Defect chemistry and transport in Fe-doped SrTiO 3 single crystal are studied to understand its resistance degradation mechanism. The temporal evolution of electric conductivity under a voltage stress was obtained computationally by solving the transport equations for ionic and electronic defects coupled with the defect reaction equilibrium equations. The computational results are compared to the corresponding experimental measurement under similar conditions. It is shown that the local electron and hole concentrations are controlled by the local electronic defect equilibria rather than by their quasi-steady state diffusional transport. It is the electric field-induced migration of oxygen vacancies and the subsequent instantaneous reestablishment of the local defect equilibria that lead to the resistance degradation. The resistance degradation behavior and the defect distributions under a long-term voltage stress are strongly influenced by the sample-annealing oxygen partial pressure, degrading electric field, and temperature. The present study contributes to the understanding of resistance degradation mechanism and provides guidance to improve the lifetime and reliability of wide band-gap semiconducting capacitors.

Dendrite-like ZnO@Ag heterostructure nanocrystals are designed and fabricated by a facial two-step chemical method in a large scale. The heterostructure nanocrystals are composed of single crystal Ag nanowires as trunks and highly dense (0001) oriented ZnO nanorods as branches. ZnO nanorods with diameters of about 50−400 nm are vertically grown on the six lateral surfaces of the Ag nanowires. Ultrathin ZnO nanowires or nanotubes with a diameter of less than 30 nm are decorated on the ZnO nanorods. The photocatalysis test shows that the ZnO@Ag heterostructures exhibit a higher photocatalytic activity than the pure ZnO nanorods, thereby implying that the Ag/ZnO interfaces promote the separation of photogenerated electron−hole pairs and enhance the photocatalytic activity.

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