A scanning probe microscopy study of nanostructured TiO₂/poly(3-hexylthiophene) hybrid heterojunctions for photovoltaic applications

• Laurie Letertre,
• Roland Roche,
• Olivier Douhéret,
• Hailu G. Kassa,
• Denis Mariolle,
• Nicolas Chevalier,
• Łukasz Borowik,
• Philippe Dumas,
• Benjamin Grévin,
• Roberto Lazzaroni and
• Philippe Leclère

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2087–2096, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.197

• device, it is of prime interest to study the photovoltaic properties at the nanoscale. Hybrid heterojunction (HHJ) structures are obtained by impregnation of the porous layer with an absorbing dye or a polymer electron donor. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is often used, because of its strong absorption

Controllable one-pot synthesis of uniform colloidal TiO₂ particles in a mixed solvent solution for photocatalysis

• Jong Tae Moon,
• Seung Ki Lee and
• Ji Bong Joo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1715–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.163

•  6a shows the typical absorption spectra change for an aqueous RhB solution after UV–vis light irradiation for constant time intervals using TiO2 particles (TiO2-500) calcined at 500 °C. The strong absorption peak at 553 nm continuously decreased and finally disappeared after 60 minutes. This

P3HT:PCBM blend films phase diagram on the base of variable-temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry

• Barbara Hajduk,
• Henryk Bednarski,
• Bożena Jarząbek,
• Henryk Janeczek and
• Paweł Nitschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1108–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.102

• indicators of thermal transitions. By comparing the temperature dependence of raw ellipsometric data of the P3HT:PCBM blend films with different PCBM content, we have found that Δ(T) taken at λ = 280 nm is the most convenient quantity for this purpose. Mainly because PCBM has a strong absorption band with

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

• presence of silver particles not only improves the photocatalytic efficiency, but also enhances the electric field strength around AgSCN due to the surface plasmon resonance, which in turn enhances the optical transition of midgap defect states of AgSCN. All these conditions contribute to the strong

• absorption of Ag@AgSCN in both the UV and visible region, which is beneficial for application as a visible-light catalyst. The bandgap of AgSCN can be determined according to the Kubelka–Munk equation, which is estimated as 3.4 eV for sample M0 (Figure 2b), and the valence band value of 1.12 eV is obtained

Laser-assisted fabrication of gold nanoparticle-composed structures embedded in borosilicate glass

• Nikolay Nedyalkov,
• Mihaela Koleva,
• Nadya Stankova,
• Rosen Nikov,
• Mitsuhiro Terakawa,
• Yasutaka Nakajima,
• Lyubomir Aleksandrov and
• Reni Iordanova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2454–2463, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.244

• large amounts of B2O3 and Al2O3, a contribution of defect absorption induced by modification of the bond in these oxides should also be considered. According to Sakka [29], defects induced in borate glasses have strong absorption in the visible range, peaking at about 590 nm. For alumina-based glasses

Three-in-one approach towards efficient organic dye-sensitized solar cells: aggregation suppression, panchromatic absorption and resonance energy transfer

• Jayita Patwari,
• Samim Sardar,
• Bo Liu,
• Peter Lemmens and
• Samir Kumar Pal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1705–1713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.171

• carried out to explore the dynamical processes occurring between these two dyes after the attachment to the TiO2 surface. PPIX is an environmentally friendly organic sensitizer that has a strong absorption in the visible region of the solar spectrum. Application of PPIX as a sensitizer in DSSCs has been

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

Bright fluorescent silica-nanoparticle probes for high-resolution STED and confocal microscopy

• Isabella Tavernaro,
• Christian Cavelius,
• Henrike Peuschel and
• Annette Kraegeloh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1283–1296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.130

• available carbopyronine dye Atto647N was selected as a model dye [50]. It matches the preferred spectral characteristics and has gained popularity as fluorescence label due to its strong absorption, excellent fluorescence, quantum yield and good solubility [51][52]. However, Atto647N had to be modified

Vapor-phase-synthesized fluoroacrylate polymer thin films: thermal stability and structural properties

• Paul Christian and
• Anna Maria Coclite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 933–942, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.95

• characteristic absorption peaks are noted. In the fingerprint region (1500–500 cm−1), the skeletal vibrations of the CHx and CFx groups are visible, most prominently featuring the symmetric and antisymmetric stretch of the CF2 groups at 1251 and 1206 cm−1, respectively. In addition, a strong absorption peak is

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• at 400–700 cm−1 attributable to the Ti–O–Ti network structure, while the bands at 3406 and 1624 cm−1 are from water [49] that was adsorbed because of the hydrophilic nature of the nanoparticles. Further, the Si–O–Si domains in TiO2/SiO2 NPs (Figure 2b) generated the strong absorption bands of the

Nanocrystalline ZrO₂ and Pt-doped ZrO₂ catalysts for low-temperature CO oxidation

• Amit Singhania and
• Shipra Mital Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 264–271, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.29

• . The UV–vis spectra of both samples show a strong absorption peak at 273 nm, which agrees very well with data reported in literature [36]. The absorption peak in case of Pt(1%)-ZrO2 is higher than ZrO2 which could be beneficial for photocatalytic applications. FTIR spectra of prepared ZrO2 and Pt(1

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption studies towards a new optical biosensor

• Lothar Leidner,
• Julia Stäb,
• Jennifer T. Adam and
• Günter Gauglitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1736–1742, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.166

• into the aqueous solution above the polymer with its known strong absorption in the MIR. As the nanoparticles have a diameter of 50 nm (which is small compared to the wavelength in the MIR) they obey the rules of Rayleigh scattering. Therefore, nanoparticles, which have been deposited on the polymer

Microwave solvothermal synthesis and characterization of manganese-doped ZnO nanoparticles

• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Roman Mukhovskyi,
• Elzbieta Pietrzykowska,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Jan Mizeracki and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 721–732, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.64

• . Most of the Zn1−xMnxO nanostructure materials exhibit strong absorption in the UV and visible range and a strong UV emission [30]. Density, specific surface area and crystallite size distribution The theoretical density of ZnO is 5.606 g/cm3. The pycnometric density of the obtained reference sample of

Fabrication and properties of luminescence polymer composites with erbium/ytterbium oxides and gold nanoparticles

• Julia A. Burunkova,
• Ihor Yu. Denisiuk,
• Dmitri I. Zhuk,
• Lajos Daroczi,
• Attila Csik,
• István Csarnovics and
• Sándor Kokenyesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 630–636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.55

• matrix materials used before [9]. Examples of absorbance spectra of these composites are presented in Figure 5. Slight absorption bands of erbium and ytterbium oxides at 530 and 980 nm are visible in spectrum 1. A strong absorption band at 530 nm appears after the introduction of AuNPs to the composite

Nonlinear optical properties of near-infrared region Ag₂S quantum dots pumped by nanosecond laser pulses

• Li-wei Liu,
• Si-yi Hu,
• Yin-ping Dou,
• Tian-hang Liu,
• Jing-quan Lin and
• Yue Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1781–1787, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.182

• . Keywords: nonlinear optics; quantum dots; silver sulfide (Ag2S); strong absorption; Introduction Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanostructures with a size from 3 to 10 nm [1]. Through tailoring their size and composition, the emission wavelength of the quantum dots can be tuned from 650 to 1250 nm

• surrounding the QDs will be changed. Ag2S has a narrow band gap, which leads to the strong absorption characteristics of Ag2S and which makes Ag2S particularly suitable for use in optical detectors and solar cells. Conclusion In summary, we have demonstrated, using NIR Ag2S QDs pumped by 532 nm nanosecond

• pulses, that the nonlinear optical characteristics can be efficiently generated in QDs. The simulation results show the nonlinear characteristics of Ag2S QDs. Nonlinear transmission measurement revealed that Ag2S QDs have a superior nonlinear optical performance because of their strong absorption

