Electrospun Gallium Nitride Nanofibers

Journal Article · Sun Apr 19 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3137850· OSTI ID:21301131

Melendez, Anamaris; Morales, Kristle; Ramos, Idalia ^[1]; Campo, Eva ^[2]; Santiago, Jorge J ^[3]

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1. University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, Humacao (Puerto Rico)
2. Centre Nacional de Microelectronica, Barcelona (Spain)
3. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (United States)

The high thermal conductivity and wide bandgap of gallium nitride (GaN) are desirable characteristics in optoelectronics and sensing applications. In comparison to thin films and powders, in the nanofiber morphology the sensitivity of GaN is expected to increase as the exposed area (proportional to the length) increases. In this work we present electrospinning as a novel technique in the fabrication of GaN nanofibers. Electrospinning, invented in the 1930s, is a simple, inexpensive, and rapid technique to produce microscopically long ultrafine fibers. GaN nanofibers are produced using gallium nitrate and dimethyl-acetamide as precursors. After electrospinning, thermal decomposition under an inert atmosphere is used to pyrolyze the polymer. To complete the preparation, the nanofibers are sintered in a tube furnace under a NH{sub 3} flow. Both scanning electron microscopy and profilometry show that the process produces continuous and uniform fibers with diameters ranging from 20 to a few hundred nanometers, and lengths of up to a few centimeters. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows the development of GaN nanofibers with hexagonal wurtzite structure. Future work includes additional characterization using transmission electron microscopy and XRD to understand the role of precursors and nitridation in nanofiber synthesis, and the use of single nanofibers for the construction of optical and gas sensing devices.

• OSTI ID: 21301131
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1119, Issue 1; Conference: 3. IUPAP international conference on women in physics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of), 8-10 Oct 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3137850; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ENERGY GAP
FABRICATION
FIBERS
GALLIUM NITRATES
GALLIUM NITRIDES
HEXAGONAL LATTICES
MORPHOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
NITRIDATION
POLYMERS
POWDERS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SYNTHESIS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION