applsci-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

10th Anniversary of Applied Sciences: Invited Papers in Nanotechnology and Applied Nanosciences Section

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanotechnology and Applied Nanosciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 16527

Special Issue Editors


grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Physics, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, B-5000 Namur, Belgium
Interests: theoretical solid-state physics; nanosciences; structural; mechanical and electronic properties of carbon nanomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA), Universidad de Zaragoza, Calle Mariano Esquillor, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: transmission electron microscopy; EELS; in-situ/in-operando TEM measurements; 2D materials; carbon nanomaterials; boron nitride; nanotubes; electron tomography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Section "Nanotechnology and Applied Nanosciences" of Applied Sciences covers an important domain of research and development. At present, this field has reached such a mature level that real-life applications of nanosciences have become a reality. Many domains of activities are concerned, ranging from health sciences to the oil industry, including cosmetics, agriculture, aeronautics, communications, energy, etc.

This Special Issue intends to gather moderate-sized review papers featuring important and recent developments or achievements of nanosciences with a special emphasis on real or potential applications. The authors are well-known experts in their domain who are invited to submit their contribution at any moment from now to the end of October 2020. The papers can cover either experimental or theoretical aspects or both. Synthesis, fabrication, manipulation, characterization, etc. of nanostructures, properties of materials in a broad sense containing nanostructures, design of nano-devices, etc. are among the main topics.

Prof. Dr. Philippe Lambin
Prof. Dr. Raul Arenal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

9 pages, 2841 KiB  
Article
Solution-Processed NiO as a Hole Injection Layer for Stable Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes
by Sangwon Lee, Youngjin Kim and Jiwan Kim
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4422; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11104422 - 13 May 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3094
Abstract
In this work, we fabricated quantum dot light-emitting diodes using solution-processed NiO as the hole injection layer to replace the commonly used poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene-sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer. We successfully prepared NiO films by spin coating the NiO precursor, then annealing them, and then treating [...] Read more.
In this work, we fabricated quantum dot light-emitting diodes using solution-processed NiO as the hole injection layer to replace the commonly used poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene-sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer. We successfully prepared NiO films by spin coating the NiO precursor, then annealing them, and then treating them with UV-ozone under optimized conditions. The best device with the NiO film shows higher current efficiency (25.1 cd/A) than that with the PEDOT:PSS layer (22.3 cd/A). Moreover, the long-term stability of the devices with NiO which is annealed at 500 °C is improved substantially. These results suggest that the NiO layer can be a good alternative for developing stable devices. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 4151 KiB  
Article
Fluidization Dynamics of Hydrophobic Nanosilica with Velocity Step Changes
by Ebrahim H. Al-Ghurabi, Mohammad Asif, Nadavala Siva Kumar and Sher Afghan Khan
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(22), 8127; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10228127 - 17 Nov 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2133
Abstract
Nanosilica is widely used in various applications, with its market expected to grow over USD 5 billion by 2025. The fluidized bed technology, owing to its intimate contact and efficient mixing of phases, is ideally suited for the large scale processing of powders. [...] Read more.
Nanosilica is widely used in various applications, with its market expected to grow over USD 5 billion by 2025. The fluidized bed technology, owing to its intimate contact and efficient mixing of phases, is ideally suited for the large scale processing of powders. However, the bulk processing and dispersion of ultrafine nanosilica using the fluidized bed technology are critically affected by the interparticle forces, such that the hydrophilic nanosilica shows agglomerate bubbling fluidization (ABF), while the hydrophobic nanosilica undergoes agglomerate particulate fluidization (APF). This study carried out a detailed investigation into the fluidization hydrodynamic of the hydrophobic nanosilica by monitoring the region-wise dynamics of the fluidized bed subjected to a regular step change of fixed duration in the gas velocity. The gas flow was controlled using a mass controller operated with an analog output signal from a data acquisition system. The analog input data were acquired at the sampling rate of 100 Hz and analyzed in both time and temporal frequency domains. The effect of velocity transients on the bed dynamics was quickly mitigated and appeared as lower frequency events, especially in regions away from the distributor. Despite the apparent particulate nature of the fluidization, strong hysteresis was observed in both pressure drop and bed expansion. Moreover, the fully fluidized bed’s pressure drop was less than 75% of the theoretical value even though the bed appeared to free from non-homogeneities. Key fluidization parameters, e.g., minimum fluidization velocity (Umf) and the agglomerate size, were evaluated, which can be readily used in the large scale processing of nanosilica powders using fluidized bed technology. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

