Browsing by Author "Li, Chao"

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Microstructure evolution determined by the crystalline phases competition in self-assembled WO3-BiVO4 hetero nanostructures
(2018-02-28)
Song, Haili
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Li, Chao
;
Chien Nguyen Van
;
Dong, Wenxia
;
Qi, Ruijuan
A series of self-assembled WO3-BiVO4 nanostructured thin films were grown on the (001) yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate at the substrate temperatures of 400 degrees C, 500 degrees C, 550 degrees C, 600 degrees C, 650 degrees C and 700 degrees C by a pulsed laser deposition method. The microstructures including crystalline phases, epitaxial relationships, surface morphologies and interface structures were investigated by a combination of x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The sample grown at 400 degrees C was amorphous due to the low driving forces for nucleation and diffusion. For the samples made at 500 degrees C, 550 degrees C and 600 degrees C, the monoclinic BiVO4 matrix epitaxially grew on YSZ, forming the matrix, where the WO3 nanopillars were embedded in with a specific orientation relationship among BiVO4, WO3 and YSZ. However, in thin films deposited at 650 degrees C and 700 degrees C, the WO3 grains randomly grew on the YSZ substrate, which dominated the microstructures of the resultant thin films. Quantitative analyses of the microstructures revealed that the lateral grain sizes of BiVO4 and WO3 increased and the volume fraction of BiVO4 in the thin films decreased with the increase of the deposition temperature. A three-regime growth mechanism of the WO3-BiVO4 composite thin film was proposed based on the growth dynamics determined by the competition between BiVO4 and WO3. Published by AIP Publishing.
Microstructure evolution with composition ratio in self-assembled WO3-BiVO4 hetero nanostructures for water splitting
(2017-07-01)
Song, Haili
;
Li, Chao
;
Chien Nguyen Van
;
Liu, Heng-Jui
;
Qi, Ruijuan
A series of self-assembled WO3-BiVO4 nanostructured thin films with 17, 25, 50, 67, and 100 mol% WO3 were grown on the (001) yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate by pulsed laser deposition method. The microstructures including crystalline phases, epitaxial relationship, interface structures, and chemical composition distributions were investigated by a combination of various electron microscopy techniques including scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. The monoclinic BiVO4 formed the matrix, in which WO3 nanopillars were embedded with specific epitaxial relationships. In BiVO4-rich sample, orthorhombic Bi2WO6 was formed. However, metastable hexagonal WO3 phase and orthorhombic WO3 phase coexisted in other composite samples. The thin amorphous layer at the film/substrate interface indicated that the mismatch strain between films and substrate is released. The hydrostatic tensile strain due to thermal expansion mismatch between BiVO4 and WO3 as well as the diffusion of Bi into the WO3 stabilized the metastable h-WO3. A WO3-BiVO4 pseudobinary phase diagram was proposed based on the magnitude of the thermal expansion mismatch and the distance of Bi diffusion, which can be applied to design the microstructures of WO3-BiVO4 heterojunctions and optimize their photoelectrochemical properties.
