RESUMO
We present green synthesis of silver nanoparticles in water using unirradiated and Ag 15 + ion irradiated phytoextracts of Bergenia Ciliata leaf, Eupatorium adenophorum leaf, Rhododendron arboreum leaf and flower. The use of different plant extracts and their subsequent ion irradiation allow for successful refinement of nanoparticle size and morphology. Due to changes in reducing and capping agents the nanoparticle surface functionalization also varies which not only controls the morphology but also allows for surface oxidation and aggregation processes. In this work, we have synthesized silver nanoparticles which exhibit sizes in the range from 13 to 24 nm and having shapes like spherical, quasispherical, trigonal, hexagonal, cylindrical, dendritic assemblies, and porous nanoparticles. Owing to changes in the size and shape of the nanoparticles, their direct bandgap (2.05 eV - 2.48 eV) and local surface plasmon resonance (420 nm - 490 nm) could also be tuned. These nanoparticles are examined as SERS substrates, where their enhancement factors, limit of detection for methylene blue, and SERS substrate homogeneity have been tested. It has been observed the nanoparticles synthesized using unirradiated plant extracts present an enhancement factor of 10 6 with a limit of detection 10 - 8 M. Whereas nanoparticles with refined morphology and shapes upon irradiation present high enhancement factors of >10 7 and detection limit down to 10 - 9 M. In addition, uniformity in Raman spectra over the SERS substrates has been obtained for selected Ag NPs substrates synthesized using irradiated extracts with minimum relative standard deviation in enhancement factor < 12%.
RESUMO
The irradiation effects of carbon and nitrogen medium energy ions (MEI) on charge transport, structural and optical properties of Ni/Pd/n-GaN Schottky barrier diodes are reported. The devices are exposed to 600 keV C2+ and 650 keV N2+ ions in the fluence range of 1 × 1013 to 1 × 1015 ions cm-2. The SRIM/TRIM simulations provide quantitative estimations of damage created along the trajectories of ion beams in the device profile. The electrical parameters like Schottky barrier height, series resistance of the Ni/Pd/n-GaN Schottky barrier diodes decreases for a fluence of 1 × 1013 ions cm-2 and thereafter increases with an increase in fluence of 600 keV C2+ and 650 keV N2+ ions. The charge transport mechanism is influenced by various current transport mechanisms along with thermionic emission. Photoluminescence studies have demonstrated the presence of yellow luminescence in the pristine samples. It disappears at higher fluences due to the possible occupancy of Ga vacancies. The presence of the green luminescence band may be attributed to the dislocation caused by the combination of gallium vacancy clusters and impurities due to MEI irradiation. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction studies reveal that there is a decrease in the intensity and shift in the diffraction peaks towards the lower side of two thetas. The reductions in the intensity of C2+ ion irradiation is more when compared to N2+ ion irradiation, which may be attributed to change in the mean atomic scattering factor on a given site for light C2+ ion as compared to N2+ ion.
