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Materials Light Life
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Materials Light Life

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical and Photonic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2022) | Viewed by 11750

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Nikolaos A. Vainos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Interests: photonic materials; laser micro and nanofabrication; soft-lithography and nanoimprinting; optoelectronic devices; optical design and imaging technology

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

The interaction of light and matter is what created and sustains life on earth. From the disputed abiogenesis to the modern quantum devices, the exchange of energy and momentum between light and the elements of nature preserves our living world.

This special issue on “Materials Light Life” addresses such interrelations, with a scope to elucidate novel interdisciplinary approaches and synergies in Materials Science. Envisioning emerging materials and devices, the collection aspires toward a better living environment by exploring novel functionalities of nanomaterials and nanostructures. It calls for fundamental and applied research on materials technologies and interactions with light for improving life in tomorrow’s environment. Specific topics focus on materials and nanotechnologies for environmental protection, bio-sensing, energy and illumination, and art and culture. Authors are welcome to elaborate themes of their specific research interests, though strictly appreciating the scope of this special issue.

Prof. Dr. Nikolaos A. Vainos
Guest Editor

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. Materials 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 2600 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.

Keywords

  • materials nanostructures 
  • nanophotonics 
  • metamaterials 
  • plasmonics 
  • sensors 
  • biosensors 
  • light harvesters and illuminators 
  • photonics in art and culture 
  • novel photonic materials and device fabrication

