Au–Si plasmonic platforms: synthesis, structure and FDTD simulations

• Anna Gapska,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Paweł Syty,
• Wojciech Sadowski,
• Józef E. Sienkiewicz and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2599–2608, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.241

• ). XPS spectra were analyzed with the Casa-XPS software using a Shirley background subtraction and Gaussian–Lorentzian curves for fitting. UV–vis spectra were recorded by a double-beam Thermo Fisher Scientific Evolution 220 spectrophotometer in reflectance mode. The spectra were recorded in a range of

Non-agglomerated silicon–organic nanoparticles and their nanocomplexes with oligonucleotides: synthesis and properties

• Asya S. Levina,
• Marina N. Repkova,
• Nadezhda V. Shikina,
• Zinfer R. Ismagilov,
• Svetlana A. Yashnik,
• Dmitrii V. Semenov,
• Yulia I. Savinovskaya,
• Natalia A. Mazurkova,
• Inna A. Pyshnaya and
• Valentina F. Zarytova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2516–2525, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.234

• Si–NH2 solution was recorded on a Cary 660 FTIR spectrometer (Agilent Technologies, USA) within the range of 4000–500 cm−1 at 4 cm−1 resolution, and 100 scans were accumulated in the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode using a GladiATR unit (Pike Technologies). The spectrum of the substance is

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

• layer and the reflectance, respectively. Figure 2b shows α estimated as a function of photon energy (hν). The influence of the Co3O4 morphology on α is interesting. Except for the 70 nm film, α increases with thickness, suggesting an increase in porosity as well. A higher porosity led to higher α values

Performance analysis of rigorous coupled-wave analysis and its integration in a coupled modeling approach for optical simulation of complete heterojunction silicon solar cells

• Ziga Lokar,
• Benjamin Lipovsek,
• Marko Topic and
• Janez Krc

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2315–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.216

• (feature sizes of a few micrometers), this is not the case. Small textures were optimized to decrease the reflectance, and consequently, increase the absorption in the active layers of the solar cell. Decreasing the flat parts of the texture was shown to improve performance. For simulations of structures

• efficient simulation and optimization of solar cell structures. On the other hand, smaller number of sublayers and modes may lead to inaccuracies of results. In next subsections we present simulation results on total reflectance, R, in the EVA medium of the analyzed partial structure. Besides comparison of

• calculated an absolute difference (error) in JSC reflectance loss, |ΔJSC|, from deviations in R, as given in Equation 1 as where q is the elementary charge, is the reduced Planck constant and c is the speed of light. This parameter is defined as the absolute value of the reflectance difference, which is

Two-dimensional photonic crystals increasing vertical light emission from Si nanocrystal-rich thin layers

• Lukáš Ondič,
• Marian Varga,
• Ivan Pelant,
• Alexander Kromka,
• Karel Hruška and
• Robert G. Elliman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2287–2296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.213

• reflectance spectra. The extraction enhancement within different spatial angles was evaluated by means of micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy. More than 18-fold extraction enhancement was achieved for light propagating in the normal direction and up to 22% increase in overall intensity was obtained at the

• spectral resolution was therefore used only for the simulation of the normal-incidence spectra, which reveals leaky modes at the Γ−point. For the case of angle-resolved reflectance simulations, which will also be presented in this paper, the spectral resolution was decreased to 10−4 nm. By this, even

• though the intensity values of the calculated resonances are not correct, their spectral position could be used for obtaining a qualitative information about the dispersion of photonic bands. As it will be shown later, the angle-resolved reflectance spectra calculated using the lower resolution are in

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

Sulfur-, nitrogen- and platinum-doped titania thin films with high catalytic efficiency under visible-light illumination

• Boštjan Žener,
• Lev Matoh,
• Giorgio Carraro,
• Bojan Miljević and
• Romana Cerc Korošec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1629–1640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.155

• distribution (≈10 nm), whereas S3 has a multimodal pore size distribution. The distributions of pores in other samples synthesized with HCl (Urea_15, Thiourea_15) and H2SO4 (S3_N0.5, S3_N0.5+1% Pt) are similar to the distributions shown in Figure 3. Band gap measurements The diffuse reflectance, R, of the

