Now showing 1 - 10 of 29
  • Publication
    Progression in the growth of cylindric nanostructures: carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on graphene
    ( 2022-12) ; ;
    H.A. Hanafi
    ;
    Mishthafiyatillah
    ;
    ; ;
    Mohamad Nazri Abdul Halif
    ;
    ;
    A.F. Abd Rahim
    The combination of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene produce a CNTs-graphene hybrid material with excellent electrical and mechanical properties that improved from their single form. This CNTs-graphene hybrid material has the potential to be used as electrodes and interconnects as it has better properties compared to copper (Cu). This work intended to grow CNTs on graphene using a CVD technique. The growth process used graphene on a Cu substrate with ferrocene as the catalyst, acetone as the carbon precursor and reactor temperature of 800oC. However, the process has unintentionally grown carbon nanofibers (CNFs). To observe the progression in the growth of CNTs and CNFs on graphene, the effect of growth reaction time is crucial. Hence, this work investigates the growth progression of the CNTs and CNFs on graphene based on different reaction times of 10 min, 20 min, 30 min and 60 min. It was found that the agglomeration of carbon is incomplete at 10 min reaction time and produced cylindric nanostructures. A further reaction time of 20 min and 30 min has significantly changed the size of the cylindric nanostructures into CNTs and CNFs with a very slight difference in the size, density, and coverage. The 30 min reaction time produced denser CNTs and CNFs with more uniform size and coverages. A longer reaction time of 60 min led to very long CNFs with an average length of 120 μm. In conclusion, meticulous fine-tuning of the reaction time is required to control the formation of CNTs and CNFs on graphene.
  • Publication
    Electrochemiluminescence of carbon dots and nitrogen-doped carbon dots from a microwave-assisted method
    ( 2023-10)
    Nurul Izzati Akmal Mohd Azman
    ;
    Muhammad Amirul Afiq Abdul Halim
    ;
    ; ; ; ;
    Siti Aisyah Shamsudin
    ;
    Eiichi Tamiya
    This research focuses on the use of carbon dots (CDs) and nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) synthesized using a microwave-assisted method as electrochemiluminescence (ECL) luminophores. CDs have been synthesized using citric acid, while various concentrations of nitrogen-doped CDs have been successfully obtained by varying the amount of urea from 1 to 3 g with citric acid to produce NCD1, NCD,2 and NCD3. The ECL mechanism of CDs and NCDs on screen-printed electrodes has been studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV). ECL emission from as-prepared CDs and NCDs was observed in PBS with potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) as a co-reactant. The addition of potassium chloride (KCl) as a supporting electrolyte displays fast electroreduction of CDs and K2S2O8 to expedite the generation of CDs and peroxydisulfate radicals that simultaneously increase ECL intensity. Furthermore, as the concentration of nitrogen-doped CDs increases, so does the intensity of the ECL. NCD3 shows the highest ECL intensity by an increment of 86.4% in comparison to CDs in PBS with the addition of K2S2O8 and KCl. Finally, optimization of ECL measurement was carried out in terms of CV potential range, concentration of luminophore, supporting electrolyte, and co-reactant using NCD3 luminophore. The CV potential range at 0 to -2 V shows 50 mV of early CV reverse onset potential that resulted in an increase of 52.9% ECL intensity. Meanwhile, 30x dilution of NCD3, 0.1 M of supporting electrolyte KCl, and 0.1 M of co-reactant K2S2O8 show the optimum value to obtain high ECL intensity.
  • Publication
    Electrical simulation on silicon nanowire field-effect transistor biosensor at different substrate-gate voltage bias conditions for charge detection
    In this work, the impact of different substrate-gate voltage bias conditions (below and above the device threshold voltage) on current-voltage characteristics and sensitivity of a silicon nanowire field-effect transistor (SiNW-FET) biosensor was investigated. A 3-dimensional device structure with n-type SiNW channel and a substrate gate electrode was designed and electrically simulated In the Silvaco ATLAS. Next, the SiNW channel was covered with a range of interface charge density to mimic the charged target biomolecule captured by the device. The outcome was translated into a drain current versus interface charge semi-log graph and the device sensitivity was calculated using the linear regression curve’s slope of the plotted data. The device’s electrical characteristic shown higher generation of output drain current values with the increase of negative substrate-gate voltage bias due to the hole carriers’ accumulation that forms a conduction channel in the SiNW. Application of higher negative interface charge density increased the change in drain current, with the device biased with higher substrate-gate voltage shows more significant change in drain current. The device sensitivity increased when biased with higher substrate-gate voltage with highest sensitivity is 75.12 nA/dec at substrate-gate voltage bias of –1.00 V.
