This Letter reports the synthesis of nanoceramic composite ZnAl₂O₄TiO₂ by using a cost-effective and straight forward sol–gel route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed the ZnAl₂O₄ cubic structure along with the mixed anatase- and rutile-phases of TiO₂. Rietveld refinement is performed using XRD pattern to study the structural parameters. Raman investigation endorsed the corresponding vibration peaks of TiO₂ and ZnO. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy evidenced the agglomerated spherical nanoparticles. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis demonstrated the elementary peaks of Zn, Al, and Ti at 4.5, 1.5, and 1 eV, respectively. LCR measurement revealed the decreased dielectric permittivity with the rise in frequency and temperature. This dielectric characteristic is attributed to the dipole movement of the charge carriers. Furthermore, the authors present the investigation of the conductivity and impedance of the prepared dielectric ceramic material.

A novel material of Ag₃PO₄–Ag–Bi₂WO₆ Z-scheme heterojunction has been successfully synthesised using a simple deposition–precipitation method. In this work, the authors used diverse techniques to characterise the structure, catalytic performance, and morphology of the prepared materials. Meanwhile, the catalytic performance of prepared materials was evaluated by degrading organic pigment. The excellent catalytic performance of the material is according to the collaboration of Ag nanoparticles in the Ag₃PO₄–Ag–Bi₂WO₆ heterojunction. Ag nanoparticles enhance the stableness and activeness of the catalyst by acting as a charge transfer bridge between Ag₃PO₄ and Bi₂WO₆, which results in improving electron–hole pairs’ separation. Compared with pure Bi₂WO₆ and Ag₃PO₄–Bi₂WO₆ materials, Ag₃PO₄–Ag–Bi₂WO₆ has higher decomposition effectiveness of methylene blue under the same conditions. The photocatalytic mechanism was put forward and the process of the hole–electron pair's separation is discussed in detail, which is due to the formation of the Z-scheme heterojunction with Ag nanoparticles acted as a charge transfer bridge.

Tin dioxide (SnO₂) photocatalyst has broad prospects for the degradation of toxic organic pollutants; however, its practical application is greatly hampered by poor activity due to the high recombination rates of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this work, titania (TiO₂) modified SnO₂ photocatalysts were obtained by a facile hydrothermal method to suppress the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and improve the photocatalytic activity. Ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis)_ diffuse reflectance spectra suggest that TiO₂–SnO₂ composite photocatalysts hold stronger UV light absorption ability than that of the pure SnO₂. Surface photovoltage spectroscopy and photoelectrochemistry results show that the separation rate of photogenerated charge pairs of TiO₂–SnO₂ photocatalysts was greatly enhanced. The photocatalytic activities of the photocatalysts were evaluated by the decay of rhodamine B (RhB) under UV irradiation illumination. The results display that modification of SnO₂ by TiO₂ can largely enhance the photocatalytic activity and the photocatalytic performance of 0.5:1-TS sample is nearly 5 times that of the pure SnO₂. Moreover, maintaining the ratio of TiO₂ and SnO₂ at 0.5:1, the amount of catalyst was 30 mg, the concentration of dye was 10 mg/l, and the pH of RhB solution was 2, the sample has the best photocatalytic activity.

PbHf_1−x Sn _x O₃ (PSH) ceramics were synthesised by a conventional solid-state reaction method. Dielectric properties were investigated in the temperature range of 20–650°C. As the Sn⁴⁺ content goes up, the phase transition temperatures of an antiferroelectric (AFE1) to another intermediate antiferroelectric (AFE2) phase and AFE2 to the paraelectric (PE) phase decrease gradually. When x≥0.1 for PSH ceramics, the ferroelectric (FE) phase appears around 225°C, and phase transition temperature from FE phase to PE phase goes up with the increasing concentration of Sn⁴⁺. Moreover, high-temperature dielectric relaxation (HTDR) phenomenon can be seen from all samples. Mechanism of HTDR was discussed from impedance spectroscopy and conductivity for PSH ceramics. It was found that three dielectric responses were observed in complex impedance plots and HTDR was involved with the movement of oxygen vacancies. Activation energy calculated from dielectric data suggested that the HTDR was governed by the hopping conduction process.

