130,387 research outputs found

    Multi-component oxide nanosystems by Chemical Vapor Deposition and related routes: challenges and perspectives

    No full text
    Multi-component oxide-based nanosystems are of primary technological importance for various applications of current interest, spanning from optoelectronics to catalysis, from chemical sensing to energy conversion and storage. Such a broad range of functional utilizations results from the joint features of nano-organized systems and the synergistic combination of constituent properties, which, in turn, can be tailored by means of flexible and scalable preparative strategies. An amenable synthetic option potentially meeting these standards is Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), either as such or in combination with other fabrication routes. To this regard, the present highlight provides an overview on the CVD-based growth and applicative potential of oxide-based nanocomposite systems. Special attention is devoted to three different categories, i.e. metal/oxide, oxide/oxide and carbon/oxide nanomaterials. For each of them, selected results on synthesis/applications of composite architectures with tailored morphology are presented, trying to address actual challenges and future trends in the field

    1-D ZnO nano-assemblies by Plasma-CVD as chemical sensors for flammable and toxic gases

    No full text
    In this work, 1D ZnO nano-assemblies were prepared on Al2O3 substrates by plasma enhanced-chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD), and characterized in their morphology and chemical composition by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). For the first time, the sensing performances of PE-CVD ZnO nanosystems were tested in the detection of toxic/combustible gases (CO, H2 and CH4), revealing very good responses already at moderate working temperatures. In particular, carbon monoxide and hydrogen detection was possible already at 100 °C, whereas methane sensing required a minimum temperature of 200 °C. The performances of the present ZnO nanosystems, that make them attractive candidates for technological applications, are presented and discussed in terms of their unique and controllable morphological organization

    Urchin-like ZnO nanorod arrays for gas sensing applications

    No full text
    ZnO nanorod assemblies were grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on polycrystalline Al2O3 at 200–300 °C, resulting in urchin-like 1-D ZnO NR arrays with a strong c-axis orientation. Their outstanding gas sensing responses and very low detection limits highlight the potential of the present systems in the production of high efficiency chemical sensors for a variety of applications

    Investigation of niobium nitride and oxy-nitride films grown by MOCVD

    No full text
    Niobium nitride (NbN) and niobium oxy-nitride (NbOxNy) thin films were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on Si(100) and Si(111) substrates using [Nb(NtBu)(NMe2){C(NiPr)2(NMe2)}2] [NB; tBu=(CH3)3C; Me=CH3; iPr=(CH3)2CH] as a simultaneous Nb and N precursor. While NbN films were synthesized under a pure N2 atmosphere, NbOxNy films were synthesized under N2–O2 flow (N2:O2=1–5) in the temperature range 400–600 °C, as well as by NbN deposition followed by ex-situ thermal treatments under flowing O2 at 400–600 °C. The samples were subjected to a multi-technique characterization in order to elucidate the interplay between their structure, morphology and composition and the adopted processing parameters. Particular attentionwas devoted to the presence of Nb–N and Nb–O–N phases and their distribution in the films, as well as to surface oxidation phenomena. For the first time, niobium oxy-nitride coatings were obtained by CVD starting from the above precursor compound, with growth rates up to 270 Å/min on Si(111) at 600 °C. The films were characterized by a columnar-like/globular morphology when supported on Si(100)/Si(111) and revealed a higher crystallinity on the latter substrate. Surface and in-depth compositional analyses evidenced a limited carbon contamination and the Co-existence of niobiumnitride, NbON and Nb2O5. In particular, the presence of the latter in the outermost sample layers was explained by oxidation phenomena occurring upon contact with the outer atmosphere

    MOCVD of niobium nitrides and oxy-nitrides using an all-nitrogen-coordinated precursor: thin-film deposition and mechanistic studies

    No full text
    In this study, niobium nitride and oxy-nitride thin films were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) from the guanidinate based niobium compound [Nb(NtBu)(NMe2){C(NiPr)2(NMe2)}2] that served either as a single source precursor (SSP) for NbN or as a niobium and nitrogen source for the growth of niobium oxy-nitride thin films in oxygen atmospheres. The decomposition of this SSP precursor was studied using NMR and mass spectrometry. From the mechanistic studies, it was evident that diisopropylcarbodiimide deinsertion takes place at elevated temperatures. Pure niobium nitride films were obtained without any additional source of nitrogen during the MOCVD process, whereas in the presence of oxygen mixed phases of NbNx, NbOxNy and Nb2O5 were formed. The most relevant results are presented and discussed

    MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations

    No full text
    Information overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank

    1D ZnO nano-assemblies by Plasma-CVD as chemical sensors for flammable toxic and gases

    No full text
    In this work, 1D ZnO nano-assemblies were prepared on Al(2)O(3) substrates by plasma enhanced-chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD), and characterized in their morphology and chemical composition by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). For the first time, the sensing performances of PE-CVD ZnO nanosystems were tested in the detection of toxic/combustible gases (CO, H(2) and CH(4)), revealing very good responses already at moderate working temperatures. In particular, carbon monoxide and hydrogen detection was possible already at 100 degrees C. whereas methane sensing required a minimum temperature of 200 degrees C. The performances of the present ZnO nanosystems, that make them attractive candidates for technological applications, are presented and discussed in terms of their unique and controllable morphological organization. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    No full text
    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Urchin-like ZnO nanorod arrays for gas sensing applications

    No full text
    ZnO nanorod assemblies were grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on polycrystalline Al(2)O(3) at 200-300 degrees C, resulting in urchin-like 1-D ZnO NR arrays with a strong c-axis orientation. Their outstanding gas sensing responses and very low detection limits highlight the potential of the present systems in the production of high efficiency chemical sensors for a variety of applications
    corecore