Highly luminescent, stable, and biocompatible 3C-SiC quantum dots (QDs) with no protective shells have been applied for fluorescence imaging of biological living cells. Structural and luminescent properties of the 3C-SiC QDs are described. Marking of the living cells with such QDs highlights the penetration, accumulation, and heterogeneous distribution of the QDs inside the intracellular space.

In order to assess possible mechanisms of gate reverse-bias leakage current in AlInN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) grown by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition on SiC substrates, temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements combined with Fourier transform current deep level transient spectroscopy (FT-CDLTS) are performed in the temperature range of 200–400 K. In this range of temperature reverse-bias leakage current flow is found to be dominated by Poole–Frenkel emission. Based on CDLTS measurements, a model of leakage current transport via a trap state located at the AlInN/metal interface with an activation energy of 0.37 eV is suggested. The trap nature is shown to be an extended trap, most probably associated with dislocations in the AlInN barrier layer.

In this article, we demonstrate that the thermal conductivity of nanostructured porous silicon is reduced by amorphization and also that this amorphous phase in porous silicon can be created by swift (high-energy) heavy ion irradiation. Porous silicon samples with 41%-75% porosity are irradiated with 110 MeV uranium ions at six different fluences. Structural characterisation by micro-Raman spectroscopy and SEM imaging show that swift heavy ion irradiation causes the creation of an amorphous phase in porous Si but without suppressing its porous structure. We demonstrate that the amorphization of porous silicon is caused by electronic-regime interactions, which is the first time such an effect is obtained in crystalline silicon with single-ion species. Furthermore, the impact on the thermal conductivity of porous silicon is studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy and scanning thermal microscopy. The creation of an amorphous phase in porous silicon leads to a reduction of its thermal conductivity, up to a factor of 3 compared to the non-irradiated sample. Therefore, this technique could be used to enhance the thermal insulation properties of porous Si. Finally, we show that this treatment can be combined with pre-oxidation at 300 °C, which is known to lower the thermal conductivity of porous Si, in order to obtain an even greater reduction.

Degenerate metal oxide nanoparticles are promising systems to expand the significant achievements of plasmonics into the infrared (IR) range. Among the possible candidates, Ga-doped ZnO nanocrystals are particularly suited for mid IR, considering their wide range of possible doping levels and thus of plasmon tuning. In the present work, we report on the tunable mid IR plasmon induced in degenerate Ga-doped ZnO nanocrystals. The nanocrystals are produced by a plasma expansion and exhibit unprotected surfaces. Tuning the Ga concentration allows tuning the localized surface plasmon resonance. Moreover, the plasmon resonance is characterized by a large damping. By comparing the plasmon of nanocrystal assemblies to that of nanoparticles dispersed in an alumina matrix, we investigate the possible origins of such damping. We demonstrate that it partially results from the self-organization of the naked particles and also from intrinsic inhomogeneity of dopants.

Steady‐state and time‐resolved photoluminescence of silicon nanoparticles dispersed in low‐polar liquids at above room temperature is studied. The roles of low‐polar liquids as well as mechanisms responsible for their temperature‐dependent photoluminescence are discussed. The thermal sensitivity of the photoluminescence is estimated and application of the nanoparticles as nanothermometers is proposed. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Surface chemistry of as-prepared 3CSiC nanoparticles obtained by electrochemical etching of bulk 3CSiC substrates was studied. Chemical environment was found to influence strongly the photoinduced electronic transitions in the 3CSiC nanoparticles. The influence of different interfacial chemical environments of the 3CSiC nanoparticles, such as surface chemistry, solvent nature, and surface charges on the photoinduced absorption and luminescence of the nanoparticles at room temperature, is described and discussed in detail. For example, oxidation induced passivation of the radiative band gap states allows visualization of the transitions between energy levels in the nanoparticles in which photogenerated charge carriers are quantumly confined. Electrostatic screening of the radiative band gap states by highly polar solvent media leads to a blueshift and a decrease in the width at half maximum of the photoluminescence spectra of the nanoparticles. As for the surface charges, they govern band bending slope and thus influence strongly the radiative transitions via energy states in the band gap.

Intense visible nano-emitters are key objects for many technologies such as single photon source, bio-labels or energy convertors. Chalcogenide nanocrystals have ruled this domain for several decades. However, there is a demand for cheaper and less toxic materials. In this scheme, ZnO nanoparticles have appeared as potential candidates. At the nanoscale, they exhibit crystalline defects which can generate intense visible emission. However, even though photoluminescence quantum yields as high as 60% have been reported, it still remains to get quantum yield of that order of magnitude which remains stable over a long period. In this purpose, we present hybrid ZnO/polyacrylic acid (PAAH) nanocomposites, obtained from the hydrolysis of diethylzinc in presence of PAAH, exhibiting quantum yield systematically larger than 20%. By optimizing the nature and properties of the polymeric acid, the quantum yield is increased up to 70% and remains stable over months. This enhancement is explained by a model based on the hybrid type II heterostructure formed by ZnO/PAAH. The addition of PAAX (X = H or Na) during the hydrolysis of ZnEt2 represents a cost effective method to synthesize scalable amounts of highly luminescent ZnO/PAAX nanocomposites.

No abstract