl orange. Besides, Al foil acted as a good electron conductor which was beneficial to the separation of photo-induced electron-hole pairs. After modifying ZnO-MNWAs with a proper amount of Ag nanoparticles (NPs), photocatalytic activity could be further enhanced. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO-MNWAs with the optimal amount of Ag NPs was 9.08 times than that of ZnO nanowires and 1.52 times than that of pure ZnO-MNWAs.

Enhanced field emission properties of ZnO-Ag2S core-shell heterojunction nanowires.

A simple approach to Ag2S quantum dot (QD) modification was used to tune the field emission (FE) properties of ZnO nanowire arrays (NWAs). By a simple and facile successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) approach, Ag2S QDs were uniformly and densely packed on ZnO nanowires (NWs) to form ZnO-Ag2S core-shell heterojunction structures. The FE properties of ZnO NWAs were effectively tuned by controlling the amount of Ag2S QDs. The turn-on field first reduces and then increases as the amount of Ag2S QDs increases, while the trend of the field-enhancement factor is inverse. This is attributed to the clustering of Ag2S QDs into nanoparticles (NPs) which cover the nanowire tips, as SILAR cycles increase.

Aqueous Phase Synthesis and Enhanced Field Emission Properties of ZnO-Sulfide Heterojunction Nanowires.

ZnO-CdS, ZnO-ZnS, and ZnO-Ag2S core-shell heterojunction structures were fabricated using low-temperature, facile and simple aqueous solution approaches. The polycrystalline sulfide shells effectively enhance the field emission (FE) properties of ZnO nanowires arrays (NWAs). This results from the formation of the staggered gap heterointerface (ZnO-sulfide) which could lead to an energy well at the interfaces. Hence, electrons can be collected when an electric field is applied. It is observed that ZnO-ZnS NWAs have the lowest turn-on field (3.0 Vµm(-1)), compared with ZnO-CdS NWAs (6.3 Vµm(-1)) and ZnO-Ag2S NWAs (5.0 Vµm(-1)). This may be associated with the pyramid-like ZnS shell which increases the number of emission nanotips. Moreover, the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) plot displays a nonlinear relationship in the low and high electric field regions caused by the double well potential effect of the heterojunction structures.

Enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanowires integrated with CdS and Ag2S.

A series of ZnO-CdS-Ag2S ternary nanostructures with different amounts of Ag2S were prepared using simple and low-cost successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) and a chemical precipitation method. The ZnO nanowires, with a diameter of ∼ 100 nm and a length of ∼ 1 µm, were modified by coating CdS and Ag2S. CdS has a high absorption coefficient and can efficiently match with the energy levels of ZnO, which can enhance the light absorption ability of the nanostructures. In addition, Ag2S with a narrow band gap was used as the main light absorber and played an important role in increasing the light absorption in the visible light region. The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO-CdS-Ag2S ternary nanostructures was investigated using the degradation of methyl orange (MO) in an aqueous solution under visible light. The ZnO-CdS-Ag2S ternary nanostructures were found to be more efficient than ZnO nanowires, ZnO-CdS nanowires, and ZnO-Ag2S nanowires. There is 7.68 times more photocatalytic activity for MO degradation in terms of the rate constant for ZnO-CdS-Ag2S 15-cycle ternary nanostructure compared to the as-grown ZnO. Furthermore, the effect of the amount of Ag2S and CdS on the ZnO surface on the photocatalytic activity was analyzed. The superior photo-absorption properties and photocatalytic performance of the ZnO-CdS-Ag2S ternary nanostructures can be ascribed to the heterostructure, which enhanced the separation of the photo-induced electron-hole pairs. In addition, visible light could be absorbed by ZnO-CdS-Ag2S ternary nanostructures rather than by ZnO.

Enhanced Field Emission Performance of Hierarchical ZnO/Si Nanotrees with Spatially Branched Heteroassemblies.

Silicon nanorods (SiNRs) with a large interspace and regularly aligned structure were fabricated by combining silver-catalyzed etching with a polysterene (PS) sphere template, then a hydrothermal reaction was utilized to synthesize large-scale ZnO nanowires (NWs) on Si nanorods. Compared with the as-prepared SiNRs and ZnO NWs, the high-density ZnO NWs on SiNRs have exhibited predominant field emission (FE) characteristics with a low turn-on field of 2.18 V/µm and a high field enhancement factor of ∼8100. The FE enhancement was attributed to highly crystallized ZnO NWs densely distributed on the surface of SiNRs, which can effectively increase emission site density, diminish screening effect, favor electron transfer due to band bending, and quickly transmit heat from the nanotrees to substrate. Our results indicate that ZnO/Si hierarchical structures might be an effective candidate for field emission cathode.

Optimizing Field Emission Properties of the Hybrid Structures of Graphene Stretched on Patterned and Size-controllable SiNWs.

Graphene is one of the ideal nanomaterials to be paired with silicon, and their complementary properties can be exploited in field emission (FE) devices. We reported an efficient way to produce and adjust the dimension of uniform protrusions within graphene. First, a multistep template replication process was utilized to fabricate highly periodic and well-aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) of different diameters (400, 500 and 600 nm). Then, large-scale and uniform graphene, fabricated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), was transferred onto these size-controlled SiNWs to obtain the nanoscale and uniform undulations. As compared to the nanowires alone, the hybrid structures lead to higher FE performance due to electron conductivity enhancement, high-density emmison protrusions and band bending. These hybrid SiNWs/graphene structures could provide a promising class of field emission cathodes.