Semiconductor and Optical Materials Commons^™

Effects Of Traps On Photo-Induced Interfacial Charge Transfer Of Ag-Tio2: Photoelectrochemical, Electrochemical And Spectroscopic Characterizations, Zhi-Hao Liang, Jia-Zheng Wang, Dan Wang, Jian-Zhang Zhou, De-Yin Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

In the field of metal-semiconductor composites based plasmon-mediated chemical reactions, a clear and in-depth understanding of charge transfer and recombination mechanisms is crucial for improving plasmonic photocatalytic efficiency. However, the plasmonic photocatalytic reactions at the solid-liquid interface of the electrochemical systems involve complex processes with multiple elementary steps, multiple time scales, and multiple controlling factors. Herein, the combination of photoelectrochemical and electrochemical as well as spectroscopic characterizations has been successfully used to study the effects of traps on the photo-induced interfacial charge transfer of silver-titanium dioxide (Ag-TiO₂). The results show that the increase of surface hydroxyl groups may …

Scanning Photoelectrochemical Microscopic Study In Photoinduced Electron Transfer Of Supramolecular Sensitizers-Tio2 Thin Films Systems, Sheng-Ya Zhang, Min Yao, Ze Wang, Tian-Jiao Liu, Rong-Fang Zhan, Hui-Qin Ye, Yan-Jun Feng, Xiao-Quan Lu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Crafting charge transfer channels at titanium dioxide (TiO₂) based photoanodes remain a pressing bottleneck in solar-to-chemical conversion technology. Despite the tremendous attempts, TiO₂ as the promising photoanode material still suffers from sluggish charge transport kinetics. Herein, we propose an assembly strategy that involves the axial coordination grafting metalloporphyrin-based photosensitizer molecules (MP) onto the surface-modified TiO₂ nanorods (NRs) photoanode, forming the composite MP/TiO₂ NRs photoelectrode. As expected, the resulted unique MP_B/TiO₂ NRs photoelectrode displays significantly improved photocurrent density as compared to TiO₂ NRs alone and MP_A/TiO₂ NRs photoelectrode. Scanning …

Etching Process Development For Sic Cmos, Weston Reed Renfrow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is an exciting material that is growing in popularity for having qualities that make it a helpful semiconductor in extreme environments where silicon devices fail. The development of a SiC CMOS is in its infancy. There are many improvements that need to be made to develop this technology further. Photolithography is the most significant bottleneck in the etching process; it was studied and improved upon. Etching SiC can be a challenge with its reinforced crystal structure. Chlorine-based inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of intrinsic SiC and doped SiC, SiO2, and Silicon has been studied. A baseline chlorine …

Monolithically Integrated Microscale Pressure Sensor On An Optical Fiber Tip, Jeremiah C. Williams, Hengky Chandrahalim

AFIT Patents

A passive microscopic Fabry-Pérot Interferometer (FPI) pressure sensor includes an optical fiber and a three-dimensional microscopic optical enclosure. The three-dimensional microscopic optical enclosure includes tubular side walls having lateral pleated corrugations and attached to a cleaved tip of the optical fiber to receive a light signal. An optically reflecting end wall is distally engaged to the tubular side walls to enclose a trapped quantity of gas that longitudinally positions the optically reflecting end wall in relation to ambient air pressure, changing a distance traveled by a light signal reflected back through the optical fiber.

Preparation Of Pt@Basrtio3 Nanostructure And Its Properties Towards Photoelectrochemical Ammonia Synthesis, Jing Zhang, Rui-Xia Guo, Jian-Jun Fu, Shi-Bin Yin, Pei-Kang Shen, Xin-Yi Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Ammonia is an important industrial raw material and a potential green energy. Using renewable energy to convert nitrogen into ammonia under ambient condition is an attractive method. However, the development of efficient photoelectrochemical ammonia synthesis catalysts remains a challenge. Perovskite such as BaSrTiO₃ (BST) is a good photocatalytic material. However, BST is active under ultraviolet light and has a high recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. By dispersing precious metals, it can effectively regulate the absorption of sunlight by BST. In this work, we used a two-step method to prepare BST. The H₂PtCl₆·6H₂O …

