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This study aims to explore the applicability of the sol-gel-derived GaN thin films for UV photodetection.

GaN-based ultraviolet (UV) photodetector with Pt Schottky contacts was fabricated and its applicability was investigated. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the GaN-based UV photodetector under the dark current and photocurrent were measured.

The ideality factors of GaN-based UV photodetector under dark current and photocurrent were 6.93 and 5.62, respectively. While the Schottky barrier heights (SBH) for GaN-based UV photodetector under dark current and photocurrent were 0.35 eV and 0.34 eV, respectively. The contrast ratio and responsivity of this UV photodetector measured at 5 V were found to be 1.36 and 1.68 μA/W, respectively. The photoresponse as a function of time was measured by switching the UV light on and off continuously at different forward biases of 1, 3 and 6 V. The results showed that the fabricated UV photodetector has reasonable stability and repeatability.

This work demonstrated that GaN-based UV photodetector can be fabricated by using the GaN thin film grown by low-cost and simple sol-gel spin coating method.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the electrical transport mechanism of the Al‐doped ZnO nanorods at different temperatures by employing impedance spectroscopy.

Al‐doped ZnO nanorods were grown on silicon substrate using step sol‐gel method. For the seed solution preparation Zinc acetate dihydrate, 2‐methoxyethanol, monoethanolamine and aluminum nitrite nano‐hydrate were used as a solute, solvent, stabilizer and dopant, respectively. Prior to the deposition, P‐type Si (100) wafer was cut into pieces of 1 cm×2 cm. The samples were then cleaned in an ultrasonic bath with acetone, ethanol, and de‐ionized (DI) water for 5 min. The prepared seed solution was coated on silicon substrate using spin coater at spinning speed of 3000 rpm for 30 s and then dried at 250°C for 10 min followed by annealing at 550°C for 1 h. The hydrothermal growth was carried out in a solution of zinc nitrate hexahydrate (0.025M), Hexamethyltetramine (0.025M) in DI water.

Al‐doped ZnO nanorods were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and impedance spectroscopy. The impedance measurements were carried out at various temperatures (100°C‐325°C). The impedance results showed that temperature has great influence on the impedance; the impedance value decreased as the temperature increased. This decrement is attributed to the increase of the mobility of the defects, especially the oxygen vacancies. The surface morphology of the samples was measured by SEM and X‐ray diffraction. The SEM images show that the high density of Al‐doped ZnO nanorods covers the silicon substrate, whereas the XRD pattern shows the (002) crystal orientation.

This paper demonstrates the electron transport mechanism of Al‐doped ZnO nanorods, at different temperatures, to understand the charge transport model.

This study aims to the effect of NaF, Li₂CO₃ and H₃BO₃ minerals was investigated, and the best mineralizer was found to be H₃BO₃. Furthermore, the effect of temperature was investigated, and the synthesized samples were calcined at temperatures of 1100, 1200 and 1300 °C to select the optimum calcination temperature.

This study was aimed at thoroughly investigating the effects of mineralizer addition and temperature on the synthesis of malayaite pink pigment based on raw materials of SnCl₂-SiO₂-Ca(OH)₂-K₂Cr₂O₇. To this end, the optimization of the synthesis parameters such as mineralizer addition and temperature was completely perused.

The optimum temperature was 1300 °C, and the color efficiency of pigments was evaluated by colorimetric (CIE L*a*b* system) analysis, and these parameters were close to those of industrial pigments.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, the effect of mineralizer addition and temperature on the synthesis of malayaite pink pigment was investigated through the sol-gel method. Herein, different parameters were optimized to propose a novel pigment with a much better performance.

The purpose of this work is to study tribological properties of liquid paraffin with SiO₂ nanoparticles as an additive, which are made by surface-modification method. Taguchi robust designs for optimization in synthesizing SiO₂ nanoparticles by sol-gel method.

The tribological properties of the SiO₂ nanoparticles as additive in liquid paraffin are studied by ball-on-ring wear tester to find out optimal concentration, and the mechanism of the reduction of wear and friction will be investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and atomic force microscope (AFM).

Under optimal conditions identified by Taguchi robust designs method, SiO₂ nanoparticles with a narrow particle size distribution can be obtained and optimal concentrations of SiO₂ nanoparticles as additives in liquid paraffin have better properties than the pure paraffin oil.

It is shown in the paper that by reducing friction and AW, the lubricant prepared by the methods described can prolong operating hours of machinery.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an investigation on a new kind of photocatalytic material, namely, the porous ceramic foam loading titanium dioxide, which can make an effective photocatalytic degradation of the methyl orange (MO) solution in the wastewater.

The natural zeolite powder has been used as the primary raw material to produce a sort of lightweight porous ceramic foam by impregnating polymer foam in slurry and then sintering. With the sol-gel method, a kind of open-cell reticular porous ceramic foam loading TiO₂ film was obtained having a good photocatalytic action, and the resultant porous composite product presents the bulk density of 0.3~0.6 g/cm³ to be able to float on water.

The MO could tend to be completely degraded in the solution with a certain concentration by the TiO₂-loaded ceramic foam irradiated with ultraviolet light, and this composite foam was found to have high degradation efficiency for the MO solution in a wide range of pH.

