We present a fast, highly sensitive, and efficient potentiometric glucose biosensor based on functionalized InN quantum-dots (QDs). The InN QDs are grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The InN QDs are bio-chemically functionalized through physical adsorption of glucose oxidase (GOD). GOD enzyme-coated InN QDs based biosensor exhibits excellent linear glucose concentration dependent electrochemical response against an Ag/AgCl reference electrode over a wide logarithmic glucose concentration range (1 x 10(-5) M to 1 x 10(-2) M) with a high sensitivity of 80mV/decade. It exhibits a fast response time of less than 2 s with good stability and reusability and shows negligible response to common interferents such as ascorbic acid and uric acid. The fabricated biosensor has full potential to be an attractive candidate for blood sugar concentration detection in clinical diagnoses. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4758701]

One dimensional (1-D), zinc oxide (ZnO) and copper (II) oxide (CuO), nanostructures have great potential for applications in the fields of optoelectronic and sensor devices. Research on nanostructures is a fascinating field that has evolved during the last few years especially after the utilization of the hydrothermal growth method. Using this method variety of nanostructures can be grown from solutions, it is a cheap, easy, and environment friendly approach. These nanostructures can be synthesized on various conventional and nonconventional substrates such as silicon, plastic, fabrics and paper etc.

The primary purpose of the work presented in this thesis is to realize controllable growth of ZnO, CuO and nanohybrid ZnO/CuO nanostructures and to process and develop white light emitting diodes and sensor devices from the corresponding nanostructures.

The first part of the thesis deals with ZnO nanostructures grown under different hydrothermal conditions in order to gain a better understanding of the growth. Possible parameters affecting the growth such as the pH, the growth temperature, the growth time, and the precursors  concentration which can alter the morphology of the nanostructures were investigated (paper 1). Utilizing the advantage of the low temperature for growth we synthesized ZnO nanostructures on different substrates, specifically on flexible substrates, which are likely to be integrated with flexible organic substrates for future foldable and disposable electronics (paper 2, 3).

In the second part of the thesis, using the results and findings from the growth of ZnO nanostructures, it was possible to successfully implement ZnO nanostructures for white light emitting diodes (LEDs) on different flexible substrates (paper 4, 5).

In paper 4 we realized a ZnO/polymer LED grown on a paper substrate. In paper 5 we extended the idea to print the ZnO nanorods/polymer hybrid LEDs with potential application to large area flexible displays.

In the last part of the thesis, CuO and nanohybrid ZnO/CuO nanostructures were utilized to fabricate Ag+ detection and humidity sensors. In paper 6 we reported Ag+ selective electrochemical sensor based on the use of functionalized CuO nanopetals. To combine the advantages of both oxides nanostructures and to improve the performance we fabricated a pn-heterojuction using intrinsic n-ZnO nanorods and p-CuO nanostructures which were then utilized as an efficient humidity sensor (paper 7).

The electrochemical sensing activity of cupric oxide (CuO) nanopetals was investigated for the detection of silver (I) ions (Ag+). The CuO nanopetals were synthesized on a large area glass substrate by a low-temperature hydrothermal growth process. Structural morphological investigations were carried out using field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. To check the sensing application of the CuO nanopetals, it was functionalized for selectivity of Ag+. A polymeric membrane with Ag+-selective ionophore was coated on the surface of the CuO nanopetals. CuO nanopetals reveal excellent electrochemical sensing behavior in aqueous solution to selectively detect Ag+. The CuO based sensor exhibits a linear electrochemical response within the concentration range of 1 mu M to 100 mM. The functionalized CuO nanopetal based sensor show stable, fast response and high sensitivity for [Ag+]. This work demonstrates a simple technique for sensitive detection of Ag+ and other biochemical species.