Method Of Making Hinged Self-Referencing Fabry–Pérot Cavity Sensors, Jeremiah C. Williams, Hengky Chandrahalim

AFIT Patents

A method is provided for fabricating a passive optical sensor on a tip of an optical fiber. The method includes perpendicularly cleaving a tip of an optical fiber and mounting the tip of the optical fiber in a specimen holder of a photosensitive polymer three-dimensional micromachining machine. The method includes forming a three-dimensional microscopic optical structure within the photosensitive polymer that comprises a two cavity Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) having a hinged optical layer that is pivotally coupled to a suspended structure. The method includes removing an uncured portion of the photosensitive polymer using a solvent. The method includes depositing a …

A Computational Exploration Of The Scandate Cathode Surface, Shankar Miller-Murthy

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The exact surface configuration of scandate cathodes has been a point of contention for the materials community for a long time. Without proper understanding of it and the related structures and emission mechanisms, scandate cathodes remain patchy and unreliable emitters. Thus, density functional theory techniques were applied to various potential surface arrangements and found that there are several low-energy surfaces with low work functions that incorporate a scandium interlayer between tungsten and oxygen or otherwise have a scandium-on-tungsten structure. Furthermore, it was discovered that adding a monolayer of scandium directly to a tungsten surface is surprisingly favorable, thermodynamically. While none …

Photoelectrochemical Sensing Based On Zr-Mofs For Homocysteine Detection, Wen-Xia Dong, Guang-Ming Wen, Bin Liu, Zhong-Ping Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

Due to the independent form of the light source and detection system, photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor has the advantages of low background, high sensitivity and simple operation. So far, PEC systems have been widely used in the fields including the actual detection of metal ions, biological antibodies or antigens in environmental pollutants. When the photosensitive material is irradiated by a light source with an energy being equal to or greater than its band gap, electrons (e^-) transition occurs from the valence band to the conduction band, leaving a hole (h⁺), at the same time, the generated electron-hole …

Method Of Making Temperature-Immune Self-Referencing Fabry–Pérot Cavity Sensors, Hengky Chandrahalim, Jonathan W. Smith

AFIT Patents

A method of making passive microscopic Fabry-Pérot Interferometer (FPI) sensor includes forming a three-dimensional microscopic optical structure on a cleaved tip of an optical fiber that reflects a light signal back through the optical fiber. The reflected light is altered by refractive index changes in the three-dimensional structure that is subject to at least one of: (i) thermal radiation; and (ii) volatile organic compounds.

Development Of Light Actuated Chemical Delivery Platform On A 2-D Array Of Micropore Structure, Hojjat Rostami Azmand, Hojjat Rostami Azmand

Dissertations and Theses

Localized chemical delivery plays an essential role in the fundamental information transfers within biological systems. Thus, the ability to mimic the natural chemical signal modulation would provide significant contributions to understand the functional signaling pathway of biological cells and develop new prosthetic devices for neurological disorders. In this paper, we demonstrate a light-controlled hydrogel platform that can be used for localized chemical delivery in a high spatial resolution. By utilizing the photothermal behavior of graphene-hydrogel composites confined within micron-sized fluidic channels, patterned light illumination creates the parallel and independent actuation of chemical release in a group of fluidic ports. The …

Preparations And Photoelectrochemical Performances Of Rgo-Tio2 Nanotubes Arrays, Ze-Yang Zhang, Lan Sun, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

Decorating TiO₂ nanotube arrays with RGO to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotube arrays has been reported. For the reported RGO-TiO₂ nanotube arrays, TiO₂ nanotube arrays were prepared by anodizing the high-purity Ti foil in an organic electrolyte for multiple-step treatments, while RGO were deposited on TiO₂ nanotube arrays by using cyclic voltammetry or other electrical reduction methods. To enhance the reduction degree and the coverage of RGO on the resultant RGO-TiO₂ nanotube arrays, in this work, the one-step electrochemical anodization in hydrofluoric acid was used to fabricate TiO₂ nanotube arrays with …