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 1410 KiB  
Article
Sub-ps Pulsed Laser Deposition of Boron Films for Neutron Detector Applications
by Maria Luisa De Giorgi, Muhammad Rizwan Aziz, Alexandra Manousaki, Alessio Perrone and Argyro Klini
Materials 2023, 16(4), 1512; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16041512 - 11 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1029
Abstract
In view of the demand for high-quality thermal neutron detectors, boron films have recently attracted widespread research interest because of their special properties. In this work, we report on the deposition of boron films on silicon substrates by sub-picosecond pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [...] Read more.
In view of the demand for high-quality thermal neutron detectors, boron films have recently attracted widespread research interest because of their special properties. In this work, we report on the deposition of boron films on silicon substrates by sub-picosecond pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at room temperature. Particular emphasis was placed on the investigation of the effect of the laser energy density (fluence) on the ablation process of the target material, as well as on the morphological properties of the resulting films. In addition, based on the study of the ablation and deposition rates as a function of the fluence, the ablation/deposition mechanisms are discussed. We show that well-adherent and stable boron films, with good quality surfaces revealing a good surface flatness and absence of cracks, can be obtained by means of the PLD technique, which proves to be a reliable and reproducible method for the fabrication of thick boron coatings that are suitable for neutron detection technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials Light Life)
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12 pages, 5418 KiB  
Article
Sub-ps Laser Deposited Copper Films for Application in RF Guns
by Antonella Lorusso, Zsolt Kovács, Barnabás Gilicze, Sándor Szatmári, Alessio Perrone and Tamás Szörényi
Materials 2023, 16(3), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16031267 - 02 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1140
Abstract
Copper thin films are intended to serve as a cover layer of photocathodes that are deposited by ablating copper targets in a high vacuum by temporally clean 600 fs laser pulses at 248 nm. The extremely forward-peaked plume produced by the ultrashort UV [...] Read more.
Copper thin films are intended to serve as a cover layer of photocathodes that are deposited by ablating copper targets in a high vacuum by temporally clean 600 fs laser pulses at 248 nm. The extremely forward-peaked plume produced by the ultrashort UV pulses of high-energy contrast ensures fast film growth. The deposition rate, defined as peak thickness per number of pulses, rises from 0.03 to 0.11 nm/pulse with an increasing ablated area while keeping the pulse energy constant. The material distribution over the surface-to-be-coated can also effectively be controlled by tuning the dimensions of the ablated area: surface patterning from airbrush-like to broad strokes is available. The well-adhering films of uniform surface morphology consist of densely packed lentil-like particles of several hundred nm in diameter and several ten nm in height. Task-optimized ultrashort UV laser deposition is thereby an effective approach for the production of thin film patterns of predetermined geometry, serving e.g., as critical parts of photocathodes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials Light Life)
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12 pages, 4742 KiB  
Article
A Novel Red-Emitting Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ Phosphor with Ultrahigh Color Purity for Warm White Lighting and Wide-Gamut Backlight Displays
by Jingshan Hou, Wenxiang Yin, Langping Dong, Yang Li, Yufeng Liu, Zhifu Liu, Guoying Zhao, Ganghua Zhang and Yongzheng Fang
Materials 2021, 14(18), 5317; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14185317 - 15 Sep 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2145
Abstract
In this work, a novel red-emitting oxyfluoride phosphor Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ with an ultra-intense zero-phonon line (ZPL) was successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The phase composition and luminescent properties of Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ were studied in detail. [...] Read more.
In this work, a novel red-emitting oxyfluoride phosphor Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ with an ultra-intense zero-phonon line (ZPL) was successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The phase composition and luminescent properties of Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ were studied in detail. The photoluminescence excitation spectrum contains two intense excitation bands centered at 369 and 470 nm, which match well with commercial UV and blue light-emitting diode (LED) chips. When excited by 470 nm blue light, Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ exhibits red light emission dominated by ZPL. Notably, the color purity of the Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ red phosphor can reach 99.9%. Meanwhile, the Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ phosphor has a shorter fluorescence decay time than commercial K2SiF6:Mn4+, which is conducive to fast switching of images in display applications. Profiting from the intense ZPL, white light-emitting diode (WLED) with high color rendering index of Ra = 86.2 and low correlated color temperature of Tc = 3133 K is realized using yellow YAG:Ce3+ and red Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ phosphor. The WLED fabricated using CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) and red Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ phosphor shows a wide color gamut of 127.56% NTSC (National Television Standard Committee). The results show that red-emitting Na2NbOF5:Mn4+ phosphor has potential application prospects in WLED lighting and display backlight. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials Light Life)
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12 pages, 1271 KiB  
Communication
Studies towards the Synthesis of Novel 3-Aminopropoxy-Substituted Dioxins Suitable for the Development of Aptamers for Photonic Biosensor Applications
by Stefania Kalantzi, Sofia Leonardi, Eleanna Vachlioti, Eleni G. Kaliatsi, Κοnstantina Papachristopoulou, Constantinos Stathopoulos, Nikolaos Vainos and Dionissios Papaioannou
Materials 2021, 14(16), 4727; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14164727 - 21 Aug 2021
Viewed by 1856
Abstract
Hydroxy-substituted tetrachlorodibenzo[b,e][1,4]dioxin and tetrachlorodibenzo[b,d]furans have been synthesized using 3,4-dichloroanisole, 2,3,6-trichlorophenol and 4,5-dichlorocatechol as starting materials and electrophilic and/or nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions for the assembly of the dibenzo[b,e][1,4]dioxin and dibenzo[b,d]furan systems. The thus-obtained phenolic compounds [...] Read more.
Hydroxy-substituted tetrachlorodibenzo[b,e][1,4]dioxin and tetrachlorodibenzo[b,d]furans have been synthesized using 3,4-dichloroanisole, 2,3,6-trichlorophenol and 4,5-dichlorocatechol as starting materials and electrophilic and/or nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions for the assembly of the dibenzo[b,e][1,4]dioxin and dibenzo[b,d]furan systems. The thus-obtained phenolic compounds were then alkylated with N-1-(4,4-dimethyl-2,6-dioxocyclohexylidene)ethyl (Dde)-protected 3-bromopropan-1-amine to give the corresponding N-Dde protected 3-aminopropoxy-substituted tetrachlorodibenzo[b,e][1,4]dioxin and tetrachlorodibenzo[b,d]furans, respectively. Hydrazinolysis-mediated Dde removal from the former compound provided the corresponding amino-substituted dioxin, which was coupled to carboxy-substituted magnetic beads affording magnetic beads coated by the amino-substituted dioxin. The latter is an attractive intermediate for the development of selective single-standard DNA (ssDNA) aptamers, which constitute molecular recognition elements in photonic biosensors with potential application to the monitoring of the dangerous environmental pollutants, dioxins having serious implications in human health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials Light Life)
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12 pages, 5455 KiB  
Article
Eco-Friendly Lead-Free Solder Paste Printing via Laser-Induced Forward Transfer for the Assembly of Ultra-Fine Pitch Electronic Components
by Marina Makrygianni, Filimon Zacharatos, Kostas Andritsos, Ioannis Theodorakos, Dimitris Reppas, Nikolaos Oikonomidis, Christos Spandonidis and Ioanna Zergioti
Materials 2021, 14(12), 3353; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14123353 - 17 Jun 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2370
Abstract
Current challenges in printed circuit board (PCB) assembly require high-resolution deposition of ultra-fine pitch components (<0.3 mm and <60 μm respectively), high throughput and compatibility with flexible substrates, which are poorly met by the conventional deposition techniques (e.g., stencil printing). Laser-Induced Forward Transfer [...] Read more.
Current challenges in printed circuit board (PCB) assembly require high-resolution deposition of ultra-fine pitch components (<0.3 mm and <60 μm respectively), high throughput and compatibility with flexible substrates, which are poorly met by the conventional deposition techniques (e.g., stencil printing). Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT) constitutes an excellent alternative for assembly of electronic components: it is fully compatible with lead-free soldering materials and offers high-resolution printing of solder paste bumps (<60 μm) and throughput (up to 10,000 pads/s). In this work, the laser-process conditions which allow control over the transfer of solder paste bumps and arrays, with form factors in line with the features of fine pitch PCBs, are investigated. The study of solder paste as a function of donor/receiver gap confirmed that controllable printing of bumps containing many microparticles is feasible for a gap < 100 μm from a donor layer thickness set at 100 and 150 μm. The transfer of solder bumps with resolution < 100 μm and solder micropatterns on different substrates, including PCB and silver pads, have been achieved. Finally, the successful operation of a LED interconnected to a pin connector bonded to a laser-printed solder micro-pattern was demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials Light Life)
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16 pages, 3807 KiB  
Article
Sulfur Detection in Soil by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Assisted by Multivariate Analysis
by Odhisea Gazeli, Dimitrios Stefas and Stelios Couris
Materials 2021, 14(3), 541; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14030541 - 23 Jan 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2467
Abstract
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is used for the detection and determination of sulfur content in some organic soil samples. The most suitable sulfur spectral lines for such tasks were found to occur in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral region and they were used [...] Read more.
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is used for the detection and determination of sulfur content in some organic soil samples. The most suitable sulfur spectral lines for such tasks were found to occur in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral region and they were used for the construction of calibration curves. For the analysis, both univariate and multivariate statistical models were employed. The results obtained by the different analysis techniques are evaluated and compared. The present study demonstrates both the applicability and efficiency of LIBS for fast sulfur detection in soil matrices when aided by multivariate analysis methods improving the accuracy and extending the potential use of LIBS in such applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials Light Life)
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