| A research team of Ehime University paved a way to achieve unexplored III-V semiconductor nanostructures. They grew branched GaAs nanowires with a nontoxic Bi element employing characteristic structural modifications correlated with metallic droplets, as well as crystalline defects and orientations. | |
| The finding provides a rational design concept for the creation of semiconductor nanostructures with the concentration of constituents beyond the fundamental limit, making it potentially applicable to novel efficient near-infrared devices and quantum electronics. | |
| Nanowire is a rod-structure with a diameter typically narrower than several hundred nanometers. Due to its size and structure, it exhibits characteristic properties which are not found in larger bulk materials. The study of III-V semiconductor nanowires has attracted much interest in recent decades due to their potential application in nanoscale quantum, photonic, electronic, and energy conversion, and in biological devices, based on their one-dimensional nature and large surface to volume ratio. | |
| The introduction of an epitaxial heterostructure facilitates control of the transport and electronic properties of such devices, showing the potential for realizing integrated systems based on III-V compounds and Si with superior electronic and optical functions. |
| III-V compound semiconductors are one of the highest in mobility and photon-electron conversion efficiency in existence. Among them, GaAs is a representative III-V compound semiconductor, which is utilized for high speed transistors, as well as high-efficiency near-infrared light-emitting diodes, lasers, and solar cells. Optical devices based on III-V GaAs suffer from intrinsic losses related to heat generation. | |
| To circumvent this, the use of dilute bismide GaAsBi alloy with a nontoxic Bi element has recently gained attention because the introduction of Bi suppresses heat generation while increasing electron-light conversion efficiency. Therefore, incorporating dilute bismide GaAsBi alloy into nanowires is a rational approach for developing high-performance optoelectronic nanodevices. | |
| Meanwhile, branched or tree-like nanowires offer an approach to increase structural complexity and enhance the resulting functions which in turn enable the realization of higher dimensionality structures, lateral connectivity, and interconnection between the nanowires. |
Image Credit: Ehime University
News This Week
Nasal Alzheimer’s Vaccine To Start Human Trials for the First Time
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston Massachusetts will soon begin Phase I trials of a nasal vaccine designed to prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a press release said. This is the [...]
Innovations in Nanocomposites: A Future Outlook
Nanocomposites are a class of nanomaterials, where one or more nanostructured materials (organic/inorganic) are incorporated in metal, polymer, or ceramic to obtain a new material with many unique properties. Nanocomposites are applied in various [...]
Pfizer – updated version of vaccine ‘ready in 100 days’ if the new Omicron resistant to its current vaccine
Pfizer said it will be able to manufacture and distribute an updated version of its COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days if the new variant Omicron is found to be resistant to its current vaccine. [...]
B.1.1.529 – What do we know about the new ‘worst ever’ Covid variant?
UK places South Africa on red travel list over B.1.1.529 variant picked up by scientists in country. What is the new variant and why is it a concern? Scientists have detected a new Covid-19 [...]
Scientists warn of new Covid variant with high number of mutations
The B.1.1.529 variant was first spotted in Botswana and six cases have been found in South Africa. Scientists have said a new Covid variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive [...]
New microscope uses photonics to gain insights into superbugs
Scientists are building a new super-resolution microscope that uses laser light to study the inner workings and behaviours of superbugs to gain new insights into how they cause disease. The microscope will allow scientists [...]
Researchers make ultra-sensitive cancer detector from 2D materials
Cells can produce unique electrical signals. These signals can be linked to various cancers, such as the breast, lung, liver, brain, pancreas and prostate cancers, meaning that they can be used as indicators for [...]
New sensor detects ever smaller nanoparticles
Conventional microscopes produce enlarged images of small structures or objects with the help of light. Nanoparticles, however, are so small that they hardly absorb or scatter light and, hence, remain invisible. Optical resonators increase [...]
How Will the COVID Pills Change the Pandemic?
From a new article By Dhruv Khullar in the New York Times: New antiviral drugs are startlingly effective against the coronavirus—if they’re taken in time. n March, 2020, researchers at Emory University published a paper about a [...]
Is Delta the last Covid ‘super variant’?
Every week, a group of epidemiologists across the north-east of the United States joins a Zoom call entirely devoted to discussing the latest hints of new Covid-19 variants being reported around the world. “It’s like the [...]
Cancer cells use ‘tiny tentacles’ to suppress the immune system
To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its [...]
Cancer cells use ‘tiny tentacles’ to suppress the immune system
To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its [...]
3D printing approaches atomic dimensions
A new 3D printing technology makes the production of complex metallic objects at the nanoscale possible. A team of chemists led by a scientist from the University of Oldenburg has developed an electrochemical technique [...]
Nanoscale ‘computer’ controls function of protein, influences cell behavior
The creation of nanoscale computers for use in precision health care has long been a dream of many scientists and health care providers. Now, for the first time, researchers at Penn State have produced [...]
Could liposomes be the unsung heroes of the pandemic?
Liposomes may be the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the protection of these microscopic vesicles, the delicate strands of messenger RNA (mRNA) that lie at the heart of the Pfizer and Moderna [...]
Pfizer agrees to let other companies make its COVID-19 pill
London: Drugmaker Pfizer has signed a deal with a UN-backed group to allow other manufacturers to make its experimental COVID-19 pill, a move that could make the treatment available to more than half of the [...]
