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

• of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technology, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia 10.3762/bjnano.9.155 Abstract Titanium dioxide photocatalysts have received a lot of attention during the past decades due to their ability to degrade various organic pollutants to CO2 and H2O, which makes them

• suitable for use in environmental related fields such as air and water treatment and self-cleaning surfaces. In this work, titania thin films and powders were prepared by a particulate sol–gel route, using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) as a precursor. Afterwards, the prepared sols were doped with nitrogen

• 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

Correlative electrochemical strain and scanning electron microscopy for local characterization of the solid state electrolyte Li_1.3Al_0.3Ti_1.7(PO₄)₃

• Nino Schön,
• Deniz Cihan Gunduz,
• Shicheng Yu,
• Hermann Tempel,
• Roland Schierholz and
• Florian Hausen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1564–1572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.148

• , section JARA-Energy, 52425 Jülich, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.9.148 Abstract Correlative microscopy has been used to investigate the relationship between Li-ion conductivity and the microstructure of lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3, LATP) with high spatial resolution. A key to

• energy density [1][8][9][10]. Lithium aluminum titanium phosphate Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 (LATP), a ceramic with NASICON-type structure, is especially considered as a beneficial solid state electrolyte due to its superior lithium-ion conductivity in the range of 2 mS cm−1 in the “bulk” and 2 µS cm−1 at

• quantitative nanomechanical property mapping have been observed. The insignificant amount of detected titanium is due to the resolution limit of the EDX measurements. The volume from which characteristic X-ray peaks can escape is largest for Ti at Kα at 4510 eV, and therefore, contributions from the

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

• of H2 is recognized as a green technology since it uses abundantly available water resources and inexhaustible solar energy. Therefore, substantial research in this field has been carried out since the pioneering work of Fujishima and Honda over titanium dioxide (TiO2) electrodes under irradiation of

• photocurrent. Dozzi et al. synthesized a series of titanium–tungsten mixed oxides through coupling of TiO2 with varying WO3 percentage by a base-catalyzed sol–gel method [175]. WO3 plays a vital role in inhibiting charge recombination for efficient charge transfer to enhance the Cr(VI) reduction. Bi2O3

Electrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide with chitosan based on the coordination deposition method

• Mingyang Liu,
• Yanjun Chen,
• Chaoran Qin,
• Zheng Zhang,
• Shuai Ma,
• Xiuru Cai,
• Xueqian Li and
• Yifeng Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.111

• coatings on the substrates with special shapes, which provides potential applications in surface coatings and electronic devices. In another method, we fabricated the deposited HACC-rGO/CS films with desired shapes on titanium plates which were electroplated with copper in the desired region and shape

• . Figure 5c shows that the HACC-rGO/CS films with regular shapes can be achieved on the titanium plates. The HACC-rGO/CS films are only deposited on the titanium plates at the copper-plated regions, whereas they cannot deposit on the region without the electroplated copper. Consequently, the above results

• purchased from Nantong Green Biological Co., Ltd., China. The copper plates, silver plates, titanium plates, platinum foil, glassy carbon electrode and other chemicals were obtained from various commercial sources in China. All chemicals were of analytical grade and were not purified before use. Preparation

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

• electrons with the oxidized form of the redox mediator or with the hole-transporting medium can be avoided. In the present work, thin, transparent, blocking TiO2 films are prepared by semi-automatic spray pyrolysis of precursors consisting of titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) as the main

• properties that were not influenced by post-calcination. These results will surely find use in the fabrication of large-scale dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells. Keywords: blocking films; FTO; solar cells; spray pyrolysis deposition; titanium dioxide; Introduction Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs

• accompanied by the undesirable back reaction of photoinjected electrons with the hole-transporting medium or the oxidized mediator. This reaction occurs both at the TiO2 surface and at the exposed areas of the F-doped SnO2 (FTO) conducting glass that are not covered by the titanium dioxide nanoparticles. In

Room-temperature single-photon emitters in titanium dioxide optical defects

• Kelvin Chung,
• Yu H. Leung,
• Chap H. To,
• Aleksandra B. Djurišić and
• Snjezana Tomljenovic-Hanic

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1085–1094, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.100

• (NAMI), Science Park, Hong Kong 10.3762/bjnano.9.100 Abstract Fluorescence properties of crystallographic point defects within different morphologies of titanium dioxide were investigated. For the first time, room-temperature single-photon emission in titanium dioxide optical defects was discovered in

• -photon source within a wide bandgap semiconductor. Keywords: fluorescence; optical defects; room temperature; single-photon emitters; titanium dioxide; Introduction Single-photon sources offer non-classical states of light [1] and are a prerequisite for future quantum technologies [2]. There are many

• emission. ZnO is the only metal oxide reported to host single-photon emitting defects at room temperature and was recently shown to exhibit stable fluorescence when uptaken into skin cells, making it a viable biomarker [11]. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a well-studied wide-bandgap semiconductor, its

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

• have been extensively used in commercial products ranging from personal care products to paints [113]. Titanium oxide NPs larger than 100 nm are broadly utilized as a white pigment in cosmetic creams and sunscreens [114]. Similarly, Ag NPs have been used in diverse applications including air sanitizer

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

Effect of annealing treatments on CeO₂ grown on TiN and Si substrates by atomic layer deposition

• Silvia Vangelista,
• Rossella Piagge,
• Satu Ek and
• Alessio Lamperti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 890–899, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.83

• this work, we investigate the effect of thermal treatment on CeO2 films fabricated by using atomic layer deposition (ALD) on titanium nitride (TiN) or on silicon (Si) substrates. In particular, we report on the structural, chemical and morphological properties of 25 nm thick ceria oxide with particular

Comparative study of antibacterial properties of polystyrene films with TiO_x and Cu nanoparticles fabricated using cluster beam technique

• Vladimir N. Popok,
• Cesarino M. Jeppesen,
• Peter Fojan,
• Anna Kuzminova,
• Jan Hanuš and
• Ondřej Kylián

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 861–869, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.80

• of 453.7 eV, which corresponds to metallic Ti(O) (Figure 4a). Small contributions of titanium compounds (II, III, IV) to the Ti 2p bands in high-resolution XPS spectra (in total approximately 30%) are most likely due to the surface oxidation of Ti clusters that occurred during their transportation to

• transmittance measurements presented in Supporting Information File 1. In-flight oxidation (type 3) results in an increase of the contribution of titanium oxide compounds. Namely, the band of TiO2 (IV) becomes the most intense one in the spectra (Figure 4b). The fraction of metallic compound is found to be less

• further decreases to 0.37 after 120 min. One of the factors for the high efficiency can be related to the structure and composition of the particles, in particular, to the high fraction of titanium dioxide as found by XPS. Another reason could be the aggregation of NPs leading to relatively large 3D

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

• be used for photocatalyst activation [20]. Titanium(IV) oxide (titania) is the most widely used semiconductor photocatalyst used in treatment of water/wastewater and air [21]. The major barrier for common application of titania photocatalysis is the low activity under solar radiation (mainly due to

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

• degradation [3][4][5][6], nitrogen fixation [7][8], to solar fuel production [9]. The metal oxides, such as CdO [10], Al2O3 [11], and CuO [12][13], has attracted a lot of interest in photocatalytic applications. And among all of these metal oxides, it is titanium dioxide and zinc oxide (TiO2 and ZnO) that are

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• .9.67 Abstract The effect of the presence of titanium dioxide in two new imines, (E,E)-(butane-1,4-diyl)bis(oxybutane-4,1-diyl) bis(4-{[(benzo[d][1,3]thiazol-2-yl)methylidene]amino}benzoate) (SP1) and (E)-N-[(benzo[d][1,3]thiazol-2-yl)methylidene]-4-dodecylaniline (SP2), on the properties and stability

• of imine:TiO2 composites for organic device applications were examined. The investigated titanium dioxide (in anatase form, obtained via the sol–gel method) exhibited a surface area of 59.5 m2/g according to Brunauer–Emmett–Teller theory, and its structure is a combination of both meso- and