• measured samples as a function of the wavelength λ is shown in the Figure 4a, and in Figure 4b, one can see the modified Kubelka–Munk function, (F(R)hν)n, vs energy, Eg, where F is the Kubelka–Munk function of the measured diffuse reflectance R as follows: F(R) = (1 − R)2 / 2R. The band gap energy was

• emission scanning electron microscope (FEI Inspect™ F50 and Ultra Plus Zeiss). The band gap measurements were performed by measuring the reflectance of the samples using a UV–vis spectrophotometer (Evolution 600, Thermo Scientific), using the diffuse reflectance accessory (DRA-EV-600) integrating sphere

Nanocomposites comprised of homogeneously dispersed magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles and poly(methyl methacrylate)

• Sašo Gyergyek,
• David Pahovnik,
• Ema Žagar,
• Alenka Mertelj,
• Rok Kostanjšek,
• Miloš Beković,
• Marko Jagodič,
• Heinrich Hofmann and
• Darko Makovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1613–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.153

• -shift standard. The diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectra (DRIFT, Perkin Elmer Spectrum 400 equipped with DRIFT accessory) were recorded in KBr. The weight fraction of nanoparticles in the nanocomposites was determined with a Mettler Toledo thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) instrument

Sheet-on-belt branched TiO₂(B)/rGO powders with enhanced photocatalytic activity

• Huan Xing,
• Wei Wen and
• Jin-Ming Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1550–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.146

• 10 mW. The X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) characterization was tested on an ESCA spectrometer (S-Probe ESCA SSX-100S, Fisons Instrument) and monochromatized Al Kα X-ray irradiation. The binding energy was calibrated by using the containment carbon (C 1s = 284.6 eV). The UV–vis diffuse reflectance

• , and (d) O 1s for sample TGN-branch 4 h. (a) UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra of TGN and TGN-branch 4 h. (b) Re-plotting of (a) in the α1/2 ~ hν coordinate to evaluate the corresponding band gap, assuming an indirect transition between bands for TiO2. Photodegradation of phenol in the presence of

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

• optical investigations of isolated holes are, however, challenging since the throughput and reflectance are low despite the enhanced localized fields. Furthermore, plasmonic cavities exhibit a wide range of modes, many of which are “dark” to normally incident plane waves and challenging to excite using

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

• studies. Optical studies such as ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) explain the shift of the absorption range to the visible region and prohibition of recombination of charge carriers, respectively. The doping of nonmetals such as N, S

Tailoring polarization and magnetization of absorbing terahertz metamaterials using a cut-wire sandwich structure

• Hadi Teguh Yudistira,
• Shuo Liu,
• Tie Jun Cui and
• Han Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1437–1447, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.136

• Discussion The absorbance (A(ω)) of the material was calculated from the reflectance (R(ω)) and transmittance (T(ω)) by using the following equation: A(ω) = 1 − R(ω) − T(ω). Smith et al. [36] defined transmittance and reflectance as and Where t(ω), r(ω), n, k0, d and z are the transmissivity, reflectivity

• , refractive index, wave number in free space, substrate thickness and impedance, respectively. In the matching air impedance condition (i.e., z = 1 + i0), the reflectance would be zero and Equation 1 is expressed as where nr and ni are the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index, respectively

• × 1015 s−1. ω, ωp,Au and ΓAu are the angular frequency, angular plasma frequency of gold, and damping constant of gold, respectively. Figure 3 presents the reflectance–transmittance–absorbance (RTA) simulation result of cut-wire (Figure 3a), cross-shaped (Figure 3b) and star-shaped sandwich structures

Colorimetric detection of Cu²⁺ based on the formation of peptide–copper complexes on silver nanoparticle surfaces

• Gajanan Sampatrao Ghodake,
• Surendra Krishna Shinde,
• Rijuta Ganesh Saratale,
• Avinash Ashok Kadam,
• Ganesh Dattatraya Saratale,
• Asad Syed,
• Fuad Ameen and
• Dae-Young Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1414–1422, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.134

• Scientific Nicolet iS5 FTIR spectrometer equipped with a attenuated total reflectance tool, in the 1000–4000 cm−1 wavelength range at 0.48 cm−1 resolution. Selectivity To assess the selectivity of the proposed method, coordination of the functionalized AgNPs was tested with various ions, including Cu2+, Mn2

