Structural defects in zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles are complex and hard to be controlled during the synthesis, however, diversifying the chemical and physical performances. Here we report a rapid and low-temperature deposition method to fabricate planar-defect-rich ZnO nanoparticles on freestanding and aligned carbon nanotube films, different from common treatments which remove structural def...

Zinc oxide is a unique material that exhibits exceptional semiconducting, piezoelectric, and pyroelectric properties. Nanostructures of ZnO are equally as important as carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires for nanotechnology and have great potential applications in nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, sensors, field emission, light-emitting diodes, photocatalysis, nanogenerators, and nanopiezotro...

ZnO/nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube (ZnO/NCNT) composite, prepared though a simple one-step sol-gel synthetic technique, has been explored for the first time as an anode material. The as-prepared ZnO/NCNT nanocomposite preserves a good dispersity and homogeneity of the ZnO nanoparticles (~6 nm) which deposited on the surface of NCNT. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals the formation o...

Since its invention in ancient times, relief printing, commonly called flexography, has been used to mass-produce artifacts ranging from decorative graphics to printed media. Now, higher-resolution flexography is essential to manufacturing low-cost, large-area printed electronics. However, because of contact-mediated liquid instabilities and spreading, the resolution of flexographic printing us...

Carbon nanotube (CNT) nanobundles are widely used in nanoscale imaging, fabrication, and electrochemical and biological sensing. The diameter of CNT nanobundles should be controlled precisely, because it is an important factor in determining electrode performance. Here, we fabricated CNT nanobundles on tungsten tips using dielectrophoresis (DEP) force and controlled their diameters by varying t...

This paper describes a class of three component hybrid nanowires templated by DNA directed self-assembly. Through the modification of carbon nanotube (CNT) termini with synthetic DNA oligonucleotides, gold nanoparticles are delivered, via DNA hybridization, to CNT tips that then serve as growth sites for zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires. The structures we have generated using DNA templating represent...

A hybrid nanowire (HNW) was constructed by coating a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) with piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO). The two components of the HNW interact with each other via the van der Waals (vdW) force. This paper aims to study the effect of the piezoelectricity in the ZnO layer and the inter-phase vdW interaction on the fundamental vibration of the HNWs. In doing this, a new model...

We report the first piezoelectric potential gated hybrid field-effect transistors based on nanotubes and nanowires. The device consists of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on the bottom and crossed ZnO piezoelectric fine wire (PFW) on the top with an insulating layer between. Here, SWNTs serve as a carrier transport channel, and a single-crystal ZnO PFW acts as the power-free, contact-fre...

The emergence of semiconducting materials with inert or dangling bond-free surfaces has created opportunities to form van der Waals heterostructures without the constraints of traditional epitaxial growth. For example, layered two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have been incorporated into heterostructure devices with gate-tunable electronic and optical functionalities. However, 2D materials pr...

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs)/Cu-doped ZnO composite powders were prepared by co-precipitation method, and were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, fluorescence spectrum, and ultraviolet spectrum. Experimental results show that the MWNTs can be modified by Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles with hexagonal wurtzite structure after annealed at 450 °C, and the nanoparticle siz...