In order to fabricate transparent TiO2 nanotube dye-sensitized solar cells, anodically growth nanotube membranes are detached from Ti substrate by a re-anodization method. The membranes are transferred on FTO glass by two different methods. At the first one, 100mM Tiisopropoxide is used to make TiO2 nanoparticles for adhering TiO2 nanotube membranes to FTO and in the second one a commercial TiO...

Gold nanoparticles with two different size distributions (average sizes of ∼1.5 and ∼5 nm) have been synthesized by inverse micelle encapsulation and deposited on reducible (TiO2) and nonreducible (SiO2) supports. The thermal and chemical stability of oxidized gold species formed upon cluster exposure to atomic oxygen have been investigated in ultrahigh vacuum using a combination of temperature...

A novel Ag-alumina hybrid SERS platform has been designed for the spectroscopic detection of surface reactions in steady state. Single crystalline and faceted silver (Ag) nanoparticles with strong light scattering were prepared in large quantity, which enables their reproducible self-assembly into large scale monolayers of Raman sensor arrays by Langmuir-Blodgett technique. The close packed sen...

We describe an experimental method to probe the adsorption of water at the surface of isolated, substrate-free TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) based on soft X-ray spectroscopy in the gas phase using synchrotron radiation. To understand the interfacial properties between water and TiO2 surface, a water shell was adsorbed at the surface of TiO2 NPs. We used two different ways to control the hydration le...

This paper reports the effects of the seed layers prepared by spin-coating and dip-coating methods on the morphology and density of ZnO nanowire arrays, thus on the performance of ZnO nanowire-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The nanowire films with the thick ZnO buffer layer (*0.8–1 lm thick) can improve the open circuit voltage of the DSSCs through suppressing carrier recombination, ...

There are currently great needs to develop low-cost inorganic materials that can efficiently perform solar water splitting as photoelectrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen has significant potential to provide clean energy. We investigate the Si/TiO2 nanowire heterostructures to determine their potential for the photooxidation of water. We observed that highly dense Si/TiO2 core/shell nano...

In this work, vertically aligned TiO2 nanowires (TiO2-NWs) and Ag nanoparticle (Ag-NP)-assisted aligned TiO2 (TAT-NWs) were deposited on glass flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates using the glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. The morphology structural analysis of samples manifest successful TiO2-NWs TAT-NWs. high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) image...

Direct observations using scanning transmission electron microscopy unveil an intriguing interfacial bi-layer that enables epitaxial growth of a strain-free, monoclinic, bronze-phase VO2(B) thin film on a perovskite SrTiO3 (STO) substrate. We observe an ultrathin (2-3 unit cells) interlayer best described as highly strained VO2(B) nanodomains combined with an extra (Ti,V)O2 layer on the TiO2 te...

Post-deposition annealing effects on nanomechanical properties of granular TiO2 films on soda-lime glass substrates were studied. In particular, the effects of Na diffusion on the films' mechanical properties were examined. TiO2 photocatalyst films, 330 nm thick, were prepared by dip-coating using a TiO2 sol, and were annealed between 100 °C and 500 °C. Film's morphology, physical and nanomecha...

In the field of orthopedics, magnesium (Mg) and magnesium-based composites as biodegradable materials have attracted fundamental research. However, the medical applications of magnesium implants have been restricted owing to their poor corrosion resistance, especially in the physiological environment. To improve the corrosion resistance of Mg/HA/TiO2 nanocomposites, monolayer MgO and double-lay...