Estuarine and marine sediments are a probable end point for many engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) due to enhanced aggregation and sedimentation in marine waters, as well as uptake and deposition by suspension-feeding organisms on the seafloor. Benthic infaunal organisms living in sediments encounter relatively high concentrations of pollutants and may also suffer toxic effects of ENPs. We tested...

Preparation and characterization of different metal oxide (NiO, WO3, ZnO, SnO2 and Nb2O5) nanostructures for chemical sensing are presented. p-Type (NiO) and n-type (WO3, SnO2, ZnO and Nb2O5) metal oxide nanostructures were grown on alumina substrates using evaporation-condensation, thermal oxidation and hydrothermal techniques. Surface morphologies and crystal structures were investigated thro...

Methods for introducing new magnetic, optical, electronic, photophysical, or photochemical properties to semiconductor nanocrystals are attracting intense applications-oriented interest. In this communication, we report the preparation and electronic absorption spectroscopy of colloidal ZnO DMS-QDs. Our synthetic procedure involves modification of literature methods known to yield highly crysta...

Porous nickel oxide (NiO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) submicro- and nanofibers were synthesized by impregnating electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber templates with corresponding metal nitrate aqueous solutions and subsequent calcination. The diameter of the NiO and ZnO fibers was closely related to that of the template fibers and larger diameters were obtained when using the template fibers with ...

Zinc oxide (ZnO, n-type) and copper oxide (CuO, p-type) nanowires have been synthesized and preliminarily investigated as innovative materials for the fabrication of a proof-of-concept thermoelectric device. The Seebeck coefficients, electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power factors (TPF) of both semiconductor materials have been determined independently using a custom experimental set-u...

Zinc oxide (ZnO) microrods were fabricated on graphene/SiO(2)/Si substrate by a simple hydrothermal route. The obtained products were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, photoluminescence and UV-visible spectrometry. Microrods exhibits hexagonal wurzite structure. Some ZnO clusters and twinned ZnO structures were foun...

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and bacteriorhodopsin (bR) hybrid nanostructures were fabricated by immobilizing bR on ZnO thin films and ZnO nanorods. The morphological and spectroscopic analysis of the hybrid structures confirmed the ZnO thin film/nanorod growth and functional properties of bR. The photoactivity results of the bR protein further corroborated the sustainability of its charge transport proper...

Zinc oxide is a very interesting material for several technological applications. The properties of ZnO materials have been investigated and the influence of the 3D structure has been evaluated. Controlling experimental parameters is possible to obtain branched structures, which results in the preparation of materials presenting high surface area. Herein, we present a hydrothermal procedure to ...

The feather-like hierarchical zinc oxide (ZnO) was synthesized via successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction without any seed layer or metal catalyst. A possible growth mechanism is proposed to explain the forming process of ZnO feather-like structures. Meanwhile, the photo-electronic performances of the feather-like ZnO have been investigated with the UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, I-V and I-tm...

BACKGROUND It has recently been demonstrated that zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) induce death of cancerous cells whilst having no cytotoxic effect on normal cells. However, there are several issues which need to be resolved before translation of zinc oxide nanoparticles into medical use, including lack of suitable biocompatible dispersion protocols and a better understanding being needed of...