The scanning tunneling microscope has been used to image a reduced TiO(2)(110) surface in ultrahigh vacuum. Structural units with periodicities rangng from 21 to 3.4 angstroms have been clearly imaged, demonstrating that atomic resolution imaging of an ionic, wide band gap (3.2 electron volts) semiconductor is possible. The observed surface structures can be explained by a model involving order...

We present time-resolved emission experiments of semiconductor quantum dots in silicon 3D inverse-woodpile photonic band gap crystals. A systematic study is made of crystals with a range of pore radii to tune the band gap relative to the emission frequency. The decay rates averaged over all dipole orientations are inhibited by a factor of 10 in the photonic band gap and enhanced up to 2× outsid...

The development of semiconductor electronics is reviewed briefly, beginning with the development of germanium devices (band gap E g = 0.66 eV) after World War II. A tendency towards alternative materials with wider band gaps quickly became apparent, starting with silicon (E g = 1.12 eV). This improved the signal-to-noise ratio for classical electronic applications. Both semiconductors have a te...

The isolation of the two-dimensional semiconductor molybdenum disulphide introduced a new optically active material possessing a band gap that can be facilely tuned via elastic strain. As an atomically thin membrane with exceptional strength, monolayer molybdenum disulphide subjected to biaxial strain can embed wide band gap variations overlapping the visible light spectrum, with calculations s...

Lead dioxide has been used for over a century in the lead-acid battery. Many fundamental questions concerning PbO2 remain unanswered, principally: (i) is the bulk material a metal or a semiconductor, and (ii) what is the source of the high levels of conductivity? We calculate the electronic structure and defect physics of PbO2, using a hybrid density functional, and show that it is an n-type se...

A systematic investigation of structural, mechanical, anisotropic, and electronic properties of SiC₂ and SiC₄ at ambient pressure using the density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation is reported in this work. Mechanical properties, i.e., the elastic constants and elastic modulus, have been successfully obtained. The anisotropy calculations show that SiC₂ and SiC₄ are both...

How to develop a new, efficient photo catalyst is still a big challenge to us. A suitable band gap is the key for light absorption of semiconductor. Herein, an innovative anion intercalation strategy is, for the first time, developed to regulate the energy band of semiconductor. Typically, we introduce a layered sulfate compound (Bi2O(OH)2SO4) as a new photo catalyst, which has not been known b...

Wide band gap semiconductors doped by transition metals are attracting much attention in part because of possible ‘spintronics’ applications. Using pseudo-potential plane-wave calculations and density functional theory (DFT), we studied effects of doping Mn of various concentrations on the cubic silicon carbide structure (-SiC). Band structures and density of states (DOSs) were calculated for ...

The ordered tin disulfide (SnS(2)) nanowire arrays were first fabricated by sulfurizing the Sn nanowires, which are embedded in the nanochannels of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. SnS(2) nanowire arrays are highly ordered and highly dense. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and corresponding selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns demonstrate the SnS(2) nanowire is hexagonal polycrystalli...