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Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Nanostructures Processing, Structure and Properties: Volume II

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Theory and Simulation of Nanostructures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2024 | Viewed by 3835

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Prof. Dr. Mustapha Jouiad

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Laboratory of Physics of Condensed Matter (LPMC), University of Picardie Jules Verne, Scientific Pole, 33 Rue Saint-Leu, CEDEX 1, 80039 Amiens, France
Interests: nanomaterials for energy; multiscale characterization; water electrolysis
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Dear Colleagues,

The increasing demand for nanotechnology in various industrial sectors has prompted scientists to customize materials’ design and properties for targeted properties. Recently developed nanomaterials are complex with a continuous reduced size and dimensions. Dedicated processing routes have emerged to accompany this development, yielding to low-dimensional materials with tunable properties for targeted application.

To accommodate the processing of these nanomaterials, advanced characterization techniques have emerged as key tools to evaluate their properties. Concomitantly, various numerical modeling strategies accounting for the size and the confinement effects and phase intermixing have been used to comprehend the physics underlying these properties and provide reliable predictions.

In this context, this Special Issue titled “Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Nanostructures Processing, Structure and Properties: Volume II” offers an opportunity to authors to share their views on current developments in the field, in terms of fundamental scientific bottlenecks posed by nanostructures and their technological applications.

Prof. Dr. Mustapha Jouiad
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.

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Keywords

low-dimensional materials (0D, 1D, and 2D materials)
physical and chemical processing
advanced materials characterization
numerical modeling (finite element, phase field, DFT, FDTD)
experimental Modeling

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 5138 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strong Intermixing Effects of LFO_1−x/STO_x toward the Development of Efficient Photoanodes for Photoelectrocatalytic Applications

by Yassine Nassereddine, Manal Benyoussef, Nitul S. Rajput, Sébastien Saitzek, Mimoun El Marssi and Mustapha Jouiad

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(21), 2863; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13212863 - 29 Oct 2023

Viewed by 905

Abstract

Aiming to improve the photocatalytic properties of transition metal perovskites to be used as robust photoanodes, [LaFeO₃]_1−x/[SrTiO₃]_x nanocomposites (LFO_1−x/STO_x) are considered. This hybrid structure combines good semiconducting properties and an interesting intrinsic remanent polarization. All the studied samples were fabricated using a solid-state method followed by high-energy ball milling, and they were subsequently deposited by spray coating. The synthesized compounds were demonstrated to possess orthorhombic (Pnma) and cubic (Pm

\bar{3}

m) structures for LFO and STO, respectively, with an average grain size of 55–70 nm. The LFO_1−x/STO_x nanocomposites appeared to exhibit high visible light absorption, corresponding to band gaps of 2.17–3.21 eV. Our findings show that LFO_0.5/STO_0.5 is the optimized heterostructure; it achieved a high photocurrent density of 11 μA/cm² at 1.23 V bias vs. RHE and an applied bias photo-to-current efficiency of 4.1 × 10⁻³% at 0.76 V vs. RHE, as demonstrated by the photoelectrochemical measurements. These results underline the role of the two phases intermixing LFO and STO at the appropriate content to yield a high-performing photoanode ascribed to efficient charge separation and transfer. This suggests that LFO_0.5/STO_0.5 could be a potential candidate for the development of efficient photoanodes for hydrogen generation via photoelectrocatalytic water splitting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Nanostructures Processing, Structure and Properties: Volume II)

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14 pages, 9331 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Si-Based Polarizer and 1-Bit Phase-Controlled Non-Polarizing Beam Splitter-Based Integrated Metasurface for Extended Shortwave Infrared

by Leidong Shi, Lidan Lu, Weiqiang Chen, Guang Chen, Yanlin He, Guanghui Ren and Lianqing Zhu

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(18), 2592; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13182592 - 19 Sep 2023

