Wet thermal oxidations of polycrystalline Si0.54Ge0.46 films at 600°C for 30 and 50 min were carried out. A stable mixed oxide was obtained for films that were oxidized for 50 min. For film oxidized for 30 min, however, a mixed oxide with Ge nanocrystallites embedded in the oxide matrix was obtained. A trilayer gate stack structure that consisted of tunnel oxide/oxidized polycrystalline Si0.54G...

BACKGROUND Cerium oxide (CeO(2)) nanoparticles improve the burning efficiency of fuel, however, little is known about health impacts of altered emissions from the vehicles. METHODS Atherosclerosis-prone apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE(-/-)) mice were exposed by inhalation to diluted exhaust (1.7 mg/m(3), 20, 60 or 180 min, 5 day/week, for 4 weeks), from an engine using standard diesel fuel (D...

Growth and evolution of germanium (Ge) nanocrystals embedded into a silicon oxide (SiO2) system have been studied based on the Ge content of co-sputtered Ge-SiO2 films using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that when the proportion of Ge relative to Ge oxide is 20%, TEM showed that annealing the samples at 800C for 60 min resulted in...

We present a simple method for the co-encapsulation of gold nanostars and iron-oxide nanoparticles into hybrid colloidal composites that are highly responsive to both light and external magnetic fields. Self-assembly was driven by hydrophobic interactions between polystyrene capped gold nanostars and iron oxide nanocrystals stabilized with oleic acid, upon addition of water. A block copolymer w...

Plasmonic nanocrystals have been attracting a lot of attention both for fundamental studies and different applications, from sensing to imaging and optoelectronic devices. Transparent conductive oxides represent an interesting class of plasmonic materials in addition to metals and vacancy-doped semiconductor quantum dots. Herein, we report a rational synthetic strategy of high-quality colloidal...

Self-assembled cobalt (Co) nanocrystals on ultra-thin silicon dioxide layer were fabricated by in situ annealing Co ultrathin films deposited with Co effusion cell in a molecular-beam-epitaxy chamber. The resultant nanocrystals obtained at the optimized annealing temperature are around 3–4 nm in diameter with dot density of about 1 · 10 cm . The metal–oxide–semiconductor capacitors containing C...

We report the preparation of solution-derived metal oxide nanocomposite films by combining polyoxometalates (POMs) and colloidal oxide nanocrystals. Polyniobates and vanadates were combined with Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO) nanocrystals leading to Nb2O5–ITO, V2O5–ITO and VO2–ITO nanocomposite films. Compared to other solution-phase methodologies, this approach offers excellent control of the nanoinclus...

Sub-2-nm (down to one-unit cell) uniform oxide nanocrystals and highly ordered superstructures were obtained in one step using oleylamine and oleic acid as capping and structure directing agents. The cooperative nature of the nanocrystal growth and assembly resulted in mesoscopic one-dimensional ribbon-like superstructures made of these ultrathin nanocrystals. The process reported here is gener...