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As electrically conductive and optically transparent thin coating material, double-wall carbon nanotube network was found to have better transparency-conductance performance as compared with single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWNT). The electronic transportability and optical properties of the SWNT films can be altered by chemical modification of thionyl chloride. Additionally, the conductance-temperature dependence analysis revealed that variable-range hopping mechanism dominates the conductance of few wall nanotube mats while fluctuation-assisted tunneling plays a more important role in that of MWNT films.

We have developed TiO2 coating on Ag-alloy sheathed Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8−x (Bi-2212) round-wire conductor for electrical insulation in Bi-2212 magnets. The green coating has a base layer comprised of TiO2, polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and a small amount of polysilicate and a top layer made of polyacrylic. The coating was applied on the conductor using a continuous reel-to-reel dip coating process and showed very good adherence and flexibility that is suitable for magnet coil winding. The thickness of the coating is a function of slurry viscosity, wire withdrawal speed and wire radius. Small test coils were built with the coated Bi-2212 round-wires and were heat treated at 100 atm pressure. During the heat treatment, the PVB and polyacrylic were removed from the green coating and the polysilicate decomposed to SiO2 that served as a sintering aid for TiO2. After the heat treatment, the coating remained strongly adhered to the conductor and did not have a detrimental effect on the critical current (Ic) values. The breakdown voltage was about 150 V across a 7 μm thick heat treated coating on Bi-22112 round-wire conductor, corresponding to a dc dielectric strength of about 21 MV m−1.

Variable temperature photoluminescence of ZnO thin films deposited by a reactive laser ablation of metallic zinc was investigated. Free and bound exciton emissions are absent at cryogenic temperature, and the near band edge (NBE) emission is independent of measurement temperature for the ZnO thin film deposited at room temperature. Annealing at 700 °C results in the removal of defects, reappearance of exciton emission, and a temperature dependent NBE emission. The experimental data suggest that defects play an important role in the band edge emission in terms of both spectra shape and temperature dependence. Our observations will have an impact on device applications using ZnO, especially for optoelectronics that utilizes the exciton emission.

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