Photocatalytically active nanostructures require a large specific surface area with the presence of many catalytically active sites for the oxidation and reduction half reactions, and fast electron (hole) diffusion and charge separation. Nanowires present suitable architectures to meet these requirements. Axially segmented Ag|ZnO and radially segmented (coaxial) TiO2-Ag nanowires with a diamete...

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...

Highly aligned Cu2O, Cu2O/CuO, Cu2O/CuO/TiO2 and Cu2O/TiO2 nanowires arrays on Au substrates were prepared by controlled air annealing of the electrodeposited Cu nanowires and furthered with dip coating. Photoelectrochemical investigations were carried out to determine their potential as photocathodes for water photo-reduction. The photocurrent of the Cu2O nanowires photocathode was found to be...

A simple biotemplating method for the synthesis of silica (SiO2) and titania (TiO2) nanowires was designed on a fibrillar protein (alpha-synuclein) template. The diameter of SiO2 and TiO2 nanowires could be varied, between 20-100 nm, by varying the processing conditions. The nanowires were characterized by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Due to...

The feasibility of synthesizing metal–oxide–metal (MOM) heterojunction nanowires in the Au–TiO2–Au system is demonstrated. The synthesis method presented here entails sequential electroplating of Au and electro-deposition of amorphous titanium oxide (TiOx ) inside nanoholes of anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) templates. This is followed by dissolving the template, and heat-treating the released nan...

TiO2 nanostructures, including nanowires, highly ordered nanotube arrays, and single crystalline nanoplates, were obtained from electrochemically anodized Ti foil in a fluorine-containing ethylene glycol electrolyte. The TiO2 nanowires, formed by the electric field induced chemical splitting of TiO2 nanotubes by fluoride ions during a lengthy anodization can be isolated from the nanotube arrays...

Silver nanowire-based flexible transparent electrodes have critical problem, in spite of their excellent electrical and optical properties, that the electrical conductance and transparency degrade within several days in air because of oxidation of silver. To prevent the degradation of the silver nanowire, we encapsulated Ag-NWs with thin TiO2 barrier. Bar-coated silver nanowires on flexible pol...

Unique nanorod-like mesocrystals constructed from ultrathin rutile TiO2 nanowires were successfully fabricated for the first time using a low-temperature additive-free synthetic route, and the mesocrystal formation requirements and mechanism in the absence of polymer additives were discussed. The ultrathin nanowires were highly crystalline and their diameters were found to be ca. 3–5 nm. The ru...

Single crystalline tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires have been synthesized by carbothermal reduction of SnO2 nanopowder followed by thermal evaporation of the reduced precursor and growth via the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism. The nanowires are deposited on single crystalline TiO2 substrates of orientations of (100) and (110) that are coated with a thin film and colloids of gold (Au) catal...

In this paper, TiO2 nanowires (NWs) on Ti foils were prepared using a simple hydrothermal approach and annealing treatment. CdS quantum dots (QDs) were assembled onto the crystallized TiO2 NWs by sequential chemical bath deposition. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra showed that CdS adds bands in the visible to the TiO2 absorption and exhibited a broad absorption band in the visible region,...