High Stability Induced by the TiN/Ti Interlayer in Three-Dimensional Si/Ge Nanorod Arrays as Anode in Micro Lithium Ion Battery.

Three-dimensional (3D) Si/Ge-based micro/nano batteries are promising lab-on-chip power supply sources because of the good process compatibility with integrated circuits and Micro/Nano-Electro-Mechanical System technologies. In this work, the effective interlayer of TiN/Ti thin films were introduced to coat around the 3D Si nanorod (NR) arrays before the amorphous Ge layer deposition as anode in micro/nano lithium ion batteries, thus the superior cycling stability was realized by reason for the restriction of Si activation in this unique 3D matchlike Si/TiN/Ti/Ge NR array electrode. Moreover, the volume expansion properties after the repeated lithium-ion insertion/extraction were experimentally investigated to evidence the superior stability of this unique multilayered Si composite electrode. The demonstration of this wafer-scale, cost-effective, and Si-compatible fabrication for anodes in Li-ion micro/nano batteries provides new routes to configurate more efficient 3D energy storage systems for micro/nano smart semiconductor devices.

ZIF-8 Cooperating in TiN/Ti/Si Nanorods as Efficient Anodes in Micro-Lithium-Ion-Batteries.

Zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanoparticles embedded in TiN/Ti/Si nanorod (NR) arrays without pyrolysis have shown increased energy storage capacity as anodes for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). A high capacity of 1650 µAh cm(-2) has been achieved in this ZIF-8 composited multilayered electrode, which is ∼100 times higher than the plain electrodes made of only silicon NR. According to the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) characterizations, the improved diffusion of lithium ions in ZIF-8 and boosted electron/Li(+) transfer by the ZIF-8/TiN/Ti multilayer coating are proposed to be responsible for the enhanced energy storage ability. The first-principles calculations further indicate the favorable accessibility of lithium with appropriate size to diffuse in the open pores of ZIF-8. This work broadens the application of ZIF-8 to silicon-based LIBs electrodes without the pyrolysis and provides design guidelines for other metal-organic frameworks/Si composite electrodes.

"Click" post-functionalization of a metal-organic framework for engineering active single-site heterogeneous Ru(iii) catalysts.

We present a general strategy for incorporating π-conjugated NNN-chelators (e.g., terpyridyl moiety) into a porous metal-organic framework (MOF) MIL-101(Cr) by using the "click" post-functionalization. The functionalized MOF could be used as a platform for metalation to yield highly active and stable single-site heterogeneous metal (e.g., Ru(iii)) catalysts.

The effects of different core-shell structures on the electrochemical performances of Si-Ge nanorod arrays as anodes for micro-lithium ion batteries.

Connected and airbag isolated Si-Ge nanorod (NR) arrays in different configurations have been fabricated on wafer scale Si substrates as anodes in micro-lithium ion batteries (LIBs), and the impacts of configurations on electrochemical properties of the electrodes were investigated experimentally and theoretically. It is demonstrated that the Si inner cores can be effectively protected by the connected Ge shells and contribute to the enhanced capacity by ∼68%, derived from an activation process along with the amorphization of the crystalline lattice. The first-principles calculations further verify the smaller forces on the Si layers at the atomic level during the restricted volume expansion with the covering of Ge layers. This work provides general guidelines for designing other composites and core-shell configurations in electrodes of micro-LIBs to accomplish higher capacities and longer cycle lives.

Enhanced reversible lithium storage in germanium nano-island coated 3D hexagonal bottle-like Si nanorod arrays.

The rapid development of numerous microscale electronic devices, such as smart dust, micro or nano bio-sensors, medical implants and so on, has induced an urgent demand for integratable micro or nano battery supplies with high energy and power densities. In this work, 3D hexagonal bottle-like Si/Ge composite nanorod (NR) array electrodes with good uniformity and mechanical stability potentially used in micro or nano rechargeable Li-ion batteries (LIBs) were fabricated on Si substrates by a cost-effective, wafer scale and Si-compatible process. The optimized Ge nano-islands coated Si NR composite arrays as anode materials exhibit superior areal capacities and cycling performances by virtue of their favourable structural and improved conductivity features. The unique Si-based composite electrode in nanostructures can be technically and fundamentally employed to configurate all-solid-state Li-ion micro-batteries as on-chip power systems integrated into micro-electronic devices such as M/NEMS devices or autonomous wireless microsystems.

Band edge emission enhancement by quadrupole surface plasmon-exciton coupling using direct-contact Ag/ZnO nanospheres.

Periodic Ag nanoball (NB) arrays on ZnO hollow nanosphere (HNS) supporting structures were fabricated in a large area by a laser irradiation method. The optimized laser power and spherical supporting structure of ZnO with a certain size and separation were employed to aggregate a sputtering-deposited Ag nano-film into an ordered, large-area, and two dimensional Ag NB array. A significant band edge (BE) emission enhancement of ZnO HNSs was achieved on this Ag NB/ZnO HNS hybrid structure and the mechanism was revealed by further experimental and theoretical analyses. With successfully fabricating the direct-contact structure of a Ag NB on the top of each ZnO HNS, the highly localized quadrupole mode surface plasmon resonance (SPR), realized on the metal NBs in the ultraviolet region, can effectively improve the BE emission of ZnO through strong coupling with the excitons of ZnO. Compared with the dipole mode SPR, the quadrupole mode SPR is insensitive to the metal nanoparticle's size and has a resonance frequency in the BE region of the wide band gap materials, hence, it can be potentially applied in related optoelectronic devices.

Study of molecular junctions with a combined surface-enhanced Raman and mechanically controllable break junction method.

We have developed a combined surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and break junction method to detect and characterize molecules between two microfabricated electrodes separated with a gap that can be continuously adjusted from a few angstroms to nanometers. It allows us to obtain a vibrational fingerprint of the adjustable molecular junction while performing electron transport measurements on the molecule simultaneously. This new approach will provide not only new insights into electron transport properties of molecule junctions on a chip but also the mechanism of single-molecule-SERS.