High performance Ce-doped ZnO nanorods for sunlight-driven photocatalysis

• Bilel Chouchene,
• Tahar Ben Chaabane,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Kevin Mozet,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1338–1349, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.125

• been developed and their ability to degrade cyanide anions [28] or organic dyes [29][30][31][32][33] like methylene blue or methyl-orange has been demonstrated. The preparation of Ce–Cu, Ce–Pd or Ce–Ag co-doped photocatalysts to enhance the solar or the visible light catalytic response was also

• , electronic and photocatalytic properties have been investigated. Our results demonstrate that Ce-doping improves the optical absorption ability toward visible light wavelengths and thus the photocatalytic performances. ZnO:Ce rods allow the complete degradation of the Orange II dye in ca. 80 min under solar

• compared to ZnO (Figure 4), we also evaluated the photodegradation of Orange II under visible light (intensity = 5 mW/cm2) (Figure S4 in the Supporting Information File 1). Results obtained demonstrate that 78% of the dye was decomposed after 400 min and that the photodegradation required a longer time

Tunable longitudinal modes in extended silver nanoparticle assemblies

• Serene S. Bayram,
• Klas Lindfors and
• Amy Szuchmacher Blum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1219–1228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.113

• of photonic structures is essential to increase the sensitivity and speed of photonic devices [35][36]. Common dielectric waveguides are restricted by the diffraction limit of light, which, for visible light, is several hundreds of nanometres. For nanodevices, much smaller photonic elements are

Manufacturing and investigation of physical properties of polyacrylonitrile nanofibre composites with SiO₂, TiO₂ and Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles

• Tomasz Tański,
• Wiktor Matysiak and
• Barbara Hajduk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1141–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.106

• , obtained for composite PAN nanofibres reinforced with nanoparticles of SiO2, is due to the relatively low refractive index of SiO2, which is about 1.45 for visible light. The used polymer and the SiO2 particles have a similar n. This means the mechanism of interaction of electromagnetic radiation with

Phenalenyl-based mononuclear dysprosium complexes

• Yanhua Lan,
• Andrea Magri,
• Olaf Fuhr and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 995–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.92

• interesting magnetic properties. In this regard, the 9-hydroxy-1H-phenalen-1-one (HPLN) ligand has previously been utilized for the preparation of mononuclear lanthanide complexes [23][24] to study the near-infrared luminescence upon excitation with visible light. However, this work, carried out by our group

Selective photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to methanol in CuO-loaded NaTaO₃ nanocubes in isopropanol

• Tianyu Xiang,
• Feng Xin,
• Jingshuai Chen,
• Yuwen Wang,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Xiao Shao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 776–783, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.69

• shown in Figure 6. With a large energy gap, it can be found that pure NaTaO3 had low light absorbance in the visible region. After CuO was loaded, the absorbance of the CuO–NaTaO3 catalysts in the visible light region (λ > 400 nm) became much stronger with the increase of CuO loading. The increase in

• visible light absorbance correlates with the formation rate and increase in electrons and holes on the photocatalyst surface [35]. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out to confirm that CuO was loaded onto the surface of NaTaO3 nanocubes

Microwave solvothermal synthesis and characterization of manganese-doped ZnO nanoparticles

• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Roman Mukhovskyi,
• Elzbieta Pietrzykowska,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Jan Mizeracki and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 721–732, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.64

• composition analysis The chemical composition analysis was carried out by using visible-light spectrophotometry (DR 3900, Hach Lange, Germany). The analysis of the content of Zn2+ ions was carried out by using the Zincon method No. 8009 (Hach Lange). The analysis of the content of Mn2+ ions was carried out by

Rigid multipodal platforms for metal surfaces

• Michal Valášek,
• Marcin Lindner and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 374–405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.34

Green and energy-efficient methods for the production of metallic nanoparticles

• Mitra Naghdi,
• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• M. Verma,
• R. Y. Surampalli and
• J. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2354–2376, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.243

