The present work reports a study of the effects of the compositions, and various catalytic additives and nanostructuring by high-energy ball milling, on the hydrogen storage properties of LiBH4, NaBH4, LiNH2 and LiAlH4 complex hydrides and their composites. The composites of (NaBH4+2Mg(OH)2) and (LiBH4+2Mg(OH)2) without and with nanometric nickel (n-Ni) added as a potential catalyst were synthesized by ball milling. The effect of the addition of 5 wt.% nanometric Ni on the dehydrogenation behavior of both the NaBH4-and LiBH4-based composites is rather negligible. In the (LiNH2+nMgH2) system, the phase transformations occurring as a function of the ball milling energy injected into the hydride system (LiNH2+nMgH2), having molar ratios n=0.5 to 2.0, have been thoroughly studied. The milling energy is estimated by a semi-empirical method. The results show that for the molar ratios n<1.0 three new phases such as LiH, amorphous Mg(NH2)2 (a-Mg(NH2)2) and Li2Mg(NH)2 are formed during ball milling depending on the injected energy. For the molar ratios n≥1.0 the new phase of MgNH forms whose formation is accompanied by a profound release of hydrogen. Addition of 5 %wt. KH can improve desorption rate of the LiNH2+0.5 MgH2 system. Furthermore this hydride system can be nearly fully rehydrogenated at 200°C and 50 bar H2 pressure. LiAlH4 containing 5 wt.% of nanometric Fe and Ni shows a profound mechanical dehydrogenation by continuously desorbing hydrogen (H2) during ball milling. X-ray diffraction studies show that Fe and Ni ions dissolve in the lattice, replacing the Al ions and forming a substitutional solid solution. Both Fe and Ni decrease the activation energies of stage I and II , but stage I is more sensitive to the particle size . The addition of 5 wt.% nano-size “interstitial compound” (n-TiC, n-TiN and n-ZrC) shows a continuous desorption of H2 is observed during high energy milling. Mechanical dehydrogenation rate of the doped samples increases noticeably during high-energy ball milling in the order of TiN > TiC > ZrC. The interstitial compound additives are able to strongly reduce the activation energy of Stage II dehydrogenation but do not substantially affect the apparent activation energy of Stage I .

No description available.

Les interactions entre les électrons et les photons sont au cœur des recherches liées à l'information quantique, nées en particulier d'échanges croissants entre deux domaines de la physique : l'opto-électronique, qui s'intéresse aux dispositifs d'émission, de détection et de conversion de lumière à base de matériaux semiconducteurs, et l'optique quantique, historiquement centrée sur l'étude des interactions entre atome et rayonnement électromagnétique. Dans ce mémoire, nous explorons les configurations originales de couplage entre les excitations électroniques (les excitons) et les modes photoniques façonnés au sein de nanostructures semiconductrices. Ces travaux ont été développés sur les matériaux semiconducteurs " à grand gap ", GaN et ZnO, dont les excitons sont robustes jusqu'à température ambiante et les propriétés quantiques d'interaction avec la lumière sont les plus fortes parmi les matériaux semiconducteurs. Le premier chapitre est consacrée à l'étude de l'exciton confiné dans une boîte quantique unique GaN. Dans le second chapitre, nous discuterons l'insertion de telles boîtes quantiques dans des cavités photoniques destinées à réaliser des nanolasers à boîtes quantiques. Enfin, dans le troisième chapitre consacré aux microcavités planaires à base de ZnO, nous montrons comment les polaritons, particules hybrides exciton-photon, forment à forte densité des condensats de Bose (des états macroscopiques cohérents) appelés lasers à polaritons, jusqu'à température ambiante. Les perspectives de développement d'optique quantique en cavité dans ces nouveaux systèmes sont enfin présentées.

La thèse a porté sur l'étude par spectroscopie magnéto-optique de boites quantiques magnétiques et de nanofils semiconducteurs. Ces nanostructures à base de semiconducteurs magnétiques dilués sont élaborées et étudiées dans l'équipe depuis une quinzaine d'année. L'intérêt de ces structures repose sur la possibilité de contrôler et d'étudier très finement le couplage d'un petit nombre de spins localisés avec des porteurs libres. La première partie de la présente thèse a porté sur l'étude des conditions de formation de polarons magnétiques (orientation d'un petit ensemble de spins par l'intermédiaire d'un porteur ou d'une paire électron-trou) dans des boites quantiques CdMnTe. La formation de polarons magnétiques encore assez mal comprise avec les systèmes 0D tels que les boites quantiques auto-assemblées. Une série d'échantillons originaux de boites quantiques magnétiques auto-assemblées (concentration en manganèse intermédiaires) a été élaborée par épitaxie par jets moléculaires dans l'équipe. L'étude de ces échantillons pendant la thèse a permis d'étudier pour la première fois la formation de polarons magnétiques avec des boites quantiques magnétiques chargées négativement par spectroscopie magnéto-optique. La deuxième partie de la présente thèse a porté sur l'étude de nanofils semiconducteurs de boites quantiques insérées en nanofils. Ce projet vise à insérer et étudier des boites quantiques magnétiques dans des nanofils semiconducteurs (ANR Magwires).

