RuO2 is a common active component of Dimensionally Stable Anodes (DSAs) for chlorine evolution that can be used in wastewater treatment systems. The recent improvement of chlorine evolution using nanostructures of RuO2 electrodes to increase the treatment efficiency and reduce the energy consumption of this process has received much attention. In this study, RuO2 nanorod and nanosheet electrodes were simply fabricated using the sol-gel method with organic surfactants as the templates. The obtained RuO2 nanorod and nanosheet electrodes exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activities for chlorine evolution possibly due to the active surface areas, especially the outer active surface areas, which are attributed to the increase in mass transfers compared with a conventional nanograin electrode. The electrocatalytic activities for chlorine evolution were increased up to 20 % in the case of the nanorod electrode and 35% in the case of the nanosheet electrode compared with the nanograin electrode. The RuO2 nanorod 80 nm in length and 20-30 nm in width and the RuO2 nanosheet 40-60 nm in length and 40 nm in width are formed on the surface of Ti substrates. These results support that the templated RuO2 nanorod and nanosheet electrodes are promising anode materials for chlorine evolution in future applications.
Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) were fabricated using solution-based ITO (Sn-doped In2O3) nanoinks with nanorods at an annealing temperature of 200 oC. In order to optimize their transparent conducting performance, ITO nanoinks were composed of ITO nanoparticles alone and the weight ratios of the nanorods to nanoparticles in the ITO nanoinks were adjusted to 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5. As a result, compared to the other TCOs, the ITO TCOs formed by the ITO nanoinks with weight ratio of 0.1 were found to exhibit outstanding transparent conducting performance in terms of sheet resistance (~102.3 Ω/square) and optical transmittance (~80.2%) at 550 nm; these excellent properties are due to the enhanced Hall mobility induced by the interconnection of the composite nanorods with the (440) planes of the short lattice distance in the TCOs, in which the presence of the nanorods can serve as a conducting pathway for electrons. Therefore, this resulting material can be proposed as a potential candidate for solution-based TCOs for use in optoelectronic devices requiring large-scale and low-cost processes.
In this work, we synthesize brilliant yellow color α-FeOOH by controlling the rod length and core-shell structure. The characteristics of α-FeOOH nanorods are controlled by the reaction conditions. In particular, the length of the α-FeOOH rods depends on the concentration of the raw materials, such as the alkali solution. The length of the nanorods is adjusted from 68 nm to 1435 nm. Their yellowness gradually increases, with the highest b* value of 57 based on the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) Lab system, by controlling the nanorod length. A high quality yellow color is obtained after formation of a silica coating on the α-FeOOH structure. The morphology and the coloration of the nal products are investigated in detail by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and the CIE Lab color parameter measurements.
Fe-based pigments have attracted much interest owing to their eco-friendliness. In particular, the color of nanosized pigments can be tuned by controlling their size and morphology. This study reports on the effect of length on the coloration of β-FeOOH pigments prepared using an NH4OH solution. First, rod-type β-FeOOH is prepared by the hydrolysis of FeCl3·6H2O and NH4OH. When the amount of NH4OH is increased, the length of the rods decreases. Thus, the length of the nanorods can be adjusted from 10 nm to 300 nm. The color of β-FeOOH changes from orangered to yellow depending on the length of β-FeOOH. The color and phase structure of β-FeOOH is characterized by UVvis spectroscopy, CIE Lab color parameter measurements, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD).
We report on the successful fabrication of ZnO nanorod (NR)/polystyrene (PS) nanosphere hybrid nanostructure by combining drop coating and hydrothermal methods. Especially, by adopting an atomic layer deposition method for seed layer formation, very uniform ZnO NR structure is grown on the complicated PS surfaces. By using zinc nitrate hexahydrate [Zn(NO3)2 ·6H2O] and hexamine [(CH2)6N4] as sources for Zn and O in hydrothermal process, hexagonal shaped single crystal ZnO NRs are synthesized without dissolution of PS in hydrothermal solution. X-ray diffraction results show that the ZnO NRs are grown along c-axis with single crystalline structure and there is no trace of impurities or unintentionally formed intermetallic compounds. Photoluminescence spectrum measured at room temperature for the ZnO NRs on flat Si and PS show typical two emission bands, which are corresponding to the band-edge and deep level emissions in ZnO crystal. Based on these structural and optical investigations, we confirm that the ZnO NRs can be grown well even on the complicated PS surface morphology to form the chestnut-shaped hybrid nanostructures for the energy generation and storage applications
We report on the succesful fabrication of ZnO nanorod (NR)-based robust piezoelectric nanogenerators(PNGs) by using Cu foil substrate. The ZnO NRs are successfully grown on the Cu foil substrate by using all solutionbased method, a two step hydrothermal synthesis. The ZnO NRs are grown along c-axis well with an average diameterof 75~80 nm and length of 1~1.5 µm. The ZnO NRs showed abnormal photoluminescence specrta which is attributedfrom surface plasmon resonance assistant enhancement at specific wavelength. The PNGs on the SUS substrates showtypical piezoelectric output performance which showing a frequency dependent voltage enhancement and polarity depen-dent charging and discharging characteristics. The output voltage range is 0.79~2.28 V with variation of input strain fre-quency of 1.8~3.9 Hz. The PNG on Cu foil shows reliable output performance even at the operation over 200 timeswithout showing degradation of output voltage. The current output from the PNG is 0.7 µA/cm2 which is a typical out-put range from the ZnO NR-based PNGs. These performance enhancement is attributed from the high flexibility, highelectrical conductivity and excellent heat dissipation properties of the Cu foil as a substrate.
