In this paper, the field emission properties of nano-diamond films were investigated by measuring the curves of emission current density (J) versus applied electric field (E). The nano-diamond films were prepared on n-type (100) silicon substrate by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) technique using a gas mixture of nitrogen-methane-hydrogen. Field emission results show that, with increasing hydrogen gas flow ratio of [H2]/[N2+CH4+H2] from 0 to 10 %, diamond grain size increases from 5 to 60 nm, threshold electric field for electron field emission increases from 1.2 to 5.75 V/μm, and emission current density decreases from 820 to 560 μA/cm2, demonstrating that small grain size nano-diamond films are promising as a cathode material for low-field electron emitters.

Oriented ferromagnetic FePt nanoparticles with the face-centered tetragonal L10 structure were produced in Al2O3 single crystal hosts by ion implantation and annealing. Both the orientation and particle-size of the FePt particles depend strongly on the implantation conditions. The magnetic coercivities are extremely high, reaching values in excess of 20 kOe for Pt concentrations of ∼45% in the FePt alloy. Ferromagnetic FePt nanoparticles were also produced in amorphous SiO2 by ion implantation and annealing.

The self-assembling systems in nanoscale powders of crystalline MoO3 are disclosed. For the first time, the double linear chain aggregates of the MoO3 nanoparticles were revealed in nanoscale powders of MoO3, treated by vibrationally excited molecules of hydrogen. Double linear chain aggregates form a linear and an orthogonal supperlattices. Both the double linear chain aggregates and the supperlattices formed are being considered as self-assembling systems. The treatment of the powders by the molecules of hydrogen is a method of obtaining long self-assembling chains of inorganic materials and supperlattices on their basis.

Silver nanoparticles were prepared by the method of mixing of two microemulsions having similar chemical composition but different reactants in their respective aqueous core. One microemulsion contains silver nitrate in the aqueous core and other contains sodium borohydride. The silver nanoparticles formed were characterized using UV-Visible absorption spectra and TEM micrographs. Effect of chain length of solvent and addition of Arlacel-20 to the AOT/Heptane, AOT/Decane and AOT/Dodecane microemulsion on particle size and absorption spectra of silver nanoparticles was studied. TEM photographs showed agglomerated and bigger particles in case of pure AOT/dodecane whereas addition of Arlacel-20 showed dispersed and smaller particles. Reaction kinetics was observed for silver nanoparticles using UV-visible spectrophotometer. Silver nanoparticles prepared using pure AOT surfactant showed plasmon band (416 nm) immediately after preparation whereas no absorption band of silver nanoparticles was observed for mixed surfactant microemulsion of AOT and Arlacel 20 for few hours indicating the reaction kinetics is slowed down upon addition of Arlacel-20. Growth rate of silver nanoparticles was plotted by monitoring absorption coefficient ratio (ε416/ε475) as a function of time. AOT/heptane system showed slower growth rate as compared to AOT/decane and AOT/dodecane and also larger particle size. Presence of Arlacel-20 significantly decreases the growth rate in all three alkanes and this observation can be explained using the concept of rigidity of surfactant film at the oil/water interface. It is proposed that higher the interfacial viscosity, slower is the coalescence rate of nanodroplets in the microemulsion system, and hence slower the growth rate of particles and smaller is the final particle size.

Novel arrays of gold nanoparticles with sulfur containing fullerene nanoparticles were self-assembled through the formation of Au-S covalent bonds. Disulfide functional groups were introduced into C60 molecule by reacting propyl 2-aminoethyl disulfide with C60. The two dimensional(2D) arrays were formed at the interface of aqueous phase of gold particles and organic phase of fullerene particles as a blue transparent film. TEM images showed that the fullerene spacing between adjacent Au(~10 nm) particles was about 2.1±0.4 nm, which was consistent with the result of 2.18 nm by molecular molding calculations(MM+). The arrays were deposited on the top of pairs of gold electrodes to form 2D colloidal single electron devices. The electrode pairs were made by electron beam lithography techniques, and the separation between tips of the two electrodes in a pair was less then 100 nm. Transport measurements at low temperatures exhibited Coulomb-Blockade type current-voltage characteristics, the lower the temperature the more pronounced the Coulomb gap. Also, step-by-step method was used to assemble one-dimensional(1D) array of gold nanoparticles with fullerene derivative between two electrodes spaced with 15 nm. The Coulomb blockade behavior of 1D arrays was clearer than that of 2D arrays.

