Plasmonic nanotechnology for photothermal applications – an evaluation

• A. R. Indhu,
• L. Keerthana and
• Gnanaprakash Dharmalingam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 380–419, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.33

• to its atoms, eventually converted to heat through a series of energy-loss processes. This conversion of electromagnetic energy into heat is called the photothermal (PT) effect. Early stages of the PT effect were initially observed in semiconductors [2], after which researchers started to explore

• and Cu [54]. The free electron density is tied to the effective mass and determines the resonant plasma frequency (ωp), given by where N is the free electron density, m is the effective mass, and e is the elementary charge. The LSPR effect is not present in most of the semiconductors because of their

• lack of the required free carrier concentration. Similar to how the free carrier density of metals can be tuned by size, morphology, and refractive index of the nanomaterial, the free carrier density of semiconductors can be easily tuned by doping, temperature variations, or by phase transitions. LSPR

Bismuth-based nanostructured photocatalysts for the remediation of antibiotics and organic dyes

• Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo and
• Faisal Suleiman Mustafa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 291–321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.26

• environment worldwide, in addition to the global energy crisis, is the increasing water pollution caused by micropollutants such as antibiotics and persistent organic dyes. Nanostructured semiconductors in advanced oxidation processes using photocatalysis have recently attracted a lot of interest as a

• of the most prominent study topics compared to the commonly used semiconductors (TiO2 and ZnO). In this review, the most recent developments in the use of photocatalysts based on bismuth (e.g., BiFeO3, Bi2MoO6, BiVO4, Bi2WO6, Bi2S3) to remove dyes and antibiotics from wastewater are thoroughly

• [71], and environmental remediation via photocatalysis [25]. Bi-based semiconductors, in particular, are thought to be able to surpass the limitation of the solar light-harvesting capacity of TiO2-based photocatalytic materials because of their smaller bandgaps. Because of its highly anisotropic Fermi

High–low Kelvin probe force spectroscopy for measuring the interface state density

• Ryo Izumi,
• Masato Miyazaki,
• Yan Jun Li and
• Yasuhiro Sugawara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 175–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.18

• interface state density inside semiconductors. We derive an analytical expression for the electrostatic forces between a tip and a semiconductor sample in the accumulation, depletion, and inversion regions, taking into account the charge transfer between the bulk and interface states in semiconductors. We

• the physical properties of semiconductors, information on semiconductor interface states is particularly important. For example, in semiconductor devices such as field-effect transistors, the presence of semiconductor interface states is known to significantly affect device operation characteristics

• have been performed on a variety of sample surfaces, including metals [9][10], semiconductors [11][12][13][14], and insulators [15][16][17]. When a semiconductor sample is measured by KPFM, the measured CPD is related to information about the semiconductor properties such as dopant density, surface

Photoelectrochemical water oxidation over TiO₂ nanotubes modified with MoS₂ and g-C₃N₄

• Phuong Hoang Nguyen,
• Thi Minh Cao,
• Tho Truong Nguyen,
• Hien Duy Tong and
• Viet Van Pham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1541–1550, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.127

• could replace noble metals are a research interest. Photocatalytic technology uses semiconductors for effective approaches to the degradation of dyes and antibiotics, the removal of pollutant gases, and water splitting to produce hydrogen using solar energy [12][13][14][15][16][17]. Among such

• semiconductors, TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNAs) of 2–100 nm in diameter and 1–2 μm in length, are often used for efficient PEC applications exploiting advantages such as chemical stability, less toxicity and suitable cost [18][19][20][21]. However, there are two disadvantages affecting directly their photocatalytic

• ability. (i) TNAs only respond to ultraviolet (UV) light [22][23][24], and (ii) they exhibit fast carrier recombination [25]. Recently, the development of new heterojunction architectures through coupling TNAs with other semiconductor materials, especially low-bandgap semiconductors, led to a reduction of

Non-stoichiometric magnetite as catalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of phenol and 2,6-dibromo-4-methylphenol – a new approach in water treatment

• Joanna Kisała,
• Anna Tomaszewska and
• Przemysław Kolek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1531–1540, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.126

• catalysts were semiconductors rather than conductors. The morphology of the Fe3O4 catalysts is shown in Figure 2. The images show nanocrystal agglomerates with particle sizes of 100–400 nm for M1 and of 25–100 nm for M2 (Figure 2). The aggregation of M2 particles is much stronger than that of M1. Hence, M2

Frequency-dependent nanomechanical profiling for medical diagnosis

• Santiago D. Solares and
• Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1483–1489, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.122

• chemical characterization of surfaces ranging from semiconductors and metals to polymers and biological materials [1][2][3][4][5]. In particular, a variety of mechanical property measurement methods have been developed, although most of them are restricted to relatively simple physical descriptions, such

• been used in corporate or corporate-funded research for the characterization of polymers, semiconductors and other materials [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. It is also well known that we owe the invention of the AFM to scientists at IBM [1]). The slow adoption of AFM methods in broad-impact

Recent trends in Bi-based nanomaterials: challenges, fabrication, enhancement techniques, and environmental applications

• Vishal Dutta,
• Ankush Chauhan,
• Ritesh Verma,
• C. Gopalkrishnan and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1316–1336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.109

• environmentally beneficial alternatives [7]. The choice of the photocatalysts is one of the most important steps in attaining high performance in photocatalysis. Semiconductors with bandgaps greater than 3 eV are called wide-bandgap photocatalysts. These semiconductors include oxides (e.g., TiO2, Bi2O3, Bi2WO6

• oxides, and binary Bi sulfides. Bismuth oxyhalides are indirect bandgap semiconductors in which photogenerated electrons and holes rarely recombine. BiOX is an excellent photocatalyst, and it is widely applied due to its small bandgap and high electron density, which are easily adjustable by changing the

• photocatalytic effectiveness of those semiconductors is inadequate for practical environmental and energy conservation applications because of substantial electron–hole recombination and a low capacity for the absorption of visible light. Numerous attempts have been made, with an emphasis on doping, the creation

Bending and punching characteristics of aluminum sheets using the quasi-continuum method

• Man-Ping Chang,
• Shang-Jui Lin and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.108

• , nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), environmental science, and semiconductors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The increased requirements for advanced nanostructures simultaneously give rise to extensive researches in precision machining techniques, including nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) [11][12], mechanical nano

Enhanced electronic transport properties of Te roll-like nanostructures

• E. R. Viana,
• N. Cifuentes and
• J. C. González

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1284–1291, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.106

• value is in excellent agreement with our experimental values of EA = 2.10 meV and EA = 3.58 meV, found through the analysis of the resistivity data (Figure 5). These values are surprisingly small compared to the larger ionization energy of acceptors (near 1 eV) in semiconductors with small valence band

Design of surface nanostructures for chirality sensing based on quartz crystal microbalance

• Yinglin Ma,
• Xiangyun Xiao and
• Qingmin Ji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1201–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.100

• sensing layers from inorganic nanostructures In contrast to the abundance of chiral organic molecules, chirality in inorganic materials seems rare. Unlike the well-established theory of chirality for organic molecules, the notion of chirality for metals, semiconductors, and other inorganic nanostructures

Rapid fabrication of MgO@g-C₃N₄ heterojunctions for photocatalytic nitric oxide removal

• Minh-Thuan Pham,
• Duyen P. H. Tran,
• Xuan-Thanh Bui and
• Sheng-Jie You

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1141–1154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.96

• (+1.75 eV) is more negative than that of H2O/•OH (+2.40 eV), reducing the photocatalytic efficiency [16][17]. A well-known approach for overcoming this problem in order to achieve increased photocatalytic performance is to couple two semiconductors with optimal band alignment. MgO is an alkaline metal

• redox potential by coupling two or more semiconductors [23][24], such as Bi2MoO6-based [25][26][27][28][29], BiOCl-based [30][31], g-C3N4-based [32][33][34], ZnO-based [35][36][37], TiO2-based [38][39], and MgO-based heterostructured photocatalysts [40]. Among these, the combination of MgO and g-C3N4

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward highly efficient photocatalysis and antibacterial application

• Vo Thi Thu Nhu,
• Nguyen Duy Dat,
• Le-Minh Tam and
• Nguyen Hoang Phuong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1108–1119, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.94

• technologies have been proposed to remove organic pollutants from water, including coagulation coupled with sedimentation, biological processes, membrane filtration, adsorption, advanced oxidation, catalysis, and photocatalysis [1][2][3]. Using semiconductors as photocatalysts has been a widely studied

• approach for the complete removal of organic pollutants due to their advantages. Semiconductors can act as catalysts for the complete degradation of organic substances when excited by light with an energy value higher than their bandgap. Among many semiconductors, TiO2 and ZnO are widely used as

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• that could detect Hg2+ and cysteine in a linear range of 2–20 μM and 0.1–2.0 μM for Hg2+ and Cys, respectively [53]. When compared to un-doped CDs, CDs co-doped with nitrogen and phosphorus (N,P-CDs) display novel and surprising features. After doping with N, the CDs become n-type semiconductors. In

Spindle-like MIL101(Fe) decorated with Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles for enhanced degradation of chlortetracycline under visible-light irradiation

• Chen-chen Hao,
• Fang-yan Chen,
• Kun Bian,
• Yu-bin Tang and
• Wei-long Shi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1038–1050, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.91

• traditional measures were difficult to be popularized. Photocatalysis is considered as an alternative and promising strategy for degradation and mineralization of antibiotics due to its low cost, high efficiency, mild reaction condition, and no secondary pollution [9][10][11]. A variety of semiconductors have

• use carbon nanotubes or carbon quantum dots to modify MIL101(Fe) to enhance its conductivity and broaden its visible-light response [37][38]. Another strategy is to construct MIL101-based heterostructures with the aid of narrow-gap semiconductors to promote the separation and transfer of

• photogenerated charges and resultant photocatalytic activity [26]. Up to date, a few semiconductors such as ZnO [39], TiO2 [19] and g-C3N4 [40] have been employed to construct heterojunctions with MIL101(Fe). The abovementioned MIL101-based heterojunctions are all traditional heterojunctions which promote the

Theoretical investigations of oxygen vacancy effects in nickel-doped zirconia from ab initio XANES spectroscopy at the oxygen K-edge

• Dick Hartmann Douma,
• Lodvert Tchibota Poaty,
• Alessio Lamperti,
• Stéphane Kenmoe,
• Abdulrafiu Tunde Raji,
• Alberto Debernardi and
• Bernard M’Passi-Mabiala

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 975–985, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.85

• ; Introduction The search for room-temperature magnetic semiconductors has been the driving force behind the increasing interest of material scientists and solid-state physicists in magnetic oxides [1]. This is due to their potential applications as building block of spintronic devices. Magnetic oxides are

• stoichiometric concentration required to ensure overall charge neutrality can modify the presence of defect states in the electron bandgap [4][26][27]. In diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS), magnetic impurities such as the transition metals (TM) Fe or Ni are introduced to produce a magnetic ground state. The

• zirconia will also create oxygen vacancies, although of different concentration due to the different oxidation states of Fe and Ni. Furthermore, O vacancies may be inadvertently introduced into semiconductors as a result of the processing conditions. For example, in a semiconductor manufacturing process

Efficient liquid exfoliation of KP₁₅ nanowires aided by Hansen's empirical theory

• Zhaoxuan Huang,
• Zhikang Jiang,
• Nan Tian,
• Disheng Yao,
• Fei Long,
• Yanhan Yang and
• Danmin Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 788–795, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.69

• temperature measurements of KP15 nanodevices. Keywords: Hansen's empirical theory; KP15; liquid exfoliation; nanodevices; nanowires; Raman; semiconductors; Introduction Low-dimensional materials have drawn significant attention in recent years. So far, not only new composite materials with excellent

Hierarchical Bi₂WO₆/TiO₂-nanotube composites derived from natural cellulose for visible-light photocatalytic treatment of pollutants

• Zehao Lin,
• Zhan Yang and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 745–762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.66

• -responsive semiconductors with suitable band structures provides a pathway for the advancement of highly efficient photocatalysts [9]. It has been demonstrated that the assembly of various nanoscale building blocks to form the corresponding nanoarchitectonics provides an ideal pathway for the syntheses of a

• conduction band (ECB) of the TiO2 and Bi2WO6 semiconductors are determined according to the Equation 5 and Equation 6 [31]: where χ, Ee, and Eg represent the geometric mean of the absolute electronegativity of the atoms in the semiconductors, the free electron energy on the hydrogen scale (approx. 4.5 eV

• ), and the bandgaps of semiconductors based on the UV–vis DRS characterizations, respectively. It is reported that the χ values of the TiO2 and Bi2WO6 semiconductors are 5.81 and 6.21 eV, respectively [52]; while the Eg values of the TiO2 and Bi2WO6 semiconductors are determined to be 3.12 and 2.40 eV

Direct measurement of surface photovoltage by AC bias Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Masato Miyazaki,
• Yasuhiro Sugawara and
• Yan Jun Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 712–720, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.63

• photocatalytic semiconductors. The local SPV is generally measured consecutively by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) in darkness and under illumination, in which thermal drift degrades spatial and energy resolutions. In this study, we propose the method of AC bias Kelvin probe force microscopy (AC-KPFM

• thermal drift between darkness and illumination. In the case of semiconductors, an electric field is screened on the scale of the Debye length LD [3], where kB is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, ε0 is the vacuum permittivity, εr is the relative permittivity of the semiconductor, e is the

• reactions (hours) [62][63][64]. Particularly for photocatalytic semiconductors, AC-KPFM would be an indispensable tool for detecting the fast SPV distribution related to charge redistribution (microseconds to milliseconds) because SPV measured with classical KFPM is attributed to both charge redistribution

Zinc oxide nanostructures for fluorescence and Raman signal enhancement: a review

• Ioana Marica,
• Fran Nekvapil,
• Maria Ștefan,
• Cosmin Farcău and
• Alexandra Falamaș

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 472–490, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.40

