Nanogenerators based on ZnO or TiO2 oxides

Capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers for intravascular ultrasound imaging

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a burgeoning imaging technology that provides vital information for the diagnosis of coronary arterial diseases. A significant constituent that enables the IVUS system to attain high-resolution images is the ultrasound transducer, which acts as both a transmitter that sends acoustic waves and a detector that receives the returning signals. Being the most mature form of ultrasound transducer available in the market, piezoelectric transducers have dominated the field of biomedical imaging. However, there are some drawbacks associated with using the traditional piezoelectric ultrasound transducers such as difficulties in the fabrication of high-density arrays, which would aid in the acceleration of the imaging speed and alleviate motion artifact. The advent of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology has brought about the development of micromachined ultrasound transducers that would help to address this issue. Apart from the advantage of being able to be fabricated into arrays with lesser complications, the image quality of IVUS can be further enhanced with the easy integration of micromachined ultrasound transducers with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS). This would aid in the mitigation of parasitic capacitance, thereby improving the signal-to-noise. Currently, there are two commonly investigated micromachined ultrasound transducers, piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers (PMUTs) and capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUTs). Currently, PMUTs face a significant challenge where the fabricated PMUTs do not function as per their design. Thus, CMUTs with different array configurations have been developed for IVUS. In this paper, the different ultrasound transducers, including conventional-piezoelectric transducers, PMUTs and CMUTs, are reviewed, and a summary of the recent progress of CMUTs for IVUS is presented.

Theory of piezo-phototronics for light-emitting diodes

Devices fabricated by using the inner-crystal piezopotential as a "gate" voltage to tune/control the carrier generation, transport, and recombination processes at the vicinity of a p-n junction are named piezo-phototronics. Here, the theory of the photon emission and carrier transport behavior in piezo-phototronic devices is investigated as a p-n junction light-emitting diode. Numerical calculations are given for predicting the photon emission and current-voltage characteristics of a general piezo-phototronic light-emitting diode.

Enhanced Size-Dependent Piezoelectricity in Nanostructured Films

We have developed a nanogenerator that is driven by mechanical forces to produce continuous direct-current output. The nanogenerator was fabricated with titanium dioxide nanoparticle arrays forming a Schottky barrier with a conducting electrode with a small gap. Under uniaxial mechanical compression, nanogenerators have shown repeatable and consistent electrical outputs with energy-conversion efficiency of order of magnitude at least comparable to similar nanogenerators based on piezoelectric materials. Flexoelectricity due to inhomogeneous strain induced in the nanostructured film has been identified as one possible mechanism of the high apparent piezoelectricity in the nanoparticles. The approach presents an adaptable, mobile, and cost-effective technology for harvesting mechanical energy from the environment. At the present stage it offers a potential solution for powering nanodevices.

A High Diffusive Model for Nanomaterials

Considerable attention is today devoted to the engineering of films widely used in photocatalytic, solar energy converters, photochemical and photoelectrochemical cells, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), to optimize electronic time response following photogeneration. However, the precise nature of transport processes in these systems has remained unresolved. To investigate such aspects of carrier dynamics, we have suggested a model for the calculation of correlation functions, expressed as the Fourier transform of the frequency-dependent complex conductivity σ(ω). Results are presented for the velocity correlation functions, the mean square deviation of position and the diffusion coefficient in systems, like TiO2 and doped Si, of large interest in present devices. Fast diffusion occurs in short time intervals of the order of few collision times. Consequences for efficiency of this fast response are discussed in relation to nanostructured devices.