Template epitaxial growth of thermoelectric Bi/BiSb superlattice nanowires by charge-controlled pulse electrodeposition

© The Electrochemical Society, Inc. 2009. All rights reserved. Except as provided under U.S. copyright law, this work may not be reproduced, resold, distributed, or modified without the express permission of The Electrochemical Society (ECS). The archival version of this work was published in The Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 156(9), 2009.Bi/BiSb superlattice nanowires (SLNWs) with a controllable and very small bilayer thickness and a sharp segment interface were grown by adopting a charge-controlled pulse electrodeposition. The deposition parameters were optimized to ensure an epitaxial growth of the SLNWs with a preferential orientation. The segment length and bilayer thickness of the SLNWs can be controlled simply by changing the modulating time, and the consistency of the segment length can be well maintained by our approach. The Bravais law in the electrodeposited nanowires is verified by the SLNW structure. The current–voltage measurement shows that the SLNWs have good electrical conductance, particularly those with a smaller bilayer thickness. The Bi/BiSb SLNWs might have excellent thermoelectric performances.National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Major Project of Fundamental Research for Nanomaterials and Nanostructures

Temperature effects on microwave-induced resistivity oscillations and zero resistance states in 2D electron systems

In this work we address theoretically a key issue concerning microwave-induced longitudinal resistivity oscillations and zero resistance states, as is tempoerature. In order to explain the strong temperature dependence of the longitudinal resistivity and the thermally activated transport in 2DEG, we have developed a microscopic model based on the damping suffered by the microwave-driven electronic orbit dynamics by interactions with the lattice ions yielding acoustic phonons. Recent experimental results show a reduction in the amplitude of the longitudinal resistivity oscillations and a breakdown of zero resistance states as the radiation intensity increases. In order to explain it we have included in our model the electron heating due to large microwave intensities and its effect on the longitudinal resistivity.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figures. Accepted in Phys Rev

Counting statistics of tunneling through a single molecule: effect of distortion and displacement of vibrational potential surface

We analyze the effects of a distortion of the nuclear potential of a molecular quantum dot (QD), as well as a shift of its equilibrium position, on nonequilibrium-vibration-assisted tunneling through the QD with a single level ($\epsilon_d$) coupled to the vibrational mode. For this purpose, we derive an explicit analytical expression for the Franck-Condon (FC) factor for a displaced-distorted oscillator surface of the molecule and establish rate equations in the joint electron-phonon representation to examine the current-voltage characteristics and zero-frequency shot noise, and skewness as well. Our numerical analyses shows that the distortion has two important effects. The first one is that it breaks the symmetry between the excitation spectra of the charge states, leading to asymmetric tunneling properties with respect to $\epsilon_d>0$ and $\epsilon_d<0$. Secondly, distortion (frequency change of the oscillator) significantly changes the voltage-activated cascaded transition mechanism, and consequently gives rise to a different nonequilibrium vibrational distribution from that of the case without distortion. Taken in conjunction with strongly modified FC factors due to distortion, this results in some new transport features: the appearance of strong NDC even for a single-level QD with symmetric tunnel couplings; a giant Fano factor even for a molecule with an extremely weak electron-phonon interaction; and enhanced skewness that can have a large negative value under certain conditions.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, published versio

Radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in two-dimensional electron systems under bichromatic irradiation

We analyze the magnetoresistance $R_{xx}$ oscillations in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems induced by the combined driving of two radiation fields of frequency $\omega_1$ and $\omega_2$, based on the balance-equation approach to magnetotransport for high-carrier-density systems in Faraday geometry. It is shown that under bichromatic irradiation of $\omega_2\sim 1.5 \omega_1$, most of the characterstic peak-valley pairs in the curve of $R_{xx}$ versus magnetic field in the case of monochromatic irradiation of either $\omega_1$ or $\omega_2$ disappear, except the one around $\omega_1/\omega_c\sim 2$ or $\omega_2/\omega_c\sim 3$. $R_{xx}$ oscillations show up mainly as new peak-valley structures around other positions related to multiple photon processes of mixing frequencies $\omega_1+\omega_2$, $\omega_2-\omega_1$, etc. Many minima of these resistance peak-valley pairs can descend down to negative with enhancing radiation strength, indicating the possible bichromaticzero-resistance states.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Institutional change and productivity growth in China's manufacturing: the microeconomics of knowledge accumulation and "creative restructuring"

4sìreservedThis article investigates the microeconomics underlying the spectacular growth of productivity in China’s manufacturing sector over the period 1998–2007. Underlying the aggregate evidence of such dramatic growth, one observes a large, albeit shrinking, intra-sectoral heterogeneity coupled with an even more important process of learning and knowledge accumulation. A major process of both catching-up and dying out among the least efficient ones occurs. Furthermore, we explore the effect of the characteristics of firms according to the ownership and governance structure upon the productivity distributions, highlighting the importance of the transformation of domestic firms as drivers of technical learning. In essence, China’s fast catching-up process entails more of learning and “creative restructuring” of domestic firms rather than sheer “creative destruction” and even less so a multinational corporation-led drive.mixedYU, XIAODAN; DOSI, Giovanni; Lei, J.; NUVOLARI, ALESSANDROYu, Xiaodan; Dosi, Giovanni; Lei, J.; Nuvolari, Alessandr

Two-dimensional Superconductivity from Dimerization of Atomically Ordered AuTe2Se4/3 Cubes

The emergent phenomena such as superconductivity and topological phase transitions can be observed in strict two-dimensional crystalline matters. Artificial interfaces and one atomic thickness layers are typical 2D materials of this kind. Although having 2D characters, most bulky layered compounds, however, do not possess these striking properties. Here, we report the 2D superconductivity in bulky AuTe2Se4/3,where the reduction in dimensionality is achieved through inducing the elongated covalent Te-Te bonds. The atomic-resolution images reveal that the Au, Te and Se are atomically ordered in a cube, among which are Te-Te bonds of 3.18 A and 3.28 A. The superconductivity at 2.85 K is discovered, which is unraveled to be the quasi-2D nature owing to the BKT topological transition. The nesting of nearly parallel Fermi sheets could give rise to strong electron-phonon coupling. It is proposed to further depleting the thickness could result in more topologically-related phenomena.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures,To be published in Nature Communication