ABSTRACT
In this work, the influence of air pressure during the annealing of Ge quantum dot (QD) lattices embedded in an amorphous Al(2)O(3) matrix on the structural, morphological and compositional properties of the film is studied. The formation of a regularly ordered void lattice after performing a thermal annealing process is explored. Our results show that both the Ge desorption from the film and the regular ordering of the QDs are very sensitive to the annealing parameters. The conditions for the formation of a void lattice, a crystalline Ge QD lattice and a disordered QD lattice are presented. The observed effects are explained in terms of oxygen interaction with the Ge present in the film.
ABSTRACT
One of the factors that limit the efficiency of polymer-based optoelectronic devices, such as photovoltaic solar cells and light emitting diodes, is the exciton diffusion within the polymeric network. Due to the amorphous nature the of polymeric materials, the diffusion of excitons is limited by the energetic and spatial disorder in such systems, which is a consequence not only of the chemical structure of the polymer but also from its morphology at nanoscale. To get a deep understanding on how such effects influence exciton dynamics we performed a quantum molecular dynamics simulations to determine the energetic disorder within the polymer system, and Monte Carlo simulations to study exciton diffusion in three-dimensional (3D) polymer networks that present both spatial and energetic disorder at nanometre scale. Our results show clearly that exciton diffusion in poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) occurs preferentially in the direction parallel to the electrodes surface for a polymer-based optoelectronic devices with the orientation of the conjugated strands similar to those obtained by the spin-coating technique and the decay of such excitons occurs preferentially in longer strands which allow us to get insight on exciton behaviour in polymeric systems that are not possible to be obtained directly from the experiments.
Subject(s)
Dental Caries/therapy , Dental Cavity Preparation/methods , Dental Restoration, Permanent/methods , Dentistry, Operative/methods , Laser Therapy/methods , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Dental Caries/diagnostic imaging , Dental Caries/prevention & control , Fluorides, Topical , Humans , Laser Therapy/instrumentation , Lasers, Gas , Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures/methods , RadiographyABSTRACT
DNA is a material that has the potential to be used in nanoelectronic devices as an active component. However, the electronic properties of DNA responsible for its conducting behaviour remain controversial. Here we use a self-consistent quantum molecular dynamics method to study the effect of DNA structure and base sequence on the energy involved when electrons are added or removed from isolated molecules and the transfer of the injected charge along the molecular axis when an electric field is applied. Our results show that the addition or removal of an electron from DNA molecules is most exothermic for poly(dC)-poly(dG) in its B-form and poly(dA)-poly(dT) in its A-form, and least exothermic in its Z-form. Additionally, when an electric field is applied to a charged DNA molecule along its axis, there is electron transfer through the molecule, regardless of the number and sign of the injected charge, the molecular structure and the base sequence. Results from these simulations provide useful information that is hard to obtain from experiments and needs to be considered for further modelling aiming to improve charge transport efficiency in nanoelectronic devices based on DNA.
ABSTRACT
Human dental enamel has a porous mesostructure at the nanometre to micrometre scales that affects its thermal and mechanical properties relevant to laser treatment. We exploit finite-element models to investigate the response of this mesostructured enamel to mid-infrared lasers (CO(2) at 10.6 microm and Er:YAG at 2.94 microm). Our models might easily be adapted to investigate ablation of other brittle composite materials. The studies clarify the role of pore water in ablation, and lead to an understanding of the different responses of enamel to CO(2) and Er:YAG lasers, even though enamel has very similar average properties at the two wavelengths. We are able to suggest effective operating parameters for dental laser ablation, which should aid the introduction of minimally-invasive laser dentistry. In particular, our results indicate that, if pulses of approximately 10 micros are used, the CO(2) laser can ablate dental enamel without melting, and with minimal damage to the pulp of the tooth. Our results also suggest that pulses with 0.1-1 micros duration can induce high stress transients which may cause unwanted cracking.
