Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC₇₁BM-based organic photovoltaic cells

• Olivia Amargós-Reyes,
• José-Luis Maldonado,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• María-Elena Nicho,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Juan Nicasio-Collazo,
• Irving Caballero-Quintana and
• Concepción Arenas-Arrocena

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2238–2250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.216

• inside the CdS/CdTe inorganic heterojunction improved the conversion efficiency of the PV device by up to 8% [19]. Moreover, FeS2 has also been used in perovskite solar cells as a hole transport layer (HTL) to reduce the fabrication cost, reaching efficiencies of up to 11.2% [20]. On the other hand, OPVs

• implemented as second electron acceptors in P3HT:PCBM solar cells, the current density increased from 6.69 to 7.63 mA/cm2 using a concentration of only 0.3 wt % FeS2 with respect to the acceptor [18]. Furthermore, FeS2 NPs have been used as a HTL in CdS/CdTe and perovskite solar cells [19][20], among other

Prestress-loading effect on the current–voltage characteristics of a piezoelectric p–n junction together with the corresponding mechanical tuning laws

• Wanli Yang,
• Shuaiqi Fan,
• Yuxing Liang and
• Yuantai Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1833–1843, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.178

• present are third-generation semiconductors, for instance, ZnO, GaN, CdS, and AlN, with wide bandgap, high breakdown electric field, high thermal conductivity, and even mechanical tunability [3]. They show numerous application prospects in electric devices and sensors, such as energy harvesters [4][5][6

• are studied from a quasi-electrostatic analysis similar to step I. The bias voltage is assumed to act on the SCZ under the condition of low-level injection. The material constants of CdS rods with c-axis in x-direction are from [34][35]: c = 93.8 GPa, e = 0.44 C/m2, ε = 9.53ε0 and ε0 = 8.8542 × 10−12

• analysis of a piezoelectric p–n junction under a bias voltage The mobility coefficients of holes and electrons of CdS at 300 K are (µp, µn) = (0.005, 0.034) m2/V·s [34][35], and the corresponding diffusion constants can be obtained from the Einstein relation as (Dp, Dn) = (µp, µn)kT/q. In the following, we

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• as an alternative to commercial photodetector devices with CdS and CdSe. Enhanced photoluminescence and photoelectrochemical properties of one-dimensional Lu2@C82 nanorods prepared through liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation between carbon disulfide and 2-propanol were demonstrated by Lu and co

CuInSe₂ quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy on amorphous SiO₂ surfaces

• Henrique Limborço,
• Pedro M.P. Salomé,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade,
• Jennifer P. Teixeira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Kamal Abderrafi,
• Joaquim P. Leitão,
• Juan C. Gonzalez and
• Sascha Sadewasser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1103–1111, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.110

• confirmed the crystallinity of the nanodots as well as chemical composition and structure compatible with tetragonal CuInSe2. Photoluminescence measurements of CdS-passivated nanodots showed that the nanodots are optoelectronically active with a broad emission extending to energies above the CuInSe2 bulk

• layer, and a CdS/i-ZnO/ZnO:Al front contact. The maximum power conversion efficiency achieved by this type of solar cells has recently achieved a world record of 23.35%, which outperforms all other multi-crystalline solar cells, including multi-crystalline silicon with 22.3% [1][2]. The CIGS layer in

• detection is 0.70 to 1.55 eV. The excitation source was the 514.5 nm line of an Ar+ ion laser (spot diameter of ca. 1 mm). PL spectra were taken at 7 K with an excitation power between 104 and 220 mW. It was not possible to observe a photoluminescence emission band for the as grown samples, thus a CdS

Structural and optical properties of penicillamine-protected gold nanocluster fractions separated by sequential size-selective fractionation

• Xiupei Yang,
• Zhengli Yang,
• Fenglin Tang,
• Jing Xu,
• Maoxue Zhang and
• Martin M. F. Choi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 955–966, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.96

• common method that has been used to the size fraction nanomaterial dispersions such as CdS and CdSe. However, this method has been mainly carried out to separate water-insoluble nanoparticles from organic solvents. On the other hand, it is also understood that the photophysical, electrochemical and other

Deposition of metal particles onto semiconductor nanorods using an ionic liquid

• Michael D. Ballentine,
• Elizabeth G. Embry,
• Marco A. Garcia and
• Lawrence J. Hill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 718–724, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.71

• an ionic liquid, and the effect this has on catalytic performance. Platinum, gold, and silver nanoparticles were deposited onto CdSe@CdS (core@shell) nanorods from metal salts in an ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) without additional surfactants or reducing

