Novel ZnO:Ag nanocomposites induce significant oxidative stress in human fibroblast malignant melanoma (Ht144) cells

• Syeda Arooj,
• Samina Nazir,
• Akhtar Nadhman,
• Nafees Ahmad,
• Bakhtiar Muhammad,
• Ishaq Ahmad,
• Kehkashan Mazhar and
• Rashda Abbasi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 570–582, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.59

• in the light source used, the percentage of Ag content or the cellular model used. Sharma et al. [32] reported zinc oxide nanoparticles with different formulations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4%) of Ag (size range: 23–59 nm) for their antibacterial activity and Shah et al. [33] reported that ZnO nanorods

Low-cost plasmonic solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Valdek Mikli,
• Arvo Mere,
• Ilmo Sildos and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2398–2402, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.249

• the smaller absorbing volume. The use of mesoporous TiO2 or ZnO nanorods provides increased surface area of the absorber, while the introduction of metal nanoparticles allows photons to be captured via plasmonic effects [1][2][3][4]. This work attempts to utilize the advantages of the plasmon effect

• with a band gap of 1.5 eV that is often used as a photovoltaic absorber. Previously published, related work by our research group regarding CIS-based solar cells includes: the synthesis and properties of CIS [5][6], application of CIS in extremely thin absorber solar cells based on ZnO nanorods [7

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• nanoparticles–Fe2O3 [69][82][83], gold nanoparticle–ZnO nanorods [68], gold nanorod–TiO2 [70][71][84], gold nanoparticles–TiO2 nanotube [66][72]. For more details, readers may refer to recent excellent reviews for basic principle and detailed effects of localized surface plasmons on transition metal oxides [85

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Ag–ZnO hybrid plasmonic nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Vandana Choudhary,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 639–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.75

• summarized as follows [29][30] and are schematically illustrated in Figure 8. Yin et al. [41] prepared nanocomposites with Ag nanoparticle decorated ZnO nanorods with a core–shell structure by seed-mediated method. They have shown that Ag–ZnO is a better photocatalyst than ZnO because, firstly, the

Encapsulation of nanoparticles into single-crystal ZnO nanorods and microrods

• Jinzhang Liu,
• Marco Notarianni,
• Llew Rintoul and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 485–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.56

• functional nanoparticles of other materials could be an interesting platform for various applications. We studied the encapsulation of nanoparticles into single-crystal ZnO nanorods by exploiting the crystal growth of ZnO in aqueous solution. Two types of nanodiamonds with mean diameters of 10 nm and 40 nm

• , respectively, and polymer nanobeads with size of 200 nm have been used to study the encapsulation process. It was found that by regrowing these ZnO nanorods with nanoparticles attached to their surfaces, a full encapsulation of nanoparticles into nanorods can be achieved. We demonstrate that our low

• -temperature aqueous solution growth of ZnO nanorods do not affect or cause degradation of the nanoparticles of either inorganic or organic materials. This new growth method opens the way to a plethora of applications combining the properties of single crystal host and encapsulated nanoparticles. We perform

Photovoltaic properties of ZnO nanorods/p-type Si heterojunction structures

• Rafal Pietruszka,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Grzegorz Luka,
• Lukasz Wachnicki,
• Sylwia Gieraltowska,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Eunika Zielony,
• Piotr Bieganski,
• Ewa Placzek-Popko and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 173–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.17

• , in the ALD process with 15 cycles, ZnO nanoseeds were deposited on a Si substrate (Figure 1a). The deposited ZnO nano-islands nucleate growth of ZnO nanorods in a hydrothermal process, performed in a Ertec01-03 Magnum reactor [36][37][38][39]. The growth of the ZnO nanorods was performed at

• example, given a solution with a pH value of 7 the ZnO nanorods have a length of approximately 800 nm and a width of approximately 300 nm. For higher pH values, the length of the nanorods increases their width decreases, and their density increases. For pH 8, the nanorods have a width of approximately 200

• nm, a length of approximately 800 nm, and are close to each other. Average sizes of ZnO NRs and ZnO NRs covered ZnO:Al layers are summarized in Table 1. We obtained three distinct types of ZnO nanorods by changing the pH values denoted as sample A, sample B and sample C. ZnO with aluminum atoms (AZO

Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of flower-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Neha Bhardwaj,
• Jaspal Singh,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.87

• synthesized by Umar et al. [31] for an efficient photocatalysis and the fabrication of efficient dye sensitized solar cells. Shi et al. [33] fabricated flower-like ZnO on ZnO nanorods without use of any surfactant. Self-supported ZnO photocatalysts in the form of plates were prepared by Yassitepe et al. [24

Photoresponse from single upright-standing ZnO nanorods explored by photoconductive AFM

• Igor Beinik,
• Markus Kratzer,
• Astrid Wachauer,
• Lin Wang,
• Yuri P. Piryatinski,
• Gerhard Brauer,
• Xin Yi Chen,
• Yuk Fan Hsu,
• Aleksandra B. Djurišić and
• Christian Teichert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 208–217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.21