The electrochemical sensing activity of cupric oxide (CuO) nanopetals was investigated for the detection of silver (I) ions (Ag+. The CuO nanopetals were synthesized on a large area glass substrate by a low-temperature hydrothermal growth process. Structural morphological investigations were carried out using field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. To check the sensing application of the CuO nanopetals, it was functionalized for selectivity of Ag+. A polymeric membrane with Ag+-selective ionophore was coated on the surface of the CuO nanopetals. CuO nanopetals reveal excellent electrochemical sensing behavior in aqueous solution to selectively detect Ag+. The CuO based sensor exhibits a linear electrochemical response within the concentration range of 1 μM to 100 mM. The functionalized CuO nanopetal based sensor show stable, fast response and high sensitivity for [Ag+]. This work demonstrates a simple technique for sensitive detection of Ag+ and other biochemical species.

We investigated the influence of the pH value, precursor concentration (C), growth time and temperature on the morphology of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures. The pH of the starting solution was varied from1.8 to 12.5. It was found that the final pH reaches an inherent value of 6.6 independently of the initial pH solution. Various ZnO structures of nanotetrapod-like, flower-like, and urchin-like morphology were obtained at alkaline pH (8 to 12.5) whereas for pH solution lower than 8 rod-like nanostructures occurred. Moreover, we observed the erosion of the nanorods for a pH value less than 4.6. By changing the concentrations the density and size were also varied. On going from a high (C > 400mM) to lower (C < 25mM) C, the resulted ZnO nanostructures change from a film to nanorods (NRs) and finally nanowires (NWs). It was also found that the length and diameter of ZnO NRs follow a linear relation with time up to 10 hours, above which no further increase was observed. Finally the effect of growth temperature was seen as an influence on the aspect ratio.

High-quality zinc oxide (ZnO) nanotubes (NTs) were grown by the hydrothermal technique on n-Si substrate. The room temperature (RT) current-transport mechanisms of Au Schottky diodes fabricated from ZnO NTs and nanorods (NRs) reference samples have been studied and compared. The tunneling mechanisms via deep-level states was found to be the main conduction process at low applied voltage but at the trap-filled limit voltage (V-TFL) all traps were filled and the space-charge-limited current conduction was the dominating current-transport mechanism. The deep-level trap energy and the trap concentration for; the NTs were obtained as similar to 0.27 eV and 2.1 x 10(16) cm(-3), respectively. The same parameters were also extracted for the ZnO NRs The deep-level states observed crossponds to zinc interstitials (Zn-i), which are responsible for the violet emission.

In this study, possibilities of scaling up the synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) by the hydrothermal method have been explored. It was found that batches yielding several grams can easily be made using common and easily available materials. Further, a printable composition was fabricated by mixing the obtained ZnO NRs into a common solvent-based screen printable varnish. Scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, UV–vis spectroscopy analysis of the scaled up batch indicated that the ZnO nanostructures were of NRs shape, well crystalline and having less defects. Using the ZnO NRs-based printable composition a device fabrication on a flexible substrate was demonstrated, producing a flexible light-emitting device being highly tolerant to bending.

We demonstrate intrinsic white light emission from hybrid light emitting diodes fabricated using an inorganic-organic hybrid junction grown at 50 C on a paper substrate. Cyclotene was first spin coated on the entire substrate to act as a surface barrier layer for water and other nutrient solutions. The active area of the fabricated light emitting diode (LED) consists of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) and a poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) conducting polymer layer. The fabricated LED shows clear rectifying behavior and a broad band electroluminescence (EL) peak covering the whole visible spectrum range from 420 nm to 780 nm. The color rendering index (CRI) was calculated to be 94 and the correlated color temperature (CCT) of the LED was 3660 K. The low process temperature and procedure in this work enables the use of paper substrate for the fabrication of low cost ZnO-polymer white LEDs for applications requiring flexible/disposable electronic devices.

We report on white light emission from zinc oxide nanostructures chemically grown on paper substrates. The effect of the growth solution pH on the morphology is discussed. The light emission form light emitting diodes based on ZnO nanorods/organic polymer hybrids on paper substrate is presented. Further copper oxide was grown on the walls of zinc oxide nanorods and the optical properties were investigated.

