Tailoring of physical properties of RF-sputtered ZnTe films: role of substrate temperature

• Kafi Devi,
• Usha Rani,
• Arun Kumar,
• Divya Gupta and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 333–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.25

• carrier transport, ZnTe can be used as a buffer layer in CdTe-based solar cells for back contact. Moreover, n-type zinc telluride films can be used in the window layer as a substitute for CdS [6]. Zinc telluride films are highly resistive with a resistivity of about several megaohm·centimetres [7]. The

Emerging strategies in the sustainable removal of antibiotics using semiconductor-based photocatalysts

• Yunus Ahmed,
• Keya Rani Dutta,
• Parul Akhtar,
• Md. Arif Hossen,
• Md. Jahangir Alam,
• Obaid A. Alharbi,
• Hamad AlMohamadi and
• Abdul Wahab Mohammad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 264–285, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.21

• exhibited 3.4 times higher reactivity than BiOCl when exposed to visible light. The degradation of TC using the BiOCl/CdS catalyst exhibited a similar tendency, with degradation rates 4.73 and 2.94 times higher than those of pure CdS and BOCl, respectively [95]. Some other heterostructures also exhibited

• . Other g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalysts, such as CdS/g-C3N4 [106], CoO/g-C3N4 [107], and P-doped g-C3N4/Co3O4 [58], have also shown improved photocatalytic activity (see below in Table 4). The binary composite still has several shortcomings. Compared to the binary composite, adding a third

• , rGO-ZnO, ferrocene-rGO-ZnO, α-Fe2O3/ZnO/rGO, CdS-Bi2MoO6/rGO, and rGO-modified tin selenide (see below in Table 5). Tungsten oxide-based materials or composites Tungsten trioxide (WO3) is considered environmentally benign, making it a preferable option for eco-friendly water treatment applications. In

Green synthesis of carbon dot structures from Rheum Ribes and Schottky diode fabrication

• Muhammed Taha Durmus and
• Ebru Bozkurt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1369–1375, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.110

• , Turkey 10.3762/bjnano.15.110 Abstract In this study, we aimed to synthesize new carbon dot structures (CDs) in a single step by using the plant Rheum Ribes for the first time and to contribute to the studies in the field of diode fabrication by using the new CDs. The CDs were obtained by hydrothermal

• synthesis, which is commonly used in the literature. TEM and zeta potential measurements were used to determine morphology and sizes of the CDs, and XRD, XPS, and FTIR and micro-Raman spectroscopy were used for structural characterization. Optical characterization of the CDs was done by absorption and

• steady-state fluorescence measurements. In the second part of the study, CDs were dripped onto silicon substrates, and a CDs thin film was formed by evaporation. A diode structure was obtained by evaporating gold with the shadow mask technique on the CDs film, and the current–voltage characteristics of

Quantum-to-classical modeling of monolayer Ge₂Se₂ and its application in photovoltaic devices

• Anup Shrivastava,
• Shivani Saini,
• Dolly Kumari,
• Sanjai Singh and
• Jost Adam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1153–1169, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.94

• , a large number of materials have been reported as ETLs/HTL materials, such as carbon [15], copper iodide [16], CuSbS2, NiO, CuSCN [17], ZnO, and CdS [18]. These materials promote efficient extraction of charge carriers and suppress recombination between the perovskite film and the electrodes. But in

Unveiling the potential of alginate-based nanomaterials in sensing technology and smart delivery applications

• Shakhzodjon Uzokboev,
• Khojimukhammad Akhmadbekov,
• Ra’no Nuritdinova,
• Salah M. Tawfik and
• Yong-Ill Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1077–1104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.88

Interface properties of nanostructured carbon-coated biological implants: an overview

• Mattia Bartoli,
• Francesca Cardano,
• Erik Piatti,
• Stefania Lettieri,
• Andrea Fin and
• Alberto Tagliaferro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1041–1053, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.85

• applications [4] as active species or as drug delivery platforms using tailored carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [5][6], fullerenes [7][8], carbon dots (CDs) [9][10], and graphene-related materials (i.e., graphene oxide (GO) [11], reduced graphene oxide (rGO) [12], and nanographite (nG) [13]). Furthermore, the

Green synthesis of biomass-derived carbon quantum dots for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

• Dalia Chávez-García,
• Mario Guzman,
• Viridiana Sanchez and
• Rubén D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 755–766, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.63

• luminescence, upconversion luminescence does not require high photon density and can occur under normal excitation conditions [31]. Several authors have reported the existence of upconversion carbon dots (CDs). For example, Zhu et al. [43] demonstrated upconversion CDs, while Zhuo et al. [44] reported graphene

