Thesis (Ph. D.)--Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Peter J. Hesketh, Committee Member ; Zhong Lin Wang, Committee Chair ; C.P. Wong, Committee Member ; Robert L. Snyder, Committee Member ; Christopher Summers, Committee Member.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Wang, Zhong Lin, Committee Chair ; Summers, Christopher J., Committee Co-Chair ; Wong, C. P., Committee Member ; Dupuis, Russell D., Committee Member ; Wagner, Brent, Committee Member

Semiconductor nanowires acts as an emerging class of materials with great potential for applications in future electronic devices. Small size, large surface to volume ratio and high carrier mobility of nanowires make them potentially useful for electronic applications with high integration density. In this thesis, the focus was on the growth of high quality ZnO nanowires, fabrication of field effect transistors and UV- photodetectros based on them. Intrinsic nanowire parameters such as carrier concentration, field effect mobility and resistivity were measured by configuring nanowires as field effect transistors. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a high gain UV photodetector. A single ZnO nanowire functioning as a UV photodetector showed promising results with an extremely high spectral responsivity of 120 kA/W at wavelength of 370 nm. This corresponds to high photoconductive gain of 2150. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest responsivity and gain reported so far, the previous values being responsivity=40 kA/W and gain=450. The enhanced photoconductive behavior is attributed to the presence of surface states that acts as hole traps which increase the life time of photogenerated electrons raising the photocurrent. This work provides the evidence of such solid states and preliminary results to modify the surface of ZnO nanowire is also produced.

Nanotechnology comprises of the understanding and control of materials and processes at the nanoscale. Among various nanostructured materials, semiconducting nanowires attract much interest for their novel physical properties and potential device applications. The unique properties of these nanowires are based on their high surface to volume ratio and quantum confinement effect. Zinc oxide, having a direct, wide bandgap and large exciton binding energy, is highly appealing for optoelectronic devices. Due to excellent optical and electrical properties, zinc oxide nanowires have been utilized to fabricate various devices such as solar cells, light emitting diodes, transistors and photodetectors. Furthermore, zinc oxide, in its natural state exhibits n-type conductivity. Addition of impurities often leads to remarkable changes in their electrical and optical properties, which open up new application areas. Among the many synthesis methods for zinc oxide nanowires, hydrothermal method is an attractive one due to its easy procedure, simple equipment and low temperature requirements. In this thesis, zinc oxide nanowires were grown and doped by hydrothermal method. Different metal dopants such as copper, silver and aluminum were used for this purpose. These metals were selected as dopants due to their effect on magnetic properties, p-type conduction and electrical conductivity of ZnO nanowires, respectively. Doped nanowires were fully characterized and the changes in their physical properties were investigated. In addition, hydrothermally synthesized pure and aluminum doped zinc oxide nanowires were used as the electrically active components in ultraviolet photodetectors. Silver nanowires were utilized as transparent electrodes. Optoelectronic properties of the detectors were examined. Effect of in-situ annealing and nanowire length was investigated. Short recovery time, around 4 seconds, with a decent on/off ratio of 2600 was obtained. This design provides a simple and cost effective approach for the fabrication of high performance ultraviolet photodetectors.

