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Nanomaterials
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Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Electric Device Applications
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Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Electric Device Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2017) | Viewed by 25829

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Shinya Maenosono

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Guest Editor
School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
Interests: nanoparticles; nanocrystals; quantum dots; thermoelectrics; nanobiotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Semiconductor nanoparticles (also known as colloidal quantum dots) have attracted a great deal of attention over the past two decades or more due to their unique size-dependent physical properties, and are exploited as promising materials for a wide range of applications including biological/chemical sensors, bioimaging, optoelectronics, etc. In the early days, II-VI and III-V semiconductor nanoparticles were intensively studied. In recent years, nanoparticles of other semiconductors, such as IV-VI, IV, I-III-VI2 and I2-II-IV-VI4, have become readily available. With this background, many researchers have worked toward the development of electric and/or optoelectronic devices using various kinds of semiconductor nanoparticles.

This Special Issue of Nanomaterials will attempt to cover the recent advancements in the semiconductor nanoparticles for electric device applications, including photovoltaic devices, light emitting devices, thermoelectric devices, and quantum devices.

Prof. Dr. Shinya Maenosono
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • colloidal quantum dot

  • nanocrystal

  • quantum confinement effect

  • size-dependent property

  • energy discretization

  • band-gap tuning

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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7592 KiB  
Article
Strong Deep-Level-Emission Photoluminescence in NiO Nanoparticles
by Ashish Chhaganlal Gandhi and Sheng Yun Wu
Nanomaterials 2017, 7(8), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7080231 - 22 Aug 2017
Cited by 142 | Viewed by 7937
Abstract
Nickel oxide is one of the highly promising semiconducting materials, but its large band gap (3.7 to 4 eV) limits its use in practical applications. Here we report the effect of nickel/oxygen vacancies and interstitial defects on the near-band-edge (NBE) and deep-level-emission (DLE) [...] Read more.
Nickel oxide is one of the highly promising semiconducting materials, but its large band gap (3.7 to 4 eV) limits its use in practical applications. Here we report the effect of nickel/oxygen vacancies and interstitial defects on the near-band-edge (NBE) and deep-level-emission (DLE) in various sizes of nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles. The ultraviolet (UV) emission originated from excitonic recombination corresponding near-band-edge (NBE) transition of NiO, while deep-level-emission (DLE) in the visible region due to various structural defects such as oxygen vacancies and interstitial defects. We found that the NiO nanoparticles exhibit a strong green band emission around ~2.37 eV in all samples, covering 80% integrated intensity of PL spectra. This apparently anomalous phenomenon is attributed to photogenerated holes trapped in the deep level oxygen vacancy recombining with the electrons trapped in a shallow level located just below the conducting band. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Electric Device Applications)
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Graphical abstract

Graphical abstract
Full article ">Figure 1
<p>Two-dimensional electron density maps drawn (<b>a</b>) parallel to (100) and (<b>b</b>) (110) crystallographic planes of NiO nanoparticles with size ranging from 16.6 ± 0.7 nm to 54 ± 6 nm (left to right), respectively.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>(<b>a</b>) Plot of the particle size dependence of the Ni–O bond length and (<b>b</b>) electron charge density <span class="html-italic">ρ<sub>e</sub></span> at the critical point of Ni–O; (<b>c</b>) a plot of the one-dimensional charge density profile drawn between the Ni and O atoms at various annealing temperatures.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>(<b>a</b>–<b>e</b>) Plots of typical EDS spectra taken from various NiO samples; (<b>f</b>) the Ni/O atomic percentage ratio with respect to annealing temperature obtained using EDS.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>(<b>a</b>) Crystallite size dependency of room-temperature PL spectra, revealing narrow band gap emission extending from the UV to the visible region, where the solid line represents fitted PL spectra using Voigt function; (<b>b</b>) demonstrating various PL emission components that originated due to electronic transition between different defect levels and band edge of NiO nanoparticles. Crystallite nanoparticle size dependencies of (<b>c</b>) intensity of UV emission (<b>d</b>) band gap energy E<sub>g</sub>. The solid lines represent a linear fit to the intensity data and an exponential fit to the emission energy, respectively.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>(<b>a</b>) Plot of crystallite size dependence of integrated intensity of the UV, violet, violet-blue, green, and yellow emission band, respectively; (<b>b</b>) the CIE chromaticity diagram of NiO nanoparticles.</p> Full article ">
6771 KiB  
Article
Improving Visible Light-Absorptivity and Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency of a TiO2 Nanotube Anode Film by Sensitization with Bi2O3 Nanoparticles
by Menglei Chang, Huawen Hu, Yuyuan Zhang, Dongchu Chen, Liangpeng Wu and Xinjun Li
Nanomaterials 2017, 7(5), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano7050104 - 9 May 2017
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5674
Abstract
This study presents a novel visible light-active TiO2 nanotube anode film by sensitization with Bi2O3 nanoparticles. The uniform incorporation of Bi2O3 contributes to largely enhancing the solar light absorption and photoelectric conversion efficiency of TiO2 [...] Read more.
This study presents a novel visible light-active TiO2 nanotube anode film by sensitization with Bi2O3 nanoparticles. The uniform incorporation of Bi2O3 contributes to largely enhancing the solar light absorption and photoelectric conversion efficiency of TiO2 nanotubes. Due to the energy level difference between Bi2O3 and TiO2, the built-in electric field is suggested to be formed in the Bi2O3 sensitized TiO2 hybrid, which effectively separates the photo-generated electron-hole pairs and hence improves the photocatalytic activity. It is also found that the photoelectric conversion efficiency of Bi2O3 sensitized TiO2 nanotubes is not in direct proportion with the content of the sensitizer, Bi2O3, which should be carefully controlled to realize excellent photoelectrical properties. With a narrower energy band gap relative to TiO2, the sensitizer Bi2O3 can efficiently harvest the solar energy to generate electrons and holes, while TiO2 collects and transports the charge carriers. The new-type visible light-sensitive photocatalyst presented in this paper will shed light on sensitizing many other wide-band-gap semiconductors for improving solar photocatalysis, and on understanding the visible light-driven photocatalysis through narrow-band-gap semiconductor coupling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Electric Device Applications)
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Graphical abstract