ZnO nanotubes and nanorods grown on gold thin film were used to create pH sensor devices. The developed ZnO nanotube and nanorod pH sensors display good reproducibility, repeatability and long-term stability and exhibit a pH-dependent electrochemical potential difference versus an Ag/AgCl reference electrode over a large dynamic pH range. We found the ZnO nanotubes provide sensitivity as high as twice that of the ZnO nanorods, which can be ascribed to the fact that small dimensional ZnO nanotubes have a higher level of surface and subsurface oxygen vacancies and provide a larger effective surface area with higher surface-to-volume ratio as compared to ZnO nanorods, thus affording the ZnO nanotube pH sensor a higher sensitivity. Experimental results indicate ZnO nanotubes can be used in pH sensor applications with improved performance. Moreover, the ZnO nanotube arrays may find potential application as a novel material for measurements of intracellular biochemical species within single living cells.

Buckling and elastic stability study of vertical well aligned ZnO nanorods grown on Si substrate and ZnO nanotubes etched from the same nanorods was done quantitatively by nanoindentation technique. The critical load, modulus of elasticity, and flexibility of the ZnO nanorods and nanotubes were observed and we compared these properties for the two nanostructures. It was observed that critical load of nanorods (2890 mu N) was approximately five times larger than the critical load of the nanotubes (687 mu N). It was also observed that ZnO nanotubes were approximately five times more flexible (0.32 nm/mu N) than the nanorods (0.064 nm/mu N). We also calculated the buckling energies of the ZnO nanotubes and nanorods from the force displacement curves. The ratio of the buckling energies was also close to unity due to the increase/decrease of five times for one parameter (critical load) and increase/decrease of five times for the other parameter (displacement) of the two samples. We calculated critical load, critical stress, strain, and Young modulus of elasticity of single ZnO nanorod and nanotube. The high flexibility of the nanotubes and high elasticity of the ZnO nanorods can be used to enhance the efficiency of piezoelectric nanodevices. We used the Euler buckling model and shell cylindrical model for the analysis of the mechanical properties of ZnO nanotubes and nanorods.

Copper oxide (CuO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures complement each other since CuO is unintentional p-type and ZnO unintentional n-type. Using the low temperature chemical growth approach, the effect on morphology of varying the pH of the grown ZnO nanostructures and CuO micro structures is monitored. For both materials the variation of the pH was found to lead to a large variation on the morphology achieved. The grown ZnO NRs and CuO micro flowers material were used to fabricate devices. We demonstrate results from ZnO nanorods (NRs)/polymer p-n hybrid heterojunctions chemically grown on paper and using a process on paper for light emitting diodes (LEDs) applications as well as some large area light emitting diodes LEDs. The growth of CuO micro flowers indicated good quality material for sensing applications. The grown CuO micro flowers were employed as pH sensors. The results indicated a superior performance as expect due to the catalytic properties of this material. © 2012 Materials Research Society.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and especially in the nanostructure form is currently being intensively investigated world wide for the possibility of developing different new photonic devices. We will here present our recent findings on the controlled low temperature chemical growth of ZnO nanorods (NRs) on different large area substrates. Many different heterojunctions of ZnO NRs and p-substrates including those of crystalline e. g. p-GaN, p-SiC or amorphous nature e. g. p-polymer coated plastic and p-polymer coated paper will be shown. Moreover, the effect of the p-electrode of these heterojunctions on tuning the emitted wavelength and changing the light quality will be discussed. An example using ZnO NR/p-GaN will be shown and the electrical and electro-optical characteristics will be analyzed. For these heterojunctions the effect of post growth annealing and its effect on the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum will be shown. Finally, intrinsic white light emitting diodes based on ZnO NRs on foldable and disposable amorphous substrates (plastic and paper) will also be presented.

Recent progress on the growth of zinc oxide (ZnO), copper oxide (CuO) and graphene nanosheets is presented and discussed. We here restrict the discussion to the hydrothermal low temperature growth regime. In view of this the most critical and important parameters for obtaining nanostructures with desired morphology are discussed and presented. Among all parameters, the temperature and the pH during growth were chosen due to their strong role in affecting the produced nanostructures. The application of this method to non-conventional substrates e. g. paper, is demonstrated. Different devices are fabricated using the grown material and their performance is discussed.

A two-step chemical bath deposition was utilized to synthesize ZnO nanorod arrays (ZNRAs) on metals, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(strenesulfonate) (PEDOT/PSS) coated flexible plastic foils, and copper oxides coated glass substrates. The whole synthesis procedure was carried out at a low temperature of 50 degrees C, without any other substrate treatments. The low growth temperature showed improved influence on both the ZNRAs structural and optical properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images revealed well-aligned ZNRAs with large aspect ratios, and X-ray diffraction (X RI)) analysis indicated that single crystalline ZNRAs were achieved with high c-axial orientation tendency. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements demonstrated excellent optical properties of the as-grown ZNRAs with very low defect concentration contrary to what was believed to be achieved when lowering the growth temperature. The impact of the low deposition temperature on the ZNRAs structure is discussed in connection to the thermodynamics constraints, while the temperature effect on the defects formation and density in the as-deposited ZNRAs is elaborated and compared with recent theoretical calculations that appeared in the literature.

Stable intrinsic white light-emitting diodes were fabricated from c-axially oriented ZnO nanorods (NRs) grown at 50 degrees C via the chemical bath deposition on top of a multi-layered poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-N-(4-butylpheneylamine)diphenylamine)/poly(9,9dioctyl-fluorene) deposited on PEDOT:PSS on highly flexible plastic substrate. The low growth temperature enables the use of a variety of flexible plastic substrates. The fabricated flexible white light-emitting diode (FWLED) demonstrated good electrical properties and a single broad white emission peak extending from 420 nm and up to 800 nm combining the blue light emission of the polyflourene (PFO) polymer layer with the deep level emission (DLEs) of ZnO NRs. The influence of the temperature variations on the FWLED white emissions characteristics was studied and the devices exhibited high operation stability. Our results are promising for the development of white lighting sources using existing lighting glass bulbs, tubes, and armature technologies.

We demonstrate the synthesis and investigate the electrical and optical characteristics of nanocorals (NCs) composed of CuO/ZnO grown at low temperature through the hydrothermal approach. High-density CuO nanostructures (NSs) were selectively grown on ZnO nanorods (NRs). The synthesized NCs were used to fabricate p-n heterojunctions that were investigated by the current density-voltage (J-V) and the capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. It was found that the NC heterojunctions exhibit a well-defined diode behavior with a threshold voltage of about 1.52 V and relatively high rectification factor of similar to 760. The detailed forward J-V characteristics revealed that the current transport is controlled by an ohmic behavior for V andlt;= 0.15 V, whereas at moderate voltages 1.46 andlt;= V andlt; 1.5 the current follows a J alpha exp(beta V) relationship. At higher voltages (andgt;= 1.5 V) the current follows the relation J alpha V-2, indicating that the space-charge-limited current mechanism is the dominant current transport. The C-V measurement indicated that the NC diode has an abrupt junction. The grown CuO/ZnO NCs exhibited a broad light absorption range that is covering the UV and the entire visible parts of the spectrum.

We demonstrate hydrothermal synthesis of coral-like CuO nanostructures by selective growth on ZnO nanorods (NR) at low temperatures. During the hydrothermal processing the resultant hydroxylated and eroded surface of ZnO NR becomes favorable for the CuO nanostructures growth via oriented attachments. Heterojunction p-n diodes fabricated from the CuO/ZnO nanocorals (NC) reveal stable and high rectification diode properties with a turn-on voltage ~1.52 V and negligible reverse current. The humidity sensing characteristics of the CuO/ZnO NC diodes exhibit a remarkable linear (in a semilogarithmic scale) decrease in the DC resistance by more than three orders when the relative humidity is changed from 30 – 90 %. The NC humidity sensor is also found to reveal the highest sensitivity factor ~6045 among available data for the constituent material’s and a response and recovery time of 6 s and 7 s, respectively.