Ag₂WO₄ nanorods decorated with AgI nanoparticles: Novel and efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts for the degradation of water pollutants

• Shijie Li,
• Shiwei Hu,
• Wei Jiang,
• Yanping Liu,
• Yu Liu,
• Yingtang Zhou,
• Liuye Mo and
• Jianshe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1308–1316, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.123

• the formation of the AgI/Ag2WO4 heterojunctions, thereby facilitating the charge transfer between them [12]. Subsequently, the optical properties of as-prepared photocatalysts were investigated by UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) analysis (Figure 4). As indicated from Figure 4, pure

• scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM, Hitachi S–4800) and a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM, JEOL JEM–2010F). Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy coupled with SEM was employed to identify the chemical composition of the sample. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis DRS

• 0.4AgI/Ag2WO4. SEM (a, b) images of Ag2WO4; SEM (c, d), TEM (e), and HRTEM (f) images of 0.3AgI/Ag2WO4. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrum of 0.3AgI/Ag2WO4. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra of Ag2WO4, AgI, 0.1AgI/Ag2WO4, 0.2AgI/Ag2WO4, 0.3AgI/Ag2WO4, and 0.4AgI/Ag2WO4. (a) The photocatalytic

Semi-automatic spray pyrolysis deposition of thin, transparent, titania films as blocking layers for dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells

• Hana Krýsová,
• Josef Krýsa and
• Ladislav Kavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1135–1145, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.105

• microscopy (SEM) (Hitachi FE SEM S-4800 microscope), and UV–vis spectroscopy (Varian CARY 100 with integrating sphere DRA-CA-30I and 8° reflectance geometry, Varian, USA). X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) analysis was performed on an ARL 9400 XP sequential WD-XRF spectrometer (Thermo ARL, Switzerland

Enzymatically promoted release of organic molecules linked to magnetic nanoparticles

• Chiara Lambruschini,
• Silvia Villa,
• Luca Banfi,
• Fabio Canepa,
• Fabio Morana,
• Annalisa Relini,
• Paola Riani,
• Renata Riva and
• Fulvio Silvetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 986–999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.92

• reflectance (ATR) sampling accessory. The morphology of the particles was analysed using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM, ZEISS SUPRA 40VP), collecting the signal (secondary electrons) by means of an in-lens detector; the particle microanalyses were performed with an energy dispersive X

Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• Perkin Elmer Lambda 950 UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometer in total reflectance regime. The samples were placed onto the reflectance port of a Spectralon-coated integrating sphere (d = 150 mm). The specular and diffusive reflectance signals were detected in the 300–1200 nm range (1 nm step) and replotted in

• of mesoporous silver films after immersion for 40 min in NaBH4 (a) without PVP and (b) with 5 mM of PVP, respectively. In (c) and (d) the micrographs of initial magnetron silver film and Ag2O films are presented. Optical absorbance spectra replotted from total reflectance data collected by an

Noble metal-modified titania with visible-light activity for the decomposition of microorganisms

• Maya Endo,
• Zhishun Wei,
• Kunlei Wang,
• Baris Karabiyik,
• Kenta Yoshiiri,
• Paulina Rokicka,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Agata Markowska-Szczupak and
• Ewa Kowalska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 829–841, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.77

• were modified with silver and gold by photodeposition, and characterized by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). It was found that silver co-existed in zero valent (core) and

• silver-modified samples were brown-violet. Exemplary diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) are shown in Figure 4. It should be pointed out that LSPR of silver could overlap with photoabsorption of titania, and thus to obtain clear LSPR peak of silver, DRS taken with bare titania as reference is recommended

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• disk was measured by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). DRS studies were performed on a Perkin Elmer UV–visible–NIR Lambda 750 spectrophotometer by utilizing polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer as a diffuse reflectance standard in the wavelength range 200–800 nm. Photoluminescence (PL

• ) CTCN heterojunctions. TEM images of (a, b) g-C3N4 nanosheets, (c, d) CT flakes and (e, f) CTCN heterojunction. (a) UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) spectra for g-C3N4, CT and CTCN heterojunction; Plot of transformed Kubelka–Munk function vs energy for (b) g-C3N4, (c) CT and (d) CTCN

