Phonon Confinement Induced Non-Concomitant Near-Infrared Emission along a Single ZnO Nanowire: Spatial Evolution Study of Phononic and Photonic Properties.

The impact of mixed defects on ZnO phononic and photonic properties at the nanoscale is only now being investigated. Here we report an effective strategy to study the distribution of defects along the growth direction of a single ZnO nanowire (NW), performed qualitatively as well as quantitatively using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), confocal Raman-, and photoluminescence (PL)-mapping technique. A non-concomitant near-infrared (NIR) emission of 1.53 ± 0.01 eV was observed near the bottom region of 2.05 ± 0.05 µm along a single ZnO NW and could be successfully explained by the radiative recombination of shallowly trapped electrons V_O^(**) with deeply trapped holes at V_Zn^''. A linear chain model modified from a phonon confinement model was used to describe the growth of short-range correlations between the mean distance of defects and its evolution with spatial position along the axial growth direction by fitting the E2H mode. Our results are expected to provide new insights into improving the study of the photonic and photonic properties of a single nanowire.

Growth Mechanism Studies of ZnO Nanowires: Experimental Observations and Short-Circuit Diffusion Analysis.

Plenty of studies have been performed to probe the diverse properties of ZnO nanowires, but only a few have focused on the physical properties of a single nanowire since analyzing the growth mechanism along a single nanowire is difficult. In this study, a single ZnO nanowire was synthesized using a Ti-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to avoid the appearance of catalytic contamination. Two-dimensional energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping with a diffusion model was used to obtain the diffusion length and the activation energy ratio. The ratio value is close to 0.3, revealing that the growth of ZnO nanowires was attributed to the short-circuit diffusion.

The Influence of Short-Range Correlation on the Phonon Confinement of a Single ZnO Nanowire.

Plenty of researches have been performed to probe the diverse properties of ZnO nanowires, but only a few have focused on the physical properties of a single nanowire since to analyze the optical confinement and their correlation lengths along a single nanowire is difficult. In this study, a single ZnO nanowire was synthesized using a Ti-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to avoid the appearance of catalytic contamination. Confocal Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing the phonon confinement effect in a single ZnO nanowire. A confinement model was used to calculate the correlation lengths along the growth direction. The Raman mapping of ZnO nanowires was obtained by a confocal Raman spectrometer. A phonon confinement model was used to fit the Raman curves of the E2 mode and to obtain the correlation lengths along the growth direction of the ZnO nanowire. The correlation lengths are related to the phonon confined region by boundaries and/or defects.

Magnetic Properties of Cluster Glassy Ni/NiO Core-Shell Nanoparticles: an Investigation of Their Static and Dynamic Magnetization.

We review the phenomenology of the exchange bias and its related effects in core-shell nanocrystals. The static and dynamic properties of the magnetization for ferromagnetic Ni-core and antiferromagnetic NiO-shell cluster glassy nanoparticles are examined, along with the pinning-depinning process, through the measurement of the conventional exchange bias, and associated with different cooling fields and particle sizes. Two significant indexes for the dipolar interaction n and multi-anisotropic barrier ß derived from the dynamic magnetization are proposed, which provide a unified picture of the exchange bias mechanism and insight into the influence of the cooling field.

Short-range spin-phonon coupling in in-plane CuO nanowires: a low-temperature Raman investigation.

We report an application of low-temperature Raman scattering on in-plane CuO nanowires, in which an overview of the characteristic parameter of spin-phonon coefficient, the interaction of incident light with the spin degrees of freedom, and size effects will be given. The appearance of spin-phonon coefficient decrease reflects the existence of finite size effect.

Tuning the dimensionality of ZnO nanowires through thermal treatment: An investigation of growth mechanism.

In this study, we synthesized various dimensionalities of ZnO nanowires using the Ti grid-assisted chemical vapor deposition process. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic mapping technique accompanied with a lattice diffusion model was used to characterize the growth mechanism. A diffusion ratio γ, defined by short-circuit and lattice diffusion activation energies, was obtained to describe the growth mechanism of ZnO nanowires. The tunable dimensionalities of ZnO nanowires allow us to modify the morphology of ZnO nanocrystals by developing well-controlled potential applications.

Spontaneous self-organization of Cu2O/CuO core-shell nanowires from copper nanoparticles.

We report on the formation and spontaneous self-organization of Cu(2)O/CuO core-shell nanowires from individual copper nanoparticles. The growth process is interpreted using the results of time-dependent in situ x-ray diffraction. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy is used to observe the intermediate state of pearl-necklace-like aggregates that form a chain-like configuration of Cu(2)O nanoparticles intertwined into nanowires. The existence of an amorphous CuO shell is confirmed by the XANES technique and explained through an intensity simulation using a proposed core-shell nanowire model.

In Situ Confocal Raman Mapping Study of a Single Ti-Assisted ZnO Nanowire.

In this work, we succeeded in preparing in-plane zinc oxide nanowires using a Ti-grid assisted by the chemical vapor deposition method. Optical spatial mapping of the Confocal Raman spectra was used to investigate the phonon and geometric properties of a single ZnO nanowire. The local optical results reveal a red shift in the non-polar E2 high frequency mode and width broadening along the growth direction, reflecting quantum-confinement in the radial direction.

Magnetic Anisotropic Energy Gap and Strain Effect in Au Nanoparticles.

We report on the observation of the size effect of thermal magnetization in Au nanoparticles. The thermal deviation of the saturation magnetization departs substantially from that predicted by the Bloch T(3/2)-law, indicating the existence of magnetic anisotropic energy. The results may be understood using the uniaxial anisotropy Heisenberg model, in which the surface atoms give rise to polarized moments while the magnetic anisotropic energy decreases as the size of the Au nanoparticles is reduced. There is a significant maximum magnetic anisotropic energy found for the 6 nm Au nanoparticles, which is associated with the deviation of the lattice constant due to magnetocrystalline anisotropy.