Bacteriorhodopsin–ZnO hybrid as a potential sensing element for low-temperature detection of ethanol vapour

• Saurav Kumar,
• Sudeshna Bagchi,
• Senthil Prasad,
• Anupma Sharma,
• Ritesh Kumar,
• Rishemjit Kaur,
• Jagvir Singh and
• Amol P. Bhondekar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 501–510, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.44

• , SiO2) and polymers (e.g., PVA, gelatine) have been explored for photo–energy conversion, energy storage devices and gas sensing based on photo-conductive activity [12][14][20][21][22]. In parallel, ZnO and its hybrids have evolved as promising structures for sensing and semiconductor applications [23

Functional fusion of living systems with synthetic electrode interfaces

• Oskar Staufer,
• Sebastian Weber,
• C. Peter Bengtson,
• Hilmar Bading,
• Joachim P. Spatz and
• Amin Rustom

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 296–301, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.27

• signaling cascades, future applications of these technologies may attain molecular precision and/or improved energy conversion efficiency. Furthermore, since NEI analysis is not limited to single or small numbers of cells, it also allows for electrophysiological measurements and potential recordings from

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

Nonconservative current-driven dynamics: beyond the nanoscale

• Brian Cunningham,
• Tchavdar N. Todorov and
• Daniel Dundas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2140–2147, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.219

• another aspect of these forces, anticipated in a visionary argument by Sorbello [5]: unlike equilibrium interatomic forces, they are nonconservative (NC), enabling the current to do work on atoms around closed paths [6][7][8][9]. This mechanism for energy conversion from current into atomic motion, which

Light-powered, artificial molecular pumps: a minimalistic approach

• Giulio Ragazzon,
• Massimo Baroncini,
• Serena Silvi,
• Margherita Venturi and
• Alberto Credi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2096–2104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.214

• limit for the energy conversion efficiency of 9 × 10−5. Despite such a low conversion efficiency, this study clearly demonstrates that the synergy between photochemical reactions and self-assembly processes can lead to innovative methods for the conversion of sunlight into chemical energy [35

Metal hydrides: an innovative and challenging conversion reaction anode for lithium-ion batteries

• Luc Aymard,
• Yassine Oumellal and
• Jean-Pierre Bonnet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1821–1839, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.186

• friendly renewable power sources with enhanced electrical energy conversion efficiency at moderate costs. However, these energy sources, such as windmill or solar cells, are intrinsically intermittent and, consequently, need to be associated with efficient energy storage devices in order to provide

Materials for sustainable energy production, storage, and conversion

• Maximilian Fichtner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1601–1602, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.163

• present recent results from the respective working groups. In the field of energy harvesting and photovoltaics, Benedikt Iffland and Christian Jooss [1] report on current–voltage characteristics of manganite–titanite perovskite junctions. State-of-the art and recent progress in energy conversion from

Transformations of PTCDA structures on rutile TiO₂ induced by thermal annealing and intermolecular forces

• Szymon Godlewski,
• Jakub S. Prauzner-Bechcicki,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Marek Szymoński

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1498–1507, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.155

• example, titanium dioxide surfaces are exceptionally useful in various applications, including the catalysis, solar energy conversion, gas sensing and others [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Merging two classes of materials, i.e., metal oxide surfaces with organic molecules, seems to be one of the most

Current–voltage characteristics of manganite–titanite perovskite junctions

• Benedikt Ifland,
• Patrick Peretzki,
• Birte Kressdorf,
• Philipp Saring,
• Andreas Kelling,
• Michael Seibt and
• Christian Jooss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1467–1484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.152

• photovoltaic energy conversion [22]: the possibility of light absorption by intraband excitations of charge carriers and the harvesting hot carriers due to the rather long-lived excited states [21][23]. Hence, such materials are suitable to study the pathways of photovoltaic energy conversion beyond the

• for generation, dissociation and recombination of polaron pairs at the interface [38][39]. Such a scenario is typical for photovoltaic energy conversion in polymer systems with small polaron charges. Hence, a more general description using Shockley's equations for different p–n junctions having a

• across the interface at lower temperatures is increased. Both effects are an important prerequisite for the analysis of the polaronic carriers on the energy conversion in a correlated oxide solar cell. Evaluation of the measured diffusion

Enhancing the thermoelectric figure of merit in engineered graphene nanoribbons

• Hatef Sadeghi,
• Sara Sangtarash and
• Colin J. Lambert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1176–1182, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.119