• CDs with upconversion luminescence. The theoretical framework proposed for upconversion photoluminescence centers on the concept of quantum confinement effect (QCE). In this scenario, electrons migrate from the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) to the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO

Aero-ZnS prepared by physical vapor transport on three-dimensional networks of sacrificial ZnO microtetrapods

• Veaceslav Ursaki,
• Tudor Braniste,
• Victor Zalamai,
• Emil Rusu,
• Vladimir Ciobanu,
• Vadim Morari,
• Daniel Podgornii,
• Pier Carlo Ricci,
• Rainer Adelung and
• Ion Tiginyanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 490–499, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.44

• metal oxides [1][9][10]. Metal oxides include TiO2, ZnO, Al2O3, WO3, Cu2O, CuO, SnO2, Fe2O3, Bi2O3, Ag3PO4, BiWO4, BiVO4, BiFeO3, and SeTiO3, while chalcogenides are represented by ZnS, ZnSe, CdS, PbS, CdSe, SnS2, and Bi2S3. Among porous semiconductor materials, recently developed super-lightweight ones

• properties when compressed against water was fabricated using HVPE of CdS on sacrificial ZnO microtetrapods through the simultaneous or subsequent transformation of CdS into ZnS and the removal of the sacrificial ZnO crystals [16]. Self-propelled liquid marbles have been demonstrated on the basis of this

• aero-semiconductor materials [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], including aero-ZnS materials [16]. The HVPE installation consists of two chambers. In the first chamber, ZnS/ZnO core–shell structures are grown through transporting vapors from the CdS powder source to the ZnO substrate by a H2 flow. The

Classification and application of metal-based nanoantioxidants in medicine and healthcare

• Nguyen Nhat Nam,
• Nguyen Khoi Song Tran,
• Tan Tai Nguyen,
• Nguyen Ngoc Trai,
• Nguyen Phuong Thuy,
• Hoang Dang Khoa Do,
• Nhu Hoa Thi Tran and
• Kieu The Loan Trinh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 396–415, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.36

• effective scavenging ability against ROS [181]. Additionally, it has been reported that biocompatible covalently doped carbon dots (CuZn-CDs) with both CAT and SOD functionalities demonstrate significant in vitro capability to scavenge ROS. These carbon dots exhibit a protective effect on cardiomyocytes

A visible-light photodetector based on heterojunctions between CuO nanoparticles and ZnO nanorods

• Doan Nhat Giang,
• Nhat Minh Nguyen,
• Duc Anh Ngo,
• Thanh Trang Tran,
• Le Thai Duy,
• Cong Khanh Tran,
• Thi Thanh Van Tran,
• Phan Phuong Ha La and
• Vinh Quang Dang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1018–1027, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.84

• , these methods still face problems, including the requirements of controlling defects, scale-up for mass production, or troubles relating to decoration uniformity [31][32]. Another method is to form heterojunctions of ZnO and other narrow-bandgap semiconductors (NiO [33], PbS [34], CdS [35], and MoS2[36

Bismuth-based nanostructured photocatalysts for the remediation of antibiotics and organic dyes

• Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo and
• Faisal Suleiman Mustafa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 291–321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.26

• : TiO2, CuO, CdS, MoO3; ternary compounds: Bi2Mo3O12, ZnFe2O4; quaternary compounds: Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4, Bi4NbxTa1−xO8I) [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Because of its distinct features, TiO2 is the most extensively investigated photocatalytic semiconductor. However, it barely absorbs 4–5% of the

• between 1-D CdS and 0-D Bi components were developed. The bandgap values were altered, and the absorption in the visible-to-infrared range was enhanced after the deposition of Bi quantum dots on CdS. To degrade the antibiotic tetracycline, a Bi/CdS heterostructure photocatalyst was used. The optimised

• photocatalyst showed a maximum photocatalytic degradation activity of 90% under visible-light irradiation in 1 h, which is higher than the 52% achieved by pure CdS under the same conditions. The improved photocatalytic degradation efficiency is attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect, doped Bi3+ ions

Photoelectrochemical water oxidation over TiO₂ nanotubes modified with MoS₂ and g-C₃N₄

• Phuong Hoang Nguyen,
• Thi Minh Cao,
• Tho Truong Nguyen,
• Hien Duy Tong and
• Viet Van Pham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1541–1550, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.127

• the required amounts of noble metals and materials such as CdS or ZnS [26][27][28][29]. There are many low-bandgap semiconductors that were coupled with TNAs, including MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, g-C3N4, Cu2O, and CuO. MoS2 is a semiconductor with a narrow bandgap (1.9 eV at room temperature) exhibiting unique

Recent trends in Bi-based nanomaterials: challenges, fabrication, enhancement techniques, and environmental applications

• Vishal Dutta,
• Ankush Chauhan,
• Ritesh Verma,
• C. Gopalkrishnan and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1316–1336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.109