Neutrino physics with JUNO
(2016-03)
An, Fengpeng
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An, Guangpeng
;
An, Qi
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Antonelli, Vito
;
Baussan, Eric
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 kton multipurpose underground liquid scintillator detector, was proposed with the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) as a primary physics goal. The excellent energy resolution and the large fiducial volume anticipated for the JUNO detector offer exciting opportunities for addressing many important topics in neutrino and astro-particle physics. In this document, we present the physics motivations and the anticipated performance of the JUNO detector for various proposed measurements. Following an introduction summarizing the current status and open issues in neutrino physics, we discuss how the detection of antineutrinos generated by a cluster of nuclear power plants allows the determination of the neutrino MH at a 3-4 sigma significance with six years of running of JUNO. The measurement of antineutrino spectrum with excellent energy resolution will also lead to the precise determination of the neutrino oscillation parameters sin(2) theta(12), Delta m(21)(2), and vertical bar Delta m(ee)(2)vertical bar to an accuracy of better than 1%, which will play a crucial role in the future unitarity test of the MNSP matrix. The JUNO detector is capable of observing not only antineutrinos from the power plants, but also neutrinos/antineutrinos from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources, including supernova burst neutrinos, diffuse supernova neutrino background, geoneutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, and solar neutrinos. As a result of JUNO\'s large size, excellent energy resolution, and vertex reconstruction capability, interesting new data on these topics can be collected. For example, a neutrino burst from a typical core-collapse supernova at a distance of 10 kpc would lead to similar to 5000 inverse-beta-decay events and similar to 2000 all-flavor neutrino-proton ES events in JUNO, which are of crucial importance for understanding the mechanism of supernova explosion and for exploring novel phenomena such as collective neutrino oscillations. Detection of neutrinos from all past core-collapse supernova explosions in the visible universe with JUNO would further provide valuable information on the cosmic star-formation rate and the average core-collapse neutrino energy spectrum. Antineutrinos originating from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in the Earth can be detected in JUNO with a rate of similar to 400 events per year, significantly improving the statistics of existing geoneutrino event samples. Atmospheric neutrino events collected in JUNO can provide independent inputs for determining the MH and the octant of the theta(23) mixing angle. Detection of the Be-7 and B-8 solar neutrino events at JUNO would shed new light on the solar metallicity problem and examine the transition region between the vacuum and matter dominated neutrino oscillations. Regarding light sterile neutrino topics, sterile neutrinos with 10-(5) eV(2) < Delta m(41)(2) < 10(-2) and a sufficiently large mixing angle theta(14) could be identified through a precise measurement of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. Meanwhile, JUNO can also provide us excellent opportunities to test the eV-scale sterile neutrino hypothesis, using either the radioactive neutrino sources or a cyclotron-produced neutrino beam. The JUNO detector is also sensitive to several other beyondthe-standard-model physics. Examples include the search for proton decay via the p -> K++ <(v)over bar> decay channel, search for neutrinos resulting from dark-matter annihilation in the Sun, search for violation of Lorentz invariance via the sidereal modulation of the reactor neutrino event rate, and search for the effects of non-standard interactions. The proposed construction of the JUNO detector will provide a unique facility to address many outstanding crucial questions in particle and astrophysics in a timely and cost-effective fashion. It holds the great potential for further advancing our quest to understanding the fundamental properties of neutrinos, one of the building blocks of our Universe.
Optical mm-Wave Signal Generation by Frequency Quadrupling Using an Optical Modulator and a Silicon Microresonator Filter
(2009-01-01)
Xu, Lin
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Li, Chao
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Chow, C. W.
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Tsang, Hon Ki
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光電工程學系
By adjusting the direct current (de) bias on an electrooptic modulator to suppress the first-order sideband and subsequently using a double-waveguide micro-ring resonator to filter out the optical carrier, millimeter (mm)-wave signal was generated at a frequency of four times the 10-GHz local oscillator. A monolithic integrated silicon-based optical mm-wave signal generator by frequency quadrupling is proposed. A silicon integrated microresonator filter was fabricated and its design parameters are given. High extinction ratio optical mm-wave signal was obtained. The single sideband noise spectrum of the generated 40-GHz optical signal was measured, showing similar performance when compared with that generated by a radio-frequency synthesizer.
Role of indium tin oxide electrode on the microstructure of self-assembled WO3-BiVO4 hetero nanostructures
(2017-11-07)
Song, Haili
;
Li, Chao
;
Chien Nguyen Van
;
Dong, Wenxia
;
Qi, Ruijuan
Self-assembled WO3-BiVO4 nanostructured thin films were grown on a (001) yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate by the pulsed laser deposition method with and without the indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom electrode. Their microstructures including surface morphologies, crystalline phases, epitaxial relationships, interface structures, and composition distributions were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. In both samples, WO3 formed nanopillars embedded into the monoclinic BiVO4 matrix with specific orientation relationships. In the sample with the ITO bottom electrode, an atomically sharp BiVO4/ITO interface was formed and the orthorhombic WO3 nanopillars were grown on a relaxed BiVO4 buffer layer with a mixed orthorhombic and hexagonal WO3 transition layer. In contrast, a thin amorphous layer appears at the interfaces between the thin film and the YSZ substrate in the sample without the ITO electrode. In addition, orthorhombic Bi2WO6 lamellar nanopillars were formed between WO3 and BiVO4 due to interdiffusion. Such a WO3-Bi2WO6-BiVO4 double heterojunction photoanode may promote the photo-generated charge separation and further improve the photoelectrochemical water splitting properties. Published by AIP Publishing.