Optimisation of purification techniques for the preparation of large-volume aqueous solar nanoparticle inks for organic photovoltaics

• Furqan Almyahi,
• Thomas R. Andersen,
• Nathan A. Cooling,
• Natalie P. Holmes,
• Matthew J. Griffith,
• Krishna Feron,
• Xiaojing Zhou,
• Warwick J. Belcher and
• Paul C. Dastoor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 649–659, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.60

• changing wetting properties for each DF required the spin coating procedure for each device type to be optimized in order to achieve similar layer thicknesses of 105 ± 5 nm. The uniformity of active layer thicknesses was investigated by measuring the reflectance of the prepared devices (seen in Supporting

• Information File 1, Figure S6). The reflectance measurements illustrate uniform absorption across devices with very different current densities, meaning that the JSC trends are clearly not a function of reduced absorption. The real challenge in the OPV community is the upscaling of devices from small area lab

• (KLA-Tencor Alpha-step 500 surface profilometer) over a scratch on annealed (140 °C for 4 min) spin coated samples on a glass substrate. The spin coating recipe was adjusted for each sample to obtain the desired thickness. Reflectance of the prepared devices was measured on a Varian Cary 6000i with an

Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning transmission microscopy (STEM) and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area method, whereas the photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of phenol in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation (λ > 420

• further growth and agglomeration. For the TiO2_O(1:3) sample, the dominant fraction were microspheres with diameter ranging from 2–3 μm (38%), whereas for TiO2_T(1:3), the main fraction was particles with an average diameter of 3–5 μm (42%). Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy and BET

• size of 0.1 eV. CasaXPS software was used to evaluate the XPS data. The binding energy (BE) scale of all detected spectra was referenced by setting the BE of the aliphatic carbon peak (C–C) signal to 284.8 eV. The UV–vis reflectance and absorbance spectra of TiO2 photocatalysts were recorded using a

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• (SHT) methods. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), luminescence spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic activity of the

• that for photocatalysts obtained by the SHT method the agglomerates are a bit smaller. Optical and photoluminescence properties To study the optical absorption properties of the as-prepared photocatalysts, diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) in the range of 200–850 nm were investigated, and the results

• samples were degassed at 200 °C prior to nitrogen adsorption measurements. The morphology of obtained Nd-TiO2 was determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM, FEI Quanta 250 FEG). UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra of the synthesized materials were recorded in the range of 200–850 nm with a

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• characterization The phase composition, crystal structure and crystallinity were examined by a Rigaku Miniflex XRD instrument using Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.54056 Å). The UV–vis diffused reflectance spectra were analysed by a UV–vis spectrophotometer (JASCO 750) using BaSO4 as the reflectance reference. The

• analysis UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) were measured to determine the optical absorption properties of the ZFO samples. The samples show a wide absorption range from 200 to 700 nm as depicted in Figure 4a, and among them ZFO-500 shows the highest absorption. With increasing calcination

• samples with different calcination temperatures. (a) FESEM image and (b) enlarged view of ZFO-500. (a) TEM image and (b) magnified TEM image of ZFO-500. (a) Diffuse reflectance spectra of ZFO samples with different calcinantion temperatures with ZFO-500 showing the highest absorbance; (b) Tauc plot of ZFO

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

• diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis DRS) results. Although the CDs did not display upconversion photoluminescence (UCPL) properties, the π-conjugated CDs served as a photosensitizer (like organic dyes) to sensitize g-C3N4 and injected electrons to the conduction band (CB) of g-C3N4, resulting in the

BN/Ag hybrid nanomaterials with petal-like surfaces as catalysts and antibacterial agents

• Konstantin L. Firestein,
• Denis V. Leybo,
• Alexander E. Steinman,
• Andrey M. Kovalskii,
• Andrei T. Matveev,
• Anton M. Manakhov,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Pavel V. Slukin,
• Nadezda K. Fursova,
• Sergey G. Ignatov,
• Dmitri V. Golberg and
• Dmitry V. Shtansky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 250–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.27

• detector (JEOL). FTIR spectroscopic measurements of BN/Ag HNMs were carried out in the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode using a Vertex 70v vacuum spectrometer (Bruker) in the range of 400–4000 cm−1 with a resolution of 4 cm−1. The chemical composition of the sample surfaces was characterized by X