Silicon Carbide Nanostructures as Potential Carbide Material for Electrochemical Supercapacitors: A Review

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a very promising carbide material with various applications such as electrochemical supercapacitors, photocatalysis, microwave absorption, field-effect transistors, and sensors. Due to its enticing advantages of high thermal stability, outstanding chemical stability, high thermal conductivity, and excellent mechanical behavior, it is used as a potential candidate in various fields such as supercapacitors, water-splitting, photocatalysis, biomedical, sensors, and so on. This review mainly describes the various synthesis techniques of nanostructured SiC (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D) and its properties. Thereafter, the ongoing research trends in electrochemical supercapacitor electrodes are fully excavated. Finally, the outlook of future research directions, key obstacles, and possible solutions are emphasized.

Nanoarchitectonics for Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Nanowires: Toward the Next Generation of Nanoelectromechanical Systems for Environmental Monitoring

Semiconductor nanowires are widely considered as the building blocks that revolutionized many areas of nanosciences and nanotechnologies. The unique features in nanowires, including high electron transport, excellent mechanical robustness, large surface area, and capability to engineer their intrinsic properties, enable new classes of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors in the form of nanowires are a hot spot of research owing to the tremendous possibilities in NEMS, particularly for environmental monitoring and energy harvesting. This article presents a comprehensive overview of the recent progress on the growth, properties and applications of silicon carbide (SiC), group III-nitrides, and diamond nanowires as the materials of choice for NEMS. It begins with a snapshot on material developments and fabrication technologies, covering both bottom-up and top-down approaches. A discussion on the mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal properties is provided detailing the fundamental physics of WBG nanowires along with their potential for NEMS. A series of sensing and electronic devices particularly for environmental monitoring is reviewed, which further extend the capability in industrial applications. The article concludes with the merits and shortcomings of environmental monitoring applications based on these classes of nanowires, providing a roadmap for future development in this fast-emerging research field.

Effect of Piezoresistive Behavior on Electron Emission from Individual Silicon Carbide Nanowire

The excellent properties of silicon carbide (SiC) make it widely applied in high-voltage, high-power, and high-temperature electronic devices. SiC nanowires combine the excellent physical properties of SiC material and the advantages of nanoscale structures, thus attracting significant attention from researchers. Herein, the electron vacuum tunneling emission characteristics of an individual SiC nanowire affected by the piezoresistive effect are investigated using in situ electric measurement in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) chamber. The results demonstrate that the piezoresistive effect caused by the electrostatic force has a significant impact on the electronic transport properties of the nanowire, and the excellent electron emission characteristics can be achieved in the pulse voltage driving mode, including lower turn-on voltage and higher maximum current. Furthermore, a physical model about the piezoresistive effect of SiC nanowire is proposed to explain the transformation of electronic transport under the action of electrostatic force in DC voltage and pulsed voltage driving modes. The findings can provide a way to obtain excellent electron emission characteristics from SiC nanowires.

Wet-chemically prepared low-dimensional ZnO/Al2O3/Cr2O3 nanoparticles for xanthine sensor development using an electrochemical method

A reliable xanthine (XNT) chemical sensor was fabricated using a facile wet-chemical method (by co-precipitation) to prepare ZnO/Al₂O₃/Cr₂O₃ nanoparticles (NPs) in an alkaline medium at low temperature. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) were implemented for detailed characterization of the NPs. To fabricate the working electrode as a XNT chemical sensor probe, a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with a 0.0316 cm² surface area was coated with an ethanolic slurry of the prepared ZnO/Al₂O₃/Cr₂O₃ NPs to make a thin layer and used to analyse XNT in a phosphate buffer system. To evaluate the analytical performances of the XNT chemical sensor, the calibration curve of XNT was plotted as the relationship of current versus the concentration of XNT. The plotted calibration curve was found to be linear over the LDR (linear dynamic range) of 0.05 nM to 5.0 μM. The assembled XNT electrochemical sensor exhibited the highest sensitivity (70.8861 μA μM⁻¹ cm⁻²), the lowest detection limit (1.34 ± 0.07 pM), good reproducibility performance with high accuracy and long-term stability with standard results under ambient conditions. This is a simple route to selectively detect XNT with wet-chemically prepared co-doped ZnO/Al₂O₃/Cr₂O₃ nanomaterials using a reliable electrochemical method at a large scale for safety within healthcare fields.

This is a simple route to detect the selective xanthine with wet-chemically prepared co-doped ZnO/Al₂O₃/Cr₂O₃ nanomaterials by reliable electrochemical method at large scales for the safety of healthcare fields.