Sharif Digital Repository

The Cu surface segregation is investigated in the electrodeposited Ni-Fe layers using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results indicate that Cu segregation and accumulation take place in areated and deareated baths and the amount of segregated copper increases after air exposure. This phenomenon is explained by lower interfacial tension of the Cu in comparison with Ni and Fe. Our results reveal more surface segregation in the electrodeposit than vacuum reported results. This should be due to interface charging and higher surface diffusion in applied potential. The effect of... 

A two stage chemical deposition (TSCD) technique is used to produce ZnO films on quartz glass (QG), soda lime glass (SLG) and high purity alumina (HPA) from an aqueous solution of zinc complex. The effects of the substrate material on the chemical composition and morphology of the deposited layer are investigated. The effects of different annealing temperatures (180, 300, 500 and 800°C) on the morphology and orientation of the ZnO crystallites are also determined. X-ray diffraction diffractograms show that above 300°C, the intensity of (002) peak considerably decreases with increasing temperature. Results indicate that changing the substrate from QG to SLG does not significantly influence... 

Quasi-3D plasmonic nanostructures consisting of a metallic film perforated as an array of nanoholes, separated by a gap from a nanodisk array, are theoretically investigated under plane wave illumination with transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. The results are compared with the results of a simple nanodisk array. A full discussion involving the couplings between plasmon resonance in nanodisks, surface plasmon polaritons on the interfaces of metallic film, and different diffractive grating orders that contribute in the couplings will be presented. The large difference between the plasmon behavior of the nanodisk array alone and nanodisk array in the presence of nanohole... 

Metal films with a periodic arrangement of cut-through slits are studied to show that artificial surface conductivity is created at the flat interface between the periodic slits and the cover/substrate. The presence of surface conductivity when the periodic structure is modeled by an effective refractive index can describe how non-specular higher diffracted orders affect the specular zeroth diffracted order. The magnitude of this surface conductivity is controlled geometrically. The artificial surface conductivity is pure imaginary and thus reactive if all non-specular orders are evanescent. This is usually the case in the low frequency regime. At higher working frequencies when some... 

Direct CO dissociation is seen the main path of the first step in the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) on the reactive iron surfaces. Cu/Fe alloy film is addressed with various applications over face-centered-cubic (fcc)-Cu and body-centered-cubic (bcc)-Fe in the FTS, i.e. preventing iron carbide formation (through direct CO dissociation) by moderating the surface reactivity and facilitating the reduction of iron surfaces, respectively. In this study by density functional theory, the stable configurations of CO molecule on various Cu/Fe alloys over fcc-Cu(100) and bcc-Fe(100) surfaces with different CO coverage (25% and 50%) have been evaluated. Our results showed that the ensemble effect... 

In order to improve titanium corrosion behavior, we can increase the thickness of oxide layer on titanium surface during anodizing process and by electrochemistry. In this research, self-color anodizing of Ti in sulfuric acid was done, and anodizing layers were created in different colors. The highest value of chromaticity was 37.8 for the anodized sample in 10 V, and the lowest value was 8.6 at 15 V. The oxide layer thickness was calculated by optical method (light refraction). The anodic film thickness increased by increasing the anodizing voltage. The highest thickness of anodic film was 190 nm in sulfuric acid solution for the anodized sample in 80 V. Corrosion resistance of anodized Ti... 

Two types of unfunctionalized and functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared to be applied in fabrication of MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposite thin films with various MWCNT contents. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated formation of functional groups on surface of the functionalized MWCNTs in the MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposite. Formation of the effective carbonaceous bonds between the ZnO and the MWCNTs was also investigated through photoinactivation of Escherichia coli bacteria on surface of the both unfunctionalized and functionalized MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposites. The functionalized MWCNT-ZnO nanocomposites showed significantly stronger photoinactivation of the bacteria than the... 

Hybrid light emitting diodes (HyLED) with a structure of FTO/ZnO/F8BT/MoO3/Au/Ag is fabricated and the influence of surface roughness of cathode (FTO/ZnO) is investigated. The roughness of FTO could be decreased from 9.2 nm to 2.2 nm using a mild polishing process. The ZnO film, deposited by spray pyrolysis, functions as an electron injection layer. The roughness of the FTO/ZnO surface is found also highly dependent on the ZnO thickness. For thin ZnO films (20 nm), polishing results in better efficacy and power efficiency of LED devices, with nearly a two times improvement. For thick ZnO films (210 nm), the overall FTO/ZnO roughness is almost independent of the FTO roughness, hence both... 