• makes it a good substitute for expensive Spiro-OMeTAD [28]. Recently, asymmetrical azomethine with porphiryne moieties was tested in dye-sensitized solar cells and a PCE of 1.75% was achieved [24], while azomethine with triphenylamine, thiophene and thiazolo moieties showed a PCE of 2.2% [30]. Titanium

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

• between g-C3N4 and SrTiO3 [34]. Thus, wide band gap materials can play an important role in maximizing the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 by suppressing the photogenerated charge recombination. CaTiO3 (CT) is a well-known titanium-based perovskite material with a wide band gap of ≈3.5 eV and its

• pollutants from water very effectively. Experimental Materials Both titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) and dicyandiamide were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, India. Calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2·4H2O), acrylamide and D-glucose were supplied by MP Biomedicals, India. Ammonia solution (NH3 about 25

• adopting a reported procedure with some modifications [38]. In brief, equimolar ratio of Ca(NO3)2·4H2O and titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) (0.0075 mol) were dissolved in 20 mL of dilute HNO3 aqueous solution with a concentration of 1.6 mol L−1. To this solution, 0.0225 mol of tartaric acid, 20

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

• spatial charge separation of photoinduced carriers by creating an alternate permutation of band edges at the interface [146]. Some researchers found that both titanium nitride (TiN) and zirconium nitride (ZrN) displayed similar optical properties as Au and can replace Au NPs for vis–NIR light absorption

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

• titanium dioxide spheres results in a red-shift of absorption edge for the IL–TiO2 semiconductors. In this regard, the direct increase of the photoactivity of IL–TiO2 in comparison to pristine TiO2 was observed. The active species trapping experiments indicated that O2•− is the main active species, created

• 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

• Table 3. The titanium, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and chlorine atoms were detected. The last two elements evidenced successful interaction between the IL and the surface of TiO2. The chemical character of these elements was identified from corresponding Ti 2p, O 1s, C 1s, N 1s and Cl 2p high-resolution

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

• light-induced degradation of the model pollutant in aqueous solution. Keywords: heterogeneous photocatalysis; hydrothermal method; modified TiO2; neodymium; sol–hydrothermal method; Introduction Heterogeneous photocatalysis based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) has become the focus of numerous studies due

• other reports. A similar average particle size of anatase (compared to the HT samples) was observed by Thomas and co-workers [31]. In their study, NPs of Nd-TiO2 were prepared by using titanium(IV) isopropoxide and NdCl3 as the titanium and neodymium source in the hydrothermal reaction at 180 °C for 2 h

• HT methods was examined by XPS. The existence of the titanium, oxygen and carbon has been proven in all samples and the corresponding amounts as well as the chemical character are presented in Figure 6 and in Table 2 and Table 3. The presence of neodymium was confirmed in both types of Nd-modified

Photocatalytic and adsorption properties of TiO₂-pillared montmorillonite obtained by hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes

• Mikhail F. Butman,
• Nikolay L. Ovchinnikov,
• Nikita S. Karasev,
• Nataliya E. Kochkina,
• Alexander V. Agafonov and
• Alexandr V. Vinogradov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 364–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.36

• crystallinity (nanocrystals) representing a mixture of anatase and rutile phases. The structures exhibit improved adsorption and photocatalytic activity as a result of hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes (i.e., TiCl4 hydrolysis products) in a solution with a concentration

• . Keywords: adsorption; intercalation; mesoporosity; photocatalytic activity; pillared montmorillonite; titanium oxide; Introduction Titanium dioxide in its nanometer-sized form is one of the most promising modern photocatalysts [1]. However, the use of pure TiO2 nanoparticles is hindered by some

• limitations such as low adsorption capacity and possibility of particle agglomeration, which reduce its photocatalytic efficiency for the processes of purifying sewage and natural water bodies from pollutants of organic origin. To overcome these limitations, titanium dioxide nanoparticles are distributed on

