Semiconducting nanomaterials

Lee TH, Sun DZ, Zhang X, Sue HJ, Cheng X (2009) Solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell based on semiconducting nanomaterials. J Vac Sci Technol B 27 3073-3077... 

Silica nanoparticles enhance the electrochemical sensitivity as well as linearize the pH behavior of semiconducting nanomaterial thin-film devices." These devices may be either a resistor or ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET). 

Carbon nanomaterials as integrative materials in semiconducting electrodes... 

It is possible that surface enhancement effects, similar to the observations made earlier in metal-fluorophore systems [11, 83-85] may occur. Metal surfaces are known to have effects on fluorophores such as increasing or decreasing rates of radiative decay or resonance energy transfer. A similar effect may take place in ZnO nanomaterial platforms. However, decay lengths of fluorescence enhancement observed in the semiconducting ZnO NRs are not commensurate with the length scale seen on metals such as Au or Ag. For effective metal enhanced fluorescence, fluorophores should be placed approximately between 5-20 nm away from the metal surface. However, fluorescence enhancement effect on ZnO NRs is observed even when fluorophores are located well beyond 20 nm away from the NR surface. At the same time, no quenching effec en when they are placed directly onto ZnO NR surfaces. In addition, there overlap between the absorption and emission... 

Various liquid-crystal structures have been observed in many amphiphilic systems, such as block copolymers in selective solvents [1, 2], membrane hpids [3], and surfactants in aqueous solution [4]. These structures have found widespread application in the preparation of mesoporous templates [5], the colloidal structure design of nanomaterials, including semiconducting assemblies [6], and the formation of micro structured polymeric gels [7] and vesicles for drug delivery [8],... 

On the other hand, the geometry of individual single-crystal NWs promotes a detailed analysis of-the gas-surface interactions, because there are no necks and boundaries. The decrease in the number of parameters which control the sensor response of ID structures should facilitate a better understanding of the nature of the observed effects. In addition, ID metal oxide nanomaterials have excellent crystallinity and clear faceting with a fixed set of planes. It is expected that these nanomaterials will have less concentration of point defects and specific adsorption and catalytic properties, conditioned by a particular combination of crystallographic planes. In other words, semiconducting ID metal... 

The first part of this section focuses on the main characteristics and fabrication techniques used for obtaining templating membranes and depositing metal nanostructures by suitable electroless and elecuochemical procedures. Methods such as sol-gel (10-12) or chemical vapor deposition (10, 13), which have been used primarily for the template deposition of carbon, oxides, or semiconducting-based materials, will not be considered here in detail. The second part of the section focuses on the electrochemical properties of the fabricated nanomaterials with emphasis on the characteristics and applications of nanoelectrode ensembles (NEEs). 

The examples of DNA-based nanoactuators reviewed here demonstrate a wide variety of approaches and strategies for incorporation of controllable motions into DNA-based supramolecular complexes. This type of switchable molecular assembly will likely find future use in combination with other nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles, and other electrically active components for construction of nanoelectronics for sensors applications, as one possible example. 

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