• photocatalyst is complex, which is why a h+-capturing substance is frequently added to the system to promote the production of H2 [112]. Pt, Pd, Au, and other precious metals, as well as photocatalysts containing Cd, Pb, and other elements (such as CdS), are some of the costliest and environmentally hazardous

• high-performance photocatalysts on the market. CdS is a more ecologically friendly alternative to other photocatalysts [113]. To improve the efficiency of photocatalytic water breakdown from the perspective of catalytic reaction kinetics, one method that is both practical and effective is to design

Design of surface nanostructures for chirality sensing based on quartz crystal microbalance

• Yinglin Ma,
• Xiangyun Xiao and
• Qingmin Ji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1201–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.100

• QCM electrodes for chiral sensing. Cyclodextrin derivatives. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are a class of oligomers composed of glucose units. They possess hollow truncated cones with a lipophilic inner cavity and a hydrophilic edge. The hydroxy groups at the edge can undergo different chemical reactions, which

• allows for modifications by a variety of functional substituents [60][61][62]. Therefore, CDs and derivatives are the most used host superstructures to adapt the selection of various chiral guests. The chiral recognition sites of CDs may arise from their glucose chiral units and functionalities on the

• rims. The key to the chiral recognition by CDs is the formation of diastereomeric host–guest complexes based on different interaction affinities. The complexation may occur via inclusion of the guest chiral molecule into the cavity of CDs by π–π interactions, dipole–dipole, ion-pairing, hydrogen

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• , Charsadda Road, Larama, Peshawar, Pakistan Department of Botany, Government College Women University, Sialkot, Pakistan College of Pharmacy, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, 712046, China 10.3762/bjnano.13.93 Abstract Carbon dots (CDs) show extensive potential in various fields such as

• especially focuses on the recent advancement (2015–2022) in the green synthesis of CDs, their application in metal ions sensing and microbial bioimaging, detection, and viability studies as well as their applications in pathogenic control and plant growth promotion. Keywords: bioimaging; carbon dots; carbon

• quantum dots; green synthesis; plant growth promotion; sensing; Introduction Carbon dots (CDs) are a carbon-based nanomaterial with a few nanometers feature sizes. CDs consist of a carbon core, the surface of which is functionalized with various groups. Xu et al. accidentally discovered fluorescent

Morphology-driven gas sensing by fabricated fractals: A review

• Vishal Kamathe and
• Rupali Nagar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1187–1208, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.88

• ppm TEA at 35% RH. Cadmium sulfide-based fractals Highly oriented CdS dendrite (HOCSD) sensors synthesized by a hydrothermal method to detect formic acid (HCOOH) and hydrazine (N2H4) were reported by Guo and co-workers [83]. The multichannel branches of dendritic structure of the CdS sensor allowed

• gas molecules to penetrate the sensor more easily. The response and recovery times for a small concentration of HCOOH (ca. 50 ppm) was reported to be ca. 27 s and 21 s at 260 °C, respectively. Figure 21a–e shows SEM, TEM and HR-TEM images of the CdS dendrites. The CdS dendrites were shown to have

Self-assembly of amino acids toward functional biomaterials

• Huan Ren,
• Lifang Wu,
• Lina Tan,
• Yanni Bao,
• Yuchen Ma,
• Yong Jin and
• Qianli Zou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1140–1150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.85

• (Cd2+) to form a three-dimensional crystal of Cys/Cd nanorods. Then, upon the introduction of Na2S, the Cys/Cd template mediates the mineralization of cadmium sulfide (CdS) into a layered CdS quantum dot structure, finally making a simple bionic daylight antenna with sustainable photocatalytic

Assessment of the optical and electrical properties of light-emitting diodes containing carbon-based nanostructures and plasmonic nanoparticles: a review

• Keshav Nagpal,
• Erwan Rauwel,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Protima Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1078–1092, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.80

• semiconductors and emit from the UV to the red region of the visible spectrum via bandgap tuning (i.e., on alloying with In and Al [5][6][7]). Similarly, other active materials for quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLED), such as the II–VI semiconductor family include ZnO, CdSe, CdS, CdTe, ZnSe, ZnS, ZnTe, and

Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• formed binary composites [98][99][100]. Compared with pristine CPs as photocatalysts, the photocatalytic activities of the heterojunctions increased by around 18, 7, and 2 times, respectively. Subsequently, the same research group developed a P40 flake/CdS heterojunction with broad visible light

• absorption (400–700 nm) and high photogenerated charge separation rate [101]. This heterojunction realized an AQY of up to 7.5% at 420 nm. By in situ solvothermal growth of CdS nanoparticles on ultrathin polyimide (PI) nanosheets, Zou et al. [102] achieved a HER of 30.65 μmol h−1 (50 mg) with 15% CdS/PI as