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

• absorption spectra after titanium dioxide (TiO2) loading [28] and acid treatment [29], the incorporation of CDs into g-C3N4 consistently red-shifted the absorption spectra towards the visible and NIR region. However, the photocatalytic performance of the composites is possibly limited under NIR light

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

• singular switching events [23]. Ceramics Titanium and tungsten nitride ceramics: Titanium nitride (TiN) has a low electrical resistivity that is comparable to some metals, high stiffness (Young’s modulus of 427–590 GPa) and high hardness, high melting temperature (2930 °C), high corrosion resistance [140

Al₂O₃/TiO₂ inverse opals from electrosprayed self-assembled templates

• Arnau Coll,
• Sandra Bermejo,
• David Hernández and
• Luís Castañer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 216–223, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.23

• performed using titanium osopropoxide (TIPT) as the precursor gas. The temperature of the precursor is 80 °C and the reactor temperature is 200 °C. A 20 nm conformal layer of TiO2 is produced covering the alumina structure as shown in Figure 4. The resulting structure is very similar as the one shown in

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

• described so far are powders or NPs. As a result, recycling is rather difficult and other photocatalysts that can more easily be recycled and are suited for continuous processes are necessary. For example, Liu et al. used a titanium sheet to make TiO2 nano-sheet films doped with different amounts of silver

• , Goutailler et al. deposited an anatase/brookite NP mixture on cellulose from tetrabutylammonium bromide (N(n-Bu)4Br)/titanium tetraisopropoxide (Ti(OiPr)4) solutions in hexane [32]. These NPs strongly interact via non-covalent interactions (e.g., hydrogen bonds [33][34]) with the cellulose fibers and the

• Mw = 4600 g/mol, Sigma-Aldrich, measured Mw = 780 g/mol), PEO8300, (nominal Mw = 600 g/mol, abcr, measured Mw = 8300 g/mol), sodium carbonate (Na2CO3, 99.8%, Carl Roth), titanium isopropoxide (Ti(OiPr)4, TTIP, 98%, abcr), disodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4, ACS reagent, Sigma-Aldrich), magnesium

Dopant-stimulated growth of GaN nanotube-like nanostructures on Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy

• Alexey D. Bolshakov,
• Alexey M. Mozharov,
• Georgiy A. Sapunov,
• Igor V. Shtrom,
• Nickolay V. Sibirev,
• Vladimir V. Fedorov,
• Evgeniy V. Ubyivovk,
• Maria Tchernycheva,
• George E. Cirlin and
• Ivan S. Mukhin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 146–154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.17

• ) formation of a GaN shell over the NW template (e.g., ZnO) followed by the template NW removal [14]; 3) selective area molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of GaN on sapphire (111) substrates over titanium mask [15]; and 4) MBE deposition of GaN on Si(111) substrates covered by a silicon oxide layer in the

Atomic layer deposition and properties of ZrO₂/Fe₂O₃ thin films

• Kristjan Kalam,
• Helina Seemen,
• Peeter Ritslaid,
• Mihkel Rähn,
• Aile Tamm,
• Kaupo Kukli,
• Aarne Kasikov,
• Joosep Link,
• Raivo Stern,
• Salvador Dueñas,
• Helena Castán and
• Héctor García

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 119–128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.14

• Fe2O3 phases do not possess lattice structure, allowing commensurate growth on TiN. The epitaxial relationship between magnetite (Fe3O4) and titanium nitride might be considered [41], but magnetite was not recognized in this study in the XRD patterns and, most importantly, the very first layers

Thermo- and electro-optical properties of photonic liquid crystal fibers doped with gold nanoparticles

• Agata Siarkowska,
• Miłosz Chychłowski,
• Daniel Budaszewski,
• Bartłomiej Jankiewicz,
• Bartosz Bartosewicz and
• Tomasz R. Woliński

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2790–2801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.278

• response or a transmission spectrum with tunable attenuation. Another NP material used in PLCFs is titanium. It has been demonstrated that the doping concentration of Ti NPs in a nematic LC influences its electro-optic properties. The first experimental evidence of improved thermo-optic properties of a