Electromigrated electrical optical antennas for transducing electrons and photons at the nanoscale

• Arindam Dasgupta,
• Mickaël Buret,
• Nicolas Cazier,
• Marie-Maxime Mennemanteuil,
• Reinaldo Chacon,
• Kamal Hammani,
• Jean-Claude Weeber,
• Juan Arocas,
• Laurent Markey,
• Gérard Colas des Francs,
• Alexander Uskov,
• Igor Smetanin and
• Alexandre Bouhelier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1964–1976, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.187

• antennas are devices operating at frequencies from visible light to infrared [8]. They were primarily developed to enhance light–matter near-field interactions [9] via the excitation of surface plasmons for metal-based devices [10] or Mie resonances for dielectric antennas [11][12]. Interestingly, optical

A visible-light-controlled platform for prolonged drug release based on Ag-doped TiO₂ nanotubes with a hydrophobic layer

• Caihong Liang,
• Jiang Wen and
• Xiaoming Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1793–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.170

• Caihong Liang Jiang Wen Xiaoming Liao College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, China 10.3762/bjnano.9.170 Abstract In this work, a visible-light-controlled drug release platform was constructed for localized and prolonged drug release based on two

• -layer titania nanotubes (TNTs) fabricated using by an in situ voltage up-anodization process. The visible-light photocatalytic activity is improved by loading Ag onto the TNTs by NaBH4 reduction. Then, the TNTs containing Ag nanoparticles were modified with dodecanethiol (NDM) to create a hydrophobic

• layer. To demonstrate the visible-light-controlled drug release, the Zn2+ release behavior of the samples was investigated. In the initial 12 h, TNTs without NDM displayed a faster release rate with 29.4% Zn2+ release, which was more than three times that of the TNTs with NDM (8.7% Zn2+ release). Upon

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

• photocatalyst must be narrow in order to facilitate the facile adsorption of the low energy photon and high harvesting efficiency under visible-light irradiation conditions [11]. To enhance charge separation efficiency and extend the lifetime of photoexcited electron–hole pairs, properties such as a crystalline

• light [34]. Another hypothesis regarding the exceptional activity of anatase and rutile P25 is that the presence of rutile crystallites generates a favorable structure in which rapid electron transfer from rutile to lower energy lattice trapping centers of anatase phase occurs under visible-light

• irradiation. This leads to a more stable charge separation and allows holes to reach the surface for redox reactions. In addition, the small band gap of the rutile phase extends the useful range of light energy into the visible light spectrum [20]. Although our TiO2-500 catalyst does not have the same

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

• and subsequent degradation was used to fit the experimental data. The results have shown an increase in photocatalytic activity under visible-light illumination of nonmetal and metal doped and co-doped titania thin films compared to an undoped sample. Keywords: doping; photocatalysis; sol–gel

• synthesis; thin films; titanium dioxide; visible-light illumination; Introduction In recent years, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has emerged as one of the most widely investigated semiconductors [1]. Due to its favorable properties (e.g., chemical and biological stability, nontoxicity and inexpensive price) it

• material system [33][34]. Nitrogen has been shown to be an effective doping element in increasing the response of TiO2 during visible-light illumination. When the material is doped with nitrogen, a linear combination of 2p orbitals of N and O results in the formation of hybrid orbitals, causing a narrowing

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

• environmental issues such as global warming and climate changes. The technologies used to reduce the CO2 concentration are energy consuming and expensive [36][37]. In recent years, semiconductor-based visible-light-induced photocatalytic reduction of CO2 has emerged as an attractive and viable approach for not

• 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

• with visible light, in the second step. Third step involves either release of Cr(III) species into the solution due to their electrostatic repulsion from the protonated surfaces of TiO2–RGO or their adsorption by deprotonated surfaces. Li et al. fabricated a composite of TiO2 and reduced graphene oxide

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

• Abstract To develop efficient and stable visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalysts for pollutant degradation, we synthesized novel heterojunction photocatalysts comprised of AgI nanoparticle-decorated Ag2WO4 nanorods via a facile method. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX

• (MO) and para-chlorophenol (4-CP). The high performance is attributed to the enhanced visible-light absorption properties and the promoted separation efficiency of charge carriers through the formation of the heterojunction between AgI and Ag2WO4. Additionally, AgI/Ag2WO4 exhibits durable stability

• photocatalytic performance. Keywords: AgI/Ag2WO4; nanocomposites; photocatalysis; visible light; Introduction The development of high-performance novel photocatalysts for the degradation of pollutants has received great interest due to the worsening of environmental pollution [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11

Computational exploration of two-dimensional silicon diarsenide and germanium arsenide for photovoltaic applications

• Sri Kasi Matta,
• Chunmei Zhang,
• Yalong Jiao,
• Anthony O'Mullane and
• Aijun Du

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1247–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.116

• suitable for photovoltaic applications, such as excellent visible light absorption, favorable exciton formation, and charge separation are equally essential for two-dimensional (2D) materials. Here, we systematically study 2D group IV–V compounds such as SiAs2 and GeAs2 with regard to their structural

• light absorption spectrum calculated from HSE functional in the visible light region (approx. 350–800 nm) compared with the AM1.5G solar spectrum. However, both materials exhibit an almost equal absorption in the wavelength region of 350–600 nm. Above this, GeAs2 still has good absorption up to around

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

• network (nanofibers) [188]. Plant surfaces, especially leaves, contain nanostructures that are used for numerous purposes such as insects sliding [189], mechanical stability [190], increased visible light and harmful UV reflection and radiation absorption respectively [191][192] as shown in Figure 6. The

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

• albicans (C. albicans)) activity under visible-light irradiation and in the dark using disk diffusion, suspension, colony growth (“poisoned food”) and sporulation methods. It was found that silver-modified titania, besides remarkably high antibacterial activity (inhibition of bacterial proliferation

• ), could also decompose bacterial cells under visible-light irradiation, possibly due to an enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species and the intrinsic properties of silver. Gold-modified samples were almost inactive against bacteria in the dark, whereas significant bactericidal effect under visible

• wide band gap of titania of 3.0–3.2 eV and the recombination of charge carriers). There are various ways to improve photocatalytic performance of titania photocatalysts: (1) to inhibit the recombination of charge carriers, and (2) to extend its working abilities to the visible-light region, for example

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• exhibit a significant improvement in the photodegradation of rhodamine B under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) irradiation as compared to single-phase ZnO and BiOI. A sample with a Zn/Bi ratio of 3:1 showed the highest photocatalytic activity (≈99.3% after 100 min irradiation). The photodegradation tests

• poor utilization of visible light, which accounts for 45% of the solar radiation spectrum, because of their wide band gap. Some effort must be paid to extend their working spectrum efficiently. As is known to all, it is metal orbitals which contribute to the conduction band (CB) of the metal-containing

• response to visible light. Though widely investigated, BiOI suffers from its high recombination rate of photoinduced electron–holes and low charge transfer ability. Therefore, the strategies to improve the efficiency of this kind of semiconductor photocatalyst are in need. Heterogeneous processes are

Surface-plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet emission of Au-decorated ZnO structures for gas sensing and photocatalytic devices

• T. Anh Thu Do,
• Truong Giang Ho,
• Thu Hoai Bui,
• Quang Ngan Pham,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thi Thu Do,
• Duc Van Nguyen and
• Dai Lam Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 771–779, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.70

• solution in the presence of these photocatalysts under visible-light irradiation were investigated. The results are shown in Figure 5a and Figures S2 and S3 (Supporting Information File 1). The changes in the PL spectra during photodegradation indicated that the PL peak position of RhB (561.5 nm) decreases

• with increasing irradiation time. According to the percentage of the PL quenching plotted in the inset of Figure 5a, the degradation efficiency of Au-decorated ZnO is calculated to be 64%, which is higher than ZnO sub-micrometer spheres (42%) after irradiation by visible light for 2 h. Even after three

• ) Response–recovery characteristics and (d) the responses of all sensors for different target gases. (a) Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of aqueous RhB solution in the presence of as-deposited ZnO and Au NP/ZnO structures under visible-light irradiation. The inset shows the percentage of the PL quenching. (b

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

• organic semiconductor with tri-s-triazine units, has drawn huge attention from researchers due to its excellent photocatalytic performance and unique properties such as appropriate band structure, visible light absorption and high chemical and thermal stability [2][4]. In addition, g-C3N4 consists of

• gap of g-C3N4 lies between 2.4–2.8 eV and therefore it has the capability to absorb visible light irradiation [23]. However, the photocatalytic efficiency of bare g-C3N4 is truncated by the high recombination rate of photogenerated charges (electrons and holes), insufficient light absorption and low

• methylene blue (MB) and thiabendazole (TBZ) under visible light irradiation. Another attractive strategy for enhancement of photocatalytic performance is the coupling of a wide band gap material with a low band gap material, which allows the charge transfer via suitably arranged band edge positions in both

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

• sustainable photocatalysts that can collectively harvest visible light. However, the bottleneck in utilising the low energy photons has led to the discovery of plasmonic photocatalysts. The presence of noble metal on the plasmonic photocatalyst enables the harvesting of visible light through the unique

• : localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR); noble metal; plasmonic photocatalyst; reactive radicals; Schottky junctions; visible light; Review Introduction Photocatalysts have played and will continue to play a pivotal role in environmental and energy applications in order to fulfil the needs of the

• will lead to a pathway for better utilization of the solar spectrum. The invention and progression of plasmonic photocatalysts laid a foundation for the successful utilisation of longer wavelengths, known as “visible light photocatalysis”. The localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is a unique

Facile phase transfer of gold nanorods and nanospheres stabilized with block copolymers

• Yaroslav I. Derikov,
• Georgiy A. Shandryuk,
• Raisa V. Talroze,
• Alexander A. Ezhov and
• Yaroslav V. Kudryavtsev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 616–627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.58

• (JEOL, Japan). Optical analysis Absorption spectra of nanoparticle sols in the visible light range were recorded on an optical absorbance USB 2000 spectrometer (Ocean Optics, USA) equipped with a LS-1 halogen light source and a cuvette holder. The spectral data were processed using a SpectraSuite

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

• at the surface of the IL–TiO2 material under visible-light illumination, and is responsible for the effective phenol degradation. Keywords: heterogeneous photocatalysis; ionic liquids; TiO2; visible light catalysis; Introduction The development of heterogeneous photocatalysis to degrade organic

• pollutants in aqueous and gas phases requires visible-light responsive, stable materials and a basic understanding of these materials [1][2][3][4]. Although various semiconductors are considered for environmental pollution abatement, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is still the most promising due to its stability

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

• photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol and toluene under visible light. XPS analysis revealed that the photocatalyst prepared via HT method contains a three-times higher amount of hydroxy groups at the surface layer and a two-times higher amount of surface defects than that obtained by the SHT method. The

• visible light irradiation [8][9][10]. In recent years, the modification with rare earth (RE) metals has proven to be an efficient method to improve the photocatalytic properties of TiO2 and to broaden its absorption to the solar spectrum [8][11][12]. Various Lewis bases can form complexes with RE-modified

• -infrared and visible spectral ranges into ultraviolet wavelengths can be responsible for the photocatalytic activity of RE-modified TiO2 [21][22]. In our previous paper, based on action spectra analysis we revealed that Nd-modified TiO2 could be excited under visible light in the range of 400 to 480 nm

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

• photocatalyst in a 100 mL conical flask kept under dark conditions for 30 min to ensure adsorption–desorption equilibrium. Then the photo degradation reaction was carried out for 1 h under 250 W visible light and stirring for 60 min. Then the catalyst was removed and the residual phenol was analysed with JASCO

• -500. Photoluminescence spectra of ZFO samples excited at 330 nm. FTIR spectra of ZFO samples. Linear-sweep voltammograms of ZFO-400 to ZFO-700 (a) under dark conditions, (b) under visible-light illumination. Mott–Schottky plot yielding the flat-band potential of ZFO-500. Nyquist plot of ZFO-400 to ZFO

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

• Razieh Beigmoradi,
• Abdolreza Samimi and
• Davod Mohebbi-Kalhori

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 415–435, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.41

• electron microscopes are used in analyzing the alignment and arrangement of CNTs. The first type is a scanning electron microscope (SEM), in which electrons are emitted and reflected from the surface of the sample, then they are collected by the detectors and converted to photons of visible light to create

• analyzing samples that are not transparent to visible light. SAXS can identify particles or holes between 1 to 100 nm. Accurate determination occurs for a particle size of 1 to 10 nm size; however, it can also be used for particles with sizes outside of this range. The average size of the particles or holes

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

• semiconductor g-C3N4 possesses visible light harvesting properties due to its narrow band gap energy (≈2.7 eV) [15]. Thus g-C3N4 has emerged as a promising polymeric semiconductor for photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) [16][17][18][19][20], hydrogen evolution [21][22][23][24][25], oxidation of NO

• superior photocatalytic activity was demonstrated [8]. Guo and co-workers used the electrochemical method to produce CDs from graphite rods. The deposition of CDs onto g-C3N4/ZnO heterojunctions enhanced the degradation of tetracycline by absorbing a wider spectrum of visible light and suppressing the