A variety of nanostructures of tin (IV) oxide (TO) are synthesized using two fabrication methods: a solution spin-coating method followed by post-annealing in an oxygen flow and a newly developed catalyst-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The spin-coating method is used to fabricate granular TO films with monodisperse, stable, ultra-small nanocrystallites (4-5 nm in size), the size of which is found to increase exponentially with post-anneal above 500??C. These nanocrystalline films are conductive and highly transparent, and their bandgap shows broadening due to a high carrier concentration. Their resistivity behavior as a function of temperature in the 50-280 K range can be explained by a two-medium transport model, i.e. transport through the crystalline grains and across the grain boundaries, and through the charge-depletion layer, where a potential barrier is found for transport across the grain boundaries. Electronic transport in these films follows a 3D-variable range hopping model, which reveals an increase in the localization length of carriers with increasing the TAnneal above the onset of exponential growth at TAnneal= 500??C. By homogenously doping Eu3+ in these nanocrystalline films up to a high doping level of ~ 8%, optical luminescence and magnetic orderings can be introduced into these nanocrystalline TO films. Both characteristic Eu3+ emission and defect-related TO emissions are observed in the otherwise transparent TO films upon UV-excitation. In spite of the non-magnetic nature of Eu3+ ions, magnetic orderings appear in the highly doped TO films below 50 K upon the emergence of Eu2Sn2O7 phase. In the second part of this work, we employ a layer of gold nanoislands with controlled sizes (10-50 nm) as catalysts for pulsed laser deposition of TO nanostructures. Highly crystalline TO nanobricks, cuboid nanoparticles, nanowires and nanobelts are obtained for the first time through vapour-solid or vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanisms. Of particular interest are the micron long one-dimensional (1D) nanowires and nanobelts, with the smallest square and rectangular cross-sections, respectively, ever reported. These single-crystalline nanostructures are obtained at relatively low temperatures of 600??C, for nanowires, and 500??C, for nanobelts, and their cross-sectional sizes can be easily controlled by the size of the gold nanoislands. The nanobelts are found to grow along the [100] and [101] axes, while the nanowires appear to grow along the [100] axis. The growth evolution of the nanobelts are also investigated in detail revealing their VLS growth mode and their single-crystalline structure throughout the growth, which opens the prospect of controlling their growth axis and consequently their side-surface planes by pinning the base to the substrate at the desired crystalline orientation. Together, the two fabrication methods developed in the present work offer facile approaches to growing two scientifically and technologically important classes of TO nanostructures, i.e., nanocrystalline film and 1D nanostructures. Thorough characterization of the resulted nanostructured materials using advanced microscopic, spectroscopic and other techniques, including Helium Ion Microscopy, has been provided. Modification of structure, morphology and physical properties of these functional nanostructured materials are also illustrated by controlling the growth parameters and by (Eu-)doping, which pave the way for introducing new properties for applications in chemical sensing, (opto)electronics and displays.

Current electrochemical energy storage systems are not sufficient to meet ever-rising energy storage requirements of emerging technologies. Hence, development of alternative electrode materials is inevitable. This thesis aims to establish novel electrode materials demonstrating both high energy and power density with prolonged cycle life derived from fundamental understandings on electrochemical reactions of chalcogens, such as sulfur (S) and selenium (Se). First, the effects of the pore size distribution, pore volume and specific surface area of porous carbons on the temperature-dependent electrochemical performance of S-infiltrated carbon cathodes in electrolytes having different salt concentrations are investigated. Additionally, the carbide derived carbon (CDC) synthesis temperature, electrolyte composition, and electrochemical S utilization have been correlated. The effects of thin Li-ion permeable but polysulfide non-permeable Al2O3 layer coating on the surface of S infiltrated carbon cathode are also examined. Similar with S studies, Se infiltrated ordered meso- and microporous CDC composites are prepared and the correlations between pore structure designing and electrolyte molarity are explored. Finally, this thesis demonstrates a simple process to form a protective solid electrolyte layer on the Se cathode surface in-situ. This technique adopts fluoroethylene carbonate to convert into a layer that remains permeable to Li ions, but prevents transport of polyselenides. As a whole, the correlations of multiple cell parameters, such as the cathode structure, the electrolyte composition, and operating temperature on the performances of lithium-chalcogen batteries are discussed.

