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Bottom-Up Approach a Route for Effective Photonics, Chemistry, Sensing, and Fabrication at Nanoscale

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 6744

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Dear Colleagues,

With a view to creating large-area nanostructures with reasonable speed and low cost, the bottom-up approach is extremely effective.

Researchers in the field have studied and continue to investigate the possibility of creating nano-patterned structures that improve: the energy conversion yield of photovoltaic cells, the sensitivity of detection of chemical species through SERS or resonant nano-antennas, the performance reactivity of chemical reactions on appropriate substrates, the manipulation of the polarization of light to manage information at the nanoscale, photon wavelength conversion efficiency for applications in nanophotonics or quantum optics, and so on.

These are just some of the applications that are benefiting from the bottom-up approach, ranging from nano-fabrication to nano-photonics, bio-imaging, chemistry production, and sensing, to information technology.

The realized structures can be completely different in shape and size, for example: hybrid metal nanoclusters with organic precursors, colloidal dispersions in liquid phase (e.g., micelles), planar structures on flat substrates, 3D scaffolds, and many others.

In this Special Issue, we would like to present both reviews of the different self-assembly techniques with their applications and new contributions with papers devoted to recent results. If you feel that your contribution fits with the aims of this Special Issue, you are kindly invited to participate in this project.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Belardini
Prof. Dr. Tomasz Szoplik
Guest Editors

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Keywords

self-assembly
nanophotonics
plasmonics
nano-optics
SERS
optical nonlinear conversion
photovoltaic conversion
sensing
imaging
chemical reaction
bottom-up approach

Published Papers (2 papers)

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10 pages, 2182 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hydroquinone-Based Fabrication of Gold Nanorods with a High Aspect Ratio and LSPR Greater than 850 nm to Be Used as a Surface Plasmon Resonance Platform for Rapid Detection of Thiophanate Methyl

by Hang Nguyen Thi Nhat, Ngoc Thuy Trang Le, Nguyen Thi Phuong Phong, Dai Hai Nguyen and Minh-Tri Nguyen-Le

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(10), 3654; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103654 - 25 May 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3649

Abstract

The use of gold nanorods (AuNRs) as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates has gained much attraction due to their remarkably aspect-ratio-dependent plasmonic properties. In this report, we described the development of AuNRs with a high aspect ratio and longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) >850 nm through a hydroquinone-based fabrication with minor modifications. The synthesis started with the reduction of chloroauric acid (HAuCl₄) by sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) to make gold nanoseeds from which AuNRs were grown with the aid of silver nitrate (AgNO₃), HAuCl₄, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and hydroquinone (HQ). Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Ultra-violet-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) were performed to study the shape, size, and structural and optical properties of AuNRs, respectively. The results showed that AuNRs with high aspect ratios (AR > 3) were single crystals with a heterogenous size distribution, and that the growth of Au nanoseeds into AuNRs took place along the [001] direction. AuNRs exhibited two plasmon resonance peaks at 520 nm and 903 nm, while gold nanoseeds had only a plasmon resonance peak at 521 nm. The as-synthesized AuNRs also showed SERS effects for thiophanate methyl, a broad-spectrum fungicide, with the limit of detection down to 5 mg/L of the fungicide. AuNR-coated glass can serve as a SERS-based sensing platform for rapid detection of thiophanate methyl with high sensitivity and reproducibility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bottom-Up Approach a Route for Effective Photonics, Chemistry, Sensing, and Fabrication at Nanoscale)

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Review

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24 pages, 5928 KiB

Open AccessReview

Nano- and Micropatterning on Optical Fibers by Bottom-Up Approach: The Importance of Being Ordered

by Marco Pisco and Francesco Galeotti

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 3254; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11073254 - 05 Apr 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2436

Abstract

The realization of advanced optical fiber probes demands the integration of materials and structures on optical fibers with micro- and nanoscale definition. Although researchers often choose complex nanofabrication tools to implement their designs, the migration from proof-of-principle devices to mass production lab-on-fiber devices requires the development of sustainable and reliable technology for cost-effective production. To make it possible, continuous efforts are devoted to applying bottom-up nanofabrication based on self-assembly to decorate the optical fiber with highly ordered photonic structures. The main challenges still pertain to “order” attainment and the limited number of implementable geometries. In this review, we try to shed light on the importance of self-assembled ordered patterns for lab-on-fiber technology. After a brief presentation of the light manipulation possibilities concerned with ordered structures, and of the new prospects offered by aperiodically ordered structures, we briefly recall how the bottom-up approach can be applied to create ordered patterns on the optical fiber. Then, we present un-attempted methodologies, which can enlarge the set of achievable structures, and can potentially improve the yielding rate in finely ordered self-assembled optical fiber probes by eliminating undesired defects and increasing the order by post-processing treatments. Finally, we discuss the available tools to quantify the degree of order in the obtained photonic structures, by suggesting the use of key performance figures of merit in order to systematically evaluate to what extent the pattern is really “ordered”. We hope such a collection of articles and discussion herein could inspire new directions and hint at best practices to fully exploit the benefits inherent to self-organization phenomena leading to ordered systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bottom-Up Approach a Route for Effective Photonics, Chemistry, Sensing, and Fabrication at Nanoscale)

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