Graphical abstract
Full article ">Figure 1
<p>EDX spectrum of the typical sample, 0.05BiTNT, together with the quantification results presented as insets.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Schematic diagram of the Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> sensitized TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotubes solar cell.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>BSE and EDX mapping images of 0.05BiTNT (bottom row) and a simple mixture of TiO<sub>2</sub> and Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (top row).</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>TEM and HRTEM images of the prepared samples. (<b>a</b>,<b>b</b>) Neat TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotubes; (<b>c</b>–<b>f</b>) Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-sensitized TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotubes. The detailed structural features are highlighted with red circles and lines in (<b>f</b>).</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>XRD patterns of a FTO glass and all the film samples deposited on the FTO glass, including a series of Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> sensitized TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotubes and the simple mixture of TiO<sub>2</sub> nanotubes and Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>. The standard PDF cards of anatase TiO<sub>2</sub> (No. 89-4921) and Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (No. 74-2351) are also shown.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>UV-Vis DRS of all the prepared samples.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>XPS studies of TNT and 0.05BiTNT; full XPS spectra (<b>a</b>); and high-resolution XPS spectra of Bi 4f (<b>b</b>); Ti 2p (<b>c</b>); and O 1s (<b>d</b>) regions.</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>IV curves of a series of Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> sensitized TiO<sub>2</sub>-based solar cells, as well as a simple mixture of Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and TiO<sub>2</sub>-based solar cell.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>PV curves of a series of Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> sensitized TiO<sub>2</sub>-based solar cells, as well as a simple mixture of Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> and TiO<sub>2</sub>-based solar cell.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>IPCE spectrum of the 0.05BiTNT-based solar cell, as captured at the incident wavelengths ranging from 400 to 600 nm.</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>Photocatalysis mechanism of sensitizing TiO<sub>2</sub> by Bi<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>.</p> Full article ">
2452 KiB  
Article
The Change of Electronic Transport Behaviors by P and B Doping in Nano-Crystalline Silicon Films with Very High Conductivities
by Dan Shan, Mingqing Qian, Yang Ji, Xiaofan Jiang, Jun Xu and Kunji Chen
Nanomaterials 2016, 6(12), 233; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano6120233 - 3 Dec 2016
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5057
Abstract
Nano-crystalline Si films with high conductivities are highly desired in order to develop the new generation of nano-devices. Here, we first demonstrate that the grain boundaries played an important role in the carrier transport process in un-doped nano-crystalline Si films as revealed by [...] Read more.
Nano-crystalline Si films with high conductivities are highly desired in order to develop the new generation of nano-devices. Here, we first demonstrate that the grain boundaries played an important role in the carrier transport process in un-doped nano-crystalline Si films as revealed by the temperature-dependent Hall measurements. The potential barrier height can be well estimated from the experimental results, which is in good agreement with the proposed model. Then, by introducing P and B doping, it is found that the scattering of grain boundaries can be significantly suppressed and the Hall mobility is monotonously decreased with the temperature both in P- and B-doped nano-crystalline Si films, which can be attributed to the trapping of P and B dopants in the grain boundary regions to reduce the barriers. Consequently, a room temperature conductivity as high as 1.58 × 103 S/cm and 4 × 102 S/cm is achieved for the P-doped and B-doped samples, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Electric Device Applications)
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Figure 1

