Synthesis and solar blind photosensitivity of crystalline boron nanowires

Herein, single crystalline boron nanowires (BNWs) have been synthesized by chemical vapor transport using boron element as boron source, iodine as transport agent, and Au as catalyst. The results demonstrate that BNWs can be all formed at 600 °C-950 °C for 2 h, and possess rhombohedral crystal structure (β-boron). The NWs have diameters from several to hundreds of nanometers, and lengths from several to hundreds of microns. A single nanowire has been fabricated to field effect transistor (FET) which shows excellent solar blind photosensitivity and selectivity. The photo/dark current ratio and photoresponsitity is 1.14 and 97.6 mA W^-1at a bias of 5 V under light illumination of 254 nm with 0.42 mW cm^-2, respectively, and both the rising and decay time of the on-off currents are 4.6 s and 10.3 s, respectively. When the FET is used as a personal breath sensor, the ratio of exsufflating and inhaling currents is 2.7, rising and decay time of the breath currents are 0.4 s and 2.2 s, respectively. So the BNWs are important sense materials.

Enhanced electrocatalytic N2-to-NH3 fixation by ZrS2 nanofibers with a sulfur vacancy

ZrS₂ nanofibers with a sulfur vacancy are an efficient electrocatalyst for ambient N₂-to-NH₃ fixation with a large NH₃ yield of 30.72 μg h⁻¹ mg_cat.⁻¹ and a high faradaic efficiency of 10.33% at −0.35 V and −0.30 V vs. RHE, respectively.

The synthesis and investigation of the reversible conversion of layered ZrS2 and ZrS3

This work introduces the synthetic method and demonstrates the reversible transformation of ZrS₃ and ZrS₂.

In situ electrodeposition of polypyrrole onto TaSe2 nanobelts quasi-arrays for high-capacitance supercapacitor

Transition metal dichalcogenides have recently revealed interesting physical properties which lead to promising applications for functional devices. TaSe2, as a member of transition metal dichalcogenides, attracts a great deal of attention as a layered electric conductor with low dimension and metallic nature. Herein, we prepare a three-dimensional conductive quasi-array based on 2H-TaSe2 nanobelts, which are synthesized directly on a tantalum foil by one step surface-assisted chemical vapor transport method. The conductive quasi-arrays are used as substrate for in situ electrodeposition of polypyrrole to form cylinder-like composite nanostructures. It is shown that the TaSe2 nanobelts can improve conductivity and stability of polypyrrole by acting as conductive and robust skeleton. A symmetric supercapacitor constructed from the composites demonstrates high areal capacitance of 835 mF cm-2 at a scan rate of 2 mV s-1, wide potential window of 1.2 V, and excellent cycling stability with 98.7% capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles. Meanwhile, the assembly process of the supercapacitor is quite simple because it does not need any additional current collector, binder or conductive additive. The nanocomposites have been verified to be a very effective way to improve electrochemical performance of polypyrrole, and are promising to be applied as supercapacitors.

Edge-controlled half-metallic ferromagnetism and direct-gap semiconductivity in ZrS2 nanoribbons

Intrinsic half-metallic ferromagnetism and direct-gap semiconductivity are predicted in ZrS₂ nanoribbons with different edge configurations.

Low temperature synthesis of ZrS2 nanoflakes and their catalytic activity

ZrS₂ nanoflakes of 10–30 nm were prepared via a gaseous reaction between ZrCl₄ and S at as low as 800 °C.

One-dimensional inorganic nanostructures: synthesis, field-emission and photodetection

One-dimensional inorganic nanostructures have drawn prime attention due to their potential for understanding fundamental physical concepts and constructing nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices. This critical review mainly focuses on our recent research progresses in 1D inorganic nanostructures, including their rational synthesis and potential applications, with an emphasis on field-emitter and photodetector applications. Firstly, we will discuss the rational design of synthetic strategies and the synthesis of 1D nanostructures via a vapour phase approach. Secondly, we will present our recent progresses with respect to several kinds of important inorganic nanostructures and their field-emission and photoconductivity characteristics. Finally, we conclude this review with some perspectives/outlook and future research in these fields (212 references).

Electrical transport and high-performance photoconductivity in individual ZrS(2) nanobelts

Individual ZrS(2)-nanobelt field-effect transistors were fabricated using a photolithography process. Temperature-dependent electrical transport revealed different electrical conductivity mechanism at different working temperature regions. ZrS(2)-nanobelt photodetectors demonstrated a high-performance visible-light photoconductivity.