Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• intercalation of metal atoms [99]. The authors reported the calculated and experimental Dirac point positions for different pyridinic/graphitic ratios (Figure 7). There is a counterbalancing effect between the two doping types that obscures the evaluation of the effective charge transfer to/from the dopant

• pyridinic and graphitic N, compared to the DFT calculation results (black circles connected by dashed lines). The numbers denote the total concentration of nitrogen (NP + NG). Solid lines demonstrate the hypothetical situation when pyridinic N provides no charge transfer while graphitic N donates one

Multimodal noncontact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of organolead tribromide perovskite single crystals

• Yann Almadori,
• David Moerman,
• Jaume Llacer Martinez,
• Philippe Leclère and
• Benjamin Grévin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1695–1704, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.161

• single exponential, yielding time constants for the SPV dynamics of 11.4 s and 2.1 s during the 1st and 2nd illumination sequences, respectively. (a) Scheme illustrating how charge transfer from surface states bends the energy bands of p-type MAPbBr3. The built-in electric field (resulting from the

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles as sulfur encapsulator for high-performance lithium/sulfur batteries

• Yan Zhao,
• Zhengjun Liu,
• Liancheng Sun,
• Yongguang Zhang,
• Yuting Feng,
• Xin Wang,
• Indira Kurmanbayeva and
• Zhumabay Bakenov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1677–1685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.159

• the small size of ZnO nanoparticles (6.2 nm) in the composite, which both enhanced charge transfer and conductivity. Along with this, the NCNT network provides a large micro-scaffold in the S/ZnO@NCNT composite to accommodate S and Li ions, and, therefore, to buffer the volume expansion/shrinkage

Free-radical gases on two-dimensional transition-metal disulfides (XS₂, X = Mo/W): robust half-metallicity for efficient nitrogen oxide sensors

• Chunmei Zhang,
• Yalong Jiao,
• Fengxian Ma,
• Sri Kasi Matta,
• Steven Bottle and
• Aijun Du

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1641–1646, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.156

• NO2 are free radical gas molecules with a magnetic moment of 1µB. To fully understand the NOx adsorption mechanism, it is important to understand the interactions between the monolayer and the adsorbate molecules. Investigations [8][28] revealed that charge transfer occurs from the XS2 (X = Mo, W

Spatial Rabi oscillations between Majorana bound states and quantum dots

• Jun-Hui Zheng,
• Dao-Xin Yao and
• Zhi Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1527–1535, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.143

• the states and , namely a charge oscillation between the left and right quantum dots. This is a nonlocal coherent charge transfer process between the quantum dots mediated by the two Majorana bound states. For comparison, we illustrate the results for quantum dot occupation mediated through Andreev

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) along with their good recoverability and recyclability. Keywords: charge transfer; Cr(VI) reduction; heterojunction; modified TiO2; photocatalysis; spinel oxides; Review Introduction The increase in the global population demands rapid growth of industrialization and

• activity by achieving a more efficient charge separation, increasing the lifetime of the charge carriers, inhibiting the recombination of electron–hole pairs and facilitating interfacial charge transfer to adsorbed substrates [91][92]. In this review we have focused on modification of nanostructured TiO2

• place by the sulfate redox couple attached to nitrogen-doped TiO2 [63]. Hydrogenated defect-promoted black titania exhibits much higher absorption and photocatalytic activity [94][95]. The recombination and charge transfer efficiency can be understood from PL spectra. The PL emission intensity is

Ag₂WO₄ nanorods decorated with AgI nanoparticles: Novel and efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts for the degradation of water pollutants

• Shijie Li,
• Shiwei Hu,
• Wei Jiang,
• Yanping Liu,
• Yu Liu,
• Yingtang Zhou,
• Liuye Mo and
• Jianshe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1308–1316, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.123

• the formation of the AgI/Ag2WO4 heterojunctions, thereby facilitating the charge transfer between them [12]. Subsequently, the optical properties of as-prepared photocatalysts were investigated by UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) analysis (Figure 4). As indicated from Figure 4, pure

• charge transfer rate and a more effective separation of charge carriers. On the basis of the above discussion, the excellent photocatalytic activity of AgI/Ag2WO4 is concluded to be due to the broadening of the photo-absorption range from the ultraviolet to the visible light range (Figure 4) and the

Induced smectic phase in binary mixtures of twist-bend nematogens

• Anamarija Knežević,
• Irena Dokli,
• Marin Sapunar,
• Suzana Šegota,
• Ute Baumeister and
• Andreja Lesac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1297–1307, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.122