  • Publication
    Analysis of power distribution in mach zehnder interferometer polymer-based waveguide for sensing applications
    Two Mach Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) polymer-based waveguide designs namely MZI symmetrical and MZI asymmetrical structures were simulated and analyzed using Optiwave OptiBPM10. The two designs with device size of 4000μm x 300μm exhibit clear optical propagation path when light is simulated through them as well as displaying single mode profile. Highest output power was obtained by the MZI symmetrical design at 0.90 a.u, which suggests better waveguide design for sensing applications.
  • Publication
    A comparative investigation on liquid-based memristor sensor for glucose detection
    ( 2022-12) ;
    Asrulnizam Abd Manaf
    ;
    This study reports a comparison of the behavior of liquid-based memristor sensors when tested with different concentrations of liquid glucose. A thin film of titanium dioxide (TiO2) serves as the sensing layer and is prepared through a sol-gel process using a spin coating method. This TiO2 layer has been spin coated on three sensors with a spin speed of 2000, 2500 and 3000 rpm respectively. A nine-well structure was patterned on the TiO2 layer for all three sensors. Four different concentrations of liquid D-glucose 10, 20, 30, and 40 mM were tested on this sensor. These memristor sensors were characterized using a Keithley 4200-SCS Semiconductor Characterization System for current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The experimental results show that the ROFF/RON (off-state resistance to on-state resistance ratio) increases as the glucose concentration increases in line with the increase in the spin speed of TiO2 sol-gel coating. The memristor sensor with the highest glucose concentration at the highest spin speed of 3000 rpm resulted in the highest ROFF/RON ratio of 2.25 and subsequently contributed to the highest sensitivity of 56.25 (mM) -1. In conclusion, increasing the spin speed of the TiO2 sol-gel coating will increase the ratio and thus increase the sensitivity of the sensor.
  • Publication
    Modification of photoanode surface structure via image analysis on organic polymer material based for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications
    In this study, the experiment on the modification of the photoanode with organic polymer material as copolymer template for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications has been conducted. The two organic copolymer templates are polystyrene sphere (PS) and poly[2- methoxy-5(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV). The modification photoanodes were made using Dr. Blade’s method. These organic copolymer templates were added to improve the surface of the mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO₂) layer, which is used as the main component in DSSC photoanode. The unmodified TiO₂ photoanode has poor aggregation and porosity of TiO₂. The addition of either MEH-PPV or PS sphere to the photoanode layer was found to affect the surface of mesoporous TiO₂ in terms of porosity, particle size distribution and shape. The analysis of the TiO2 modification was conducted using an image analysis processing method via a 2D scanning electron microscope (SEM) image. The image analysis processing method used was the ImageJ program. The DSSC of modified photoanode is fabricated using metal complex dye, Ruthenium (N719) dye. The data collected from the ImageJ program showed that by adding organic copolymer templates into TiO₂, the porosity of TiO₂ decreased from 45 % to 42 %. From the photovoltaic analysis obtained, the J-V characteristic is recorded with the photoanode of TiO₂ mixed with 1.00 wt% MEH-PPV gave the highest efficiency, which is 0.01 % with the following parameters – Voc = 0.43 V, Jsc = 0.17 mA/cm2 and FF = 0.20. Meanwhile, the photoanode of TiO₂ mixed with 0.50 wt% PS sphere gave the highest efficiency which is 0.08 % with the following parameters – Voc = 0.39 V, Jsc = 0.86 mA/cm2 and FF = 0.25.
  • Publication
    Optimization of MEH-PPV based single and double-layer TOLED structure by numerical simulation
    In this work, we simulated and characterized Poly [2-methoxy-5-(2’-ethylhexyloxy)-1, 4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) based single and double-layer TOLED by using Silvaco ATLAS device simulator to achieve prominent values of electrical and optical properties of the device. MEH-PPV were used as the emitting layer (EML) in the single-layer, while addition of Poly [(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate)] (PEDOT-PSS) as the electron transport layer (ETL) were conducted in double-layer TOLED simulation. The EML and ETL thickness in both structures were varied between 10 – 150 nm, respectively, to observe and understand the underlying physics of the relation in the layer thickness to the electrical and optical characteristics. Furthermore, variation of the EML/ETL thickness ratio from 1:1 to 5:1 (with thickness in between 10 to 50 nm) had also been conducted. From this work, it is understood that the thickness of the EML layer plays the most important role in TOLED, and by balancing the carrier injections and recombination rate in appropriate EML/ETL thickness ratio, the electrical and optical properties can be improved. By optimizing the EML/ETL thickness and thickness ratio, an optimal forward current of 1.41 mA and luminescent power of 1.93e-18 W/μm has been achieved with both MEH-PPV and PEDOT-PSS layer thickness of 10 nm (1:1 ratio), respectively. The results from this work will assist the improvement of TOLED device to be implemented widely in low power and transparent electronic appliances.