Memristors are considered to be next-generation non-volatile memory devices owing to their fast switching and low power consumption. Metal oxide memristors have been extensively investigated and reported to be promising devices, although they still suffer from poor stability and laborious fabrication process. Herein, the authors report a stable and power-efficient memristor with novel heterogeneous electrodes structure and facile fabrication based on cupric oxide (CuO)–cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) complex thin films. The proposed structure of the memristor contains an active complex layer of CuO and Cu₂O sandwiched between fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and gold (Au) electrodes. The fabricated memristors demonstrate bipolar resistive switching (RS) behaviour with a low working voltage (∼1 V), efficient power consumption, and high endurance over 100 switching cycles. The authors suggest the RS mechanism of the proposed device is related to the formation and rupture of conducting filaments inside the memristor. Moreover, they analyse the conduction mechanism and electron transport in the active layer of the device during the RS process. Such a facile fabricated device has a promising potential for future memristive applications.

In this study, a typical MXene material, Ti₃C₂, was selected as a co-catalyst and then integrated with ZnO via a facile hydrothermal strategy. The phase composition, morphology, and photophysical properties of as-prepared samples were investigated by XRD, field emission SEM, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer, and fluorescence spectrophotometer, respectively. In addition, the results of the photocatalysis experiment showed that the photocatalytic activity of ZnO can be improved significantly through the hybridisation with Ti₃C₂, which arises from the inhibition of the photogenerated carriers recombination. Furthermore, the theoretical analysis indicated that the high-quantum efficiency arises from the appropriate Fermi level position of Ti₃C₂. This work demonstrated that Ti₃C₂ will show great potential for constructing novel and efficient photocatalysts.

A graphene rotational switch (GRS) is presented utilising vacancy defect and nitrogen (N) doping in armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR). By twisting AGNR at different angles in the suggested device, its conductivity can be controlled. Based on the simulation results it is indicated that the electronic parameters such as current, transmission, local density of state, and conductance of the suggested GRS are also associated with the width of AGNR, selection of defect or doping and its location in the AGNR. Furthermore, the results show the dependency of the proposed GRS to the voltage. In this Letter, a monotonic increase or decrease in the current between the minimum and maximum angles in the corresponding bias voltage is defined as the proper switching behaviour. The assumed defect or doping is replaced by three locations with three various widths and five different twist angles of AGNR, in different analysed modes. Devices have better switching behaviour so the range of I _max/I _min is within 37–1076 among all the modes. The best three modes are the perfects, N doping near the AGNR edge and the vacancy defect in the centre of the deformation region of AGNR in the width of 9, 10 and 11w, respectively.

Generally, the electrical properties of nanocomposite are affected by the type, size, filling concentration and surface treatment process of the nanoparticle. In this study, nanocomposites of polyethylene (PE) with varying filling contents of nano-alumina particles were prepared by the melting blending method and three different kinds of coupling agents were applied for surface modification properties of the nanoparticles. Two of them were silane based and the other was titanate based. The effect of different coupling agents on the dielectric properties was studied. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermo-gravimetric analysis were used to verify their compositions. Scanning electron microscope and polarised optical microscopy were used for morphology study. Dielectric permittivity, direct current (DC) volume resistivity and DC breakdown strength characterised their improved insulation performance with nano-alumina as filler. Thermal stimulated current results revealed that adding nano-alumina particles into low-density PE could provide more deep traps and increase DC resistivity.

Silicone rubber is widely used for electrical insulation and may be exposed to a harsh environment. The present study envisaged to improve insulation properties of silicone rubber by adding an optimised quantity of nanofillers. The fundamental space charge and charge trap characteristics were studied by adopting the pulsed electroacoustic analysis technique and through surface potential measurement. The dielectric properties of the materials were analysed through measurement of permittivity and loss factor of the material at different frequencies and temperatures. The influence of gamma irradiation on variations in fundamental properties of the material was characterised. The results of the study indicate that 5 wt.% alumina added nanocomposites had better space charge performance under gamma irradiation compared with virgin silicone rubber.

In this work, the conductivity of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanowires was enhanced by lanthanum (La) and cobalt (Co) co-doping method. The nanowires were synthesised via a facile solvothermal process. The diameter of as-synthesised nanowires is about 300 nm and length more than 20 μm. The electrical properties were studied based on single nanowire field-effect transistor; the anatase TiO₂ nanowires exhibit n-type conductivity with mobility of 2.18 cm² V⁻¹ S⁻¹ and carrier concentration of 1.95 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. Doping of rare earth element La and transition element Co can not only reduce bandgap, but also reduce electron–hole recombination and improve carrier concentration. The distinct electrical properties of doped nanowires will open new opportunities for the application of anatase TiO₂ semiconductor materials in nanoelectronics devices.