• properties. Here, photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PC-AFM) has been applied to investigate transient photoconductivity and photocurrent spectra of upright-standing ZnO nanorods (NRs). With a view to evaluate the electronic properties of the NRs and to get information on recombination kinetics, we

• experiments carried out at variable oxygen pressure. Keywords: AFM; nanorods; photoconductive AFM; photoconductivity; ZnO; Introduction One-dimensional ZnO nanostructures, so called ZnO nanorods (NRs), exhibit technological potential for many device applications. Having a wide band gap (3.37 eV at room

• carriers from defect-localized states. The experimental findings are in good agreement with previous theoretical predictions based on density functional theory calculations [42] and will be discussed on the basis of the presence of oxygen vacancies. Experimental ZnO nanorods were grown by thermal

Paper modified with ZnO nanorods – antimicrobial studies

• Mayuree Jaisai,
• Sunandan Baruah and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 684–691, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.78

• , Postal Code 123, Al Khoud, Oman 10.3762/bjnano.3.78 Abstract Paper with antimicrobial properties was developed through in situ growth of ZnO nanorods. The targeted application for this type of paper is in health centers as wallpaper, writing paper, facemasks, tissue paper, etc. The paper was tested on

• in cellular internalization of ZnO nanoparticles has also been observed by Appierot et al. [6] in a study of their antibacterial effect on E. coli and S. aureus. This work reports on an antimicrobial paper containing zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods grown by a hydrothermal process, and which can be used for

• various applications, such as facemasks, tissues, wallpapers and writing paper. The antimicrobial effect of the ZnO nanorods grown on the paper matrix results from the slow seepage of Zn2+ ions assisted by atmospheric humidity or through the injection of free electrons resulting from photocatalysis [7][8

Highly efficient ZnO/Au Schottky barrier dye-sensitized solar cells: Role of gold nanoparticles on the charge-transfer process

• Tanujjal Bora,
• Htet H. Kyaw,
• Soumik Sarkar,
• Samir K. Pal and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 681–690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.73

• for Basic Sciences, Sector - III, Block - JD, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700098, India 10.3762/bjnano.2.73 Abstract Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods decorated with gold (Au) nanoparticles have been synthesized and used to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The picosecond-resolved, time-correlated single

• the ZnO/Au interface. For large area DSSC (1 cm2), ~130% enhancement in PCE (from 0.50% to 1.16%) was achieved after incorporation of the Au nanoparticles into the ZnO nanorods. Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cell; gold nanoparticle; picosecond spectroscopy; Schottky barrier; zinc oxide nanorod

• electrolyte-exposed part of the metal oxide film by means of different additives in the electrolyte [10][11][12][13] or by using the core-shell structure of various metal oxides [14][15][16][17][18] have been reported. In this work we discuss the use of Au nanoparticles in a DSSC based on ZnO nanorods to

Low-temperature solution growth of ZnO nanotube arrays

• Ki-Woong Chae,
• Qifeng Zhang,
• Jeong Seog Kim,
• Yoon-Ha Jeong and
• Guozhong Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 128–134, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.15

• the pH value of the reaction solution played an important role in mediating the growth of ZnO nanostructures. A change in the growth temperature might change the pH value of the solution and bring about the structure conversion of ZnO from nanorods to nanotubes. It was proposed that the ZnO nanorods

• , the growth of the (001) plane of ZnO nanorods was limited and only occurred at the edge of the nanorods, eventually leading to the formation of a nanotube shape. In addition, it was demonstrated that the pH might impact the surface energy difference between the polar and non-polar faces of the ZnO

• of tube-shaped ZnO was due to a selective deposition of colloidal Zn(OH)2 at the edge of the (001) plane of ZnO nanorods that were formed in the beginning stage of the reaction. Results and discussion Figure 1 shows the SEM image of the film of ZnO seeds on an indium doped tin oxide (ITO) substrate

Enhanced visible light photocatalysis through fast crystallization of zinc oxide nanorods

• Sunandan Baruah,
• Mohammad Abbas Mahmood,
• Myo Tay Zar Myint,
• Tanujjal Bora and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 14–20, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.3

• Abstract Hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods have inherent crystalline defects primarily due to oxygen vacancies that enhance optical absorption in the visible spectrum, opening up possibilities for visible light photocatalysis. Comparison of photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanorods and nanoparticle films on

• a test contaminant methylene blue with visible light irradiation at 72 kilolux (klx) showed that ZnO nanorods are 12–24% more active than ZnO nanoparticulate films. This can be directly attributed to the increased effective surface area for adsorption of target contaminant molecules. Defects, in the

• crystallization temperatures, homogenous nucleation and fast supersaturation by rapid dissolution [22][23][24][25][26][27]. In this work a study is conducted on the improvement of visible light photocatalytic degradation of a model organic dye, methylene blue, with ZnO nanorods grown by a rapid growth process