• ionic liquids in deposition of metal particles onto semiconductor nanoparticles afforded many references involving deposition of nanoparticles onto graphene and carbon nanotubes [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. CdS nanorods with average diameters below 10 nm have been synthesized by Rao et al. in ionic

• be used to deposit nanoscopic noble metal particles onto a well-defined semiconductor nanorod substrate with diameters less than 10 nm. We found that photodeposition of platinum onto CdSe@CdS (core@shell) nanorods proceeded readily from Pt(acac)2 in the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis

Reduced graphene oxide supported C₃N₄ nanoflakes and quantum dots as metal-free catalysts for visible light assisted CO₂ reduction

• Md Rakibuddin and
• Haekyoung Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 448–458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.44

• , and CH3OH is one of the sustainable ways to address the issues of both global warming and the energy crisis [1][2][3][4][5][6]. So far, a variety of semiconductor photocatalysts, such as ZnO, TiO2, WO3, and CdS have been developed for the photoreduction of CO2 [7][8][9][10]. However, poor separation

Uniform Sb₂S₃ optical coatings by chemical spray method

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 198–210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.18

• [8][52] on planar TiO2, by photochemical deposition on mesoporous TiO2 [53], by thermal evaporation on planar CdS [27] and planar TiO2 [54]. Supported by these numerous observations, we consider the Volmer–Weber growth characteristic of Sb2S3, given that the substrate and deposition conditions are

Femtosecond laser-assisted fabrication of chalcopyrite micro-concentrator photovoltaics

• Franziska Ringleb,
• Stefan Andree,
• Berit Heidmann,
• Jörn Bonse,
• Katharina Eylers,
• Owen Ernst,
• Torsten Boeck,
• Martina Schmid and
• Jörg Krüger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3025–3038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.281

• state of the art. The electric back contact (molybdenum) covered with the highly-efficient light-absorber (CIGSe) on top is deposited on a carrier material (glass). A buffer layer (CdS), a window layer consisting of an intrinsic ZnO layer (ZnO) and an aluminum-doped ZnO layer (Al:ZnO) as transparent

• . A process to realize such a system is illustrated in Figure 12. Before buffer layers (CdS, ZnO) and front contact (Al:ZnO) can be deposited, the electric insulation between back and front contact in-between the microabsorbers must be ensured. Due to its high (thermal) stability, ease of use and low

• etching (22 min at 250 W in Ar atmosphere), for example, is sufficient to uncover the islands while keeping the molybdenum substrate isolated (Figure 12c). Finally, the buffer layers (CdS, ZnO) and the front contact (Al:ZnO) were deposited (Figure 12d). CdS was applied by a wet-chemical bath deposition

Optimization of Mo/Cr bilayer back contacts for thin-film solar cells

• Nima Khoshsirat,
• Fawad Ali,
• Vincent Tiing Tiong,
• Mojtaba Amjadipour,
• Hongxia Wang,
• Mahnaz Shafiei and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2700–2707, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.252

• developed in this work seems to be a good option to be used as a back contact in thin-film solar cells. In order to prove this a CZTS thin-film solar cell has been made by stacking the ITO/ZnO/CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 on top of Mo/Cr bilayer back contact on the SLG substrate. A 1.5 μm thick CZTS was deposited through

• a two-step process of sulfurization of stacked metallic layers of Cu/Sn/Zn. Then a 60 nm CdS buffer layer was deposited using chemical bath deposition (CBD). This was followed by sputtering of a 30 nm ZnO layer and a 350 nm ITO layer as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers. As the last step, a

• silver collection grid was deposited on top using electron-beam evaporation. It is worth mentioning that the fabrication of a cell on a single-layer Mo-coated glass also has been tried. However, the Mo films were peeled-off from the substrate during CdS CBD. Thus, herein only the performance of a cell

Two-dimensional semiconductors pave the way towards dopant-based quantum computing

• José Carlos Abadillo-Uriel,
• Belita Koiller and
• María José Calderón

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2668–2673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.249

• analysed materials. The range of values for masses and gaps available in the literature and summarised in Table 1 are shown by the extended symbols next to the corresponding material composition. Effective masses and band-gap energies of selected 2D materials. ZnS, CdS, CdSe and SiC have a direct band gap

Nanoantenna structures for the detection of phonons in nanocrystals

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Sergei A. Kuznetsov,
• Ilya A. Milekhin,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Alexander V. Latyshev,
• Volodymyr M. Dzhagan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2646–2656, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.246

• of organic and inorganic materials deposited onto the arrays to be analyzed. The Langmuir–Blodgett technology was used for homogeneous deposition of CdSe, CdS, and PbS NC monolayers on the antenna arrays. The structural parameters of the arrays were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. 3D full

• ], nanorings [28], and nanoslits [29]. A detailed description of various nanoantenna geometries can be found in the comprehensive review [30]. In this paper, we report on a systematic study of the effect of SEIRA by the phonon response from monolayers of CdSe, CdS, and PbS NCs deposited on periodic arrays of

• region. The monolayers (MLs) of CdS and PbS NCs fabricated and MLs of commercially available colloidal CdSe NCs were homogeneously deposited on the prepared plasmonic substrates using the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique as described earlier [23][33][34][35]. The size, shape, and areal density of NCs, as

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

• nanoparticles and cellulose chains are compatible due to covalent bonds, which can improve the rigidity of the polymer chain and increase the energy required to break down the polymer chain [121]. Similar enhancement results were also obtained with cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanocrystals deposited on NCC which was

Thickness-dependent photoelectrochemical properties of a semitransparent Co₃O₄ photocathode

• Malkeshkumar Patel and
• Joondong Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2432–2442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.228

• in such applications include CuxO [19][29], CdS [30], TiO2 [31], Fe2O3 [32], and BiVO4 [33][34]. To absorb light with Co3O4, an adequately thick film is required. However, the low mobility of photogenerated charge carriers in Co3O4 can result in a low carrier lifetime, which is detrimental for

Direct AFM-based nanoscale mapping and tomography of open-circuit voltages for photovoltaics

• Katherine Atamanuk,
• Justin Luria and
• Bryan D. Huey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1802–1808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.171

• to move to the underlying n-type CdS layer [6]. Equivalent conclusions have been inferred from complementary techniques such as simple conductive AFM [27], surface-potential mapping [28], and electron beam induced currents [29], though the fully three-dimensional, directly acquired data of ISC* and

• micro-scale. Such novel SPM-based measurements can be crucial to advancing the fundamental understanding, and ultimately performance and reliability, of a wide range of photosensors, photoactivated catalysts, and photovoltaics. pcAFM measurement of a CdTe/CdS solar cell, during specimen illumination

Cathodoluminescence as a probe of the optical properties of resonant apertures in a metallic film

• Kalpana Singh,
• Evgeniy Panchenko,
• Babak Nasr,
• Amelia Liu,
• Lukas Wesemann,
• Timothy J. Davis and
• Ann Roberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1491–1500, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.140

• demonstrated [50]. The spectral properties of core–shell CdSe/CdS quantum dots have also been studied using CL in a transmission electron microscope [51]. The same technique has been used to generate single photons and to characterize quantum states and the nature of the emitted beam with subwavelength

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

• with given organic compounds under suitable reaction conditions facilitates the selective organic transformations. For example, Hu et al. demonstrated that photocatalytic, selective oxidation of alcohol to aldehyde can be carried out by hVB+ and O2•− on the surface of CdS/TiO2 nanocomposites under

• visible-light irradiation. The authors have also reported that •CO2− radicals (produced by the reaction of hVB+ with HCO2NH4) and eCB− are responsible for the reduction of 4-nitroaniline to p-phenylenediamine over CdS/TiO2 photocatalysts [56]. Photodegradation of pollutants The principle of photocatalysis

• conditions, low cost, high efficiency and reusability. It uses renewable and pollution-free solar energy and produces minimal secondary waste without using toxic chemicals that follow the rules of green chemistry [59][60][61]. Various semiconductor photocatalysts such as CdS, ZnO, WO3, SnO2, and TiO2 have

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• ], and metal sulfide quantum dots such as CdS [148][149] and ZnS [150], were synthesized using different strains of bacteria. Other than bacteria, actinomycetes such as Thermomonospora sp and Rhodococcus sp. [151] are also used to produce NPs. This bacteria-mediated NP formation was found to be highly

• supports the formation of Ag NPs [168], phytochelatin-coated CdS by Phaeodactylum tricornutum [169], and nanocomposite and nanoporous structures via coccoliths and diatoms [139]. Since very limited studies are available, the possible mechanisms for algae-mediated nanoparticle formation are still

• synthezing NPs with various sizes and shapes. It is noted that Fusarium oxysporum and Verticillium sp. of fungi have been noted to aid in Au, Ag and Au–Ag alloy NP synthesis [141][172][173]. Enzymes in Fusarium oxysporum fungi also help in the synthesis of CdS quantum dots [174] and serve as a source of

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

• conversion [9]. β-CD is not surface-active [10]. Although the use in food, medical, and pharmaceutical applications, including drug delivery, is well documented [11], application of CDs in corrosion protection is rare [8][12][13][14]. These applications mostly use CDs to solubilize hydrophobic corrosion