Nanotechnology and nanoscience are experiencing rapid development in the last decade. Intensive research has been carried out on nanostructures synthesis and nanodevices fabrication. Due to its small size, a nanodevice usually requires an extremely small power to operate. However, to make the novel nanodevice work, an external power source is normally needed, which can either be a battery or a power source, thus, the size of the battery is usually much larger than that of the device and its life time is limited. It is highly desired to have a nanoscale size power source that harvests its energy from the environment so that it works independently and wirelessly to provide power to the nanodevices. This dissertation provides a solid solution to this dilemma based on nanotechnology. Starting from the synthesis of well aligned ZnO nanowire arrays on different substrates, an innovative method is presented first to measure the mechanical property of the as-synthesized ZnO nanowire arrays by using AFM without destroying and manipulating the sample. This technique is then extended to converte mechanical energy into electricity by scanning the nanowire arrays using a AFM tip in contact mode. Due to the unique semiconducting and piezoelectric dual properties of ZnO, mechanical energy is converted into electricity and is effectively output. This is the invention of the piezoelectric nanogenerator. Then, by replacing AFM tips using a zigzag top electrode, the first prototype direct-cirrent nanogenerator driven by ultrasonic wave has been fabricated. Further investigations have also been carried out about the effect of ZnO carrier density on the output power, and the power generating property of oligomer functionalized ZnO nanowires. This desertation established the fundamental mechanism for the nanogenerator, and it provides a new path towards self-powered nanosystems, which has key applications in in-vivo biosensing, MEMS, environmental mornitoring, defence technology and even personal electronics.

Thesis (PhDApSc)--University of South Australia, 2002.

In this thesis we describe the development of a real-space implementation of the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) and use it in conjunction with a semi-empirical tight-binding model to investigate the optoelectronic properties of colloidal quantum- confined nanostructures. This novel implementation exploits the limited radial extent and small size of the atomic orbital basis to treat finite systems containing up to &Tilde;4000 atoms in a fully many-body framework. In the first part of this thesis our tight-binding model is initially benchmarked on zincblende CdSe nanocrystals, before subsequently being used to investigate the electronic states of zincblende CdSe nanoplatelets as a function of thickness. The band-edge electronic states are found to show minimal variation for a range of thicknesses and the results of our tight-binding model show good agreement with those predicted using a 14-band k·p model for a nanoplatelet of 4 monolayers (ML) in thickness. Optical absorption spectra were also computed in the independent-particle approximation. While the results of the tight-binding model show good agreement with those of the 14-band k·p model in the low-energy region of the spectrum, agreement with experiment was poor. This reflects the need for a many-body treatment of optical absorption in nanoplatelet systems. In the second part of this thesis we apply our tight-binding plus BSE model to study the excitonic properties of CdSe nanocrystals and nanoplatelets. Simulations performed on CdSe nanocrystals examined an approximation of the BSE equivalent to configuration interaction singles (CIS), and found that both the optical gap and the low-energy spectral features were unaffected by the approximation. A comparison of exciton binding energies with those predicted by CIS demonstrates the sensitivity of results to the exact treatment of dielectric screening and the decision of whether or not to screen exchange. Our model predicts optical gaps that are in strong agreement with average experimental data for all but the smallest diameters, but was not able to reproduce low-energy spectral features that were fully consistent with experiment. This was attributed to the absence of the spin-orbit interaction in the model. Simulations performed on CdSe nanoplatelets investigate the optical gaps and exciton binding energies as a function of thickness. Exciton binding energies were found to reach &Tilde;200 meV for the thinnest system, however, optical gaps were slightly overestimated in comparison to experiment. This is attributed to the reduced lateral dimensions used in our simulations and our bulk treatment of dielectric screening. A two-dimensional treatment of dielectric screening is expected to further increase binding energies. Calculations of the excitonic absorption spectrum reproduce the characteristic spectral features observed in experiment, and show strong agreement with the spectra of nanoplatelets, with thicknesses ranging from 3 ML to 5 ML.

