Single-crystal ZnO nanowires are synthesized using a vapor trapping chemical vapor deposition method and configured as field-effect transistors. Electrical transport studies show n-type semiconducting behavior with a carrier concentration of ∼107cm−1 and an electron mobility of ∼17cm2∕Vs. The contact Schottky barrier between the Au/Ni electrode and nanowire is determined from the temperature dependence of the conductance. Thermionic emission is found to dominate the transport mechanism. The effect of oxygen adsorption on electron transport through the nanowires is investigated. The sensitivity to oxygen is demonstrated to be higher with smaller radii nanowires. Moreover, the oxygen detection sensitivity can be modulated by the gate voltage. These results indicate that ZnO holds high potential for nanoscale sensing applications.

A multifunctional and high-efficiency microfluidic device for droplet generation and fusion is presented. Through unique design of the micro-channels, the device is able to alternately generate droplets, generating droplet ratios ranging from 1 ratio 5 to 5 ratio 1, and fuse droplets, enabling precise chemical reactions in several picoliters on a single chip. The controlled fusion is managed by passive control based on the channel geometry and liquid phase flow. The synthesis of CdS nanoparticles utilizing each fused droplet as a microreactor for rapid and efficient mixing of reagents is demonstrated in this paper. Following alternating droplet generation, the channel geometry allows the exclusive fusion of alternate droplets with concomitant rapid mixing and produces supersaturated solution of Cd2+ and S2- ions to form CdS nanoparticles in each fused droplet. The spectroscopic properties of the CdS nanoparticles produced by this method are compared with CdS prepared by bulk mixing.

A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process modified with vapor trapping method has been used to synthesize n-type ZnO nanowires with high carrier concentration without incorporating impurity dopants. With this method, a spatial variation of synthesis condition was created and the donors were directly introduced into the nanowires during the synthesis process. Electron microscopy and electrical transport studies show that nanowires having distinct morphologies and electrical properties were obtained at different locations in the CVD system. The vapor trapping method elucidates the effect of synthesis conditions, and provides an approach to control nanowire growth for tailorable device applications.

Quasione-dimensional Ga2O3 nanowires are synthesized via catalytic chemical vapor deposition method. Their morphology and crystal structure are characterized by electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction techniques, and their optical property is studied by photoluminescence measurement. To develop their future application in nanoelectronic devices, the as-grown Ga2O3 nanowires are doped with zinc to increase its carrier concentration and subsequently fabricated into field-effect transistors. Electron transport measurements show that the doped nanowires exhibit p-type semiconducting behavior with a significant enhancement of conductivity.