Figure 1
<p>Raman spectra of un-doped nano-crystalline Si (nc-Si) film, P- and B-doped films with <span class="html-italic">F</span><sub>P</sub> = <span class="html-italic">F</span><sub>B</sub> = 5 sccm.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of (<b>a</b>) the un-doped nc-Si film; and (<b>b</b>) P-doped nc-Si film; and (<b>c</b>) B-doped nc-Si film.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra of doped nc-Si films: (<b>a</b>) P-doped samples with different <span class="html-italic">F</span><sub>P</sub>; and (<b>b</b>) B-doped samples with different <span class="html-italic">F</span><sub>B</sub>.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Temperature-dependent conductivities of nc-Si films with and without doping.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>The Hall mobility as a function of the reciprocal temperature for the un-doped nc-Si film.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Schematic energy band diagram of the nc-Si films constituted by nano-crystalline phases and potential barrier caused by grain boundaries.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>The Hall mobility, <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mi mathvariant="sans-serif">μ</mi> <mi mathvariant="normal">H</mi> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math>, as a function of temperature for the P- and B-doped samples. The lines represent least-squares fits to <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mi mathvariant="sans-serif">μ</mi> <mi mathvariant="normal">H</mi> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> (<span class="html-italic">T</span>) ∝ <span class="html-italic">T<sup>n</sup></span>.</p> Full article ">
6669 KiB  
Article
Influence of External Gaseous Environments on the Electrical Properties of ZnO Nanostructures Obtained by a Hydrothermal Method
by Marcin Procek, Tadeusz Pustelny and Agnieszka Stolarczyk
Nanomaterials 2016, 6(12), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano6120227 - 29 Nov 2016
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 5253
Abstract
This paper deals with experimental investigations of ZnO nanostructures, consisting of a mixture of nanoparticles and nanowires, obtained by the chemical (hydrothermal) method. The influences of both oxidizing (NO2) and reducing gases (H2, NH3), as well as [...] Read more.
This paper deals with experimental investigations of ZnO nanostructures, consisting of a mixture of nanoparticles and nanowires, obtained by the chemical (hydrothermal) method. The influences of both oxidizing (NO2) and reducing gases (H2, NH3), as well as relative humidity (RH) on the physical and chemical properties of ZnO nanostructures were tested. Carrier gas effect on the structure interaction with gases was also tested; experiments were conducted in air and nitrogen (N2) atmospheres. The effect of investigated gases on the resistance of the ZnO nanostructures was tested over a wide range of concentrations at room temperature (RT) and at 200 °C. The impact of near- ultraviolet (UV) excitation (λ = 390 nm) at RT was also studied. These investigations indicated a high response of ZnO nanostructures to small concentrations of NO2. The structure responses to 1 ppm of NO2 amounted to about: 600% in N2/230% in air at 200 °C (in dark conditions) and 430% in N2/340% in air at RT (with UV excitation). The response of the structure to the effect of NO2 at 200 °C is more than 105 times greater than the response to NH3, and more than 106 times greater than that to H2 in the relation of 1 ppm. Thus the selectivity of the structure for NO2 is very good. What is more, the selectivity to NO2 at RT with UV excitation increases in comparison at elevated temperature. This paper presents a great potential for practical applications of ZnO nanostructures (including nanoparticles) in resistive NO2 sensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Electric Device Applications)
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Graphical abstract

Graphical abstract
Full article ">Figure 1
<p>Scheme of (<b>a</b>) the measurement stand and (<b>b</b>) the measurement chamber.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) image of the ZnO nanostructures (magnification 20,000× and 50,000×).</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns of ZnO nanostructures (λ = 0.179 nm).</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Raman spectrum of ZnO nanostructures.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the distribution of ZnO nanostructures on the interdigital transducer.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>The dependence of the resistance of ZnO nanostructures on the wavelength.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>Dependence of the resistance of the structure based on ZnO nanoparticles on temperature in: synthetic air and in nitrogen (gas flow = 500 mL/min., <span class="html-italic">RH</span> = 6%).</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>The reaction of ZnO nanostructures to NO<sub>2</sub> in the atmospheres of synthetic air and nitrogen at: (<b>a</b>) RT; (<b>b</b>) elevated temperature of 200 °C.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>The response of the ZnO nanostructures to the effect of NO<sub>2</sub> and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in atmospheres of air and nitrogen at RT.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>Reaction of the ZnO nanostructures with H<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere of synthetic air and nitrogen at: (<b>a</b>) RT; (<b>b</b>) temperature of 200 °C.</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>Response of the ZnO nanostructures to H<sub>2</sub> and at UV irradiation under atmospheres of air and nitrogen at RT.</p> Full article ">Figure 12
<p>Reactions of the ZnO nanostructures with NH<sub>3</sub> in air and nitrogen atmospheres at: (<b>a</b>) RT; (<b>b</b>) 200 °C.</p> Full article ">Figure 13
<p>The response of the ZnO nanostructures to NH<sub>3</sub> under continuous UV irradiation under atmospheres of air and nitrogen at RT (23 °C).</p> Full article ">Figure 14
<p>Reaction of the ZnO nanostructures to changes of the relative humidity (RH) level under atmospheres of nitrogen and air at: (<b>a</b>) RT; (<b>b</b>) 200 °C.</p> Full article ">Figure 15
<p>Responses of the ZnO nanostructures to RH changes under UV irradiation under atmospheres of air and nitrogen at RT (23 °C).</p> Full article ">Figure 16
<p>Comparison of the sensitivity of ZnO nanostructures to the action of selected gases.</p> Full article ">
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