Performance Of Pld Grown Zno Thin Film As A Thin Film Transistor, Shahidul Asif

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The performance of ZnO thin film (grown in different parameters) as a thin film transistor (TFT) is the focus of this study. ZnO is renowned for being n-type semiconductor naturally which was utilized in fabricating a thin film transistor here. This thesis is compared the performance of ZnO thin film transistor by growing the thin film using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on two slightly different substrates at different temperatures in an optimal 0.1 milli bar oxygen pressure which was later analyzed using other material characterization methods. The substrates were both Si (100) but had different resistivity due to different amount …

The Development Of All Solid-State Optical Cryo-Cooler, Junwei Meng

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

This dissertation describes the development of an all solid-state optical cryo-cooler. Crystals of 10% wt. ytterbium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Yb³⁺:YLF) are used to cool an infrared HgCdTe sensor payload to an absolute temperature below 135 K, equivalent to delta T equal 138 K below ambient. This record level of cooling is accomplished with a single stage, in a completely vibration-free environment, with a corresponding cooling power of 190 mW. This milestone is made possible by the design and fabrication of an undoped YLF thermal link that efficiently shields the payload with a non-right angle kink from intense anti-Stokes …

Morphology And Structure Of Pb Thin Films Grown On Si (111) By Pulsed Laser Deposition, Bektur Abdisatarov

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a versatile thin film deposition technique in which high powered laser beam interacts with a target material inside an ultrahigh vacuum chamber. Highly energetic particles such as electrons, atoms, protons, and ions generate a plasma plume that directed towards a substrate material where recondenses form a thin film. PLD is an effective and reliable method to create varieties of thin films such as metal, polymer, and ceramic for many technologically essential applications.

In this study, thin Pb films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on Si (111) at various laser fluences, pulse wavelengths, deposition times, …

Fabrication, Characterization And Applications Of Highly Conductive Wet-Spun Pedot:Pss Fibers, Ruben Sarabia Riquelme

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Smart electronic textiles cross conventional uses to include functionalities such as light emission, health monitoring, climate control, sensing, storage and conversion of energy, etc. New fibers and yarns that are electrically conductive and mechanically robust are needed as fundamental building blocks for these next generation textiles.

Conjugated polymers are promising candidates in the field of electronic textiles because they are made of earth-abundant, inexpensive elements, have good mechanical properties and flexibility, and can be processed using low-cost large-scale solution processing methods. Currently, the main method to fabricate electrically conductive fibers or yarns from conjugated polymers is the deposition of the …

Generation Of Warm Dense Plasma On Solar Panel Infrastructure In Exo-Atmospheric Conditions, Harrison C. Wenzel

Theses and Dissertations

The use of a weaponized thermo-nuclear device in exo-atmospheric conditions would be of great impact on the material integrity of orbiting satellite infrastructure. Particular damage would occur to the multi-layered, solar cell components of such satellites. The rapid absorption of X-ray radiation originating from a nuclear blast into these layers occurs over a picosecond time scale and leads to the generation of Warm Dense Plasma (WDP). While incredibly difficult and costly to replicate in a laboratory setting, a collection of computational techniques and software libraries may be utilized to simulate the intricate atomic and subatomic physics characteristics of such an …

Synthesis Of Graphene Using Plasma Etching And Atmospheric Pressure Annealing: Process And Sensor Development, Andrew Robert Graves

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Having been theorized in 1947, it was not until 2004 that graphene was first isolated. In the years since its isolation, graphene has been the subject of intense, world-wide study due to its incredibly diverse array of useful properties. Even though many billions of dollars have been spent on its development, graphene has yet to break out of the laboratory and penetrate mainstream industrial applications markets. This is because graphene faces a ‘grand challenge.’ Simply put, there is currently no method of manufacturing high-quality graphene on the industrial scale. This grand challenge looms particularly large for electronic applications where the …

Sensitive Photoelectrochemical Assay Of Nucleic Acids Based On Catalytic Hairpin Assembly And Ru(Nh3)63+, Ya-Min Fu, Xiao-Xia Yan, Xiao-Hua Zhang, Jin-Hua Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

A simple “signal-on” photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing platform for sensitive assay of nucleic acids was developed by coupling catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) signal amplification strategy with Ru(NH₃)₆³⁺. Herein, cadmium sulfide (CdS) was deposited on the TiO₂/indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode by a method of successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), serving as one kind of photoelectric material to broaden absorption range of TiO₂ and to improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency. Thereafter, the capture DNA (C-DNA) was immobilized on the CdS/TiO₂/ITO electrode. Simultaneously, Au-hairpin DNA probe 1 (Au-HP1) and hairpin DNA …

