Femtosecond Luminescence Imaging for Single Nanoparticle Characterization.

Defects naturally abound in semiconductor crystal structures and their presence either debilitates or improves device functionality. The increasing trend to strategically implant or remove specific defects to tailor the properties in materials via defect engineering has made it imperative to not only quantify these defects in nanostructures but to do so via efficient contactless techniques. Here we report the use of an ultrafast Kerr-gated microscope system to quantify the defect density at different locations on a single nanowire. By measuring the evolution of nonlinear luminescence dynamics from a nanowire, we are able to extract the individual nonradiative recombination constants and obtain the defect density at locations along the nanowire length. This new method promises fast, reliable, and contactless characterization of single nanoparticles.

Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO/CuO Vertically Aligned Hierarchical Tree-like Nanostructure.

Vertically aligned ZnO nanowire-based tree-like structures with CuO branches were synthesized on the basis of a multistep seed-mediated hydrothermal approach. The nanotrees form a p-n junction at the branch/stem interface that facilitates charge separation upon illumination. Photoelectrochemical measurements in different solvents show that ZnO/CuO hierarchical nanostructures have enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to that of the nonhierarchical structure of ZnO/CuO, pure ZnO, and pure CuO nanoparticles. The combination of ZnO and CuO in tree-like nanostructures provides opportunities for the design of photoelectrochemical sensors, photocatalytic synthesis, and solar energy conversion.

Synthesis of Hierarchical ZnO/CdSSe Heterostructure Nanotrees.

A two-step chemical vapor deposition procedure is here employed to prepare tree-like hierarchical ZnO/CdSSe hetero-nanostructures. The structures are composed of CdSSe branches grown on ZnO nanowires that are vertically aligned on a transparent sapphire substrate. The morphology was measured via scanning electron microscopy. The crystal structure was determined by X-ray powder diffraction analysis. Both the ZnO stem and CdSSe branches have a predominantly wurtzite crystal structure. The mole ratio of S and Se in the CdSSe branches was measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The CdSSe branches result in strong visible light absorption. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy showed that the stem and branches form a type-II heterojunction. PL lifetime measurements showed a decrease in the lifetime of emission from the trees when compared to emission from individual ZnO stems or CdSSe branches and indicate fast charge transfer between CdSSe and ZnO. The vertically aligned ZnO stems provide a direct electron transport pathway to the substrate and allow for efficient charge separation after photoexcitation by visible light. The combination of the abovementioned properties makes ZnO/CdSSe nanotrees promising candidates for applications in solar cells, photocatalysis, and opto-electronic devices.

Ultraviolet femtosecond Kerr-gated wide-field fluorescence microscopy.

A Kerr-gated microscope capable of imaging ultraviolet luminescence with femtosecond time resolution has been developed. The system allows the spatial, spectral, and temporal measurement of UV-emitting samples. The instrumentation was optimized for emission collection in the UV, resulting in sub 90 fs time resolution of gated signals. ZnO nanowires were used to demonstrate the performance of the instrument. The evolution of the emission from a single nanowire was tracked via ultrafast transient spectroscopy and through sequential imaging. Transient dynamics were extracted from a region of intense emission on a single ZnO nanowire. This technique is a powerful tool capable of contactless ultrafast measurements of charge carrier dynamics in single nanoparticles.

Efficient Z-scheme charge separation in novel vertically aligned ZnO/CdSSe nanotrees.

A new tree-like ZnO/CdSSe nanocomposite with CdSSe branches grown on ZnO nanowires prepared via a two-step chemical vapor deposition is presented. The nanotrees (NTs) are vertically aligned on a substrate. The CdSSe branches result in strong visible light absorption and form a type-II heterojunction with the ZnO stem that facilitates efficient electron transfer. A combination of photoluminescence spectroscopy and lifetime measurements indicates that the NTs are promising materials for applications that benefit from a Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism. Vertically aligned branched ZnO nanowires can provide direct electron transport pathways to substrates and allow for efficient charge separation. These advantages of nanoscale hierarchical heterostructures make ZnO/CdSSe NTs a promising semiconductor material for solar cells, and other opto-electronic devices.