In this study, nanostructure zinc oxide (ZnO) films with different thicknesses were sprayed on glass substrates by controlling deposition time. Morphology and roughness of the films were investigated with scanning electron and atomic force microscopes as well as X-ray diffractometer. Considering with structure and surface roughness, two different growth modes as a function of spray time were determined: lateral and vertical modes which were illustrated schematically. Optical properties including photoluminescence, transmission, optical band gap and refractive index as a function of film's thickness and structure were studied. It was observed that the average transmittance is more than 80% in... 

We recently reported an impressive cycling stability (over 20,000 cycles) of titanium nitride (TiN) electrodes with high specific capacitance. It is anticipated that nitrogen (β−N) doping in the oxidized surface of TiN film plays a crucial role in charge storage mechanism and stability of this material. In this work, we offer an evidence on the effect of β−N doping on improvement in specific capacitance of vacuum annealed TiN thin films. The annealing of the TiN films leads to the diffusion of the excess β−N from sub-surface to oxidized TiN film surface without further oxidation of the electrode surface. We demonstrate an increase in the TiN areal capacitance upon an increase in the amount... 

Miniaturization of electronic devices with portable, flexible and wearable characteristics created a great demand for high-performance microscale energy storage devices with lightweight and flexible properties. Among the energy storage devices, wire-shaped supercapacitors (WSSCs) have recently received tremendous attention due to their tiny volume, wearability, high flexibility and potential applications in the next-generation portable/wearable electronic devices. Herein, we successfully fabricated a porous dendritic Ni-Cu film on Cu wire substrate (CWE) for fabrication of high-performance wire-type supercapacitors. The porous structure with dendritic morphology provides a high surface area,... 

In this study, a simple route to the formation of DNA-gold complex has been reported, using immobilized DNA as a template. The nanoporous gold films have been prepared by the electrostatic self assembly of gold nanoparticles capped with tryptophan. Tryptophan would improve surface properties of gold nanoparticles for strongly attaching to DNA. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed that gold nanoparticles have been capped by tryptophan. Also measured zeta potential shows that there are positive charges on the surface of gold nanoparticles. Investigations by atomic force microscopy substantially confirm that tryptophan-capped gold nanoparticles can be bonded to DNA template... 

In this study, synthesis of conductive metal nanowires by using aligned and immobilised DNA strand on solid substrate is reported. The nanoporous gold film was prepared by electrostatic self assembly of gold nanoparticles capped with tryptophan. Tryptophan would improve surface properties of gold nanoparticles for strongly attaching to DNA. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed that gold nanoparticles have been capped by tryptophan. Also measured zeta potential shows that there are positive charges on the surface of gold nanoparticles. Investigations by AFM observati on substantially confirm that tryptophan-capped gold nanoparticles can be bonded to DNA template... 

In this work, we compared formation and properties of heat-treated Ag nanoparticles in silica matrix synthesized by RF- reactive magnetron cosputtering and sol-gel methods separately. The sol-gel and sputtered films were annealed at different temperatures in air and in a reduced environment, respectively. The optical UV-visible Spectrophotometry have shown that the absorption peak appears at 456 and 400 nm wavelength indicating formation of silver nanoparticles in SiO2 matrix for both the sol -gel and sputtering methods at 100 and 800 °C, respectively. XPS measurements showed that the metallic Ag0 nanoparticles can be obtained from both the techniques at these temperatures. According to XPS... 

Ce-doped ZnO and pure ZnO nanocomposite thin films with different Ce/Zn ratios (0, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 at.%) have been prepared by sol-gel method at optimum annealing temperature of 500 °C. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis spectrophotometry. According to our XPS data analysis, there are three major metal ions namely Ce3+, Ce4+ and Zn 2+ that coexist on the surface. The XRD measurements indicate that the ZnO thin films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure, and CeO2 crystallites formed in the Ce-doped ZnO nanocomposite thin films. Photoelectrochemical property of the samples was studied by three... 

In this study, the effects of TiO2 addition on the physical and photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO thin films have been investigated. The (TiO2)x-(ZnO)1-x nanocomposite thin films were dip-coated on both glass and indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated conducting glass substrates with various values of x, specifically 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5. Optical properties of the samples were studied by UV-vis spectrophotometry in the range of 300-1100 nm. The optical spectra of the nanocomposite thin films showed high transparency in the visible region. The optical bandgap energy of the (TiO2)x-(ZnO)1-x films increased slightly with increasing values of x. The crystalline structure of the nanocomposite...