Hydrothermal Growth of Vertically Aligned ZnO Nanorods Using a Biocomposite Seed Layer of ZnO Nanoparticles.

Well aligned ZnO nanorods have been prepared by a low temperature aqueous chemical growth method, using a biocomposite seed layer of ZnO nanoparticles prepared in starch and cellulose bio polymers. The effect of different concentrations of biocomposite seed layer on the alignment of ZnO nanorods has been investigated. ZnO nanorods grown on a gold-coated glass substrate have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) techniques. These techniques have shown that the ZnO nanorods are well aligned and perpendicular to the substrate, and grown with a high density and uniformity on the substrate. Moreover, ZnO nanorods can be grown with an orientation along the c-axis of the substrate and exhibit a wurtzite crystal structure with a dominant (002) peak in an XRD spectrum and possessed a high crystal quality. A photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy study of the ZnO nanorods has revealed a conventional near band edge ultraviolet emission, along with emission in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum due to defect emission. This study provides an alternative method for the fabrication of well aligned ZnO nanorods. This method can be helpful in improving the performance of devices where alignment plays a significant role.

Amplified spontaneous emission spectra from the superexciplex of coumarin 138.

In this report the dual amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) characteristics of coumarin 138 (C(138)) had been studied, under different solvent environments. The results obtained were compared with coumarin 461 (C(461)) and coumarin 450 (C(450)), which have closely related structure. The results showed that all these dyes could produce ASE from superexciplex - a new molecular species - formed only under high inversion densities, obtainable by pulsed laser excitation. We have strong indication that a superexciplex with TICT conformation is capable of producing strong ASE.

Structural and thermal studies of silver nanoparticles and electrical transport study of their thin films.

This work reports the preparation and characterization of silver nanoparticles synthesized through wet chemical solution method and of silver films deposited by dip-coating method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), field emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) have been used to characterize the prepared silver nanoparticles and thin film. The morphology and crystal structure of silver nanoparticles have been determined by FESEM, HRTEM, and FETEM. The average grain size of silver nanoparticles is found to be 17.5 nm. The peaks in XRD pattern are in good agreement with that of face-centered-cubic form of metallic silver. TGA/DTA results confirmed the weight loss and the exothermic reaction due to desorption of chemisorbed water. The temperature dependence of resistivity of silver thin film, determined in the temperature range of 100-300 K, exhibit semiconducting behavior of the sample. The sample shows the activated variable range hopping in the localized states near the Fermi level.