A facile method to prepare pristine nanoscale mayenite electride is presented. The highest achieved conductivity of melted sample was ~28 S cm−1, with 93% mass density.

High quality factor (Q-factor) and strong field localization in nanostructures is a newly emerged direction in nanophotonics. The bound states in the continuum (BIC) have been investigated in nanoparticles with infinite Q-factor. We report BIC in molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) based Mie nanoresonator suspended in air. The ultrathin nanodisk supports symmetry protected BIC, and the quasi-BIC (q-BIC) are exploited by breaking the symmetry of the structure. The strongly localized modes in our MoS2-based nanodisk sustain a similar magnetic field profile before and after symmetry breaking, unlike what has been previously reported in silicon-based structures. Strong directional emission is observed in BIC regime from a hybrid configuration with a resonator placed on the stacked metal-dielectric layers, which transform BIC to q-BIC and exploit highly directional light. The structure persists emission with small variations in normalized intensity at distorted symmetry. The giant Q-factor in q-BIC is highly desired for biosensing and optical filters.

Novel approaches to synthesize efficient inorganic electride [Ca24Al28O64]4+(e−)4 (thereafter, C12A7:e−) at ambient pressure under nitrogen atmosphere, are actively sought out to reduce the cost of massive formation of nanosized powder as well as compact large size target production. It led to a new era in low cost industrial applications of this abundant material as Transparent Conducting Oxides (TCOs) and as a catalyst. Therefore, the present study about C12A7:e− electride is directed towards challenges of cation doping in C12A7:e− to enhance the conductivity and form target to deposit thin film. Our investigation for cation doping on structural and electrical properties of Sn- and Si-doped C12A7:e− (Si-C12A7:e, and Sn-C12A7:e−) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite shows the maximum achieved conductivities of 5.79 S·cm−1 and 1.75 S·cm−1 respectively. On the other hand when both samples melted, then rGO free Sn-C12A7:e− and Si-C12A7:e− were obtained, with conductivities ~280 S.cm−1 and 300 S·cm−1, respectively. Iodometry based measured electron concentration of rGO free Sn-C12A7:e− and Si-C12A7:e−, 3 inch electride targets were ~2.22 × 1021 cm−3, with relative 97 ± 0.5% density, and ~2.23 × 1021 cm−3 with relative 99 ± 0.5% density, respectively. Theoretical conductivity was already reported excluding any associated experimental support. Hence the above results manifested feasibility of this sol-gel method for different elements doping to further boost up the electrical properties.

We report spectral splitting behaviors based on Fano resonances in a novel simple planar metasurface composed of gold nanobars and nanorings. Multiple plasmonic modes and sharp Fano effects are achieved in a broadband transmittance spectrum by exploiting the rotational symmetry of the metasurface. The transmission properties are effectively modified and tuned by modulating the structural parameters. The highest single side Q-factor and FoM which reaches 196 and 105 are observed at Fano resonances. Our proposed design is relatively simple and can be applied for various applications such as multi-wavelength highly sensitive plasmonic sensors, switching, and slow light devices.