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

• in the region of strong absorption, the maximum value of the absorbed light fraction in the electrode equals that of the dye. This can be easily calculated according to Equation 2 using the experimentally determined dye content and molar absorptivity. In order to obtain the light absorption

Inorganic Janus particles for biomedical applications

• Isabel Schick,
• Steffen Lorenz,
• Dominik Gehrig,
• Stefan Tenzer,
• Wiebke Storck,
• Karl Fischer,
• Dennis Strand,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Wolfgang Tremel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2346–2362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.244

• conjugation to Ag nanoparticles when combined to form Ag@Fe3O4 dumbbell-like hetero-nanoparticles [47]. Moreover, plasmonic photocatalysts combine two prominent features: a Schottky junction enhancing charge separation and surface plasmon resonance, which is responsible for strong absorption of visible light

Properties of plasmonic arrays produced by pulsed-laser nanostructuring of thin Au films

• Katarzyna Grochowska,
• Katarzyna Siuzdak,
• Peter A. Atanasov,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Anna Dikovska,
• Nikolay N. Nedyalkov and
• Gerard Śliwiński

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2102–2112, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.219

• , a large part of the illuminating radiation is absorbed by the dye molecules and does not contribute to the scattering signal. Moreover, the strong absorption band of R6G at 530 nm matches nearly perfectly with the broad plasmon band at around 546 nm (FWHM ≈110 nm). This leads to a decrease of the

Effects of the preparation method on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag₂CrO₄

• Difa Xu,
• Shaowen Cao,
• Jinfeng Zhang,
• Bei Cheng and
• Jiaguo Yu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 658–666, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.77

• contaminants both in air and aqueous solution. However, Ag2CrO4 is neglected although it has been explored as cathode for lithium cells in early years [37][38][39]. Actually, the band gap of Ag2CrO4 is narrow enough (about 1.75 eV) to obtain strong absorption in visible-light region [40], and thus may enable

Femtosecond-resolved ablation dynamics of Si in the near field of a small dielectric particle

• Paul Kühler,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Mario Mosbacher,
• Paul Leiderer,
• Francisco Javier Garcia de Abajo,
• Jan Siegel and
• Javier Solis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 501–509, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.59

• be observable for delays up to 100 ps. This reflectivity decrease is indicative of the ablation of the surface. The emission of ions and neutral species in the ablating region leads to a strong absorption of the illumination probe beam. The ablation onset occurs at about 2 ps, although strong

How to remove the influence of trace water from the absorption spectra of SWNTs dispersed in ionic liquids

• Juan Yang,
• Daqi Zhang and
• Yan Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 653–658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.69

• to their chiralities is of great importance in the quantitative analysis of bulk SWNT samples. However, because water has strong absorption bands in the near-infrared (NIR) region where the E11 of semiconducting SWNTs lies, even a trace amount of water dissolved in an IL may introduce notable peaks

Fabrication and spectroscopic studies on highly luminescent CdSe/CdS nanorod polymer composites

• Jana Bomm,
• Andreas Büchtemann,
• Angela Fiore,
• Liberato Manna,
• James H. Nelson,
• Diana Hill and
• Wilfried G. J. H. M. van Sark

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 94–100, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.11

• NRs with aspect ratio 6 can be found using the scaling ~3 µM per 0.1 wt % whilst for NRs with aspect ratio 3 this is lower at ~2 µM per 0.1wt %. The absorption spectra of the P(LMA-co-EGDM) nanocomposites with NRs (aspect ratio 3) at different NR concentrations depicted in Figure 6a reveal strong

• absorption at shorter wavelengths (400–500 nm) and the first exciton peak at 619 nm. The nanorods are well dispersed in the polymer matrix, as shown by the lack of scattering in the absorption spectra at wavelengths much larger than that of the first exciton peak (Figure 6a). Figure 5c illustrates that we