A sol-gel derived ZnO-p-Si heterojunction structure were fabricated and investigated as a potential methane sensor. Three configurations with different contacts (Pd-Ag contact both on ZnO and Si / Pd-Ag on ZnO side and Au on Si / and Au on both sides of the junction) were fabricated in order to study the impact of the catalytic contact on the methane sensing properties. Structural characterizat...

Nanoporous templates have been developed and fabricated employing technology based on heavy ion bombardment and track etching of polymer films or polymer layers deposited on substrates; an alternative and unique tool based on the adaptation of an atomic force microscopy has been also developed to elaborate nanotemplates with pores of ultra-small dimensions down to a few nanometers. Different ty...

Nanoporous metals prepared via dealloying or selective leaching of solid solution alloys and compounds represent an emerging class of materials. They possess a three-dimensional (3D) structure of randomly interpenetrating ligaments/nanopores with sizes between 5 nm and several tens of micrometers, which can be tuned by varying their preparation conditions (such as dealloying time and temperatur...

Nanoporous gold was used as a high specific surface material to describe the water radiolysis in the vicinity of metal surfaces. Porous gold monoliths were prepared by electrolytic dissolution of silver in Au-Ag alloys and characterized by small angle neutron scattering. The hydroxyl radical production under gamma irradiation was measured by benzoate scavenging in water confined in 50 nm porous...

We report scanning tunneling microscopy observations on the formation of 2D Co-based coordination compounds on the reconstructed Au(111) surface. Preorganized arrays of Co bilayer islands are shown to be local reaction sites, which are consumed in the formation of Co-terephthalate aggregates and regular nanoporous grids. The latter exhibit a planar geometry stabilized by the smooth substrate. T...

Dealloyed nanoporous gold leaves (NPGLs) are found to exhibit high electrocatalytic properties toward both hydrazine (N(2)H(4)) oxidation and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) reduction. This observation allows the implementation of a direct hydrazine-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell (DHHPFC) based on these novel porous membrane catalysts. The effects of fuel and oxidizer flow rate, concentration and cel...

The recent interest in size-dependent deformation of micro- and nanoscale materials has paralleled both technological miniaturization and advancements in imaging and small-scale mechanical testing methods. Here we describe a quantitative in situ nanomechanical testing approach adapted to a dual-beam focused ion beam and scanning electron microscope. A transducer based on a three-plate capacitor...

Exploiting electrocatalysts with high activity for glucose oxidation is of central importance for practical applications such as glucose fuel cell. Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt), created by depositing a thin layer of Pt on NPG surface, was proposed as an active electrode for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions. The structure and surface properties of NPG-Pt were c...

Detecting and identifying single molecules are the ultimate goal of analytic sensitivity. Single molecule detection by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SM-SERS) depends predominantly on SERS-active metal substrates that are usually colloidal silver fractal clusters. However, the high chemical reactivity of silver and the low reproducibility of its complicated synthesis with fractal clusters h...