Les oxydes simple ou double de métaux de transition (OMTs) sont des matériaux prometteurs pour les applications en tant qu’électrode dans des pseudo supercondensateurs ou des supercondensateur redox car ils peuvent présenter un gain de densité d’énergie résultant des réactions redox.Ce mémoire de thèse a pour but l’étude et l’optimisation du comportement électrochimique d’électrodes d’ oxydes simple de manganèse ainsi que le développement de nouvelles électrodes à base d’oxydes doubles (OMTs) conçues pour le stockage d’énergie dans les supercondensateurs redox , grâce au dépôt de ces matériaux actifs sur un collecteur de courant en acier inoxydable par électrodéposition ce qui représente une technique flexible et peu couteuse.Afin d’étudier ces électrodes, leurs propriétés physico-chemique ont été caractérisées par microscopie électronique (SEM/TEM), spectroscopie X à dispersion d’énergie (EDX), par diffraction X (XRD), par spectroscopies Raman & Infrarrougee (FTIR), par microsopie à force atomique (AFM) et par magnétométrie SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device). Leurs propriétés electrochimique ont été caractérisées par voltamperométrie cyclique et chronopotentiométrie.Les résultats détaillent la croissance et les caractérisations physico-chimique et électrochimique de plusieurs oxydes TMOS (TM=Mn, Mn-Co, Ni-Mn) ainsi que d’hydroxydes de Ni-Co préparés par électrodéposition. Le contrôle de la morphologie et de l’architecture des électrodes, en vue de créer des surfaces ayant des grandes surfaces actives, est le paramètre clé pour augmenter la performance du pseudo-condensateur. Dans le détail, le travail de recherche a contribué au développement de nouveau matériaux pour des électrodes à base d’oxyde (et hydroxydes) pour les supercondensateurs redox par: (i) la mise en œuvre de nouvelles électrodes avec des bonnes performances pseudocapacitive pour des supercondesateurs (Mn oxydes, Ni-Mn oxydes, Ni-Co hydroxydes), (ii) la pleine compréhension de l’effet du recuit sur la transformation de l’hydroxyde préparés par électrodéposition en oxyde et de la corrélation résultante avec les propriétés électrochimiques pour des électrodes à base d’oxyde Mn-Co, (iii) la description détaillée du mécanisme de croissance de films d’ oxyde de Mn préparés par électrodéposition à partir d’électrolytes à base de nitrates, (iv) la mise en évidence d’une méthode prometteuse de mise en forme et contrôle de la morphologie de surface d’oxydes mixtes préparés par électrodéposition et ce à travers le contrôle de la croissance d’oxyde simples , (v) la compréhension du mécanisme de nucléation des hydroxydes préparés par électrodéposition (Ni-Co hydroxydes). Les résultats de ce mémoire de thèse vont au delà de l’état de l’art et apportent des faits marquants pour l’avancée du développement de nouveaux matériaux pour électrodes dans des supercondensateurs redox. / Transition metal oxides (TMOs) and double TMOs are promising materials for application as electrodes in pseudo supercapacitors or redox supercapacitors because they can exhibit increased energy density resulted from redox reactions.This PhD dissertation aims at studying and improving the electrochemical behavior of single TMOs - manganese oxides and at developing new double TMOs electrodes tailored for energy storage in redox supercapacitors, by depositing the active materials directly on stainless steel current collector via a flexible and costless electrodeposition route.To study these electrodes for supercapacitors, their physic-chemical properties were characterized by scanning/transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman & Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). Their electrochemical properties were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry.The results have detailed the growing, physic-chemical and electrochemical characterizations of Mn oxides, Mn-Co oxides, Ni-Mn oxides and Ni-Co hydroxides prepared by electrodeposition. Tailoring the morphology and architecture these electrodes and creating surfaces exhibiting high surface area are key parameters for enhanced pseudocapacitive performance. In detail, the research work contributed to the development of novel oxide (and hydroxides) materials for redox supercapacitors by: (i) providing novel electrodes with good pseudocapacitive performance for supercapacitors (Mn oxides, Ni-Mn oxides, Ni-Co hydroxides), (ii) fully understanding the effect of annealing on the transformation from electrodeposited mixed hydroxides to mixed oxide and their correlation with electrochemical properties for the Mn-Co oxide – based electrodes, (iii) detailing the growing mechanisms of Mn oxide films electrodeposited from nitrate based electrolyte, (iv) revealing a promising way of tailoring surface morphology of electrodeposited mixed oxides by controlling the growth of single oxides, (v) understanding the nucleation mechanism of hydroxides prepared by electrodeposition (Ni-Co hydroxides).Thus, the results of this PhD dissertation go beyond the state-of-the-art and provided valuable highlights to advance the development of novel electrode materials for redox supercapacitors.