42 pages, 7543 KiB  
Article
Parametric Mapping of Quantum Regime in Fenna–Matthews–Olson Light-Harvesting Complexes: A Synthetic Review of Models, Methods and Approaches
by Bruno González-Soria, Francisco Delgado and Alan Anaya-Morales
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(18), 6474; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186474 - 17 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3821
Abstract
Developments in ultrafast-spectroscopy techniques have revealed notably long-lived quantum coherence between electronic states in Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex bacteriochlorophylls, a group of molecules setting a nanoscale structure responsible of the coherent energy transfer in the photosynthetic process of green sulfur bacteria. Despite the experimental advances, [...] Read more.
Developments in ultrafast-spectroscopy techniques have revealed notably long-lived quantum coherence between electronic states in Fenna–Matthews–Olson complex bacteriochlorophylls, a group of molecules setting a nanoscale structure responsible of the coherent energy transfer in the photosynthetic process of green sulfur bacteria. Despite the experimental advances, such a task should normally be complemented with physical computer simulations to understand its complexity. Several methods have been explored to model this quantum phenomenon, mainly using the quantum open systems theory as a first approach. The traditional methods used in this approach do not take into account the memory effects of the surroundings, which is commonly approximated as a phonon bath on thermal equilibrium. To surpass such an approximation, this article applies the Hierarchical Equations of Motion method, a non-markovian approach also used to analyze the dynamic of such a complex, for the modeling of the system evolution. We perform a parametric analysis about some physical features in the quantum regime involved during the quantum excitation process in order to get a comprehension about its non-trivial dependence on operation parameters. Thus, the analysis is conducted in terms of some relevant physical parameters in the system to track the complex global behavior in aspects as coherence, entanglement, decoherence times, transference times, and efficiency of the main process of energy capturing. As a complementary analysis from the derived outcomes, we compare those features for two different species as a suggestive possible roadmap to track genetic differences in the photosynthetic performance of the complex through its biological nature. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 4883 KiB  
Article
Synthesis, Characterization and Evaluation of the Antibiofouling Potential of Some Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticles
by Lucía Blanco-Covián, José Ramón Campello-García, María Carmen Blanco-López and Manuel Miranda-Martínez
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(17), 5864; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10175864 - 24 Aug 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3155
Abstract
This study explores the potential antibiofouling capacity of coatings based on mixes of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA)-glutaraldehyde (GA) incorporating additions of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles (TiO2, ZnO, CuO, AgNPs and Ag-TiO2NPs). Such a kind of hybrid polymer-nanoparticle mix [...] Read more.
This study explores the potential antibiofouling capacity of coatings based on mixes of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA)-glutaraldehyde (GA) incorporating additions of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles (TiO2, ZnO, CuO, AgNPs and Ag-TiO2NPs). Such a kind of hybrid polymer-nanoparticle mix (PVA/GA/ nanoparticles (NPs)) was uniformly applied by spin coating on the surface of a laboratory raceway and tested in freshwater loaded with green algae communities. The results showed PVA/GA was a convenient carrier for the nanoparticles tested. Image analysis of the coatings showed that Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited a significant improvement of the antibiofouling effect when compared with that of AgNPs and TiO2-NPs. The effect of the Ag-TiO2 NPs loaded coating about four times better than that of ZnO-NPs. A consistent experimental methodology was developed to test the antibiofouling capacity of the coatings and the hybrid coatings developed have demonstrated promising results as environmentally friendly antibiofouling materials. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

9 pages, 3182 KiB  
Article
Configurational Effects on Strain and Doping at Graphene-Silver Nanowire Interfaces
by Frank Lee, Manoj Tripathi, Peter Lynch and Alan B. Dalton
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(15), 5157; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10155157 - 27 Jul 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3007
Abstract
Graphene shows substrate-dependent physical and electronic properties. Here, we presented the interaction between single-layer graphene and silver nanowire (AgNW) in terms of physical straining and doping. We observed a snap-through event for single-layer graphene/AgNW at a separation of AgNWs of 55 nm, beyond [...] Read more.
Graphene shows substrate-dependent physical and electronic properties. Here, we presented the interaction between single-layer graphene and silver nanowire (AgNW) in terms of physical straining and doping. We observed a snap-through event for single-layer graphene/AgNW at a separation of AgNWs of 55 nm, beyond the graphene suspended over the nanowires. The adhesion force between the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tip apex and the suspended graphene was measured as higher than the conformed one by 1.8 nN. The presence of AgNW modulates the Fermi energy level of graphene and reduces the work function by 0.25 eV, which results in n-type doping. Consequently, a lateral p-n-p junction is formed with single AgNW. The correlation Raman plot between G-2D modes reveals the increment of strain in graphene of 0.05% due to the curvature around AgNW, and 0.01% when AgNW lies on the top of graphene. These results provide essential information in inspecting the physical and electronic influences from AgNW. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop