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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.

Orientador: Valdecir Farias Ximenes / O Programa de Pós Gaduação em Ciência e Tecnologia de Materiais, PosMat, tem caráter institucional e integra as atividades de pesquisa em materiais de diversos campi / Resumo: O óxido de zinco (ZnO) é um semicondutor muito utilizado na área tecnológica, principalmente em dispositivos fotovoltaicos e mais recentemente, vem sendo utilizado em aplicações biomédicas. Porém, citotóxicos, principalmente quando em tramanho nanométrico, associados ao seu uso, não devem ser descartados. Assim, este trabalho teve por objetivo estudar o efeito tempo de sonicação na morfologia de nanopartículas de ZnO e como estas diferenças poderiam afetar a estrutura da albumina, provocar a hemólise de eritrócitos e a ativação de neutrófilos humanos, quando em contato com este material. Amostras de ZnO foi obtido através do método de síntese ultrassônica, caracterizada por métodos ópticos e suas morfologias observadas em microscópio de varredura eletrônica. Foram obtidas duas morfologias distintas: nanoflores e nanoagulhas. Em todo os testes biológicos a concentração final de ZnO foi 0,1mg/mL em todos os experimentos, onde incubou-se o mesmo com albumina humana e com células sanguíneas (eritrócitos e neutrófilos). Não se observou alterações significativas na estrutura da albumina quando incubada com ZnO, como evidencido por estudo de fluorescência intrínseca e extrínseca. Uma exceção foi uma pequena agregação de proteína quando incubada com o ZnO (nanoflor) avaliado por espalhamento de luz (Rayleigh). Embora pouco efetiva, esta morfologia do ZnO também foi mais eficaz na indução de hemólise de eritrócitos (22%), se comparado às nonoagulhas (11%), após 48 horas de reação (controle negativo=3,7%). A mesma tendência foi observada para estimulação de neutrófilos avaliada por luminol (nanoflores 26,9%, nanoagulhas 8,9% e controle negativo=8,7%). Em conclusão, podemos afirmar que ZnO nanoestruturado apresentou baixa toxicidade nos modelos aqui estudados, o que reforça a sua potencial aplicação in vivo / Abstract: Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a semiconductor that has been highly explored in multiple areas of science, especially in photovoltaic devices and, more recently, in biomedical aplications. However, the cytotoxic effects, especially in nanosize, associated with its use cannot be ruled out. Therefore, this work aimed to study how the sonication time can influence the morphology obtained for the zinc oxide and how these diferrences could affect the structure of albumin, cause hemolysis of erythocytes and activation of human neutrophils. ZnO was obtained by ultrasonic synthesis method and characterized by optical methods and their morphologies observed in scanning electron microscope. Two differents morphologies were obtained: nanoflowers and nanoneedle. ZnO was incubated with human serum albumin and blood cells (erytrocytes and neutrophils) in final concentration of 0.1mg/ml. The results showed no significant modification in albumin structure when incubated with ZnO, evidenced by intrisic and extrinsic fluorescence studies. One exception was a small protein aggregation observed in light scattering (Rayleigh). Although somewhat effective, this morphology of ZnO was also more effective at inducing hemolysis of erythrocytes (22%) compared to nanoagulhas (11%), after 48 hours of reaction (negative control = 3.7%). The same trend was observed for stimulation of neutrophils measured by luminol (nanoflowers 26.9% and nanoneedle 8.9%) (negative control = 8.7%). In conclusion. It can be said that ZnO nanostructured showed low toxicity in the models studied, which reinforces the in vivo applications / Mestre

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published_or_final_version / abstract / Mechanical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy