Sub-50 nm Channel Vertical Field-Effect Transistors using Conventional Ink-Jet Printing.

A printed vertical field-effect transistor is demonstrated, which decouples critical device dimensions from printing resolution. A printed mesoporous semiconductor layer, sandwiched between vertically stacked drive electrodes, provides <50 nm channel lengths. A polymer-electrolyte-based gate insulator infiltrates the percolating pores of the mesoporous channel to accumulate charge carriers at every semiconductor domain, thereby, resulting in an unprecedented current density of MA cm-2 .

Synthesis of Carbon Nanohelices Using Sn Based Bi-Metal Oxide Catalysts.

In this article, we report the synthesis of carbon nanohelices (CNH) by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) technique using novel inorganic bi-metal oxide catalysts. The catalysts chosen have the general form X-Sn-O, where X refers to element having high carbon solubility such as Fe and Ni. These catalysts are synthesized by simple sol-gel technique. The CNH are grown by CCVD method at a temperature of 700 °C by taking acetylene as the carbon source. A reasonably good yield (40-60%) of CNH is obtained with each catalyst. The catalysts and CNH are characterized using different experimental techniques like X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. These characterizations suggest that morphology as well as the constituents of the metal oxide catalysts have significant influence on the coil and spiral growth of CNH. Finally, electrochemical study of the CNH shows good catalytic activity in 1 M H2SO4 aqueous solution compared to bare electrode and is therefore ideal for many applications.

Ink-Jet Printed CMOS Electronics from Oxide Semiconductors.

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology with high transconductance and signal gain is mandatory for practicable digital/analog logic electronics. However, high performance all-oxide CMOS logics are scarcely reported in the literature; specifically, not at all for solution-processed/printed transistors. As a major step toward solution-processed all-oxide electronics, here it is shown that using a highly efficient electrolyte-gating approach one can obtain printed and low-voltage operated oxide CMOS logics with high signal gain (≈21 at a supply voltage of only 1.5 V) and low static power dissipation.

Cerium oxide dispersed multi walled carbon nanotubes as cathode material for flexible field emitters.

Nanomaterials based electron sources are omnipresent in modern flat panel displays. Multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) are the well studied electron emitter among the carbon materials. Since the surface modification of MWNT with low work function materials would have a positive impact on the field emission property of MWNT, cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles dispersed multi walled carbon nanotubes (CeO2/MWNT) were synthesized by catalytic chemical vapour deposition followed by chemical reduction and its field emission property was investigated. The high-purity MWNT as well as CeO2/MWNT showed crystalline structure conformed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Further characterisation was done with Raman spectroscopy, UV-Visible absorption spectra and Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (FT-IR). The morphology and structural details of CeO2/MWNT composite was probed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The direct evidence of the formation of CeO2/MWNT composites was given by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The synthesized sample was coated over a flexible carbon paper using spin coating technique. The experiment was performed under a vacuum of 1 x 10(-6) Torr and Fowler-Nordheim equation was used to analyse the data. The turn-on voltage for the cerium oxide dispersed MWNT was found for a current density of 10 microA/cm2. The emission current density from the CeO2 nanoparticles dispersed MWNT reached 0.2 mA/cm2 at a reasonable bias field of 2.58 V/microm. The results were compared with those of pure MWNT and pure CeO2 nanoparticles with literature values.

Effect of metal nanoparticles decoration on electron field emission property of graphene sheets.

The electron field emission from metal nanoparticle decorated hydrogen exfoliated graphene (metal/HEG) occurs at low turn on and threshold fields due to its low work function and high field enhancement factor.

Non-enzymatic amperometric glucose biosensor from zinc oxide nanoparticles decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

The present work describes the development of novel ZnO dispersed multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) based non-enzymatic glucose biosensor with 1 M NaOH solution as the supporting electrolyte. For a comparison, the same material has been used for the fabrication of enzymatic biosensor and studied its electrochemical activity with phosphate buffer solution as the electrolyte. MWNT have been synthesized by catalytic chemical vapor decomposition (CCVD) and a simple sol-gel method was used for decorating crystalline ZnO nanoparticles on MWNT. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were used to study and optimize the electrochemical performance of the resulting enzymatic and non-enzymatic ZnO/MWNT biosensors. The non enzymatic Nafion/ZnO/MWNT/GC electrode shows linearity in the range 700 nM to 31 mM with the detection limit of 500 nM. Similarly enzymatic biosensor fabricated using Nafion/GOD/ZnO/MWNT on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) shows a linearity from 1 microM to 22 mM. This excellent performance of non enzymatic Nafion/ZnO/MWNT/GC is due to high surface area, good electron transfer rate of ZnO/MWNT and the high electrochemical catalytic activity of ZnO in NaOH solution.

Enhanced convective heat transfer using graphene dispersed nanofluids.

Nanofluids are having wide area of application in electronic and cooling industry. In the present work, hydrogen exfoliated graphene (HEG) dispersed deionized (DI) water, and ethylene glycol (EG) based nanofluids were developed. Further, thermal conductivity and heat transfer properties of these nanofluids were systematically investigated. HEG was synthesized by exfoliating graphite oxide in H2 atmosphere at 200°C. The nanofluids were prepared by dispersing functionalized HEG (f-HEG) in DI water and EG without the use of any surfactant. HEG and f-HEG were characterized by powder X-ray diffractometry, electron microscopy, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. Thermal and electrical conductivities of f-HEG dispersed DI water and EG based nanofluids were measured for different volume fractions and at different temperatures. A 0.05% volume fraction of f-HEG dispersed DI water based nanofluid shows an enhancement in thermal conductivity of about 16% at 25°C and 75% at 50°C. The enhancement in Nusselts number for these nanofluids is more than that of thermal conductivity.

Experimental investigation of the thermal transport properties of a carbon nanohybrid dispersed nanofluid.

A hybrid nanostructure consisting of 1D carbon nanotubes and 2D graphene was successfully synthesized. Nanofluids were made by dispersing the hybrid nanostructure in deionized (DI) water and ethylene glycol (EG) separately, without any surfactant. Later the thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluids were experimentally measured. Meanwhile, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were prepared by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD), and hydrogen exfoliated graphene (HEG) was synthesized by exfoliating graphite oxide in a hydrogen atmosphere. The hybrid nanostructure (f-MWNT+f-HEG) of functionalized MWNT (f-MWNT) and functionalized HEG (f-HEG) was prepared by a post mixing technique, and the sample was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Thermal conductivity of the nanofluids was measured for different volume fractions of f-MWNT+f-HEG at different temperatures. The hybrid nanostructure dispersed in the DI water based nanofluid shows a thermal conductivity enhancement of 20% for a volume fraction of 0.05%. Similarly, for a Reynolds number of 15,500, the enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient is about 289% for a 0.01% volume fraction of f-MWNT+f-HEG.

SiO2 coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle dispersed multiwalled carbon nanotubes based amperometric glucose biosensor.

A new type of amperometric glucose biosensor based on silicon dioxide coated magnetic nanoparticle decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)/MWNTs) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) has been developed. MWNTs have been synthesized by catalytic chemical vapour decomposition (CCVD) of acetylene over rare earth (RE) based AB(3) alloy hydride catalyst. The as-grown MWNTs have been purified and further functionlized. Functionalized MWNTs have been decorated with magnetic Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles which have been uniformly coated with biocompatible SiO(2) using a simple chemical reduction method. The characterization of magnetic nanoparticle modified MWNTs have been done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and UV-vis spectroscopy. Amperometric biosensor has been fabricated by the deposition of glucose oxidase (GOD) over Nafion-solubilized Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)/MWNTs electrode. The resultant bioelectrode retains its biocatalytic activity and offers fast and sensitive glucose quantification. The performance of the biosensor has been studied using cyclic voltammetry and amperometry and the results have been discussed. The fabricated glucose biosensor exhibits a linear response from 1 microM to 30 mM with an excellent detection limit of 800 nM indicating the potential applications in food industries.