Near-infrared (NIR) light is better suited than ultraviolet (UV) light for biomedical applications because it penetrates deeper into tissue and causes less photodamage to biological systems. The use of NIR light to control biointerfaces has attracted increasing interest. Here, we review NIR photoreactions at interfaces based on upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs). UCNPs can convert NIR light to ...

The origins, scope and utility of compilations of metal-ligand and intraligand bond lengths based on the Cambridge Structural Database are discussed. The limitations on the apparent uncertainty of metal-ligand bond lengths derived from crystallographic data and recent evidence of metal-assisted hydrogen bonding involving ligands are reviewed in the light of the transferability of bond-length va...

The present work demonstrates a systematic approach for the synthesis of pure kesterite-phase Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanocrystals with a uniform size distribution by a one-step, thioglycolic acid (TGA)-assisted hydrothermal route. The formation mechanism and the role of TGA in the formation of CZTS compound were thoroughly studied. It has been found that TGA interacted with Cu(2+) to form Cu(+) at th...

Efficient use of highly dispersed metal oxides for lighting, energy conversion and catalysis requires knowledge about the impact of density and microstructure of the powders on the optical nanoparticle properties. For MgO nanocube powders we present a combined photoluminescence (PL) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) approach which enables for samples of different aggregation states the ...

Photocatalytic splitting of water into H(2) and O(2) under visible light irradiation is achieved using a coumarin-dye-adsorbed lamellar niobium oxide for hydrogen evolution.

Limited control over charge recombination between photogenerated charge carriers largely hinders the progress in photocatalysis. Here, we introduce metal nanoparticles (Cr, Ag) to the surface of MoS2 nanosheets by simple synthetic means creating a hybrid metal-MoS2 nanosheet system with well-defined metal/semiconductor interfaces. We demonstrate that this hybrid nanosheet structure is capable o...

Hf3N4 in nanocrystalline form is produced by solution phase reaction of Hf(NEtMe)4 with ammonia followed by low-temperature pyrolysis in ammonia. Understanding of phase behavior in these systems is important because early transition-metal nitrides with the metal in maximum oxidation state are potential visible light photocatalysts. A combination of synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and pair ...

In this work, we carried out electroluminescence (EL) measurements on metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and compared the light emission from the suspended section with the on-substrate section along the same SWNT. In addition to the lowest excitonic emission for metallic SWNTs (M(11)), a side peak was observed at an energy of 0.17-0.20 eV lower than the M(11) peak, which is attrib...

We introduce a plasmonic waveguide system, based on a plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency, which supports a subwavelength slow-light mode, and exhibits a small group velocity dispersion. The system consists of a periodic array of two metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) stub resonators side-coupled to a MDM waveguide. Decreasing the frequency spacing between the two resonance...

porphyrins are a ubiquitous large class of naturally occurring macrocyclic compounds with many significant biological representatives comprising heme and chlorophyll. some novel adaptable methods for the synthesis of free-based porphyrins as promising sensitizers for the use in photo-dynamic therapy by the virtue of their known tumor affinity, low dark cytotoxicity, and easy synthesis in good t...