Submitted by Thais Silva do Amaral null (thais_rpss@yahoo.com) on 2016-06-03T19:14:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Thais Silva do Amaral-Dissertação.pdf: 3804617 bytes, checksum: 8083e47078da73695bac6f8aa62e3778 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-06-08T13:24:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 amaral_ts_me_araiq_par.pdf: 1221750 bytes, checksum: e72ea0e2cee4ebb7654b4a0d18d9289f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-08T13:24:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 amaral_ts_me_araiq_par.pdf: 1221750 bytes, checksum: e72ea0e2cee4ebb7654b4a0d18d9289f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-12 / Polímeros derivados do petróleo como polietileno tereftalato (PET) e polietileno naftalato (PEN), são utilizados em larga escala como substratos em diversos dispositivos eletrônicos. A crescente preocupação com o meio ambiente nos leva a buscar alternativas sustentáveis na utilização de materiais para fabricação de novas tecnologias. Neste trabalho, com o intuito de avaliar a viabilidade da substituição destes substratos por polímeros naturais, foi explorada uma biocelulose, a celulose bacteriana (CB), secretada por bactérias Acetobacter xylinum, que é um polímero de obtenção ―verde‖, não gerando resíduos ou altos impactos ambientais para ser produzida, além de possuir características desejáveis para ser utilizado como substrato em novos materiais, como resistência mecânica com módulo de Young de 134 GPa, tamanho nanométrico das fibras e transparência. Membranas funcionais foram obtidas pelo crescimento de nanofios de óxido de zinco na sua superfície. Os nanofios de ZnO foram obtidos com comprimento médio de 1,69 ± 0,08 μm e diâmetro de 37,2 ± 4,2 nm. Os materiais foram avaliados estruturalmente pela Difratometria de Raios-x (DRX) e Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão de Alta Resolução (HRTEM), e quimicamente utilizando Espectroscopia de Espalhamento Raman e Espectroscopia Vibracional na Região do Infravermelho (FT-IR). Também foram realizadas de medidas de Impedância Elétrica e Análise termogravimétrica (TG/DTG). Por fim os materiais foram testados em três diferentes aplicações: como membrana para fotodegradação de corantes, sensor piezoelétrico e substrato removível para obtenção de fios de ZnO não suportados que se mostraram aplicações viáveis para o material. / Petroleum-derived polymers such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN), are largely used as substrates in various electronic devices. The growing concern with the environment leads us to seek sustainable alternatives in the use of materials for the manufacture of new technologies. In this work, in order to assess the feasibility of replacing these substrates by natural polymers, bacterial cellulose (BC) was explored, secreted by bacteria Acetobacter xylinum is a ―green‖ polymer that don’t generate waste or high environmental impacts to be produced, and has desirable characteristics for use as new substrate materials, such as mechanical strength with Young's modulus of 134 Gpa, nano-sized fibers and transparency. Functional membranes were prepared by growing ZnO nanowires on the BC dried membranes surface. The obtained ZnO nanowires presented an average length of 1.69 ± 0.08 m and diameter of 37.2 ± 4.2 nm. Materials were evaluated structurally by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), chemically using Raman Scattering spectroscopy and Vibrational Spectroscopy in the Infrared Region (FT-IR). Electrical Impedance measurements and thermal gravimetric analysis (TG / DTG) were performed as well. Finally the materials were tested in three different applications: as a membrane for dyes photodegradation, piezoelectric sensor and removable substrate for obtaining unsupported ZnO nanowires that are viable applications for the material.

ZnO nanowires are a promising material with great semiconductor properties. ZnO nanowires were prepared by carbothermal reduction and vapor-liquid-solid growth mechanism. Altering a variety of parameters ranging from mole to mole ratio of ZnO to C all the way to gas flow rate was examined. The nanowires were then characterized and their morphology examined under a SEM to observe what effect the parameter had on the morphology of the nanowires. From the experiments and the parameters tested it was observed that in order to produce the highest quality straight nanowires one should use a mole to mole ratio of ZnO to C graphite of 1 to 3. With a dwell temperature and time of 900 °C for 3 hours. A gold seed catalyst of 4nm and a gas flow rate of 50 to 100sccm of Ar provides the straightest nanowires. Understanding the effect of each parameter on the morphology of ZnO nanowires is vital for the current research. This will only lead to further the research and provide a better understanding of the growth mechanism of these wires and how the production of specific wires with certain morphologic features and characteristics can be achieved.