• the photocatalyst, which was nearly 5 and 60 times as high as the performance of pristine CdS and 1% Pt/PI, respectively. This suggests that organic/inorganic heterojunctions show higher photocatalytic performance than the single components of CPs. Table 1 summarizes the main optoelectronic properties

Soybean-derived blue photoluminescent carbon dots

• Shanshan Wang,
• Wei Sun,
• Dong-sheng Yang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 606–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.48

• Engineering and Environmental Engineering, Liaoning Shihua University, Fushun, Liaoning, 113001, China 10.3762/bjnano.11.48 Abstract Biomass-derived carbon dots (CDs) are biocompatible and have potential for a variety of applications, including bioimaging and biosensing. In this work, we use ground soybean

• residuals to synthesize carbon nanoparticles by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), annealing at high temperature, and laser ablation (LA) in a NH4OH solution. The carbon nanoparticles synthesized with the HTC process (HTC-CDs) exhibit photoluminescent characteristics with strong blue emission. The annealing

• of the HTC-processed carbon particles in the range of 250 to 850 °C causes a loss of the photoluminescent characteristics of the CDs without any significant change in the microstructure (amorphous structure) of the carbon particles. The LA processing of the annealed HTC-processed carbon particles

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• ) such as CdSe, CdTe, CdS, ZnS, ZnSe, PbS and PbSe have widely been studied as luminescent nanomaterials [24][25]. This is attributed to the possibilities to tune their size, surface functionalities, quantum confinement and high quantum yield (60–90%) [26][27]. Importantly, SCQDs display a broad spectrum

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• capable of quenching fluorescence through Förster resonance energy transfer. By involving an isothermal circular amplification reaction of polymerase and NEase, the group of Chen [121] used gold nanoparticles to either quench or enhance the electrochemiluminescence of CdS films through the modulation of

• the distance between metallic and semiconductor components by a DNA machine (Figure 11). Their system consisted of a CdS film, a composite of AuNPs (5 nm) and hairpin DNA, a primer, and polymerase and NEase. In the presence of AuNPs–hairpin DNA, the luminescence of CdS was quenched (Figure 11A). The

• oligonucleotides. The presence of a mutation decreases the fluorescence of the CdS films by nearly 90%. Reprinted with permission from [121], copyright 2011 Royal Society of Chemistry. Colorimetric DNA detection through rolling circle amplification (RCA) and NEase-assisted nanoparticle amplification (NEANA). a

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

Semitransparent Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis for use in solar windows

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Lothar Weinhardt,
• Monika Blum,
• Clemens Heske,
• Wanli Yang,
• Ilona Oja Acik and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2396–2409, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.230

• both conventional ALD and CBD that require several hours to deposit 100 nm thick Sb2S3 films [18][20][21]. Regarding vacuum deposition methods, a PCE of 3.5% was achieved by thermally evaporating 700 nm of Sb2S3 onto planar CdS. The main drawbacks of thermal evaporation and conventional ALD as vacuum

• imposing limitations on the substrate size [43][44]. A recent paper showed a PCE of 4.6% in solar cells based on Sb2(S,Se)3 grown onto planar CdS by USP, followed by Se vapor annealing at ≈400 °C. However, pristine Sb2S3 solar cells consistently yielded a PCE below 0.1% [45]. This clearly illustrates the

• previously been demonstrated for structured ETA-Sb2S3 cells [14]. In a study of SnO:F/CdS/Sb2(S,Se)3/C/Ag solar cells of 20–80 mm2 area, a similar trend of lower PCE in larger cells was described (from 6.2% at 20 mm2 to 5.7% at 60 mm2) [64]. We perceive the most concerning issues with up-scaling of planar

Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC₇₁BM-based organic photovoltaic cells

• Olivia Amargós-Reyes,
• José-Luis Maldonado,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• María-Elena Nicho,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Juan Nicasio-Collazo,
• Irving Caballero-Quintana and
• Concepción Arenas-Arrocena

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2238–2250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.216

• inside the CdS/CdTe inorganic heterojunction improved the conversion efficiency of the PV device by up to 8% [19]. Moreover, FeS2 has also been used in perovskite solar cells as a hole transport layer (HTL) to reduce the fabrication cost, reaching efficiencies of up to 11.2% [20]. On the other hand, OPVs

• implemented as second electron acceptors in P3HT:PCBM solar cells, the current density increased from 6.69 to 7.63 mA/cm2 using a concentration of only 0.3 wt % FeS2 with respect to the acceptor [18]. Furthermore, FeS2 NPs have been used as a HTL in CdS/CdTe and perovskite solar cells [19][20], among other