• nanoelectronic devices is limited by dissipated power rather than available clock speeds [1]. To address this issue, thermoelectric energy conversion may be an essential ingredient in the design of the next generation of integrated electronics, optoelectronic and photonic devices [2]. On the one hand efficient

Electrical characterization of single molecule and Langmuir–Blodgett monomolecular films of a pyridine-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) derivative

• Henrry M. Osorio,
• Santiago Martín,
• María Carmen López,
• Santiago Marqués-González,
• Simon J. Higgins,
• Richard J. Nichols,
• Paul J. Low and
• Pilar Cea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1145–1157, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.116

• permit the appearance of new functions and technological applications not possible with conventional semiconductors such as quantum information processing [7], quantum computation [8], thermoelectric energy conversion [9], etc. The study of single-molecule junctions has enormously contributed to our

Electrocatalysis on the nm scale

• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1008–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.103

• electrocatalysis. This is on the one hand stimulated by applications in energy conversion and energy storage, where highly efficient electrochemical/electrocatalytic processes are considered to be an indispensable part of modern energy concepts based on the use of renewable energy sources. However, it is also

Experimental determination of the light-trapping-induced absorption enhancement factor in DSSC photoanodes

• Serena Gagliardi and
• Mauro Falconieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 886–892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.91

• since the 1960s, based on a dye-sensitized semiconductor. The introduction of a nanostructured, high specific surface area, porous titania electrode was a milestone that finally enabled interesting energy conversion efficiency values, which nowadays are around ≈13% [2]. The use of inexpensive materials

Applications of three-dimensional carbon nanotube networks

• Manuela Scarselli,
• Paola Castrucci,
• Francesco De Nicola,
• Ilaria Cacciotti,
• Francesca Nanni,
• Emanuela Gatto,
• Mariano Venanzi and
• Maurizio De Crescenzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 792–798, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.82

• % of that with Pt CEs. Recently, our research group showed that 2D films made of pristine MWCNTs can be used as optically active medium for light energy conversion in a solar cell device [27]. Accordingly, we performed a similar measurement using a piece of CNT-sponge, which possesses a self-supporting

• remove different types of oil has been demonstrated and can be considered very interesting for environmental applications. In addition, the CNT network shows a good photo response to incident light in the visible and near ultraviolet range, thus proving its potential application in photon-energy

• conversion devices. The collected results enable us to predict that the produced CNT-sponges are an interesting example of nanostructured materials that may be employed in new emerging fields of applications such as environmental sector, sensing and electromechanical transduction. At the same time, a

Carrier multiplication in silicon nanocrystals: ab initio results

• Ivan Marri,
• Marco Govoni and
• Stefano Ossicini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 343–352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.33

• focused on increasing solar cell performance through the minimization of loss factors and the maximization of solar radiation harvesting. This is accomplished by improving the optoelectronic properties of existing devices and by realizing new schemes for innovative solar cell systems. For optimal energy

• conversion in PV devices, one important requirement is that the full energy of the solar spectrum is used. In this context, the development of third generation nanostructured solar cells appears as a promising way to realize new systems that can overcome the limitations of traditional, single junction PV

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques II

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2326–2327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.241

• scientific community within the last years. Similar to the first volume [5], the development of advanced techniques and their application is the focus of this Thematic Series. Contributions related to energy conversion and storage systems have been addressed, e.g., the analysis of cathodes of lithium–sulfur

Nanocrystalline ceria coatings on solid oxide fuel cell anodes: the role of organic surfactant pretreatments on coating microstructures and sulfur tolerance

• Chieh-Chun Wu,
• Ling Tang and
• Mark R. De Guire

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1712–1724, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.181

• because of the different pre-treatments to which the cells were subjected, as well as performance variations between nominally identical cells, the cells exhibited significant variation in their operating lifetimes and output. As fuel cells are essentially energy-conversion devices, one useful metric for

Non-covalent and reversible functionalization of carbon nanotubes

• Antonello Di Crescenzo,
• Valeria Ettorre and
• Antonella Fontana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1675–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.178

• ], catalysis [10], energy conversion [11][12] storage devices [13], the delivery field [14][15], and in the polymer field [16] to name a few. However, CNTs applications have been hindered for a long time from their discovery [17] due to their limited solubility and processability. Individual CNTs tend to

Donor–acceptor graphene-based hybrid materials facilitating photo-induced electron-transfer reactions

• Anastasios Stergiou,
• Georgia Pagona and
• Nikos Tagmatarchis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1580–1589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.170

• fabricate donor–acceptor ensembles potentially useful in energy conversion schemes. Actually, electrons can travel without scattering around the 2D crystal structure of graphene [15], thus guaranteeing a continuous lossless electron flow. In addition, considering that carbon nanotubes are generally produced

• electron donors for energy conversion. Additonally, routes and strategies for the chemical functionalization of graphene with photoactive electron donors will be presented and common techniques for characterizing and evaluating the photophysical properties of the materials will be discussed. Review

• –tpy–GO, probably due to a more effective electron transfer from the Ru–tpy core to the graphene network. This class of self-assembled covalently functionalized GO-based nanohybrids is a promising new member in the family of graphene hybrid materials for potential applications in energy conversion and

Magnesium batteries: Current state of the art, issues and future perspectives

• Rana Mohtadi and
• Fuminori Mizuno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1291–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.143

• a myriad of distinct batteries and energy storage chemistries [1]. Out of the several known battery technologies, secondary or rechargeable batteries, such as nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion, which allow for reversibly storing and harnessing power on demand while providing high power and energy

• conversion efficiencies, have played an invaluable role in driving the evolution of new technologies. Nowadays, their usage as an integral part in several modern applications on a variable size scale is apparent, encompassing miniature and portable devices; such as in cell phones, laptops, medium scale; such

Review of nanostructured devices for thermoelectric applications

• Giovanni Pennelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1268–1284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.141

• thermal energy that is available on the heat source, so that energy conversion efficiency, more than maximum delivered power, is the main issue to be faced. In other words, for the majority of applications the main target is to optimize energy, instead of maximize power. As for example, the application of

• Giovanni Pennelli University of Pisa, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via Caruso 16, I-56122 Pisa, Italy 10.3762/bjnano.5.141 Abstract A big research effort is currently dedicated to the development of thermoelectric devices capable of a direct thermal-to-electrical energy

• conversion, aiming at efficiencies as high as possible. These devices are very attractive for many applications in the fields of energy recovery and green energy harvesting. In this paper, after a quick summary of the fundamental principles of thermoelectricity, the main characteristics of materials needed

An insight into the mechanism of charge-transfer of hybrid polymer:ternary/quaternary chalcopyrite colloidal nanocrystals

• Parul Chawla,
• Son Singh and
• Shailesh Narain Sharma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1235–1244, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.137

• , a charge-separation at donor–acceptor heterojunctions is a key process, which takes center stage in determining the energy conversion efficiency of hybrid photovoltaics. Hybrid solar cells enjoy an advantage of intrinsically high carrier mobility, which is caused by inorganic materials dispersed in

Photocatalysis

• Rong Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1071–1072, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.119

• and morphological tuning, in particular for hybrid materials systems such as Ag–ZnO, VTi/MCM-41, are important toward achieving higher solar energy conversion efficiencies. In a couple of reports, materials alternative to conventional metal oxides, for example, reduced graphene oxide, graphene quantum

Functionalized nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic performance under solar light

• Liejin Guo,
• Dengwei Jing,
• Maochang Liu,
• Yubin Chen,
• Shaohua Shen,
• Jinwen Shi and
• Kai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 994–1004, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.113

• hydrogen production. These factors are significantly beneficial for their further application in the field of solar energy conversion. Crystal facets engineering As we know, the surface of a given semiconductor nanocrystal usually consists of certain crystal facets that occupy specific coordination numbers

Integration of ZnO and CuO nanowires into a thermoelectric module

• Dario Zappa,
• Simone Dalola,
• Guido Faglia,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Matteo Ferroni,
• Caterina Soldano,
• Vittorio Ferrari and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 927–936, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.106

• , respectively (being T the temperature). State-of-the-art bulk materials-based thermoelectric generators have been demonstrated to possibly reach energy conversion efficiency values of 5.2% and higher, with materials characterized by a ZT factor approaching a unitary value [3][4]. Transition metal oxides (TMOs

• first one only takes into account energy conversion performance, and it is defined as Pmax/ΔT2. This parameter is the maximum electrical power generated in case of matched-load conditions, per unit-squared temperature difference applied on the device. The second one considers the physical dimensions of

• : this value is low possibly due to the large dimensions of the fabricated TEG [2 cm × 2 cm]. Conclusion Quasi-monodimensional metal oxide nanowires are promising candidates for efficient thermoelectric energy conversion. ZnO (n-type) and CuO (p-type) nanowire bundles have been fabricated by physical