• on semiconductors decorated with noble metals, or vice versa, has been proposed. These hybrid nanostructures show enhanced optical and electronic properties due to the coupling between the noble metal and the semiconductor [10][11][13]. Various fabrication techniques have been employed to develop

Tin dioxide nanomaterial-based photocatalysts for nitrogen oxide oxidation: a review

• Viet Van Pham,
• Hong-Huy Tran,
• Thao Kim Truong and
• Thi Minh Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 96–113, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.7

• ] (see Equations 1–10). Recently, research on tin dioxide (SnO2) materials has increased significantly, which expresses the potential of SnO2 materials for the scientific community (Figure 2a). SnO2 is one of the most extensively investigated n-type semiconductors. It is known as tin(VI) oxide or stannic

• Many attempts have been made to enhance the photocatalytic activity and take better advantage of SnO2 for the NOx abatement, including the combination with other metal oxides [70], organic semiconductors [71], or metallic nanomaterials [72] to form a heterojunction/composite photocatalyst, and self

• co-photocatalysts, including inorganic and organic semiconductors, is a practical approach to enhance the charge transfer efficacy for the photocatalytic process. The photocatalytic degradation of NOx over SnO2 as a host photocatalyst is reported to be considerably enhanced after the combination with

Chemical vapor deposition of germanium-rich CrGe_x nanowires

• Vladislav Dřínek,
• Stanislav Tiagulskyi,
• Roman Yatskiv,
• Jan Grym,
• Radek Fajgar,
• Věra Jandová,
• Martin Koštejn and
• Jaroslav Kupčík

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1365–1371, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.100

• reasonable choice for DMS alloys with chromium for the best compatibility with silicon-based industry. However, precipitation of transition metals is the main obstacle; but in low-dimensional semiconductors the precipitation is significantly reduced. Therefore, CrGe nanowires (NWs) were prepared to study

• representatives of diluted magnetic semiconductors, which have been intensively studied for future magnetic, optomagnetic, electronic, and related devices. Preparation of Cr/Ge materials in the form of NWs opens space for tuning the magnetic properties in germanium-rich Cr/Ge nanostructures. Moreover, the complex

Open-loop amplitude-modulation Kelvin probe force microscopy operated in single-pass PeakForce tapping mode

• Gheorghe Stan and
• Pradeep Namboodiri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.83

• structures including metals [1], semiconductors [2][3][4], dielectrics [5][6][7], photovoltaics [8][9][10], polymers [11][12][13], ferroelectrics [14][15][16], and biological samples [17][18][19]. Technical descriptions and applications of KPFM methods for nanoscale material property characterizations are

First-principles study of the structural, optoelectronic and thermophysical properties of the π-SnSe for thermoelectric applications

• Muhammad Atif Sattar,
• Najwa Al Bouzieh,
• Maamar Benkraouda and
• Noureddine Amrane

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1101–1114, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.82

• modified Becke–Johnson (mBJ) meta-GGA exchange-correlation functional over the optimized structure of π-SnSe generated with PBEsol. For a variety of semiconductors and insulators, the mBJ potential calculates the bandgap in a good agreement with experimental data [53]. To ensure a good energy convergence

•  11b, which is directly linked to the electronic properties (i.e., band structure and DOS). This absorption of photons accounts for interband transitions within semiconductors from a certain location of the electromagnetic spectrum. Most transitions happen within the infrared region once the energy is

Assessment of the optical and electrical properties of light-emitting diodes containing carbon-based nanostructures and plasmonic nanoparticles: a review

• Keshav Nagpal,
• Erwan Rauwel,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Protima Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1078–1092, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.80

• semiconductors and emit from the UV to the red region of the visible spectrum via bandgap tuning (i.e., on alloying with In and Al [5][6][7]). Similarly, other active materials for quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLED), such as the II–VI semiconductor family include ZnO, CdSe, CdS, CdTe, ZnSe, ZnS, ZnTe, and

• as TiO2, ZnO, SnO2 in combination with Ag, Au, and PtNP has shown increment in the luminance and reduction in the operating voltages of the devices. For several decades, inorganic LED based on III–V group semiconductors (i.e., GaAs, GaP, InGaAs, InGaP, GaN, InGaN, and AlGaInP) have been extensively

Revealing the formation mechanism and band gap tuning of Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles

• Maximilian Joschko,
• Franck Yvan Fotue Wafo,
• Christina Malsi,
• Danilo Kisić,
• Ivana Validžić and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1021–1033, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.76

• , Abulikemu et al. reported a value of 2.15 eV, while Wang et al. reported 2.02 eV for nanoparticles received from a hot-injection synthesis using different solvents [17][19]. Variation in band gap values is also known to occur in other amorphous semiconductors, e.g., amorphous, hydrogenated silicon. This was