A silica-supported CdS nanoparticle photocatalyst exhibits excellent visible-light driven H2 evolution activity without the use of a cocatalyst. The apparent quantum yield can reach 42% under 420 nm light illumination.

The electronic and optical properties of CdSe in two phases, cubic and wurtzite, have been studied by first principal calculations using the density functional theory. The optical parameters such as transmittance, optical absorption, refractive index and extinction coefficient have been investigated. We have calculated also the band structure, and total/partial density of state using the full p...

The findings presented in the article by Khan et al. (1) are very similar to findings that I and two colleagues reported more than 25 years ago (2). In that work, we also employed a flame-thermal treatment of Ti plates to prepare TiO2 films at different temperatures. We also demonstrated water splitting, but under sunlight rather than under artificial illumination. Whereas we reported an energy...

Searching for effective approaches of accelerating charge separation and broadening optical absorption is critical for designing a high-performance photocatalytic system. Herein, a photocatalyst based on the non-metal group doped porous ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets (CNB NS) was prepared through a combined methodology of precursor reforming and thermal condensation. The synergistic effect of non-...

We studied the electronic and atomic structures of anatase TiO2 codoped with Cr and N using hybrid density functional theory calculations. The nonlocal screened Hartree-Fock exchange energy is partially mixed with the traditional semilocal exchange energy. This not only patches the bandgap underestimation but also improves the description of the anion/cation-driven impurity states and the magne...

Room temperature near-IR phosphorescence of naphthalenediimide (NDI) was observed with N^N Pt(II) bisacetylide complex (Pt-NDI) in which the NDI was connected to Pt(II) center via acetylide. Pt-NDI shows intense absorption of visible light and long-lived NDI-localized excited state ((3)IL) (τ(T) = 22.3 μs). Pt-NDI was used as a triplet sensitizer for upconversion.

Invisibility cloaks, a subject that usually occurs in science fiction and myths, have attracted wide interest recently because of their possible realization. The biggest challenge to true invisibility is known to be the cloaking of a macroscopic object in the broad range of wavelengths visible to the human eye. Here we experimentally solve this problem by incorporating the principle of transfor...

In the course of a single decade single molecule microscopy has changed from being a secluded domain shared merely by physicists with a strong background in optics and laser physics to a discipline that is now enjoying vivid attention by life-scientists of all venues (1). This is because single molecule imaging has the unique potential to reveal protein behavior in situ in living cells and unco...

Triangular Ag nanoprisms are a type of most-studied noble-metal nanostructures over the past decade owing to their special structural architecture and outstanding optical and catalytic properties for a wide range of applications. Nevertheless, in contrast to active research for the synthesis of phase-pure Ag nanoprisms, no asymmetric heterodimers containing Ag prisms have been developed so far,...

A novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensor was fabricated based on N-doped TiO2 for the detection of Hg(2+) through the quenching of photogenerated electrons. The N-doped TiO2 was synthesized by a sol-gel method with urea and tetrabutyl titanate as the N and Ti sources. Compared with the undoped TiO2, the N-doped TiO2 showed an enhanced photocurrent response under visible light (λ > 420 nm). ...