Silica-coated upconversion lanthanide nanoparticles: The effect of crystal design on morphology, structure and optical properties

• Uliana Kostiv,
• Miroslav Šlouf,
• Hana Macková,
• Alexander Zhigunov,
• Hana Engstová,
• Katarína Smolková,
• Petr Ježek and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2290–2299, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.235

• tracking [8], bioimaging [9] and photodynamic therapy [10]. Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles emit visible light upon excitation by near-IR light (NIR). Compared with organic dyes and semiconductor quantum dots, upconversion nanoparticles have attractive chemical and optical properties, as well

• . Consequently, three different Er3+ transitions were induced by NIR photons leading to the visible light emission [37]. Hence, the NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals exhibited three bands of green (520 and 545 nm) and red (660 nm) upconversion emissions corresponding to 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 and 4F9/2 → 4I15/2

Au nanoparticle-based sensor for apomorphine detection in plasma

• Chiara Zanchi,
• Andrea Lucotti,
• Matteo Tommasini,
• Sebastiano Trusso,
• Ugo de Grazia,
• Emilio Ciusani and
• Paolo M. Ossi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2224–2232, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.228

•  1A show typical average sizes of such inter-island channels. SERS hinges on the strong interaction between noble metal NPs and visible light through the resonant collective excitation of NP conduction electrons. The resulting surface plasmon resonance peak [28] displays a maximum at about 780 nm

A single-source precursor route to anisotropic halogen-doped zinc oxide particles as a promising candidate for new transparent conducting oxide materials

• Daniela Lehr,
• Markus R. Wagner,
• Johanna Flock,
• Julian S. Reparaz,
• Clivia M. Sotomayor Torres,
• Alexander Klaiber,
• Thomas Dekorsy and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2161–2172, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.222

• transparency over the entire visible light range. A solid solution of indium oxide and substantial amounts of tin oxide for electronic doping (ITO) is currently the most prominent example for the class of so-called TCOs (transparent conducting oxides). Due to the limited, natural occurrence of indium and its

Mapping bound plasmon propagation on a nanoscale stripe waveguide using quantum dots: influence of spacer layer thickness

• Chamanei S. Perera,
• Alison M. Funston,
• Han-Hao Cheng and
• Kristy C. Vernon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2046–2051, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.208

• ). LRSPPs have been shown to have large propagation lengths in the visible light range, greater than 10 µm [6]. When quantum dots (QDs) are placed in the vicinity of propagating plasmons, QDs can be locally excited by the plasmon if the plasmon frequency lies within the absorption spectral range of the QDs

Effect of SiN_x diffusion barrier thickness on the structural properties and photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ films obtained by sol–gel dip coating and reactive magnetron sputtering

• Mohamed Nawfal Ghazzal,
• Eric Aubry,
• Nouari Chaoui and
• Didier Robert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2039–2045, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.207

• the adsorption/bleaching of the azo molecule [18]. This means that even the dye molecule OII could absorb visible light to produce the excited singlet and/or triplet state of the OII molecule [19], the OII may be able to sensitize the TiO2 photocatalyst. However, the degradation of the OII dye via the

High photocatalytic activity of V-doped SrTiO₃ porous nanofibers produced from a combined electrospinning and thermal diffusion process

• Panpan Jing,
• Wei Lan,
• Qing Su and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1281–1286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.132

• the two photocatalysts absorb the MO fluorescence well. Figure 3c presents the UV–vis spectra of pure and V-doped SrTiO3 photocatalyst, revealing that pure SrTiO3 responds to UV light with absorption edge at about 388 nm but V-doped SrTiO3 nanofibers have a shifted absorption edge towards visible

• light. This means that V5+ ion doping improves the impurity level and narrows the band gap of SrTiO3, leading to the enhanced light absorption. Additionally, based on earlier research regarding 3d ion doping for SrTiO3, V5+ doping may also improve the conductivity of SrTiO3. Hence, the higher

Polymer blend lithography for metal films: large-area patterning with over 1 billion holes/inch²

• Cheng Huang,
• Alexander Förste,
• Stefan Walheim and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1205–1211, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.123

• perforated Al films The size of the holes in the fabricated perforated metal films is in the range of the wavelength of visible light. Therefore it is interesting to investigate their optical transmission properties. It has been published in 2003 by Barnes et al. that ordered hole arrays fabricated by e-beam

Patterning technique for gold nanoparticles on substrates using a focused electron beam

• Takahiro Noriki,
• Shogo Abe,
• Kotaro Kajikawa and
• Masayuki Shimojo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1010–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.104

• or through rows of particles due to the LSPR effect. Gold and silver nanowires or particles can be used for such waveguides, as these materials interact with visible light. Plasmon propagation through nanowires has been experimentally investigated. Sanders et al. [3] showed the propagation of

Characterization of nanostructured ZnO thin films deposited through vacuum evaporation

• Jose Alberto Alvarado,
• Arturo Maldonado,
• Héctor Juarez,
• Mauricio Pacio and
• Rene Perez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 971–975, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.100

• can check that the emission is in the blue and the red part of the visible light, due to the contribution of the VO, VZn and VZn− defects. XRD pattern of nanostructured thin films on a glass substrate. HRSEM micrographs of the thin films a) un-annealed, b) 200, c) 400, d) 600, e) 800 and f) 1000 °C

Effects of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnO–CuO nanocomposites prepared by carbothermal evaporation method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• D. K. Avasthi and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 928–937, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.96

• formation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and superoxide radicals (•O2−) during visible-light-induced photocatalytic degradation of acid orange and 4-nitrophenol. The formation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) was detected by photoluminescence studies using terephthalic acid as a probe molecule, while 1,4-benzoquinone

• visible-light-induced photocatalytic degradation. In our study, it can be clearly seen that all the irradiated ZnO–CuO nanocomposites show enhanced photocatalytic activity during the sun light driven degradation of MB and MO dyes. Our results show that swift heavy ion irradiation leads to significant

Transformation of hydrogen titanate nanoribbons to TiO₂ nanoribbons and the influence of the transformation strategies on the photocatalytic performance

• Melita Rutar,
• Nejc Rozman,
• Matej Pregelj,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Romana Cerc Korošec,
• Andrijana Sever Škapin,
• Aleš Mrzel,
• Srečo D. Škapin and
• Polona Umek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 831–844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.86

• TiO2 [22] in which the nitrogen atoms occupy substitutional and interstitial sites in the TiO2 and thus affect the photocatalytic activity of titania for reactions performed under visible-light irradiation [3][5][23][24]. On the other hand, transformation under wet-chemical or hydrothermal conditions

• increasing calcination temperature (Figure 2). The observed effect is in agreement with the findings reported by Irie et al. [36], and Miyauchi et al. [45]. In a similar system, i.e., the photo-oxidation of iPrOH, they noticed that with an increasing N content, longer exposure times to UV and visible light

• concentration began to rise. The system was kept at a temperature of 25 ± 3 °C and a relative humidity of 22 ± 3%. The light source was a 300 W Xe lamp (Newport Oriel Instrument, USA). The lamp imitates the solar spectrum and emits both ultraviolet (UV) and visible light (vis). The radiance intensity on the

Simple approach for the fabrication of PEDOT-coated Si nanowires

• Mingxuan Zhu,
• Marielle Eyraud,
• Judikael Le Rouzo,
• Nadia Ait Ahmed,
• Florence Boulc’h,
• Claude Alfonso,
• Philippe Knauth and
• François Flory

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 640–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.65

• research topic for many applications such as photovoltaics [1], lithium batteries [2], hydrogen storage [3] and optoelectronic devices [4] due to their unique properties with respect to visible light management [5][6][7]. Using an electroless etching method, a reflectivity as low as 1.3% over the entire

Novel ZnO:Ag nanocomposites induce significant oxidative stress in human fibroblast malignant melanoma (Ht144) cells