Comparative Study Of Power Semiconductor Devices In A Multilevel Cascaded H-Bridge Inverter, Kenneth Mordi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis compares the performance of a nine-level transformerless cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter with integrated battery energy storage system (BESS) using SiC power MOSFETs and Si IGBTs. Two crucial performance drivers for inverter applications are power loss and efficiency. Both of these are investigated in this thesis. Power devices with similar voltage and current ratings are used in the same inverter topology, and the performance of each device is analyzed with respect to switching frequency and operating temperature. The loss measurements and characteristics within the inverter are discussed. The Saber® simulation software was used for the comparisons. The power MOSFET …

Creating A Computational Tool To Simulate Vibration Control For Piezoelectric Devices, Ahmet Ozkan Ozer, Emma J. Moore

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Piezoelectric materials have the unique ability to convert electrical energy to mechanical vibrations and vice versa. This project takes a stab to develop a reliable computational tool to simulate the vibration control of a novel “partial differential equation” model for a piezoelectric device, which is designed by integrating electric conducting piezoelectric layers constraining a viscoelastic layer to provide an active and lightweight intelligent structure. Controlling unwanted vibrations on piezoelectric devices (or harvesting energy from ambient vibrations) through piezoelectric layers has been the major focus in cutting-edge engineering applications such as ultrasonic welders and inchworms. The corresponding mathematical models for piezoelectric …

Nanoflower-Like Bi2moo6/Ag3po4 In Water Treatment, Xavier Morgan-Lange, Jaeyun Moon, Kaleab Ayalew

McNair Poster Presentations

• Environmental issues continue to intensify causing natural resources such as clean water to become increasingly scarce while demand only continues to grow. • Some of the most effective measures taken appear to be bioremediation tactics and their synthetic counterparts. • A critical area of interest are semi-conducting photocatalytic nanomaterials that take advantage of the photo-electric effect and use the introduction of ultra violet (UV) and visible light to induce oxidation and reduction reaction in p-type semiconductors. This results in the decomposition of certain pollutants and/or deactivates certain microbes in water. • These materials have the potential to operate using …

Properties Of Matter, Mike Jackson, Holly Haney

High School Lesson Plans

Students will investigate the relationship(s) between thermal and electrical properties of matter. First, students will use a multimeter and temperature probe to investigate the relationship between electrical resistance and temperature of an electrical resistor composed of metals. They will then graph collected data to analyze the relationship and draw a conclusion as to their relationship. They will then perform the same investigation on a thermal resistor made of a semiconducting substance and analyze that collected data. Finally, using ClaimEvidence-Reasoning (CER) structure, students will use their experimental evidence to state the similarities and differences between the electro-thermal properties of metals and …

Spray Printing Of Organic Semiconducting Single Crystals, Grigorios-Panagiotis Rigas, Marcia M. Payne, John E. Anthony, Peter N. Horton, Fernando A. Castro, Maxim Shkunov

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Single-crystal semiconductors have been at the forefront of scientific interest for more than 70 years, serving as the backbone of electronic devices. Inorganic single crystals are typically grown from a melt using time-consuming and energy-intensive processes. Organic semiconductor single crystals, however, can be grown using solution-based methods at room temperature in air, opening up the possibility of large-scale production of inexpensive electronics targeting applications ranging from field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes to medical X-ray detectors. Here we demonstrate a low-cost, scalable spray-printing process to fabricate high-quality organic single crystals, based on various semiconducting small molecules on virtually any substrate by …

Theoretical Study Of Photoelectrochemical Reactions And Ec-Sers On Spr Metallic Electrodes Of Silver And Gold, Yuan-Fei Wu, Ran Pang, Meng Zhang, Jian-Zhang Zhou, Bin Ren, Zhong-Qun Tian, De-Yin Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

At present photoelectrochemistry has received much concern back to nanostructures of noble metals from semiconductor electrodes. This is due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of metallic nanostructures, which can effectively convert the far-field light to the near-field light and concentrate the photonic energy to the local surface area with high energy density. Thus, the different enhancement mechanisms, such as the local optical field enhancement, the formation of light generated hot carriers (hot electron-hole pairs), or the photothermal effect, have been proposed in literatures. On the basis of the SPR enhancement effect, the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can be …

Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Cells: Methods For Improving Performance Of Electrodes And Recent Progress On Photocathodes, Kai-Jian Zhu, Wen-Jun Luo, Zhong-Jie Guan, Xin Wen, Zhi-Gang Zou, Wei Huang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Photoelectrochemical water splitting can convert solar energy into hydrogen which is an ideal way to utilize and store solar energy. A p-n tandem cell is considered as the most promising solar water splitting cell due to its high theory conversion efficiency, low cost and photoelectrode material flexibility. However, solar conversion efficiency of a tandem cell is still low in the experiment because of poor performance in a single photoelectrode. In this review, we have introduced some effective approaches to improve the performances of photoelectrodes by reducing recombination of photogenerated carriers in the bulk or on the surface, and suppressing back …

Preparations And Photoelectrochemical Properties Of Phosphate Modified Rgo-Biobr Nanocomposites, Shuang-Ying Chen, Zhi-Jun Li, Xu-Liang Zhang, Kang Hu, Rui Yan, Li-Qiang Jing

Journal of Electrochemistry

The RGO-BiOBr nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal process, and then modified with phosphorous acids. The photoelectrochemical properties of the fabricated RGO-BiOBr nanocomposite films were studied. The results indicate that the photocurrent densities of RGO-BiOBr were much larger compared with those of the bare BiOBr, and interestingly, the photocurrent densities were further improved after phosphate modification. Based on the analyses of the produced hydroxyl radical amounts, the enhanced photocurrent densities could be attributed to the introduction of RGO and to the formed negative fields of modified phosphate groups, which are favorable for electrons to be transferred and for …

Special Issue: Photoelectrochemistry And New Types Of Solar Cells, Chang-Jian Lin, Yong-Fang Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

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Prospects Of D-Π-A Structured Porphyrins And Their Photoelectrochemical Application, Shuang-Shuang Liu, Jian-Feng Lu, Ming-Kui Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Porphyrins and their metalloderivatives are a class of compounds exhibiting a wide variety of interesting and highly useful properties, such as chlorophyll. Porphyrins are particularly interesting in photoelectrochemical applications due to their structural similarity to chlorophylls in natural photosynthetic systems, as well as their strong and tunable absorption properties. Recently, various porphyrins have been extensively studied for their applications in solar cells, photocatalytic hydrogen production, optical information storage and others. This review will focus on the unique physical and chemical properties of D-π-A structured porphyrins, and their photovoltaic performances in dye-sensitized solar cells. A brief discussion in the future development …

Contact Radius And Insulator-Metal Transition In Films Comprised Of Touching Semiconductor Nanocrystals, Deanna M. Lanigan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Nanocrystal assemblies are being explored for a number of optoelectronic applications such as transparent conductors, photovoltaic solar cells, and electrochromic windows. Majority carrier transport is important for these applications, yet it remains relatively poorly understood in films comprised of touching nanocrystals. Specifically, the underlying structural parameters expected to determine the transport mechanism have not been fully elucidated. In this report, we demonstrate experimentally that the contact radius, between touching heavily doped ZnO nanocrystals, controls the electron transport mechanism. Spherical nanocrystals are considered, which are connected by a circular area. The radius of this circular area is the contact radius. For …

Direct Band Gap Gallium Antimonide Phosphide (Gasbxp1-X) For Solar Fuels., Harry Benjamin Russell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Photoelectrochemical water splitting has been identified as a promising route for achieving sustainable energy future. However, semiconductor materials with the appropriate optical, electrical and electrochemical properties have yet to be discovered. In search of an appropriate semiconductor to fill this gap, GaSbP, a semiconductor never tested for PEC performance is proposed here and investigated. Density functional theory (DFT+U) techniques were utilized to predict band gap and band edge energetics for GaSbP alloys with low amount of antimony. The overall objective of this dissertation is to understand the suitability of GaSb_xP_1-x alloys for photoelectrochemical water splitting application. Specifically, …