• ) with 4-cyano-4’-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) [13]. It has been associated with the formation of charge transfer (CT) complexes between strong donor and acceptor compounds. However, the induction of a smectic phase may also be the result of weak CT interactions, together with other effects such as dipole–dipole

• . The temperature-dependent FTIR measurements revealed that the origin of the intercalated smectic is likely to be a conformational disorder of terminal chains instead of a charge transfer (CT) complex or dipole-induced dipole interaction. Comparison of the packing models of pure BB and CBI–BB mixtures

Semi-automatic spray pyrolysis deposition of thin, transparent, titania films as blocking layers for dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells

• Hana Krýsová,
• Josef Krýsa and
• Ladislav Kavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1135–1145, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.105

• the defect causes not only the delamination of the titania film from FTO, but also the slowdown of charge transfer kinetics (accompanied by a strong increase in ΔEpp). The barrier properties after post calcination were fairly good for the 0.05 M TAA precursor and the largest layer thickness (200 SCs

Electro-optical interfacial effects on a graphene/π-conjugated organic semiconductor hybrid system

• Karolline A. S. Araujo,
• Luiz A. Cury,
• Matheus J. S. Matos,
• Thales F. D. Fernandes,
• Luiz G. Cançado and
• Bernardo R. A. Neves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 963–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.90

• monolayers across the graphene surface (Figure 1c, Figure 2b,d). Besides molecular structural configuration, the charge transfer within the graphene/RA hybrid has also been estimated via ab initio calculations. The results indicate that electrons are transferred from graphene to RA molecules, resulting in p

• variation of α for both functionalized graphene (Gf) and RA upon illumination may reflect slight changes on the hybrid dielectric constant upon charge transfer (doping). Such charge transfer, including photo-generated charges, may also account for the observed variation of parameter γ in Table 1, which is

• is possible, which could indicate any effect of graphene-induced organization and charge transfer on RA surface potential. Therefore, Figure 5c also portrays the surface potential histogram of a thick amorphous RA film (a-RA) in dark condition. This somewhat broad histogram may reflect several

Cyclodextrin inhibits zinc corrosion by destabilizing point defect formation in the oxide layer

• Abdulrahman Altin,
• Maciej Krzywiecki,
• Adnan Sarfraz,
• Cigdem Toparli,
• Claudius Laska,
• Philipp Kerger,
• Aleksandar Zeradjanin,
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer,
• Michael Rohwerder and
• Andreas Erbe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 936–944, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.86

• calculated as Here, z is the charge transfer number (for Zn, z = 2), F the Faraday constant, Vf is the volume flow rate and A the area of the working electrode. The experiments were conducted using the cell design described elsewhere [17][18]. The cell was equipped in a classical manner: A platinum wire was

Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• Raman spectrometers) or more complicated analytical tools [18]. Different kinds of dilute analytes can be easily identified in pristine form or in the form of tinted charge-transfer complexes as proposed by Sidorov et al. [19]. The analysis of analytes in the gas phase and the separate detection of

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• response to visible light. Though widely investigated, BiOI suffers from its high recombination rate of photoinduced electron–holes and low charge transfer ability. Therefore, the strategies to improve the efficiency of this kind of semiconductor photocatalyst are in need. Heterogeneous processes are

• . described the synthesis of p–n heterostructures where p-type BiOI nanoplates decorated on n-type ZnO nanorod arrays which were synthesized through a solvothermal route. The high-contact areas provided by the fast charge transfer channel of BiOI and ZnO create the efficient photocatalyst [35]. Tong et al

• significant improvement in the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) irradiation as compared to ZnO and BiOI. The obtained catalysts with a Zn/Bi ratio of 3:1 exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. The band gap structure and charge transfer properties are investigated by XPS in

Surface-plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet emission of Au-decorated ZnO structures for gas sensing and photocatalytic devices

• T. Anh Thu Do,
• Truong Giang Ho,
• Thu Hoai Bui,
• Quang Ngan Pham,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thi Thu Do,
• Duc Van Nguyen and
• Dai Lam Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 771–779, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.70

• of plasmonic Au nanoparticles (NPs) on the ZnO film. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectra indicated that a surface plasmonic effect exists with a fast rate of charge transfer from Au nanoparticles to the sub-micrometer ZnO sphere, which suggested the strong possibility of the use of the