• Syeda Arooj,
• Samina Nazir,
• Akhtar Nadhman,
• Nafees Ahmad,
• Bakhtiar Muhammad,
• Ishaq Ahmad,
• Kehkashan Mazhar and
• Rashda Abbasi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 570–582, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.59

• significantly improves the activity of ZnO nanoparticles in visible light range thus avoiding the use of UV or infrared light. Our findings suggest that the major mechanism by which ZnO:Ag nanocomposites mediate cell death is generation of ROS and induction of oxidative stress. ROS are involved in the

Palladium nanoparticles anchored to anatase TiO₂ for enhanced surface plasmon resonance-stimulated, visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Hong Ye Chu,
• Shaliza Ibrahim and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 428–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.43

• evaluated by degrading the endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) amoxicillin (AMX) excited under an artificial visible light source. In the preliminary run, almost complete degradation (97.5%) was achieved in 5 h with 0.5 wt % Pd loading and the degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The

• reusability trend proved the photostability of the prepared photocatalysts. Hence, the study provides a new insight about the modification of TiO2 with noble metals in order to enhance the absorption in the visible-light region for superior photocatalytic performance. Keywords: endocrine disrupting compound

• most promising strategy to defeat the limitations of TiO2. This is due to the characteristics of noble metals, which can drastically enhance the absorption of visible light through localized surface plasmon resonance effects (LSPRs) [23][24]. The LSPR absorption in noble metal NPs arise from the

Overview about the localization of nanoparticles in tissue and cellular context by different imaging techniques

• Anja Ostrowski,
• Daniel Nordmeyer,
• Alexander Boreham,
• Cornelia Holzhausen,
• Lars Mundhenk,
• Christina Graf,
• Martina C. Meinke,
• Annika Vogt,
• Sabrina Hadam,
• Jürgen Lademann,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Ulrike Alexiev and
• Achim D. Gruber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 263–280, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.25

• magnification. Thus, only NP that cluster or form aggregates of more than 200 nm in size in the tissue of interest can be visualized directly. In addition, these aggregates have to be able to attenuate visible light to be detectable by using light microscopy. For example, carbon nanotubes (CNT) used in medical

Interaction of dermatologically relevant nanoparticles with skin cells and skin

• Annika Vogt,
• Fiorenza Rancan,
• Sebastian Ahlberg,
• Berouz Nazemi,
• Chun Sik Choe,
• Maxim E. Darvin,
• Sabrina Hadam,
• Ulrike Blume-Peytavi,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Matthias Epple,
• Christina Graf,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Martina C. Meinke and
• Jürgen Lademann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2363–2373, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.245

• DNA damage and apoptosis were detected in human skin epidermal cells after exposure to nickel nanoparticles [42]. Phototoxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles induced the generation of oxidative DNA damage during UVA and visible light irradiation in keratinocytes [43]. Oxidative stress and skin cell

Inorganic Janus particles for biomedical applications

• Isabel Schick,
• Steffen Lorenz,
• Dominik Gehrig,
• Stefan Tenzer,
• Wiebke Storck,
• Karl Fischer,
• Dennis Strand,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Wolfgang Tremel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2346–2362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.244

• conjugation to Ag nanoparticles when combined to form Ag@Fe3O4 dumbbell-like hetero-nanoparticles [47]. Moreover, plasmonic photocatalysts combine two prominent features: a Schottky junction enhancing charge separation and surface plasmon resonance, which is responsible for strong absorption of visible light

• nanoparticles is shifted to more negative potentials, thus, enabling the engineering of the Fermi level of photocatalysts dependent on the size of the conjugated metal domain [49]. Recently, Au@TiO2 Janus particles were proven useful for visible-light hydrogen generation due to the strong coupling of plasmons

• -light irradiation [50]. b) Volume of hydrogen generated (VH2) under visible-light irradiation from a tungsten halogen lamp using Janus and core-shell Au50nm@TiO2 nanostructures, as well as amorphous TiO2 and bare gold particles [50]. c) Schematic illustration of plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells