Reduced electron recombination of dye-sensitized solar cells based on TiO₂ spheres consisting of ultrathin nanosheets with [001] facet exposed

• Hongxia Wang,
• Meinan Liu,
• Cheng Yan and
• John Bell

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 378–387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.44

• Hierarchically structured TiO2 spheres of the nanosheets were synthesized by following the method originally reported by Chen et al. [6]. Briefly, a precursor solution containing titanium isopropoxide (Sigma-Aldrich; 1.15 mL) and diethylenetriamine (DETA; 0.02 mL) in 32 mL isopropanol was prepared by vigorous

• thoroughly washed with detergent water, distilled water, acetone, isopropanol and ethanol in sequence under sonication for 15 min. The cleaned FTO substrate was first coated with a compact layer of TiO2 film by spray pyrolysis to reduce the electron back reaction at the interface between the bare FTO and the

• -tetrabutylammonium (N719, Dyesol) in ethanol for 16 h to form a dye-coated photoanode. A platinum counter electrode was prepared by dropping 5 μL isopropanol solution containing H2PtCl6·6H2O (5 mM) onto a cleaned FTO substrate (1.5 × 1.0 cm2). After being allowed to dry in air, the substrate was then sintered at 390

Ultraviolet photodetection of flexible ZnO nanowire sheets in polydimethylsiloxane polymer

• Jinzhang Liu,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Soonil Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 353–359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.41

• quartz tube for collection of the nanowire product [17]. Thin sheets of ZnO nanowires were fabricated by a simple filtration method. First, a ZnO-nanowire suspension, with a concentration of 1 mg·mL−1, was prepared by ultrasonic dispersion of the nanowires in isopropanol. Subsequently, the ZnO-nanowire

An MCBJ case study: The influence of π-conjugation on the single-molecule conductance at a solid/liquid interface

• Wenjing Hong,
• Hennie Valkenier,
• Gábor Mészáros,
• David Zsolt Manrique,
• Artem Mishchenko,
• Alexander Putz,
• Pavel Moreno García,
• Colin J. Lambert,
• Jan C. Hummelen and
• Thomas Wandlowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 699–713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.76

• boiling Milli-Q water for 15 min, rinsed with isopropanol and dried with argon before each experiment. The Kel-F liquid cell including its cover, Kalrez O-ring and Teflon tubes for argon purging and solution exchange were cleaned in three alternating boiling cycles in 25% nitric acid and Milli-Q water to

Highly efficient ZnO/Au Schottky barrier dye-sensitized solar cells: Role of gold nanoparticles on the charge-transfer process

• Tanujjal Bora,
• Htet H. Kyaw,
• Soumik Sarkar,
• Samir K. Pal and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 681–690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.73

• ][39]. Briefly, a 1 mM zinc acetate solution in isopropanol was used to prepare the ZnO seed layer on a FTO substrate followed by annealing in air at 350 °C for 5 h. A 20 mM aqueous solution of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine was used as a precursor solution for ZnO-nanorod growth and the

Ceria/silicon carbide core–shell materials prepared by miniemulsion technique

• Lars Borchardt,
• Martin Oschatz,
• Robert Frind,
• Emanuel Kockrick,
• Martin R. Lohe,
• Christoph P. Hauser,
• Clemens K. Weiss,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Bernd Büchner and
• Stefan Kaskel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 638–644, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.67

• obtained as a mean value of five measurements at a magnification of 3000. TEM investigations were carried out by crushing the synthesized powders in a ball mill, followed by ultrasonically assisted suspension in ethanol or isopropanol. The resulting suspension was dropped onto a copper grid coated with

Plasmonic nanostructures fabricated using nanosphere-lithography, soft-lithography and plasma etching

• Manuel R. Gonçalves,
• Taron Makaryan,
• Fabian Enderle,
• Stefan Wiedemann,
• Alfred Plettl,
• Othmar Marti and
• Paul Ziemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 448–458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.49

• the two-dimensional colloidal crystals. Glass cover slides of 20 × 20 mm2 and quartz glass of the same size, but of 1 mm thickness (used for the fabrication of samples etched by RIE) were used as substrates. Each substrate was cleaned by sonication in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropanol, and

• masks for the patterns to be etched on quartz by RIE were fabricated by nanosphere lithography and evaporation of Cr films of 5 to 15 nm thickness. The Cr coated spheres were removed by three sonications in MEK, and rinsing in MilliQ water and isopropanol. This cleaning is crucial, as chemical species

Review and outlook: from single nanoparticles to self-assembled monolayers and granular GMR sensors

• Alexander Weddemann,
• Inga Ennen,
• Anna Regtmeier,
• Camelia Albon,
• Annalena Wolff,
• Katrin Eckstädt,
• Nadine Mill,
• Michael K.-H. Peter,
• Jochen Mattay,
• Carolin Plattner,
• Norbert Sewald and
• Andreas Hütten

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 75–93, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.10

• hydrophobic tails. Such micelles have a size of 1 to 50 nm depending on the tenside concentration [18]. The precursor is confined within these defined droplets which may, thus, act as nanoreactors in which particle growth is initiated. A typical result obtained by the use of an isopropanol/water emulsion and

Preparation and characterization of supported magnetic nanoparticles prepared by reverse micelles

• Ulf Wiedwald,
• Luyang Han,
• Johannes Biskupek,
• Ute Kaiser and
• Paul Ziemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 24–47, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.5