The impact of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane hole transport layer doping on interfacial charge extraction and recombination

• Konstantinos Bidinakis and
• Stefan A. L. Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 678–689, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.52

• distributions indicative of p-i-n junctions in all devices, with a lower CPD on the ETL side where the electrons accumulate under bias. Subtracting the first measurement from the second, we filter out all information from the data that does not pertain to potential changes due to charge separation and

• position of the built-in fields that enable charge separation. These profiles that are being referred to as “electric field difference” are presented in Figure 3i–l. To extract the electric field difference profiles, we applied the following equation: Here, E is the electric field difference, V is the

• -doped HTLs, exhibit one large drop at the perovskite/HTL interface, indicative of the dominant diode junction that exists there. In order to further understand charge separation within the solar cells, we can use these photopotential profiles in order to examine charge extraction and accumulation within

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

• more complicated to fabricate and possibly beset by stability problems due to mediator degradation, indirect Z-schemes are nevertheless often used in applications that demand high charge separation performance. In contrast, direct Z-schemes are best suited for systems where robustness and simplicity

• with a suitable transition metal and synthesizing composite materials. Several advanced photocatalysts have been developed and successfully used to prevent antibiotics contamination, a list of which is shown below in Table 1. These modifications have led to improved charge separation rates, reduced

Photocatalytic methane oxidation over a TiO₂/SiNWs p–n junction catalyst at room temperature

• Qui Thanh Hoai Ta,
• Luan Minh Nguyen,
• Ngoc Hoi Nguyen,
• Phan Khanh Thinh Nguyen and
• Dai Hai Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1132–1141, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.92

• crucial in photogenerated charge separation and adsorption enhancement under UV–vis light. In other words, the ethane productivity of TiO2/Si NWs was five times higher (210 µmol/cm2) than that of pure p-Si NWs (20 µmol/cm2) and glass/TiO2 (30 µmol/cm2). Photocatalytic OCM over TiO2/Si NWs catalysts was

Intermixing of MoS₂ and WS₂ photocatalysts toward methylene blue photodegradation

• Maryam Al Qaydi,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Michael Lejeune,
• Abdellatif Bouchalkha,
• Mimoun El Marssi,
• Steevy Cordette,
• Chaouki Kasmi and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 817–829, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.68

• cocatalysts. Their catalytic properties can be tailored based on their crystal structure, their surface area, and their morphology [12][13]. When TMD catalysts are intermixed, they form semiconductor–semiconductor junctions, enhancing their photocatalytic properties by promoting charge separation and electron

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

• 1.28, 1.03, 0.88, 0.61, and 0.42 mW·cm−2, respectively, owing to the fast charge separation at the p-type/n-type heterojunctions of CuO/ZnO. The separation of electron–hole pairs prolongs the lifetime of free electrons, leading to an enhanced photocurrent [45]. When the applied voltage is fixed at 2 V

Cross-sectional Kelvin probe force microscopy on III–V epitaxial multilayer stacks: challenges and perspectives

• Mattia da Lisca,
• José Alvarez,
• James P. Connolly,
• Nicolas Vaissiere,
• Karim Mekhazni,
• Jean Decobert and
• Jean-Paul Kleider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 725–737, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.59

• expected trend in a p-type layer with surface defects. However, in case of pn junctions, the SPV can also include the contribution of the open-circuit voltage (VOC) of the pn junction due to the splitting of the quasi-Fermi levels of electrons and holes and the related charge separation at the junction. In

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

• light absorption, weaker charge separation, and poor charge carrier mobility. Researchers are concentrating on several strategies, such as doping, heterojunction formation, induction of the surface plasmon resonance effect, and the formation of Z-schemes, Schottky junctions, and engineered composites

LED-light-activated photocatalytic performance of metal-free carbon-modified hexagonal boron nitride towards degradation of methylene blue and phenol

• Nirmalendu S. Mishra and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1380–1392, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.114

• a voltage buildup which subsequently decayed upon quenching of the light source [31]. The obtained photovoltage plots were subsequently fitted with an exponential decay curve. The MBN-80 demonstrated a reduced decay time (4.55 s) in comparison to that of HBN (2.65 s) emphasizing an efficient charge

• separation. The photovoltage was measured to be 0.198 V for MBN-80 which is about 3.3 times more than that of HBN (0.06 V), depicting the superiority of MBN-80. Further, it generated a photo current density of 12.14 µA/cm2 which is three times greater than that of HBN (4 µA/cm2). Photocatalytic study of

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

• environmental restoration and energy conversion is photocatalysis powered by solar light. Traditional photocatalysts have limited practical uses due to inadequate light absorption, charge separation, and unknown reaction mechanisms. Discovering new visible-light photocatalysts and investigating their

• pollutants such as tetracycline hydrochloride, bisphenol A (BPA), and RhB was used to measure the photocatalytic activity of the bismuth oxyiodides. The activity decreased in the sequence Bi4O5I2–Bi5O7I > Bi4O5I2 > BiOI, which is linked to charge separation efficiency and band structure. Engineered Bi

