A photoactivated ZnO nanomesh with precisely controlled dimensions and geometries is fabricated by using nanosphere lithography process. The nanomesh structures effectively increase the surface-to-volume ratio to improve the sensing response under the same testing gas. And the periodical nanostructures also increase the effective light path and lead to more efficient light activation for gas sensing. With the increase of the photoinduced oxygen ions by UV illumination, a distinguished sensing response is observed at room temperature. In the optimized case, the sensing response (△R/R0) of the ZnO nanomesh at the butanol concentration of 500 ppm is 97.5%, which is 4.54 times higher than the unpatterned one.

In the present work, we report the synthesis and characterization of NaNbO3 particles obtained by microwave-assisted hydrothermal method from Nb2O5 and NaOH. The synthesis was made at different periods at 180 °C and 300W. The crystallization of NaNbO3 structures produced Na2Nb2O6.H2O in the intermediate phase with fiber-like morphology, and this is associated with the synthesis time. Pure orthorhombic NaNbO3 with cube-like morphology originates after synthesizing for 240 minutes. To verify the remnant polarization of particles, films were obtained by electrophoresis process and sintered at 800°C for 10 minutes in a microwave furnace. The films characterization indicated that films of niobate with fiber-like morphology present remaining polarization, and the morphology of cubes did not show remaining polarization. Considering these results, it can be concluded that the morphology implemented ferroelectric property of NaNbO3.

Transparent conducting cadmium tin oxide (CTO) thin films were obtained from a mixture of CdO and SnO2 precursor solutions by the dip-coating sol-gel technique. The thin films studied in this work were made with 7 coats (∼200 nm) on corning glass and quartz substrates. Each coating was deposited at a withdrawal speed of 2 cm/min, dried at 100°C for 1 hour and then sintered at 550°C for 1 hour in air. In order to decrease the resistivity values of the films, these were annealed in a vacuum atmosphere and another set of films were annealed in an Ar/CdS atmosphere. The annealing temperatures (Ta) were 450°C, 500°C and 550°C, as well as 600°C and 650°C, when corning glass and quartz substrates were used, respectively. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the films annealed in a vacuum showed that there is only the presence of CTO crystals for 450°C≤ Ta ≤ 600°C and CTO+SnO2 crystals for Ta=650°C. The films annealed in Ar/CdS atmosphere were only constituted of CTO crystals independent of the Ta. The minimum resistivity value obtained was ∼4 x 10-4 Ωcm (Rsheet= 20 Ω/□) for the films deposited on quartz and annealed at Ta=600°C under an Ar/CdS atmosphere. The films deposited on quartz showed the higher optical transmission (∼90%) with respect to the films deposited on corning glass substrates (∼85%) in the Uv-vis region. For their optical and electrical characteristics, these films are good candidates as transparent electrodes in solar cells.

This paper describes the organometallic synthesis of pure rhenium nanoparticles (Re NPs) and their characterization by a combination of state-of-the art techniques (TEM, HAADF-STEM, EDX, WAXS, EA, FT-IR). The Re NPs synthesis is achieved by reducing the [Re2(C3H5)4] complex in solution under a dihydrogen atmosphere and in the presence of hexadecylamine or polyvinylpyrrolidone as stabilizing agents. The so-obtained Re NPs are monodisperse with a mean size of 1.1 nm (0.3) nm and display a spherical shape with a disordered hcp structure.

The use of nano-sized silver and its alloys represents an interesting alternative to common food preservation methods, which are based on radiation, heat treatment and low temperature storage. These metal nanoparticles, embedded within a polymeric matrix for instance, would extend the shelf life of perishable foods while acting as a bactericidal agent to prevent food-borne illnesses. Common methods used in the synthesis of metal nanoparticles require toxic solvents and reagents that could be harmful to health and the food itself. In addition, several steps are required to obtain aqueous stable, i.e. dispersible, silver nanoparticles. In this work we propose the microwave-assisted aqueous synthesis of silver-based nanoparticles, (Ag Based NP) functionalized by glutathione (GSH) in a single-step using sodium sulfite (Na2SO3), as reducing agent. Ag-Based nanoparticles were synthesized at pH 6 and 1:3:1 (AgNO3/GSH/ Na2SO3) molar ratio. UV-Vis measurement clearly showed the plasmon peak attributed to silver-based nanoparticles (374 nm). Highly monodispersed water stable Ag-based nanoparticles were observed and 3.897 ± 0.167 nm particle size was determined through Transmission Electron Microscopy. FT-IR measurements suggested the actual GSH-Ag based surface interaction through –SH and –COOH groups; the functionalization by GSH explained the high stability of the nanoparticles in aqueous suspensions. These Ag-GSH nanoparticles exhibited remarkable antimicrobial activity against E. Coli.

Alumina-silicone hybrid nanolaminate films were synthesized by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process. PECVD allows digital control over nanolaminate construction, and may be performed at low temperature for compatibility with flexible substrates. These materials are being considered as dielectrics for application such as capacitors in thin film transistors and memory devices. Temperature dependent electrical and dielectric properties of the nanolaminate dielectric films in metal-insulator-metal structures are taken in the range of 200- 340 K to better asses their potential applications for different devices. It is observed that the frequency dependent dielectric constant (εr) and ac conductivity (σac) increase with the temperature. Both quadratic (α) and linear (β) voltage coefficient of capacitance (VCC) increases as the temperature increases. The temperature co-efficient of capacitance (TCC) decreases from 894 to 374 ppm/K as the Al2O3 composition increases in the alumina/silicone nanolaminates. Activation energy (Ea) for hopping conduction mechanism varies from 0.011 eV to 0.008 eV as the alumina composition increases from 50 to 83.3%.

Soft lithographic printing techniques can be used to print nanoparticle dispersions with relative ease while allowing for a measureable degree of controllability of printed feature size. In this study, a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp was used to print multi-layered, porous, nanoparticle dispersions of titanium dioxide (TiO2), for use in a dye-sensitized solar cell application. The gelled patterns were then sintered and the surface of the printed sample was chemically analyzed.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to determine the surface constituents of the printed sample. The presence of a secondary peak feature located approximately 2.8 eV above the high resolution O1s core level binding energy peak was attributed to a contamination layer. Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) of the printed sample revealed the presence of vibrational modes characteristic of the asymmetric bond stretching of silica, located at approximate wavenumbers of 1260 and 1030 cm-1.

Soft lithographic techniques are a viable manufacturing technique in a number of disciplines and sintered nano-oxide dispersions are readily used as reaction centers in a number of technologies. The presence of a residual, bonded silicate contamination layer may preclude the soft lithographic printing of chemically active oxide surfaces.

The broad range of applications of copper, including areas such as electronics, fuel cells, and spent nuclear fuel disposal, require accurate description of the physical and chemical properties of copper compounds. Within some of these applications, cuprous hydroxide is a compound whose relevance has been recently discovered. Its existence in the solid-state form was recently reported. Experimental determination of its physical-chemical properties is challenging due to its instability and poop crystallinity. Within the framework of density functional theory calculations (DFT), we investigated the nature of bonding, electronic spectra, and optical properties of the cuprous oxide and cuprous hydroxide. It is found that the hybrid functional PBE0 can accurately describe the electronic structure and optical properties of these two copper(I) compounds. The calculated properties of cuprous oxide are in good agreement with the experimental data and other theoretical results. The structure of cuprous hydroxide can be deduced from that of cuprous oxide by substituting half Cu+ in Cu2O lattice with protons. Compared to Cu2O, the presence of hydrogen in CuOH has little effect on the ionic nature of Cu–O bonding, but lowers the energy levels of the occupied states. Thus, CuOH is calculated to have a wider indirect band gap of 2.73 eV compared with the Cu2O band gap of 2.17 eV.

Nanowire heterostructures comprised of cobalt oxide and tungsten oxide were fabricated in a core/shell configuration. This was achieved by sputter coating tungsten oxide shells on standing cobalt oxide nanowires on a substrate. To ensure the polycrystallinity of tungsten oxide shell, the nanowire heterostructures were subjected to post-sputtering annealing process. The cobalt oxide nanowires for this study were grown employing a thermal method via vapor-solid growth mechanism. The crystal structures, morphologies, dimensions, and phases at various growth stages of nanowire heterostructures were studied using high resolution electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction methods. The interfaces of these nanowire heterostructures were also studied and showed variation in the lattice spacing across the heterostructure diameter. Results indicated that the cobalt oxide nanowires survived multiple processing steps and resulted in stable heterostructure configurations. The investigation shows, for the first time, a dry processing route for the formation of such novel nanowire heterostructures.