Cobalt nano-rods were fabricated using a template-free electrochemical-deposition process. The structure of cobalt electro-deposits strongly depends on the electrolyte composition and on the density of the applied current. In particular, as the content of boric acid increased in the electrolyte, deposits of semi-spherical nuclei formed, and then grew into one-dimensional nano-rods. From analysis of the electro-deposits created under the conditions of continuous and pulsed current, it is suggested that the distribution of the active species around the electrode/electrolyte interface, and their transport, might be an important factor affecting the shape of the deposits. When transport of the active species was suppressed by lowering the deposition temperature, more of the well-defined nano-rod structures were obtained. The optimal conditions for the preparation of well-defined nano-rods were determined by observing the morphologies resulting from different deposition conditions. The maximum height of the cobalt nano-rods created in this work was 1μm and it had a diameter of 200 nm. Structural analysis proved that the nano-rods have preferred orientations of (111).
An effect of thermal annealing on activating phosphorus (P) atoms in ZnO nanorods (NR) grown using a hydrothermal process was investigated. NH4H2PO4 used as a dopant source reacted with Zn2+ ions and Zn3(PO4)2 sediment was produced in the solution. The fact that most of the input P elements are concentrated in the Zn3(PO4)2 sediment was confirmed using an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). After the hydrothermal process, ZnO NRs were synthesized and their PL peaks were exhibited at 405 and 500 nm because P atoms diffused to the ZnO crystal from the Zn3(PO4)2 particles. The solubility of the Zn3(PO4)2 initially formed sediment varied with the concentration of NH4OH. Before annealing, both the structural and the optical properties of the P-doped ZnO NR were changed by the variation of P doping concentration, which affected the ZnO lattice parameters. At low doping concentration of phosphorus in ZnO crystal, it was determined that a phosphorus atom substituted for a Zn site and interacted with two VZn, resulting in a PZn-2VZn complex, which is responsible for p-type conduction. After annealing, a shift of the PL peak was found to have occurred due to the unstable P doping state at high concentration of P, whereas at low concentration there was little shift of PL peak due to the stable P doping state.
ZnO nanorods were successfully fabricated on Zn foil by chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The ZnO precursor concentration and immersion time affected the surface morphologies, structure, and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorods. As the precursor concentration increased, the diameter of the ZnO nanorods increased from ca. 50 nm to ca. 150 nm. The thicknesses of the ZnO nanorods were from ca. 1.98μm to ca. 2.08μm. ZnO crystalline phases of (100), (002), and (101) planes of hexagonal wurtzite structure were confirmed by XRD measurement. The fabricated ZnO nanorods showed a photoluminescene property at 380 nm. Especially, the ZnO nanorods deposited for 6 h in solution with a concentration of 0.005M showed a stronger (101) peak than they did (100) or (002) peaks. In addition, these ZnO nanorods showed a good electrical property, with the lowest resistance among the four samples, because the nanorods were densely in contact and relatively without pores. Therefore, a ZnO nanorod substrate is useful as a highly sensitive biochip substrate to detect biomolecules using an electrochemical method.
ZnO nanorods for gas sensors were prepared by a hydrothermal method. The ZnO gas sensors were fabricated on alumina substrates by a screen printing method. The gas-sensing properties of the ZnO nanorods were investigated for CH4 gas. The effects of growth time on the structural and morphological properties of the ZnO nanorods were investigated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. The XRD patterns of the nanocrystallized ZnO nanorods showed a wurtzite structure with the (002) predominant orientation. The diameter and length of the ZnO nanorods increased in proportion to the growth time. The sensitivity of the ZnO sensors to 5 ppm CH4 gas was investigated for various growth times. The ZnO sensors exhibited good sensitivity and rapid response-recovery characteristics to CH4 gas, and both traits were dependent on the growth time. The highest sensitivity of the ZnO sensors to CH4 gas was observed with the growth time of 7 h. The response and recovery times were 13 s and 6 s, respectively.
Electrochemical deposition characteristics of CdSe nanorods were investigated for hybrid solar cell applications. CdSe nanorods were fabricated by electrochemical method in CdSO4 and H2SeO3 dissolved aqueous solution using an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. Uniformity of CdSe nanorods was dependent on the diameter and the height of holes in AAO. The current density, current mode, bath composition and temperature were controlled to obtain a 1:1 atomic composition of CdSe. CdSe nanorods deposited by direct-current method showed better uniformity compared to those deposited by purse-current and/or purse-reverse current methods due to the bottom-up filling characteristics. H2SeO3 concentration showed more significant effects on pH of solution and stoichiometry of deposits compared to that of CdSO4. A 1:1 stoichiometry of uniform CdSe nanorods was obtained from 0.25M CdSO4-5 mM H2SeO3 electrolytes with a direct current of 10 mA/cm2 at room temperature. X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction pattern investigations demonstrate that CdSe nanorods are a uniform cubic CdSe crystal.
ZnO nanorod gas sensors were prepared by an ultrasound radiation method and their gas sensing properties were investigated for NO gas. For this procedure, 0.01, 0.005 and 0.001M of zinc nitrate hydrate [Zn(NO3)2 · 6H2O] and hexamethyleneteramine [C6H12N4] aqueous solutions were prepared and then the solution was irradiated with high intensity ultrasound for 1 h. The lengths of ZnO nanorods ranged from 200 nm to 500 nm with diameters ranging from 40 nm to 80 nm. The size of the ZnO nanorods could be controlled by the concentration of solution. The sensing characteristics of these nanostructures were investigated for three kinds of sensor. The properties of the sensors were influenced by the morphology of the nanorods.