• -based nanophotocatalysts can be improved, which in turn increases the photocatalytic activity. The zonal organization of several crystalline surfaces made from the same material may significantly increase charge separation. It can be used to create classic heterojunctions in addition to surface

Application of nanoarchitectonics in moist-electric generation

• Jia-Cheng Feng and
• Hong Xia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1185–1200, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.99

• control, and the abundant surface charges enable the charge separation of water molecules after the addition of moisture, which contributes to a more efficient generation of electric energy [1][2][34][35][36][37][38]. In 2003, Ghosh [22] reported that the fluid in single-walled carbon nanotubes can

• (Figure 10k–n). When being combined with optoelectronic devices, photo-excited carriers and moisture-induced charge separation promote each other. The open-circuit voltage of the MEG from the photoelectric effect is increased by more than 10%, and the short-circuit current is increased by 300% (Figure 10p

Hierarchical Bi₂WO₆/TiO₂-nanotube composites derived from natural cellulose for visible-light photocatalytic treatment of pollutants

• Zehao Lin,
• Zhan Yang and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 745–762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.66

• photogenerated electron−hole pairs. It is reported that the transient photocurrent responses of the samples depend on the amounts of photogenerated charges and the kinetics of charge separation of the corresponding electrodes under irradiation of light [62]. As shown in Figure 10a, under irradiation of visible

Zinc oxide nanostructures for fluorescence and Raman signal enhancement: a review

• Ioana Marica,
• Fran Nekvapil,
• Maria Ștefan,
• Cosmin Farcău and
• Alexandra Falamaș

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 472–490, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.40

• a higher adsorption of analyte molecules, increasing the EF from 106 (before) to 108 (after hydrogenation) [43]. The charge transfer effect was probably increased as well since the hydrogenation introduced lattice defects that could alter the energy band structure of ZnO, promoting charge separation

Impact of device design on the electronic and optoelectronic properties of integrated Ru-terpyridine complexes

• Max Mennicken,
• Sophia Katharina Peter,
• Corinna Kaulen,
• Ulrich Simon and
• Silvia Karthäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 219–229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.16

• transfer is induced by irradiation with light of a wavelength of 530 nm, which finally leads to a small current increase through the device after charge separation of the excited [Ru3+(MPTP)2−]-complex in the applied electric field. This supposed mechanism for current increase in Ru(MPTP)2–AuNP devices

• current depends on this equilibrium. The difference between the current under light illumination and the dark current, ΔIL_D, corresponds to the current enabled by plasmon-induced energy transfer to the Ru(MPTP)2-complexes and charge separation in an electrical field. This finding is in analogy to the

• current as response to light irradiation was identified as plasmon-induced metal-to-ligand charge transfer in Ru(TP)2 complexes and subsequent charge separation in the applied electrical field. Compared to Ru(TP)2-complex nanowire devices the performance of Ru(TP)2–AuNP devices is superior due to (I) the

Tin dioxide nanomaterial-based photocatalysts for nitrogen oxide oxidation: a review

• Viet Van Pham,
• Hong-Huy Tran,
• Thao Kim Truong and
• Thi Minh Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 96–113, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.7

• band structure, which remains critical for studying charge separation [29]. In another study, a SnO2–Zn2SnO4 Z-scheme photocatalyst system was prepared with a graphene modification to create surface vacancy sites in the composite, which contributed to an enhanced photoactivity in the oxidation of NO

• of SnO2. Moreover, enhanced visible light response and enhanced charge separation in the sample with GQDs have been observed (Figure 13c). The EIS measurements (Figure 13d) indicated that the diameter of the arc radius of SnO2/GQDs (1%) is much smaller than that of SnO2, confirming that the GQDs

• contributed to improving the charge separation, significantly reducing indoor NO under visible light irradiation. The optimized composite removed 57% of the initial NO while generating a negligible amount of NO2. In addition, this work found that the insertion of graphene quantum dots did not induce any

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

• and M2 showed better charge separation than M3. In particular, M2 exhibited superior charge separation when considering spatial effects among the three fragments. Consequently, increasing the fraction of M2 in the polymers could be beneficial to the photocatalytic efficiency. He et al. developed two

• photocatalytic properties. PDI-containing polymers, such as P15, normally confer smaller HERs than the others. P18, composed of strong electron-donating and bipyridine segments, rendered the best HER, which was attributed to its enhanced light absorption, better wettability, and more efficient charge separation

• * intermediates on polymer surface. Consequently, halogen substitution on the polymer is an approach to evoke enhanced charge separation and improve the HER of CPs. In 2018, Jiang et al. [68] systematically studied the effects of π-linking groups, that is, benzene or biphenyl moieties in pyrene–benzothiadiazole

Boosting of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution via chlorine doping of polymeric carbon nitride

• Malgorzata Aleksandrzak,
• Michalina Kijaczko,
• Wojciech Kukulka,
• Daria Baranowska,
• Martyna Baca,
• Beata Zielinska and
• Ewa Mijowska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 473–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.38