• factors, including absorbed oxygen species (O2−, O−, and O2−), charge carrier concentration, and the defects and vacancies on the ZnO surfaces. The gas response performance can be improved by a charge transfer process through surface modification [3][5][6] and doping of catalytic materials [7][8][9]. The

• insightful information for depicting the fast charge carriers as well as to elucidate the mechanism of charge transfer, TRPL spectra were recorded at room temperature for all samples (Figure 3d). The fast decay time (fast and slow), as extracted by fitting the bi-exponential curve at the 385 nm emission peak

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• of a wide band gap material with a low band gap material [30]. Natarajan et al. have demonstrated the enhanced degradation of isoniazid (a pharmaceutical pollutant) over the g-C3N4–TiO2 nanocomposite via a direct Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism [31]. The enhanced photocatalytic activity has been

• attributed to the exact positions of energy band offsets of the coupled materials, which facilitates the photogenerated charge transfer and effectively suppresses their recombination. Moreover, perovskite materials are also potential candidates for environmental remediation applications and are well-explored

• methylene blue (MB) and thiabendazole (TBZ) under visible light irradiation. Another attractive strategy for enhancement of photocatalytic performance is the coupling of a wide band gap material with a low band gap material, which allows the charge transfer via suitably arranged band edge positions in both

Sensing behavior of flower-shaped MoS₂ nanoflakes: case study with methanol and xylene

• Maryam Barzegar,
• Masoud Berahman and
• Azam Iraji zad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 608–615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.57

• . The results reveal higher sensitivity and shorter response times for methanol at temperatures below 200 °C toward 200 to 400 ppm gas concentrations. The sensing mechanisms for both gases are discussed based on simulation results using density functional theory and charge transfer. Keywords: density

• 100 °C. It has been shown that charge transfer between MoS2 and NO2 or NH3 molecules can be considered as the main reason behind the changes in resistance [24]. In another report, the remarkable potential of MoS2 in sensing triethylamine molecules has been investigated. It has been shown that MoS2 is

• sulfur vacancies in the samples. The previous report shows that sulfur vacancies can increase the possibility of charge transfer in MoS2 nanoflakes which may act as the main reason to alter the conductivity [35]. It has been also reported that the crystal phase and edge play a significant role in the

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• are shown in Figure 3. The optical absorption of TiO2 in the UV region below 400 nm can be mainly attributed to the charge transfer, related to electron excitation from the valence band to the conduction band (band-to-band transition, O2p→Ti3d) [30]. Modification of TiO2 with neodymium significantly

• energy level in the band gap and charge transfer between the TiO2 valence band and Nd3+ ion levels [36]. Furthermore, there are four absorption bands in the vis region typical for neodymium located at 520, 585, 745 and 805 nm. They correspond to transitions from the 4I9/2 ground state to the excited

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• band-edge potential, a mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction has been proposed which is discussed later. Electrochemical impedance study Impedance measurements are commonly used to determine the charge transfer, resistance, and effective charge separation processes occurring at electrode–electrolyte

• interface. In general, the radius of the semicircle in the Nyquist plots yields information about the resistance and interfacial charge migration, i.e., a smaller radius reflects a better flow of charge or low interfacial resistance compared to larger radii. ZFO-500 offered the fastest interfacial charge

• transfer, effective charge separation and high conductivity (Figure 9). This result is well supported by PL measurements and photocatalytic activity. Photocatalytic activity Decolourization of Congo red under solar-light irradiation The photocatalytic activity in the decolourization of 10 ppm Congo red (CR

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

• Razieh Beigmoradi,
• Abdolreza Samimi and
• Davod Mohebbi-Kalhori

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 415–435, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.41

• by FTIR can confirm the results of observations [137][143][144][145]. For example, it has been reported that adhesion of the polymer to the CNT leads to constrained motion of the polymer chains and simplifies the charge transfer process, which consequently improves transport properties [146]. Also

Synthesis and characterization of electrospun molybdenum dioxide–carbon nanofibers as sulfur matrix additives for rechargeable lithium–sulfur battery applications

• Ruiyuan Zhuang,
• Shanshan Yao,
• Maoxiang Jing,
• Xiangqian Shen,
• Jun Xiang,
• Tianbao Li,
• Kesong Xiao and
• Shibiao Qin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 262–270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.28

• charge-transfer reaction and lithium ion diffusion in the interface of solid electrodes can be derived [38][39]. Figure 6a displays the Nyquist plots of pure sulfur and S/MoO2–CNFs electrodes. Each Nyquist plot consists of a semicircle in the high to medium frequency region and a sloping line in the low

• frequency region. The equivalent circuits compatible with the Nyquist diagrams are represented in the inset of Figure 6a, which contain the solution resistance (Rs), the charge-transfer resistance of the electrode (Rct) and a constant phase element corresponding to the double-layer capacitance (CPE). A

• steep sloping line in the low-frequency region, corresponding to the Warburg impedance, was represented by W0. The fitting results are listed in Table 4. Obviously, the S/MoO2–CNF cathodes possessed lower charge transfer resistance than pure sulfur cathodes, indicating better charge transfer between the

Anchoring of a dye precursor on NiO(001) studied by non-contact atomic force microscopy

• Sara Freund,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Nathalie Marinakis,
• Edwin C. Constable,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Catherine E. Housecroft and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 242–249, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.26

• that they are lying flat on the surface in a trans-conformation. Within the limits of our Kelvin probe microscopy setup a charge transfer from NiO to the molecular layer of 0.3 electrons per molecules was observed only in the areas where the molecules are closed packed. Keywords: metal oxide; nickel

• image (Figure 5b) shows that this voltage is the same for islands with V and H orientations, indicating that the adsorption geometry of DCPDMbpy, influencing either the charge transfer between the surface and the molecules or the intramolecular dipole strength and orientation, is identical. The absolute

• that the molecules are linked to each other via H-bridging of their carboxylic groups. This interaction, however, needs an activation induced by increasing the molecule density on the surface. Furthermore, this arrangement allows for electrical coupling and, consequently, also for charge transfer

Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Xinfu Zhao,
• Dairong Chen,
• Abdul Qayum,
• Bo Chen and
• Xiuling Jiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2781–2789, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.277

• 4.8-fold faster than that of the bare AgSCN, so the existence of an appropriate amount of Ag played a prominent role in the photodegradation process. Electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) was used to illustrate the rate of charge transfer for the photocatalysts. Nyquist plots of M0, M1, M2, M3, M4

• , M5 were shown in Figure S4 (see Supporting Information File 1), the circular radius of plot over M2 in the high-frequency region was much smaller than that of other catalysts, which suggested the smallest charge transfer resistance for M2, while the charge transfer resistance for M0 was the largest

CdSe nanorod/TiO₂ nanoparticle heterojunctions with enhanced solar- and visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Fakher Laatar,
• Hatem Moussa,
• Halima Alem,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Ghouti Medjahdi,
• Hatem Ezzaouia and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2741–2752, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.273

• the visible light range and increases the photoconversion efficiency by improving the charge transfer [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. CdSe is one of the most commonly used semiconductors due to its narrow bandgap (1.7

One-step chemical vapor deposition synthesis and supercapacitor performance of nitrogen-doped porous carbon–carbon nanotube hybrids

• Egor V. Lobiak,
• Lyubov G. Bulusheva,
• Ekaterina O. Fedorovskaya,
• Yury V. Shubin,
• Pavel E. Plyusnin,
• Pierre Lonchambon,
• Boris V. Senkovskiy,
• Zinfer R. Ismagilov,
• Emmanuel Flahaut and
• Alexander V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2669–2679, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.267

• , which is necessary for fast charge transfer in an electrochemical cell. However, in this case, the components are connected only through this limited interface that may not allow the synergism from their hybridization to be fully reach. The synthesis of two morphologically different carbon nanomaterials

• circle radius, Rct, characterizes the charge-transfer resistance, which is inversely proportional to the rate of electron transfer. The initial point of the circle at high frequency, Rf, corresponds to the solid–solution resistance. The vertical line is the Warburg impedance, which arises from

• limitations of the ion diffusion in the electrolyte [52]. The values determined from the Nyquist plot analysis are collected in Table 2. The Rf values are close for all studied samples because they possess a good wettability due to the presence of oxygen-containing groups and incorporated nitrogen. The charge

The role of ligands in coinage-metal nanoparticles for electronics

• Ioannis Kanelidis and
• Tobias Kraus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2625–2639, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.263

• thiolates increased when decreasing the number of saturated units [58]. A different study found that π–π-stacking of phenyl groups in films of phenylethylthiolate-stabilized gold nanoparticles determined the interparticle separation and regulated charge transfer. The short ligand chain and the aromatic

• moieties facilitate charge transfer with the conductivities exhibiting a clear Arrhenius behavior implying charge transfer driven by thermal activation in an electron hopping mechanism. Maximal conductivity was reached when the aromatic groups of ligands of adjacent particles were stacked [59]. Whatever