While graphene may appear to be the ultimate support membrane for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of DNA nanostructures, very little is known if it poses an advantage over conventional carbon supports in terms of resolution and contrast. Microscopic investigations are carried out on DNA origami nanoplates that are supported onto freestanding graphene, using advanced TEM technique...

Photocatalytic conversion of solar energy to chemical energy is an efficient process in green chemistry because it facilitates room temperature chemical transformations by generating electronically excited states in photocatalysts. We report here on the robust synthesis, detailed structural characterization, and especially photocatalytic properties of plasmonic Pd hexagonal nanoplates for chemi...

Anisotropic colloidal quasi-two-dimensional nanoplates (NPLs) hold great promise as functional materials due to their combination of low dimensional optoelectronic properties and versatility through colloidal synthesis. Recently, lead-halide perovskites have emerged as important optoelectronic materials with excellent efficiencies in photovoltaic and light-emitting applications. Here we report ...

Two-dimensional nanomaterials, especially graphene and single- or few-layer transition metal dichalcogenide nanosheets, have attracted great research interest in recent years due to their distinctive physical, chemical and electronic properties as well as their great potentials for a broad range of applications. Recently, great efforts have also been devoted to the controlled synthesis of thin ...

Silver nanoparticles deposited on quartz substrates are widely used as SERS substrates. The nanoparticles can be deposited directly from colloidal solution by dipping technique. However, the adhesion of the particles on the quartz surface is very poor. Normally the substrate is pre-treated with hydroxylation or silanisation process. In this paper, we have demonstrated that the application of th...

Surface plasmons based on metallic nanostructures enable light manipulation beyond the optical diffraction limit. We have epitaxially synthesized twin-free single-crystal Ag nanoplates on SrTiO3 substrates. Unlike the nanoplates synthesized in a solution phase, these nanoplates have perfectly clean surfaces as well as a quite large size of tens of micrometers. As-synthesized defect-free single-...

Owing to far-ranging industrial applications and theoretical researches, tailored synthesis of well-defined nanocrystals has attracted substantial research interest. Herein, β-AgI nanoplates have been synthesized through a facile polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-assisted-aqueous-solution (PAAS) method under mild conditions. The parametric studies on the effect of ratio of reactants, solvents and surf...

Mirrors and optical cavities can modify and enhance matter-radiation interactions. Here we report that chemically synthesized Au nanoplates can serve as micrometer-size mirrors that enhance electrodynamic interactions. Because of their plasmonic properties, the Au nanoplates enhance the brightness of scattered light from Ag nanoparticles near the nanoplate surface in dark-field microscopy. More...

Semiconducting bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanoplates with unique highly oriented {001} surfaces were prepared on a large scale using a novel organic precursor Bi(DTCA)3 (DTCA = carbazole-9-carbodithioic acid). The as-prepared Bi2S3 nanoplates were dispersed in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and spin-coated onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate. With a simple ITO/Bi2S3/Al stacked structu...

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors are important tools in the fields of optical imaging, environmental monitoring, and air and water sterilization, as well as flame sensing and early rocket plume detection. Herein, hexagonal-like Nb₂O₅ nanoplates are synthesized using a facile solvothermal method. UV photodetectors based on single Nb₂O₅ nanoplates are constructed and the optoelectronic properties ...