We have studied the surface-smoothing effect of an ultrathin germanium (Ge) layer on silver (Ag)-silica (SiO2) nanocomposite films for superlensing applications. Our experimental results indicate that inserting a thin Ge layer below the silver-silica composite films can reduce the final surface root-mean-squared (RMS) roughness to under 1 nm. Additionally, the metal nanostructure plays a role i...

Rapid population growth and the associated rise in industrialization food production have resulted a tremendously increased demand for clean water.

In order to clarify the controversies of hardening mechanism for TiN/SiNx-based nanocomposite films, the microstructure and hardness for TiN/SiNx and TiAlN/SiNx nanocomposite films with different Si content were studied. With the increase of Si content, the crystallization degree for two series of films firstly increases and then decreases. The microstructural observations suggest that when SiN...

Mass transfer in nanocomposite hydrogel thin films consisting of alternating layers of an organometallic redox polymer (RP) and oxidoreductase enzymes was investigated. Multilayer nanostructures were fabricated on gold surfaces by the deposition of an anionic self-assembled monolayer of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid, followed by the electrostatic binding of a cationic redox polymer, poly[vinylpyri...

Polyvinylpyrrolidone  /  Nickel  oxide  (PVP/NiO)  dielectrics  were fabricated  with  sol-gel  method  using  0.2  g  of  PVP  at  different working  temperatures  of  80,  150  and  200  ºC.  Structural  properties and surface morphology of the hybrid films were investigated by X- Ray  diffraction  (XRD)  and  Scanning  Electron Microscope  (SEM) respectively. Energy dispersive X-ray spec...

In this paper, we propose strain-sensitive thin films based on chemically reduced graphene oxide (GO) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) without adding any further surfactants. In spite of the insulating properties of the thin-film-based GO due to the presence functional groups such as hydroxyl, epoxy, and carbonyl groups in its atomic structure, a significant enhancement of the film co...

The recent development of wireless sensors for structural health monitoring has revealed their strong dependency on portable, limited battery supplies. Unlike current wireless sensors, passive radio frequency identification (RFID) systems based on inductive coupling can wirelessly receive power from a portable reader while transmitting collected data back. In this paper, preliminary results of ...

Ionic liquid [Bmim][BF 4 ] and metal organic framework ZIF-8 ZIF-94 nanoparticles were incorporated into polymer Pebax® Renew® 30R51 to obtain highly efficient thin-film nanocomposite membranes, ca. 300 nm thick.

10 Influence of phase composition, structural peculiarities and grain size of Fe2O3–SnO2 nanocomposites prepared by sol–gel technology on gas-sensitive properties of the corresponding gas sensors has been studied in the paper. The characteristics of thin film sensors were obtained with regards to NO2 and C2H5OH. Behaviour of thick film sensors was estimated in humid C2H5OH ambient. High sensiti...