Zhong Lin Wang, above, holds an oxide powder sample used in making "nanobelts."
The novel nanometer-size semiconductor devices could be used to make highly
advanced sensors, FPD components, and related smart products. Developed
by Zhang and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the belts
are virtually free of defects, chemically pure, and structurally uniform.
Their clean surfaces require no protection against oxidation.
The center
SEM image shows semiconducting oxide nanobelts made of zinc oxide. Wang,
director of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the institute,
and group members Zheng Wei Pan and Zurong Dai have also made nanobelts
from oxides of tin, indium, cadmium, and gallium. In the photo at right,
Pan, Dai, and Wang pose with the high-temperature tube furnace they use
to produce the nanobelts. The team chose semiconductive oxides because
the materials can be used to make any number of increasingly popular smart
devices, Wang says. "In comparison to the cylindrical symmetric nanowires
and nanotubes reported in the literature, these are really a distinctive
group of materials," he
points out. Unlike processes used in making carbon nanotubes, the process
for making nanobelts can be controlled to produce large quantities of
ribbons virtually free of defects. The nanobelts are typically 30 to 300
nm wide and 10 to 15 nm thick. Most are tens to hundreds of microns in
length. Defects in nanostructures hinder electronic and mechanical properties,
notes Wang. In addition, the oxide nanobelts don't require cleaning or
handling in special environments, he says.
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The center
SEM image shows semiconducting oxide nanobelts made of zinc oxide. Wang,
director of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the institute,
and group members Zheng Wei Pan and Zurong Dai have also made nanobelts
from oxides of tin, indium, cadmium, and gallium. In the photo at right,
Pan, Dai, and Wang pose with the high-temperature tube furnace they use
to produce the nanobelts. The team chose semiconductive oxides because
the materials can be used to make any number of increasingly popular smart
devices, Wang says. "In comparison to the cylindrical symmetric nanowires
and nanotubes reported in the literature, these are really a distinctive
group of materials," 
he
points out. Unlike processes used in making carbon nanotubes, the process
for making nanobelts can be controlled to produce large quantities of
ribbons virtually free of defects. The nanobelts are typically 30 to 300
nm wide and 10 to 15 nm thick. Most are tens to hundreds of microns in
length. Defects in nanostructures hinder electronic and mechanical properties,
notes Wang. In addition, the oxide nanobelts don't require cleaning or
handling in special environments, he says.
