Homogenization of electromagnetic periodic composites is treated as a two-scale problem and solved by approximating the fields on both scales with eigenmodes that satisfy Maxwell's equations and boundary conditions as accurately as possible. Built into this homogenization methodology is an error indicator whose value characterizes the accuracy of homogenization. The proposed theory allows one t...

Lanthanide (Ln3+) doped KGdF4 (Ln=Yb3+, Er3+, Ho3+, Tm3+) nanocrystals with a mean diameter of approximately 12 nm were synthesized by a hydrothermal method using oleic acid as a stabilizing agent at 180 °C. The nanocrystals crystallize in the cubic phase as α-NaGdF4. When excited by a 980 nm laser, these Ln3+ doped nanocrystals exhibit multicolor up-conversion (UC) emissions in red, yellow, bl...

ZnO is a promising member of the semiconducting materials of II-VI group. ZnO nanocrystals have shown potential applications in various novel technologies. In the present investigation of ZnO nanocrystals, a novel chemical route using Zinc acetate as organic precursor is being reported. ZnO nanocrystals were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy UV-visible (UV–vis)...

Nanocrystals develop in amorphous alloys usually during annealing treatments with growth- or nucleation-controlled mechanisms. An alternative processing route is intense deformation and nanocrystals have been shown to develop in shear bands during the deformation process. Some controversy surrounded the idea of adiabatic heating in shear bands during their genesis, but specific experiments have...

Single crystalline SnO2 nanocrystals (~60 nm in size) with a uniform octahedral shape were synthesised using a hydrothermal method. Their phase and morphology were characterized by XRD and FESEM observation. TEM and HRTEM analyses identified that SnO2 octahedral nanocrystals grow along the [001] direction, consisting of dominantly exposed {221} high energy facets. When applied as anode material...

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals in the range 1-10 nm are promising building blocks for future nanodevices since they show strong quantum confinement effects even at room temperature [1,2]. Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals consist of an inorganic core, having the same crystal structure as the corresponding bulk semiconductor, surrounded by a shell of capping molecules. These cappping mo...

Silicon nanocrystals embedded in SiO2 were isolated with a selective etching procedure, and the isolated nanocrystals’ excitonic emission energy was studied during controlled oxidation. Nanocrystals having initial diameters, d0, of ,2.9–3.4 nm showed a photoluminescence sPLd blueshift upon oxidatively induced size reduction, as expected from models of quantum confinement. Oxidation of smaller S...

Stable water soluble surfactant coated CdSe nanocrystals with trioctylphosphine (TOP) were obtained by a process of dynamic surface coating with cationic, anionic, and non-ionic surfactants. The surfactant-coated CdSe/TOP nanocrystals were characterized by complementary techniques of UV-VIS and photo-luminescence spectrophotometry, as well as by means of a capillary zone electrophoretic techniq...

Practical, efficient synthesis of metal oxide nanocrystals with good crystallinity and high specific surface area by a modified polymer-network gel method is demonstrated, taking ZnO nanocrystals as an example. A novel stepwise heat treatment yields significant improvement in crystal quality. Such nanophase materials can effectively degrade common organic dyes under solar radiation and can perf...

We derive within the dielectric-continuum model an integral equation that defines interface and confined polar optical-phonon modes in nanocrystals with a wurtzite crystal structure. It is demonstrated theoretically that, while the frequency of confined polar optical phonons in zinc-blende nanocrystals is equal to that of the bulk crystal phonons, the confined polar optical phonons in wurtzite ...