This work presents a TiO₂-loaded ceramic foam that can effectively photo-catalyze to degrade the MO in water, and the degradation efficiency were examined under different conditions of the MO solution with various pH values.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of doping, annealing temperature and visible optical excitation on CuO-ZnO nanocomposites’ acetone sensing properties and introduce an attractive candidate for acetone detection at about room temperature.

ZnO nanoparticles doped with CuO were prepared by sol-gel method, and the structure and morphology were characterized via X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. The photoelectric responses of CuO-ZnO nanocomposites to cetone under the irradiation of visible light were investigated at about 30°C. The photoelectric response mechanism was also discussed with the model of double Schottky.

The doping of CuO enhanced performance of ZnO nanoparticles in terms of the photoelectric responses and the gas response and selectivity to acetone of ZnO nanoparticles, in addition, decreasing the operating temperature to about 30ºC. The optimum performance was obtained by 4.17% CuO-ZnO nanocomposites. Even at the operating temperature, about 30ºC, the response to 1,000 ppm acetone was significantly increased to 579.24 under the visible light irradiation.

The sensor fabricated by 4.17% CuO-ZnO nanocomposites exhibited excellent acetone-sensing characteristics at about 30ºC. It is promising to be applied in low power and miniature acetone gas sensors.

In the present research, a new nanocomposite material of CuO-ZnO was prepared by Sol-gel method. The optimum gas sensing properties to acetone were obtained by 4.17% CuO-ZnO nanocomposites at about 30ºC operating temperature when it was irradiated by visible light with the wavelength more than 420 nm.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the tribological properties of liquid paraffin with SiO₂ nanoparticles additive made by a sol‐gel method.

The tribological properties of the SiO₂ nanoparticles as an additive in liquid paraffin are measured using a ball‐on‐ring wear tester to determine the optimal additive concentration. The mechanism that wear and friction are reduced is studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and atomic force microscope (AFM).

Experimental results indicate that the sizes of the synthesized SiO₂ nanoparticles are distributed uniformly and that the optimal concentrations of SiO₂ nanoparticles in liquid paraffin is associated with better tribological properties than pure paraffin oil, and an anti‐wear (AW) ability that depends on the particle size.

It is shown in the paper that by reducing friction and AW, the lubricant prepared by the methods described can prolong operating hours of machinery.

The purpose of this study is to fabricate a transducer-based TiO₂ interdigitated microelectrodes with various gap sizes. The most stable electrical properties have been selected for Escherichia. coli O157:H7 DNA detection.

Sol-gel was used to synthesize TiO₂ nanoparticles. Lift-off photolithography process was used for fabrication of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) and dry-state DNA detection was done using a Picoammeter.

TiO₂ nanoparticles IDEs with 16-um gap size is able to detect DNA of E. coli in a dry state.

This paper describes IDEs for dry-state detection of E. coli O157:H7 DNA. The technique presented in this paper ensures the high uniformity of nanoparticle deposition on the finger electrode.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possibility of using titanium dioxide coating in the field of architectural heritage.

In this research, a titanium dioxide coating was prepared and then applied to the travertine stone surfaces. The nature of the coating was determined through various observations and analyses. Moreover, the effect of photocatalytic self-cleaning was evaluated using an organic dye (Rhodamine B).

The results of XRD, DLS and SEM confirmed the formation of small anatase crystals. The hydrophilic behavior on the surface was observed by coatings based on titanium dioxide.

The self-cleaning ability of titanium dioxide is due to the synergistic effect of its optical inductive property, which is activated with sunlight.

The self-cleaning coatings are interested for many industries. The reported data can be used by the formulators working in the research and development departments.

Self-cleaning systems are considered as smart coatings. Therefore, the developing of its knowledge can help to extend its usage to different applications.

The application of titanium dioxide coating in the field of architectural heritage is a great challenge. Therefore, in this research, a titanium dioxide coating was prepared by sol-gel method and then applied on travertine surfaces and its properties were studied.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of preparation process and amounts of starting materials on the morphology of chitosan‐silica (CS‐silica) hybrid hollow nanospheres.

A simple method coupling sol‐gel process and in situ self‐assembly was used to prepare CS‐silica nanospheres from the solution containing chitosan‐poly (acrylic acid) (CS‐PAA) nanoparticles, tetraethoxyorthosilicate (TEOS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The morphology of CS‐silica hybrid hollow nanospheres was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical structures of CS‐PAA nanoparticles and CS‐silica nanospheres were characterised by FT‐IR spectra.

The size and morphology of CS‐silica nanospheres was largely dependent on the starting amounts of TEOS, PVP and ammonia. Moreover, the reaction time can also affect the structures of the hybrid nanospheres.

The dispersibility of CS‐silica nanospheres was not good enough and the conglutination was inevitable to some extent.

The coupling of sol‐gel technology and in situ self‐assembly opened a new gateway for preparing other organic/inorganic composite nanoparticles. This kind of material could be used as a slow release agent for biocides in coatings/paints.

The hybrid CS‐silica nanospheres showed obvious hollow structures. The morphology of nanospheres can be efficaciously controlled via adjusting the starting amounts of PVP, TEOS and ammonia, and the stirring time. The obtained CS‐silica hybrid nanospheres will have potential applications in such as drug delivery and controlled release.