Well-crystallized flower-shaped cupric oxide (CuO) nanostructures composed of thin leaves have been synthesized by simple low-temperature chemical bath method and used to fabricate pH sensor. We examined the effect of the pH on the growth of the CuO nanostructures, by changing the pH of the precursor solutions different morphologies of the CuO nanostructures were obtained. CuO nanoflowers have recently become important as a material that provides an effective surface for electrochemical activities with enhanced sensing characteristics. The proposed sensor exhibited a linear electrochemical response within a wide pH range of (2-11). The experimental results (time response, electrochemical activity, reproducibility, absorption spectra, and XRD) indicate that the CuO nanoflowers can be used in pH sensor applications with enhanced properties.

Hybrid light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods and polymers (single and blended) were fabricated and characterized. The ZnO nanorods were grown by the chemical bath deposition method at 50A degrees C. Three different LEDs, with blue emitting, orange-red emitting or their blended polymer together with ZnO nanorods, were fabricated and studied. The current-voltage characteristics show good diode behavior with an ideality factor in the range of 2.1 to 2.27 for all three devices. The electroluminescence spectrum (EL) of the blended device has an emission range from 450 nm to 750 nm, due to the intermixing of the blue emission generated by poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) denoted as PFO with orange-red emission produced by poly(2-methoxy-5(20-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) 1,4-phenylenevinylene) symbolized as MEH PPV combined with the deep-band emission (DBE) of the ZnO nanorods, i.e. it covers the whole visible region and is manifested as white light. The CIE color coordinates showed bluish, orange-red and white emission from the PFO, MEH PPV and blended LEDs with ZnO nanorods, respectively. These results indicate that the choice of the polymer with proper concentration is critical to the emitted color in ZnO nanorods/p-organic polymer LEDs and careful design should be considered to obtain intrinsic white light sources.

An efficient catalytic effect of petals and flowers like CuO nanostructures (NSs) on the degradation of two organic dyes, methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RB) were investigated. The highest degradation of 95% in CuO petals and 72% in flowers for MB is observed in 24 h. For RB, the degradation was 85% and 80% in petals and flowers, respectively for 5 h. It was observed that CuO petals appeared to be more active than flowers for degradation of both dyes associated to high specific surface area. The petals and flower like CuO NSs were synthesized using the chemical bath method at 90 °C. The grown CuO NSs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

The effects of the polymer concentration on the performance of hybrid light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) was investigated. Various characterization techniques were applied to study the performance of the PFO/ZnO NR hybrid LEDs fabricated with various PFO concentrations. The fabricated hybrid LEDs demonstrated stable rectifying diode behavior, and it was observed that the turn-on voltage of the LEDs is concentration dependent. The measured room temperature electroluminescence (EL) showed that the PFO concentration plays a critical role in the emission spectra of the hybrid LEDs. At lower PFO concentrations of 2-6 mg/ml, the EL spectra are dominated by blue emission. However, by increasing the concentration to more than 8 mg/ml, the blue emission was completely suppressed while the green emission was dominant. This EL behavior was explained by a double trap system of excitons that were trapped in the β-phase and/or in the fluorenone defects in the PFO side. The effects of current injection on the hybrid LEDs and on the EL emission were also investigated. Under a high injection current, a new blue peak was observed in the EL spectrum, which was correlated to the creation of a new chemical species on the PFO chain. The green emission peak was also enhanced with increasing injection current because of the fluorenone defects. These results indicate that the emission spectra of the hybrid LEDs can be tuned by using different polymer concentrations and by varying the current injected into the device.