We present the results of a temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy study on CuInS2 quantum dots (QDs). In order to elucidate the influence of QD size on PL temperature dependence, size-selective precipitation was used to obtain several nanoparticle fractions. Additionally, the nanoparticles’ morphology and chemical composition were studied using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The obtained QDs showed luminescence in the visible–near infrared range. The PL energy, linewidth, and intensity were studied within an 11–300 K interval. For all fractions, a temperature decrease led to a shift in the emission maximum to higher energies and pronounced growth of the PL intensity down to 75–100 K. It was found that for large particle fractions, the PL intensity started to decrease, with temperature decreasing below 75 K, while the PL intensity of small nanoparticles remained stable.
The formation of zinc stannate nanostructures, which are of interest for sensorics, solar power, and transparent conductive electronics, has been considered. The structures have been synthesized by the hydrothermal method, with zinc oxide nanorods used as references in the case of synthesis time variation, and studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This method has been shown to be effective for analyzing zinc stannate formation.
Currently, semiconductor gas sensors are being actively studied and used in various fields, including ecology, industry, and medical diagnostics. One of the major challenges is to reduce their operating temperature to room temperature. To address this issue, sensor layers based on WO3−x/WS2 nanostructures synthesized by the hydrothermal method have been proposed. In this paper, the morphology of the material’s surface and its elemental composition were investigated, as well as the optical band gap. Additionally, changes in the resistance of the WO3−x/WS2 sensor layers under the influence of alcohol vapors at room temperature were analyzed. The results showed that the layers exhibited a significant response, with short response and recovery times. The achieved response value to 1000 ppm of isopropanol was 1.25, with a response time of 13 s and a recovery time of 12 s. The response to 1000 ppm of ethanol was 1.35, and the response and recovery times were 20 s. This indicates that these sensor layers have promising potential for various applications.
15 December 2022 in Physical and Chemical Aspects of the Study of Clusters, Nanostructures and Nanomaterials
Today, air pollution is a global environmental problem. A huge amount of explosive and combustible gas emissions that negatively affect nature and human health. Gas sensors are one of the ways to prevent this impact. Several types of sensors have been developed, but the main problem with them is the high operating temperature. This leads to a decrease in reproducibility and stability over time. The aim of the work is to synthesize zinc stannate nanoparticles, study their phase composition, and modify the structure with silver nanoparticles to improve gas-sensing characteristics. This paper presents the synthesis of zinc stannate nanoparticles by the coprecipitation method and annealing at varying temperatures. A method of decorating zinc stannate with silver nanoparticles was proposed. Using XRD, it was found that a change in the annealing temperature leads to a change in the initial phase composition of the sample. Decoration with silver nanoparticles allows for increasing the sensor response of zinc stannate layers to isopropyl alcohol by 20 times. The corresponding increase in response to ethanol is 16 times.