• acid [37] and rapeseed flower bee pollen [38] as precursors to produce CDs for the photocatalytic generation of H2 under visible light irradiation. In addition, Wang and co-workers used citric acid and urea as precursors to prepare N-doped CDs (NCDs). The NCD/g-C3N4 composite exhibited better

Bombyx mori silk/titania/gold hybrid materials for photocatalytic water splitting: combining renewable raw materials with clean fuels

• Stefanie Krüger,
• Michael Schwarze,
• Otto Baumann,
• Christina Günter,
• Michael Bruns,
• Christian Kübel,
• Dorothée Vinga Szabó,
• Rafael Meinusch,
• Verónica de Zea Bermudez and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 187–204, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.21

• ][15]) TiO2-based water splitting catalysts are among the most popular materials for visible light water splitting [16][17][18][19][20]. Among these, TiO2/Au nanocomposites have attracted special interest because of their synergistic mode of action between the Au nanoparticle (AuNP) plasmons and the

• calcined P25 TiO2 NPs (TNPs) loaded with 3 wt % of Au for photocatalytic water splitting. Irradiation with UV and visible light combined yielded a higher H2 and oxygen production after 7 h than with UV or visible light alone [23]. In a more analytical study, Silva et al. [24] investigated the influence of

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

• nano-system in which water and CO2 were catalyzed to form H2 and CO in this integrated system [66]. Jiang et al. showed a thylakoid-inspired multishell g-C3N4 nanocapsule with orderly stacked nanostructures, which exhibited enhanced visible-light harvesting and electron-transfer properties for high

• photocatalytic efficiency [90][91][92][93][94]. Besides, biomimetic or bioinspired strategies for the synthesis of semiconductor materials represents a significant advancement in the development of high-efficiency and cost-effective visible-light photocatalysts for solar energy conversion [65][66][67]. Given the

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

• visible-light irradiation. In addition to the microstructure and high specific surface area, the enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly caused by the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles, and the high stability of AgSCN resulted in the long-term stability of the photocatalyst product

• and environmental friendlessness. For example, as a typical semiconductor, TiO2 exhibits high photocatalytic degradation performance against a large number of organic pollutants [5][6][7]. However, it is difficult to obtain a high photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation with TiO2 as a

• catalyst due to its wide bandgap of 3.2 eV, which limits its practical application. Therefore, the development of new photocatalysts with visible-light catalytic performance, high surface active sites and long life of separated electron and hole pairs, has become a hot research topic in recent years. Ag

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

• the narrow bandgap of CdSe NRs serves to increase the photoresponse of CdSe/TiO2 composites until ≈725 nm. The CdSe (2 wt %)/TiO2 composite exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B in aqueous solution under simulated sunlight or visible light irradiation. The

• the visible light range and increases the photoconversion efficiency by improving the charge transfer [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. CdSe is one of the most commonly used semiconductors due to its narrow bandgap (1.7

• of rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous solution. Our results demonstrate that the composite containing 2 wt % CdSe NRs exhibits the optimal photocatalytic activity under solar or visible light irradiation. Moreover, the photocatalytic response was maintained after ten cycles in simulated sunlight. A

Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy of difurylethene-based photochromic single-molecule junctions

• Youngsang Kim,
• Safa G. Bahoosh,
• Dmytro Sysoiev,
• Thomas Huhn,
• Fabian Pauly and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2606–2614, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.261

• between the open and closed forms of the diarylethene core, when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) or visible light. This transformation results in a significant variation of electrical conductance and vibrational properties of corresponding molecular junctions. We report here a combined experimental and

• illustrated in Figure 1a with its reaction schematics, when exposed to ultraviolet or visible light. The synthesis method was presented previously [22]. Upon illumination with light of suitable wavelength, the central carbon–carbon bond of the difurylethene switching core is either formed or broken, resulting

• switch states under the illumination with UV and visible light. Shown at the bottom is a scanning electron microscopy image of a MCBJ device. (b) Variation of UV–visible absorption spectra under UV light irradiation (wavelength of 313 nm with an intensity of ca. 0.15 mW/cm−2) as a function of

Photobleaching of YOYO-1 in super-resolution single DNA fluorescence imaging

• Joseph R. Pyle and
• Jixin Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2296–2306, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.229

• imaging [17][18][19][20]. A recent trend in fluorescent imaging is the use of super-resolution imaging to resolve fine structures below the typical diffraction limit of visible light microscopy at ≈250 nm [21]. This is important in visualizing the conformation of DNA molecules, such as DNA looping by