National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Porous membranes containing cylindrical pores with diameters ranging from a few tens of nanometers to a few tens of micrometers were prepared by using the ion track technique. Swift heavy ions (e.g. Au with 11.4 MeV/nucleon specific energy) were used for creating the ion tracks in polycarbonate foils. Etching was performed using an aqueous solution of NaOH containing methanol. The growth of the alkali-halides micro- and nanorods was performed by evaporation from a saturated solution. The rods were imaged using scanning electron microscopy. The method opens up the possibility of growing nanostructures with applications as nanolaser media or nanoscintillators.

We used the template method to prepare CdTe wires with diameters ranging from 80 nm to 1 mu m. As templates we used polycarbonate and polyethilene tereplitalate ion track membranes and as the method of filling the pores of such membranes we employed electrochemical deposition. The conditions (i.e. bath composition and deposition potential) necessary to obtain the stoichiometric composition of the semiconductor were found. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy were employed for morphological characterization of the nano and microwires. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was employed for determining the Cd/Te ratio. Selected area electron diffraction was employed for structural measurements. Reflection spectroscopy measurements were performed on nanowire arrays for determining the band gap of the deposited nanostructures. (C) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Manganese and copper doped ZnO films and nanowire arrays were prepared by cathodic electrodeposition from aqueous solution. The electrochemical process was examined by linear voltammetry and the morphology and the composition of obtained semiconductor were observed by SEM and EDX measurements. Optical absorption spectra indicated the presence of copper in ZnO: Mn: Cu nanowire arrays as Cu2+ ions. (c) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

We report in this contribution on the photosensitization effect of ZnO nanostructured thin films with copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc). ZnO films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), on optical glass substrates, covered with 300 nm thick ITO films. The structure and morphology of ZnO films were optimized for photovoltaic-cell applications by controlling the growing conditions. ZnO films (wurtzite type) were (001) preferentially oriented in the growth direction. Organic dyes were vacuum sublimated on ZnO films, and subsequently a 300 nm thick copper film was vacuum sublimated on top of the structure, acting as an ohmic contact. Action spectra of ITO/ZnO/CuPc/Cu photovoltaic structures were recorded and a well defined response was observed in the range of absorption bands of organic dyes. The dark IN characteristics were also recorded, and electrical characterizations of the photovoltaic structures are given. The measured fourth quadrant IN characteristics under integral illumination (photoelement regime), allowed us to extract the typical photovoltaic cells parameters.

Pbl(2) crystallite incorporated in optically transparent polyacrylamide and poly (vinyl alcohol) matrix have been studied by Raman scattering, photoluminescence (PL) at low temperature and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The small particles of Pbl(2) embedded in different host matrix were prepared by: i) cooling to the room temperature a boiling saturated aqueous Pbl(2) solution containing polyacrylamide or poly (vinyl alcohol) and ii) by chemical reaction of KI and Pb(NO3)2 in aqueous polyacrylamide solution. In all cases, were identified hexagonal platelets of Pbl(2) and rods like particles. The rods are featured by a similar Raman spectrum and a specific green emission (cca 550 nm). Modification of the Raman and PL spectra results from a compressing effect produced by the penetration between the Pbl(2) layers of different molecular species. By compression the hybridized electronic level situated at the top of valence band, formed by the contribution.of the 6s and 5p states of Pb2+ and l ions, undergo a deformation that induces a weakness of the interaction between the lead ion and iodine electron within a layer so that the photoluminescence of intercalated Pbl(2) acquires the characteristics of Pb2+ emission when it is dissolved in an alkali halide crystal.

One-dimensional structures having uniform diameters were prepared by electrochemical deposition using polycarbonate membranes as templates. Lead chalcogenides and ZnO tubes and rods growth processes were presented comparatively. The tendency of PbTe and PbSe semiconductors to grow as tubes both in membrane micro and nanopores was explained based on the absorption of lead ions on the pore wall.

A new method for the preparation of PbS/PZT composite materials is proposed. The PZT matrix has been obtained using the sol-gel method on Pt-coated Si substrates. The PbS (nano) crystals were subsequently obtained by dipping the porous PZT matrix in Pb(NO3)(2) and Na2S solutions at room temperature. The XRD spectra show the presence of the tetragonal phase of PZT. The microstructure of the film was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The size of the PbS (nano)-particles at the sample's surface is about 25 nm, estimated from the AFM analysis. The roughness of the sample's surface is about 5 nm. The porosity of the composite, estimated from the SEM analysis in cross-section is smaller than for the reference PZT porous matrix. The equivalent dielectric constant of the composite increases by a factor of 4-5 in comparison with the porous PZT reference and does not depend on the thickness of the surface PbS (nano)-crystalline layer. The saturated polarization (Ps) value for the PZT-PbS composite is smaller than that corresponding to the bulk PZT but higher than for the reference porous PZT. We attribute these effects to the partial filling of the pores in the PZT matrix with PbS.

We present a study of the effect of the crystallites composition and size on the optical properties of vitreous aluminophosphate matrix doped with CdSxSe1-x crystallites. The influences of the glass matrix composition and, heat treatment temperature and duration on the stoichiometry of the crystalline phase have been investigated by optical methods. We have studied the effect of the sodium oxide contained in the matrix, annealing temperature variation from 425 degrees C to 475 degrees C and duration variation from 2 h to 6 h on the light absorption process, evaluating an optical band gap energy between E-g=1.74 eV and E-g=2.29 eV associated with changes in the composition of the crystallites. The blue shift of the absorption edge observed in samples containing Na2O annealed at 425 degrees C for 4 h or at 450 degrees C for 2 h was attributed to a variation in the crystallites' composition because their size is not favourable to the quantum confinement. We have also investigated the effect of individual CdS and CdSe clusters on the absorption properties of the aluminophosphate glass and on the process of zinc incorporation in the crystalline phase. We have made some assumptions concerning the effect of the aluminophosphate glass matrix on the direct band to band light absorption mechanism characterising the II-IV bulk semiconductor.

X-band ESR spectra of the calamitic and discotic lyotropic nematic phases in sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS)/decanol/water system, doped with paramagnetic nitroxide free radicals are analyzed in this paper. The studied temperature range was chosen to include phase transitions of the lyotropic systems. The variation of the surfactant hydrocarbon chains ordering versus temperature is determined by the hyperfine splitting tensor (,4) and the spectroscopic splitting tensor ((g) under bar) anisotropies. The temperature dependence of the molecular order parameters for both lyotropic systems and the corresponding angular fluctuations are presented and discussed.

For the single-walled carbon nanotubes, the higher values of anti-Stokes/Stokes Raman intensity ratio (I(as)/I(s)) then the predictions of the Maxwell-Bolzmann formula indicates a CARS emission resulting from a wave mixing process between the incident laser light (omega(l)) and Stokes Raman light (omega(s)) generated by a SERS mechanism. The weaker value of (I(as)/Is) observed at resonant excitation of semiconducting nanotubes in the E(22)(S) van Hove state, relates a quantum cooling process occurred during the relaxation of the E22S excited state in two steps-by phonon emission from E(22)(S) to E(11)(S) followed by a spontaneous luminescence emission at E(11)(S).