RESUMEN
Formation of highly crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires with an extremely high aspect ratio (length = 60 µm, diameter = 50 nm) is routinely achieved by introducing an intermediate step-oxidation method during the thermal oxidation process of thin zinc (Zn) films. High-purity Zn was deposited onto clean glass substrates at room temperature using a vacuum-assisted thermal evaporation technique. Afterwards, the as-deposited Zn layers were thermally oxidized under a closed air ambient condition at different temperatures and durations. Structural, morphological, chemical, optical and electrical properties of these oxide layers were investigated using various surface characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). It was noticed that the initial thermal oxidation of Zn films usually starts above 400 °C. Homogeneous and lateral growth of the ZnO layer is usually preferred for oxidation at a lower temperature below 500 °C. One-dimensional (1D) asymmetric growth of ZnO started to dominate thermal oxidation above 600 °C. Highly dense 1D ZnO nanowires were specifically observed after prolonged oxidation at 600 °C for 5 hours, followed by short-step oxidation at 700 °C for 30 minutes. However, direct oxidation of Zn films at 700 °C resulted in ZnO nanorod formation. The formation of ZnO nanowires using step-oxidation is explained in terms of surface free energy and compressive stress-driven Zn adatom kinetics through the grain boundaries of laterally grown ZnO seed layers. This simple thermal oxidation process using intermittent step-oxidation was found to be quite unique and very much useful to routinely grow an array of high-density ZnO nanowires. Moreover, these ZnO nanowires showed very high sensitivity and selectivity towards formaldehyde vapour sensing against few other VOCs.
RESUMEN
We report the slow spin dynamics of cluster spin-glass (SG) spinel Zn(Fe1-xRux)2O4by means of detaileddc-magnetization andac-susceptibility studies combined with the heat capacity analysis. Two specific compositions (x = 0.5, 0.75) have been investigated in detail along with the substitution of Jahn-Teller (JT) active spin-1/2 Cu2+ions at B-sites. Measurements based on the frequency and temperature dependence ofac-susceptibility (χac(f,T)) and the subsequent analysis using the empirical scaling laws such as: (a) Vogel-Fulcher law and (b) Power law reveal the presence of cluster SG state below the characteristic freezing temperatureTSG(17.77 K (x = 0.5) and 14 K (x = 0.75)). Relaxation dynamics of both the compositions follow the non-mean field de Almeida-Thouless (AT)-line approach(TSG(H)=TSG(0)(1-AH2/Ï)), with an ideal value ofφ = 3. Nevertheless, the analysis of temperature dependent high fielddc-susceptibility,χhf(2kOe ⩽ HDC ⩽ 20kOe,T) provides evidence for Gabay-Toulouse type mixed-phase (coexistence of SG and ferrimagnetic (FiM)) behaviour. Further, in the case of Cu0.2Zn0.8FeRuO4system, slowly fluctuating magnetic clusters persist even above the short-range FiM ordering temperature (TFiM) and their volume fraction vanishes completely across â¼6TFiM. This particular feature of the dynamics has been very well supported by the time decay of the thermoremanent magnetization and heat-capacity studies. We employed the high temperature series expansion technique to determine the symmetric exchange coupling (JS) between the spins which yieldsJS=-3.02×10-5 eV for Cu0.2Zn0.8FeRuO4representing the dominant intra-sublattice ferromagnetic interactions due to the dilute incorporation of the JT active Cu2+ions. However, the antiferromagnetic coupling is predominant in ZnFeRuO4and Cu0.2Zn0.8Fe0.5Ru1.5O4systems. Finally, we deduced the magnetic phase diagram in theHDC-Tplane using the characteristic parameters obtained from the field variations of bothac- anddc-magnetization measurements.