Pyrene chromophores carrying different rigid rod spacer groups (ethynylene, ethynylene-phenylene-ethynylene, and ethynylene-bicyclo[2.2.2]octylene-ethynylene) and bound to TiO2 nanostructured materials via an isophthalic acid (Ipa) anchor group have been investigated using quantum chemical calculations in order to elucidate structural and electronic properties of dye-sensitized semiconductor st...

BACKGROUND Substrate nanoscale topography influences cell proliferation and differentiation through mechanisms that are at present poorly understood. In particular the molecular mechanism through which cells 'sense' and adapt to the substrate and activate specific intracellular signals, influencing cells survival and behavior, remains to be clarified. RESULTS To characterize these processes a...

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Here we present the first successful attempt to programme the surface properties of nanostructured soft biological tissues by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The nanopatterned surface of lotus leaf was tuned by 3-125 nm TiO2 thin films. The lotus/TiO2 composites were studied by SEM-EDX, XPS, Raman, TG-DTA, XRR, water contact angle and photocatalysis measurements. While we could preserve the supe...

Nanostructured TiO2 has attracted much attention for a variety of applications including photocatalysts, electrodes for water photolysis, dye-sensitized solar cells, and gas sensors. In this work we report on TiO2 fiber mats for use in gas sensors demonstrating exceptionally high sensitivity to NO2, a toxic gas responsible for acid rain and other air pollution effects, and high sensitivity to H...

Photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy was used to investigate dye-sensitized electrodes and solar cells under illumination conditions comparable to sunlight. In the absence of redox electrolyte, cis-RuðdcbpyÞ2ðNCSÞ2-sensitized nanostructured TiO2 films show a long-lived photoinduced charge-separation (oxidized dye molecules/injected electrons in TiO2), with a lifetime of about 10 3 s under...

Charge transport is one of the five main steps in the operation of organic photovoltaics, but achieving balanced hole and electron transport with high mobility has been challenging in devices. Here, we report improved charge transport in organic photovoltaics via incorporation of nanostructured inorganic electron transport materials into the active layers of devices. Co-depositing TiO2 nanowire...

Quasi-one-dimensional (1D) titania nanobundles were synthesized via a hydrothermal method and used to print random network nanostructured films. These films are shown to be ideally suited for application as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) as they have a higher porosity compared to the traditional 1D nanostructured TiO2 materials. Devices constructed using the N719 dye and iodid...

Anodization has been widely used to synthesize nanostructured TiO2 films with promising photocatalytic performance for solar hydrogen production and pollution removal. However, it usually takes a few hours to obtain the right nanostructures even on a small scale (e.g., 10 mm × 20 mm). In order to attract interest for industrial applications, fast and large-scale fabrication is highly desirable....