Two major challenges that exist in order to utilize nanoparticles as building blocks for microelectronic and photonic applications are presented. The first challenge is how to make uniform nanoparticles in industrial-scale. The second challenge is how to convert these nano-building blocks to application forms such as device structures or coatings. In this paper, materials and processing guidelines to provide the solutions for these challenges are described on the basis of (a) laser-driven chemical reaction processes to generate a versatile range of nanoparticles having extremely narrow size distributions, and (b) unique organic-inorganic nanocomposites using surface engineering over nanoparticles. As promising applications, direct deposition of nanoparticles and nanocomposites are discussed in conjunction with planar lightwave devices, photonic nanocomposites for the refractive index engineering, and planarization processes for electronic chips.

Safe, lightweight, and cost-effective materials are required to practically store hydrogen for use in portable fuel cell applications. Compressed hydrogen and on-board hydrocarbon reforming present certain advantages, but their limitations must ultimately render them insufficient. Storage in hydrides and adsorption systems show promise in models and experimentation, but a practical medium remains unavailable. To study hydrogen storage properties a new volumetric testing apparatus was designed and constructed. Adsorption conditions are evaluated up to pressures exceeding 250 bar and a broad range of temperatures. RF sputtering was used to introduce metals to carbon nanotubes with the aim to enhance hydrogen storage. Here we show a significant improvement in the gravimetric storage density over that of as-prepared single-wall nanotube samples that may be due to the unique interface introduced.

The discrete variational Xα method was introduced to elucidate the possible factors of luminescence enhancement of ZnS:Mn modified by poly acrylic acid. The effective charge calculation of Mn indicated that the ionicity of Mn and its first neighbors increase when Mn atom is located at the surface site rather than in the bulk, in accordance with the signals observed from EPR measurements. The bond order between Mn and S increased by the stronger exchange interaction when Mn was oxidized by coordination of carboxyl group rather than by adsorption of OH or a SH group. The bond order between Mn and O is higher for the same situation, which may attribute to the energy transfer from poly acrylic acid to ZnS:Mn. As a consequence, the symmetry of the d orbital decreased, judging from the contour maps of the molecular orbital. This relaxed the forbidden d-d transition of Mn2+ and resulted in the enhanced photo luminescence.

Carbon encapsulated magnetic Co nanoparticles have been synthesized by modified arc-discharge method. Both high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) and powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) profiles reveal the presence of 8-15nm diameter crystallites coated with 1-3 carbon layers. Specially, HREM images indicate that the intimate and contiguous carbon fringe around those Co nanoparticles is good evidence for complete encapsulation by carbon shell layers. The encapsulated phases are identified as hcp (α)-Co, fcc (β)-Co and cobalt carbide (Co3C) nanocrystals by using x-ray diffraction, electron diffraction and energy dispersive x-ray analysis. However, some fcc (β)-Co particles with a significant fraction of stacking faults are observed by HREM and confirmed by means of numerical Fourier transform (FFT) of HREM lattice images. In particular, the carbon encapsulation formation and growth mechanism are also reviewed.

In this paper we describe fabrication methods for two types of nanostructures, two- and three-dimensional arrays of gold nanoparticles. Large-scale and high-ordered monolayers of alkanethiol-encapsulated gold particles were fabricated by using Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) method. Three-dimensional nanoparticle arrays composed of gold nanoparticles of two different sizes, which were encapsulated by complementary thiol-capped DNA oligonucleotides, were fabricated by using DNA hybridization. DNA hybridization occurred upon mixing these particles, which resulted in the assembly of three-dimensional nanostructure of gold particles. Scanning electron microscopy observations and UV spectroscopy measurement were performed to confirm the construction of the nanostructures.

Electrochemical deposition of metals and alloys onto metallic substrates plays an important role in many modern technologies. Usually, a photolithographic patterning process is used to produce the desired feature on the substrate surface. An alternative method to patterned metal deposition on semiconductors is presented here: it is based on changing the electrochemical properties of the semiconductor by controlled surface defect creation. A focused ion beam (FIB) was used to introduce defects into p-Si, followed by a selective electrochemical reaction to produce metal structures in the sub-micrometer range.

In this work we study the selective deposition behavior of Cu on FIB sensitized surface locations and show that crystallite growth follows a three- dimensional growth law. Crystallites grow very rapidly in a first phase and reach a size of roughly 200nm after 5s. Factors determining nucleation, growth, and coalescence of metal clusters are identified and investigated.

Novel metallic capsules containing magnetite with given size in the sub-micron range have been produced. These nanocapsules are prepared in several steps through a colloidal templating approach. The first step is the synthesis of size-selected SiO2 nanospheres. The second step is coating the SiO2nanospheres by electroless deposition with gold, in order to form a porous gold shell around the silica. Electroless deposition is controlled by the concentration of gold in the coating solution. Subsequently, the core (SiO2) was removed to obtain gold capsules. The final step is the inclusion of magnetite nanoparticles inside these nanocapsules and recoating the capsules with gold in order to have continuous encapsulation. The nanocapsule and core-shell structure have been characterized by TEM and DSC

Laser Induced Solution Deposition (LISD) is essentially a laser chemical processing with similar mechanism of the counterpart – laser chemical vapor deposition (LCVD). It is a novel method for synthesizing nanocsale particles or thin films with the combined advantages of laser chemical vapor deposition and electroless chemical deposition in solution (electrolyte). It is simple and efficient, and it can produce high quality nanoparticles or patterned uniform thin films. In this paper the nanostructured Co/CoOx particles have been fabricated by LISD technique. We have characterized the deposited materials by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), the high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). We have found that the sizes of the deposited particles are smaller than 5 nm uniformly suspended in the solution used in the LISD deposition, and the sizes are smaller than 500 nm on the silicon substrates inserted in the deposited solution. The results by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) have indicated that there are Co peaks and O peaks, which meant there were oxygen contamination or the deposited products were cobalt oxide rather than pure cobalt nanoparticles. The X-ray diffraction has shown that we have obtained pure Co nanoparticles in some cases but we have obtained cobalt oxides in other cases, which mainly depended on the experimental conditions such as the selection of solvents and solutes as well as the selection of the lasers including the wavelength and the power of the laser beams. The studies of the magnetic properties, catalytic properties as well as their relationship of pure cobalt nanoparticles and cobalt oxide nanoparticles are in good progress and we will publish the useful results elsewhere.

Particles of BaSO4 with sizes in nano-scale and micro-scale ranges were investigated for their interactions with fibroblasts in order to determine the biocompatibility of nano-sized particles. Cells were incubated in the presence of particles at 1, 10 and 100 times the particle to cell surface area ratio and at a single concentration of 0.138 mg/ml. Production by the fibroblasts of an inflammatory cytokine in response to the particles was measured and the effect of particle size and volume on cell viability was examined. All particles were cell associated and some agglomeration was visible at all size ranges. Release of interleukin-6 by cells subjected to the same concentration of Ba SO4was similar to control levels, while addition of 1x surface area ratio (SAR) of particles to cells resulted in an increase in IL-6 from 94 pg/ml for 100 nm particles to 218 pg/ml with 2 μm particle diameter. By increasing particle to cell surface area ratios from 1× to 100x, cell viability was compromised for the 2μm particles but was not affected by the nanometer sized BaSO4 particles.

This paper presents new findings regarding the effects of precursor drop size and concentration on product particle size and morphology in ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. Large precursor drops (diameter >30 μm) generated by ultrasonic atomization at 120kHz yielded particles with holes. Precursor drops 6-9 μm in diameter, generated by an ultrasonic nebulizer at 1.65MHz and 23.5W electric drive power, yielded uniform spherical particles 150nm in diameter under proper control of heating rate and precursor concentration. Moreover, air-assisted ultrasonic spray pyrolysis at 120kHz and 2.3W yielded spherical particles of which nearly half were smaller than those produced by the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis of the 6-9 μm precursor drops, despite the much larger precursor drop sizes (28 μm peak diameter versus 7 μm mean diameter). These particles are much smaller than those predicted by the conventional one particle per drop mechanism, suggesting that a vapor condensation mechanism may also be involved in spray pyrolysis. It may be concluded that through this new mechanism air-assisted ultrasonic spray pyrolysis can become a viable process for mass production of nanoparticles.

SiO2 nanospheres have been produced via a high temperature evaporation process and they have been Ni or Ag plated using electroless plating solutions. These samples were examined by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Magnetic Resonance (MR). The initial SiO2 nanospheres were about 30 nm in diameter, and the Ni plating layer resulted in a 25nm thick metallic Ni coverage, while the Ag coverage was estimated to be in the 150 nm range. In the case of the Ni/SiO2 nanosphere composites, the MR signals show the presence of Ni+2 and Ni+3 paramagnetic centers, seen below 40K, and ferromagnetic metallic Ni, which is seen above 40K. The dried Ni plating solution (with no SiO2) shows only the presence of paramagnetic Ni+3. These results suggest that an interfacial reaction at the surface of the SiO2 nanospheres leads to the formation of ferromagnetic Ni, which deposits onto the spheres and forms a ferromagnetic Ni/SiO2 nanosphere composite. In the case of the Ag/SiO2 nanosphere composites, no MR signal is seen from the non-magnetic Ag, but strong paramagnetic behavior has been noted for Co+2, which originates from the plating solution.

Semiconductor nanocrystals are expected to play an important role in the development of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices, and have already shown promise in the area of biological reporters for medical screening and sensor applications. We have been involved in developing luminescent CdSe/ZnS core-shell nanocrystals (or quantum dots, QDs) for use in self-assembled structures and as fluorescent reporters in immunoassay-based biodetectors. As part of our efforts to bind semiconductor CdSe/ZnS quantum dots to antibody proteins for our immunoassay work, we functionalized the nanocrystal surfaces with a variety of organic acid salts to impart water solubility to the nanocrystals.

During the course of working with these derivatized, water-soluble quantum dots, we observed significant differences in their chemical reactivities and physical characteristics compared to those of underivatized CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals. One of the most striking differences observed is the reactivity of the derivatized and underivatized nanocrystals with stainless steel surfaces. The fluorescence of aqueous mixtures of our water-soluble nanocrystals is immediately quenched upon exposure of the mixtures to stainless steel (SS) surfaces or to chromium oxide, whereas underivatized quantum dots exhibit little or no reactivity at all. As has been reported by several other laboratories, the water-soluble nanocrystals also exhibit significantly lower quantum yields compared to the underivatized nanocrystals. We discuss the unusual reactivity exhibited by these nanocrystals, and suggest possible explanations for their interesting chemical behavior. We also describe methods to prevent the quenching of water-soluble derivatized quantum dots by stainless steel and metal oxides.

Nanoparticles of indium oxide, tin oxide and indium oxide doped with tin oxide (ITO) have been prepared by Chemical Vapor Synthesis, CVS (a modified CVD process), starting with In- (tmhd)3 as precursor. A modification of the CVS process using a novel radio-frequency reaction zone has been developed in order to avoid the rapid decomposition of the nanocrystalline indium oxide particles at high temperatures. These oxides are candidates for applications as transparent conducting oxides, catalysts and gas sensors. Structural characterization by high resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy and X-ray-diffraction has been used to determine the phase, grain size, grain size distribution and crystallinity of the nanoparticles. The specific surface area, and particle or agglomerate size of the powders have been measured by nitrogen sorption. Agglomerate sizes in aqueous dispersions have been determined by photon correlation spectroscopy. Zeta-potentials were measured. As well CVS powders exhibit a narrow size distribution with an average size of about 5 nm.

Multilayers consisting of two immiscible components (e.g. Fe/Ag Fe/Au or Ni/NiO) could by transformed by an annealing process into a nanostructured system of non statistically distributed nearly spherical particles in a surrounding matrix of the complementary component. The non statistical arrangement of the particles and the dynamics of the disintegration process strongly depend on the initial interface energy, i.e. the local interface curvature and the local interfacial stress. Detailed microstructure investigations of the different systems are used to interpret the measured transport properties.

Template-assisted metallic nanowires, or hollow nanotubes, were synthesized by controlled electrodeposition of a metal salt under a controlled ac frequency in an anodic alumina membrane (AAM). Homogeneous large dimension AAM (D=5cm) was prepared by a modified two step anodization, using a specially designed reaction vessel that holds the sample perpendicular during the anodization. A ripping process, i.e. applying an opposite current after the anodization, easily separated the AAM from the Al substrate. TEM, SEM, and AFM were used to investigate the AAM structure, pore density and size, and distribution. Large aspect ratio metallic nanoparticles were prepared in an AAM within hexagonally close packed (hcp) alumina nanochannels.