• electron delocalization, efficient charge separation, favorable retention of the crystal structure, and light-harvesting extension [37]. Here, a new procedure of PCN doping with chlorine will be revealed. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared materials was investigated in a water-splitting reaction

• structure allows for the catalyst to have a higher specific surface area and more active sites, which can simultaneously promote mass transfer and charge separation in nanodomains, thus optimizing the π-conjugated system for photochemical applications [40][41]. Furthermore, elemental mapping of nitrogen

Controlling the electronic and physical coupling on dielectric thin films

• Philipp Hurdax,
• Michael Hollerer,
• Larissa Egger,
• Georg Koller,
• Xiaosheng Yang,
• Anja Haags,
• Serguei Soubatch,
• Frank Stefan Tautz,
• Mathias Richter,
• Alexander Gottwald,
• Peter Puschnig,
• Martin Sterrer and
• Michael G. Ramsey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1492–1503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.132

• constant of the thin film, and dcs is the distance between the charge in the molecule and its image charge in the metal (i.e., the charge separation distance). In this report, we demonstrate the robustness of the conclusions drawn from the 5A study by considering para-sexiphenyl (6P, C36H26). In contrast

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of heterostructured CuO–ZnO-loaded composite nanofiber membranes

• Wei Fang,
• Liang Yu and
• Lan Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 631–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.50

• oxidize species adsorbed on the semiconductor material. However, the high degree of recombination of charge carriers is disadvantage [6]. The coupling of two different semiconductors can yield an efficient charge separation, leading to a vector transmission of photogenerated electrons and holes from one

• a high photocatalytic activity because of a better charge separation [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Liu et al. [23] prepared CuO/ZnO nanocomposites by homogeneous coprecipitation and used them for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. Wei et al. [24] fabricated CuO/ZnO composite nanofilms

Synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic performance of 0D/2D CuO/tourmaline composite photocatalysts

• Changqiang Yu,
• Min Wen,
• Zhen Tong,
• Shuhua Li,
• Yanhong Yin,
• Xianbin Liu,
• Yesheng Li,
• Tongxiang Liang,
• Ziping Wu and
• Dionysios D. Dionysiou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 407–416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.31

• tourmaline-based functional composite photocatalysts for the treatment of organic contaminants in water. Keywords: 0D/2D CuO; organic contaminants; photocatalytic activity; photoinduced charge separation; tourmaline; Introduction Developing a novel semiconductor with excellent photoreactive activity toward

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

• of the advantages of this system was that the DNA–multichromophore organization could be aligned vertically over the gold electrode, which facilitated exothermic charge separation and suppressesed the ground-state charge transfer (CT) complexation between DPP and NDI, followed by the generation of a

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

• correlation with the absorption of the PTB7:PC71BM blend. The EQE of devices with 0.5 wt % of FeS2 is higher than that of the reference OPV cells, which could be attributed to a better charge separation (exciton dissociation enhancement) as well as enhanced carrier transport and collection in the

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

Review of time-resolved non-contact electrostatic force microscopy techniques with applications to ionic transport measurements

• Aaron Mascaro,
• Yoichi Miyahara,
• Tyler Enright,
• Omur E. Dagdeviren and
• Peter Grütter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 617–633, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.62

• allow for the measurement of time-varying forces arising from phenomena such as ion transport in battery materials or charge separation in photovoltaic systems. These forces reveal information about dynamic processes happening over nanometer length scales due to the nanometer-sized probe tips used in

Reduced graphene oxide supported C₃N₄ nanoflakes and quantum dots as metal-free catalysts for visible light assisted CO₂ reduction

• Md Rakibuddin and
• Haekyoung Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 448–458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.44

• conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB) edge positions, exhibit efficient charge separation, have a large surface area, and it must be cost effective. Considering the above factors, nontoxic metal-free catalysts, such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) have received wide

• all these interesting properties, pure g-C3N4 only weakly absorbs visible light due to its wide band gap and also has poor electrical conductivity [18]. An efficient way to increase the charge separation and electrical conductivity of g-C3N4 is to modify it with rGO. Besides the structural and

• and NFs, which increases the effective charge separation within the hybrids. Interestingly, the results also show that CN-5 exhibited almost two times higher reduction capacity of CO2 compared to CN-10 and CN-20. This is because of the QD size of CN-5, which increases its surface area (231.3 m2/g

Impact of the anodization time on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotubes

• Jesús A. Díaz-Real,
• Geyla C. Dubed-Bandomo,
• Juan Galindo-de-la-Rosa,
• Luis G. Arriaga,
• Janet Ledesma-García and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2628–2643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.244

• = 0.5 h, the transients revealed that in fact Eonset starts below 0.05 V/RHE, while for longer ta, Eonset shifts to higher values (Figure S1d, Supporting Information File 1). This observation has been associated with electron mobility and charge separation kinetics [63]. As the electrode is illuminated