Cyclodextrin-assisted synthesis of tailored mesoporous silica nanoparticles

• Fuat Topuz and
• Tamer Uyar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 693–703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.64

• of pristine CD (β-CD) or hydroxypropyl-functionalized CDs (HP-γ-CD and HP-β-CD). Depending on the formulation conditions, differently shaped MSNs, such as bean-like, spherical, ellipsoid, aggregate and faceted were generated. The morphology and size of MSNs varied with the CD-type used. Generally

• , spherical particles were obtained with β-CD, while a faceted morphology was observed for the particles synthesized using HP-CDs. The particle size could be tuned by adjusting the amount of CD used; increasing the CD concentration led to larger particles. MSNs synthesized in the presence of β-CD displayed a

• smaller particle size than those produced with HP-functional CDs. FTIR, TGA and solid-state 13C NMR demonstrated the adsorption of CDs on the particle surfaces. The proposed concept allows for the synthesis of silica nanoparticles with control over particle shape and size by adjusting the concentration of

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• form, etc. Although many semiconductor metal oxides such as N-doped TiO2 [88], Fe2O3 [89], CdS [90] and Bi2O3 [91][92] have been reported, this section will mainly focus on TiO2, which is the most widely studied. Au or Ag nanoparticles can be employed to produce an outstanding plasmonic effect in the

Sugarcane juice derived carbon dot–graphitic carbon nitride composites for bisphenol A degradation under sunlight irradiation

• Lan Ching Sim,
• Jing Lin Wong,
• Chen Hong Hak,
• Jun Yan Tai,
• Kah Hon Leong and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 353–363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.35

• Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad 826004, Jharkhand, India 10.3762/bjnano.9.35 Abstract Carbon dots (CDs) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) composites (CD/g-C3N4) were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method using

• urea and sugarcane juice as starting materials. The chemical composition, morphological structure and optical properties of the composites and CDs were characterized using various spectroscopic techniques as well as transmission electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results

• revealed new signals for carbonyl and carboxyl groups originating from the CDs in CD/g-C3N4 composites while X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed distortion of the host matrix after incorporating CDs into g-C3N4. Both analyses signified the interaction between g-C3N4 and CDs. The photoluminescence (PL

Review on optofluidic microreactors for artificial photosynthesis

• Xiaowen Huang,
• Jianchun Wang,
• Tenghao Li,
• Jianmei Wang,
• Min Xu,
• Weixing Yu,
• Abdel El Abed and
• Xuming Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 30–41, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.5

• membrane-based reactors were reported as well, for instance, mesoporous CdS/TiO2/SBA-15@carbon paper composite membranes [77] and copper-decorated TiO2 nanorod thin films [78]. In addition to the PDMS/PMMA-based microchannel reactors, bacterium has been shown to be a good microreactor as well. Yang et al

• . developed a hybrid approach that combined highly efficient light harvesting of inorganic semiconductors with biocatalysts [79]. As shown in Figure 7, they induced a non-photosynthetic bacterium with biologically precipitated CdS nanoparticles, enabling the photosynthesis of acetic acid from CO2. The CdS

• splitting and CO2 reduction [80], but significant progress had already been made before it was combined with the optofluidics [81]. Park et al. developed CdS quantum-dot-sensitized TiO2 nanotube arrays for the photo-regeneration of nicotinamide cofactors [82]. They also used SiO2-supported CdS quantum dots

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

• enhanced because oxidation of water by holes and reduction of oxygen by electrons are retained at two different sites. Recently, many groups demonstrated that the creation of a heterojunction between TiO2 and CdS, CdSe or alloyed CdSeS nanoparticles allows the optical absorption of TiO2 to be extended into

• . used chemical vapor deposition to associate CdS, CdSe or CdSeS rods to TiO2 NRs arrays and demonstrated that the CdSeS/TiO2 heterostructure exhibits the highest performances as photoelectrode [39]. More recently, small CdSe NRs [40] or type II CdSe/CdSexTe1−x NRs [41] were also used as light harvesters

PTFE-based microreactor system for the continuous synthesis of full-visible-spectrum emitting cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals

• Chengxi Zhang,
• Weiling Luan,
• Yuhang Yin and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2521–2529, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.252

• , there is no report on the continuous synthesis of perovskite nanocrystals via microreactor systems, even though these systems have been successfully used to synthesize CdSe [25], CdSe/ZnS [26], CdSexTe1−x [27], and CdS [28] QDs, as well as monodisperse Au–Ag alloy nanoparticles [29]. In this work, we