Neste trabalho se realiza a síntese e caracterização de nanofios de óxido de zinco. Adicionalmente se apresenta o processo de montagem de um dispositivo para medidas elétricas deste material. Estuda-se complementarmente o efeito do tratamento de plasma sobre as propriedades de fotoluminescência do material. Nanofios foram sintetizados pelo mecanismo vapor-líquido-sólido (VLS), utilizando ouro como catalizador e safira c-plane como substrato. As amostras foram caracterizadas utilizando microscopia eletrônica de varredura, fotoluminescência a temperatura ambiente, difração de raios X, e microscopia eletrônica de transmissão. Os nanofios obtidos têm seção transversal com formato quase hexagonal, e larguras de aproximadamente 46 nm. O comprimento deles varia de 3 a 10 μm. Os resultados de difração de raios x e microscopia eletrônica de transmissão mostram que eles são monocristalinos com rede cristalina tipo wurtzita, e com direção de crescimento no eixo c. Foram estudados os efeitos da potência de plasma de oxigênio (O2) na fotoluminescência dos nanofios a temperatura ambiente. A diferença na fotoluminescência após diferentes tratamentos de plasma de O2 mostra que a razão entre a emissão da região do band gap e da banda do visível pode ser modificada pelo tratamento. Este efeito corrobora com a hipótese de que a banda verde de luminescência está relacionada às vacâncias de zinco. A variação percentual da razão entre as duas regiões apresenta uma dependência linear com a potência do plasma. / In this work, we performed the synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide nanowires. We also report an assembly process to measure the electrical properties of this material. We study the plasma treatment effect on the photoluminescence spectra of the nanowires. Nanowires were synthesized via vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, using gold as catalyst and c-plane sapphire as substrate. The samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, room temperature photoluminescence, x-rays diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Our nanowires show a quasi-hexagonal cross section, with diameters of approximately 46 nm. Their lengths ranged from 3 to 10 μm. Our results show monocrystalline wurtzite crystal nanowires with c growth direction. We also study the plasma power effect of oxygen (O2) plasma treatment on the room temperature photoluminescence spectra of the nanowires. Our results show that the deep level emission to near band emission ratio decreases with the plasma treatment. This effect supports the hypothesis that claims the green band luminescence is related to the oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the relative ratio change depends linearly on the plasma power.

Zinc oxide, with its direct wide bandgap and high exciton binding energy, is a promising material for optoelectronic devices. Quantum confinement effect and high surface to volume ratio of the nanowires imparts unique properties to them and makes them appealing for researchers. So far, zinc oxide nanowires have been used to fabricate various optoelectronic devices such as light emitting diodes, solar cells, sensors and photodetectors. To fabricate those optoelectronic devices, many different synthesis methods such as metal organic chemical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, pulsed laser deposition, electrodeposition and hydrothermal method have been explored. Among them, hydrothermal method is the most feasible one in terms of simplicity and low cost. In this thesis, hydrothermal method was chosen to synthesize zinc oxide nanowires. Synthesized zinc oxide nanowires were then used as electrically active components in light emitting diodes and ultraviolet photodetectors. Hybrid light emitting diodes, composed of inorganic/organic hybrids are appealing due to their flexibility, lightweight nature and low cost production methods. Beside the zinc oxide nanowires, complementary poly [2- methoxy -5- (2- ethylhexyloxy) - 1,4 -phenylenevinylene] MEH-PPV and poly (9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO) hole conducting polymers were used to fabricate hybrid light emitting diodes in this work. Optoelectronic properties of the fabricated light emitting diodes were investigated. Zinc oxide emits light within a wide range in the visible region due to its near band edge and deep level emissions. Utilizing this property, violet-white light emitting diodes were fabricated and characterized. Moreover, to take advantage over the responsivity of zinc oxide to ultraviolet light, ultraviolet photodetectors utilizing hydrothermally grown zinc oxide nanowires were fabricated. Single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) thin films were used as transparent electrodes for the photodetectors. Optoelectronic properties of the transparent and flexible devices were investigated. A high on-off current ratio around 260000 and low decay time about 16 seconds were obtained. Results obtained in this thesis reveal the great potential of the use of solution grown zinc oxide nanowires in various optoelectronic devices that are flexible and transparent.