SnO2-based varistors are strong candidates to replace the ZnO-based varistors due to ordering fewer additives to improve its electrical behavior as well as by showing similar nonlinear characteristics of ZnO varistors. In this work, SnO2-nanoparticles based-varistors with addition of 1.0 %mol of ZnO and 0.05 %mol of Nb2O5 were synthesized by chemical route. SnO2.ZnO.Nb2O5-films with 5 μm of thickness were obtained by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of the nanoparticles on Si/Pt substrate from alcoholic suspension of SnO2-based powder. The sintering step was carried out in a microwave oven at 1000 °C for 40 minutes. Then, Cr3+ ions were deposited on the films surface by EPD after the sintering step. Each sample was submitted to different thermal treatments to improve the varistor behavior by diffusion of ions in the samples. The films showed a nonlinear coefficient (α) greater than 9, breakdown voltage (VR) around 60 V, low leakage current (IF ≈ 10-6 A), height potential barrier above 0.5 eV and grain boundary resistivity upward of 107 Ω.cm.

In this contribution, we report the synthesis and characterization of NixFe3-xO4 and CoxFe3-xO4 redox nanomaterials using sol-gel method. These materials will be used to produce solar fuels such as H2 or syngas from H2O and/or CO2 via solar thermochemical cycles (STCs). For the sol-gel synthesis of ferrites, the Ni, Co, Fe precursor salts were dissolved in ethanol and propylene oxide (PO) was added dropwise to the well mixed solution as a gelation agent to achieve gel formation. Freshly synthesized gels were aged, dried, and calcined by heating them to 600°C in air. The calcined powders were characterized by powder x-ray diffractometer (XRD), BET surface area, as well as scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy. Their suitability to be used in STCs for the production of solar fuels was assessed by performing several reduction/re-oxidation cycles using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA).

Imprinting is a well-established technique to induce recognition features in both organic and inorganic materials for a variety of target analytes. In this study, ion imprinted polysiloxanes with varying percentage of coupling agent i.e. 3-chloro propyl trimethoxy silane (CPTM) were synthesized by sol-gel method for imprinting of Cr3+. The imprinting of Cr3+ in cross-linked siloxane network was investigated by FT-IR which indicates the metal ion is coordinated with oxygen atoms of polysiloxanes. SEM images revealed that imprinted polysiloxanes possess uniform particles of submicron size. It was experienced that by increasing the concentration of CPTM up to 10% (v/v) substantially improves the binding capacity of polysiloxanes which allows us to recognized Cr3+ down to 50µg/L. Furthermore, the selectivity of Cr3+-imprinted polysiloxanes was evaluated by treating them with other competing metal ions of same concentration i.e. Cr6+, Pb2+ and Ni2+. In this regard, polysiloxanes showed much higher binding for imprint ion i.e. Cr3+ in comparison to above mentioned metal ions. Finally, the regenerated polysiloxanes were studied in order to reuse them thus, developing cost effective biomimetic sensor coatings.

As a promising transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has recently attracted a lot of attention due to its graphene-liked two dimensional layer structure, which leads to potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the fabrication of mono- or few-layer MoS2 is limited to ether liquid exfoliation or CVD, and the chemical solution deposition is limited to ammonium thiomolybdate-based precursor. In this paper, hydrazine-based dimensional reduction technique is applied in the chemical solution deposition of MoS2 thin-film, and a larger area uniform thin-film is obtained from bulk powder MoS2. This solution-based process could be applied with a variety coating techniques and lead to wafer level MoS2 thin film production.

The organometallic approach was successfully applied to synthesize water-soluble ruthenium nanoparticles displaying interesting catalytic properties in hydrogenation of unsaturated model-substrates. Nanocatalyst synthesis was performed by hydrogenation of the complex [Ru(COD)(COT)] in the presence of sulfonated diphosphines and cyclodextrins as protective agents providing very small ruthenium nanoparticles (ca. 1.2-1.5 nm) with narrow size distribution and high stability. Catalysis results in water evidenced a control of the surface properties of these novel ruthenium nanocatalysts at a supramolecular level.