  • Publication
    A study on electrical performance of SiC-based self-switching diode (SSD) as a high voltage high power device
    The Self-switching Diodes (SSDs) have been primarily researched and used in low-power device applications for RF detection and harvesting applications. In this paper, we explore the potential of SSDs in high-voltage applications with the usage of Silicon Carbide (SiC) as substrate materials which offers improved efficiency and reduced energy consumption. Optimization in terms of the variation in the interface charges, metal work function, and doping concentration values has been performed by means of a 2D TCAD device simulator. The results showed that the SSD can block up to 600 V of voltage with an optimum interface charge value of 1013 cm-2, making them suitable for higher voltage applications. Furthermore, it also found that the work function of the metal contact affected the forward voltage value, impacting the current flow in the device. Variation in doping concentrations also resulted in higher breakdown voltages and significantly increased forward current, leading to an increased power rating of 27 kW. In conclusion, the usage of 4H-SiC-based SSDs shows a usable potential for high-voltage applications with optimized parameters. The results from this research can facilitate the implementation of SSD in the development of high-power semiconductor devices for various industrial applications.
  • Publication
    Temperature effects on electrical and structural properties of MEH-PPV/PEIE OLED Device
    This paper explores the performance of configuration ITO/MEH-PPV/PEIE/Al OLED under the variations of temperature. The MEH-PPV and MEH-PPV/PEIE thin film were deposited on ITO substrates using spin coating technique with fixed spin speed of 3000 rpm and baked at low temperature ranging from 90 °C to 180 °C, respectively. The surface roughness values for MEH-PPV and MEH-PPV/PEIE films were analysed using AFM with 5 μm ' 5 μm scanning area. The roughness of MEH-PPV thin films were reduced from 2.825 nm to 1.625 nm when temperature increased. Contrary to MEH-PPV/PEIE films where the roughness increased linearly up to 3.397 nm when the temperature increased. The maximum absorption peak spectrum obtained from UV-Visible (UV-Vis) was found at 500 nm to 510 nm when baked temperature were varied. Furthermore, the turn on voltage from J-V characteristics gives no specific pattern across different temperature and agreed with the trend of surface roughness values. The turn-on voltage at T = 150 °C gives the lowest value of 3 V. Overall, the variations of low temperature gives an effects on structural and electrical properties of this OLED configuration.
  • Publication
    Optimization of gold nanoparticles electrodeposition duration on screen printed electrode to enhance electrochemiluminescence of nitrogen-doped carbon dots
    ( 2023-12)
    Nurul Izzati Akmal Mohd Azman
    ;
    ; ; ; ;
    Toibah Abd Rahim
    ;
    Siti Aisyah Shamsudin
    ;
    Eiichi Tamiya
    In this work, the electrodeposition method was utilized to form gold nanoparticles on a carbon screen-printed electrode (SPE) using chronoamperometry at -0.4 V with various durations from 50 to 200 seconds. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images have proven that the electrodeposition method is capable of uniformly forming AuNPs on SPE (AuNPs- SPE). Apart from that, electrodeposition durations have increased the size of AuNPs by up to 66% based on average size measurements using ImageJ software. It can be observed that long electrodeposition durations permit the agglomeration of AuNPs on the electrode surface. The effect of electrodeposition duration on electrocatalytic performance in potassium ferricyanide and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) intensity of nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) was evaluated. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) of ferricyanide demonstrates that as the electrodeposition duration increases, AuNPs-SPE shows better electrochemical performance than bare SPE. ECL of NCDs displays that 100 s electrodeposition durations give the highest ECL intensity of 184% compared to bare SPE and have been chosen as the optimum parameter. The ECL mechanisms of bare SPE and AuNPs-SPE reveal that AuNPs- SPE has greater electrochemical and ECL performance than bare SPE, as evidenced by the CV of AuNPs-SPE having a faster reduction current, which rises to 87.2% ECL intensity and 510 mV faster ECL occurrence. These phenomena confirmed that the electrodeposition of AuNPs has improved the conductivity of SPE.