Viewed by 761

Abstract

Metasurfaces, composed of micro-nano-structured planar materials, offer highly tunable control over incident light and find significant applications in imaging, navigation, and sensing. However, highly efficient polarization devices are scarce for the extended shortwave infrared (ESWIR) range (1.7~2.5 μm). This paper proposes and demonstrates a highly efficient all-dielectric diatomic metasurface composed of single-crystalline Si nanocylinders and nanocubes on SiO₂. This metasurface can serve as a nanoscale linear polarizer for generating polarization-angle-controllable linearly polarized light. At the wavelength of 2172 nm, the maximum transmission efficiency, extinction ratio, and linear polarization degree can reach 93.43%, 45.06 dB, and 0.9973, respectively. Moreover, a nonpolarizing beam splitter (NPBS) was designed and deduced theoretically based on this polarizer, which can achieve a splitting angle of ±13.18° and a phase difference of π. This beam splitter can be equivalently represented as an integration of a linear polarizer with controllable polarization angles and an NPBS with one-bit phase modulation. It is envisaged that through further design optimization, the phase tuning range of the metasurface can be expanded, allowing for the extension of the operational wavelength into the mid-wave infrared range, and the splitting angle is adjustable. Moreover, it can be utilized for integrated polarization detectors and be a potential application for optical digital encoding metasurfaces. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Nanostructures Processing, Structure and Properties: Volume II)

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27 pages, 3893 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Increasing the Accuracy of the Characterization of a Thin Semiconductor or Dielectric Film on a Substrate from Only One Quasi-Normal Incidence UV/Vis/NIR Reflectance Spectrum of the Sample

by Dorian Minkov, George Angelov, Emilio Marquez, Rossen Radonov, Rostislav Rusev, Dimitar Nikolov and Susana Ruano

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(17), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13172407 - 24 Aug 2023

Viewed by 815

Abstract

OEMT is an existing optimizing envelope method for thin-film characterization that uses only one transmittance spectrum, T(λ), of the film deposited on the substrate. OEMT computes the optimized values of the average thickness,

\bar{d}

, and the thickness non-uniformity, [...] Read more.

\bar{d}

, and the thickness non-uniformity, Δd, employing variables for the external smoothing of T(λ), the slit width correction, and the optimized wavelength intervals for the computation of

\bar{d}

and Δd, and taking into account both the finite size and absorption of the substrate. Our group had achieved record low relative errors, <0.1%, in

\bar{d}

of thin semiconductor films via OEMT, whereas the high accuracy of

\bar{d}

and Δd allow for the accurate computation of the complex refractive index,

\dot{N}

(λ), of the film. In this paper is a proposed envelope method, named OEMR, for the characterization of thin dielectric or semiconductor films using only one quasi-normal incidence UV/Vis/NIR reflectance spectrum, R(λ), of the film on the substrate. The features of OEMR are similar to the described above features of OEMT. OEMR and several popular dispersion models are employed for the characterization of two a-Si films, only from R(λ), with computed

\bar{d}

= 674.3 nm and Δd = 11.5 nm for the thinner film. It is demonstrated that the most accurate characterizations of these films over the measured spectrum are based on OEMR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Nanostructures Processing, Structure and Properties: Volume II)

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12 pages, 4432 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Approach to the Plasmonic Enhancement of Cs₂AgBiBr₆ Perovskite-Based Solar Cell by Embedding Metallic Nanosphere

by Kyeong-Ho Seo, Xue Zhang, Jaehoon Park and Jin-Hyuk Bae

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(13), 1918; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13131918 - 23 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 993

Abstract

Lead-free Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskites have emerged as a promising, non-toxic, and eco-friendly photovoltaic material with high structural stability and a long lifetime of carrier recombination. However, the poor-light harvesting capability of lead-free Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskites due to the large indirect band gap is a critical factor restricting the improvement of its power conversion efficiency, and little information is available about it. Therefore, this study focused on the plasmonic approach, embedded metallic nanospheres in Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskite solar cells, and quantitatively investigated their light-harvesting capability via finite-difference time-domain method. Gold and palladium were selected as metallic nanospheres and embedded in a 600 nm thick-Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskite layer-based solar cell. Performances, including short-circuit current density, were calculated by tuning the radius of metallic nanospheres. Compared to the reference devices with a short-circuit current density of 14.23 mA/cm², when a gold metallic nanosphere with a radius of 140 nm was embedded, the maximum current density was improved by about 1.6 times to 22.8 mA/cm². On the other hand, when a palladium metallic nanosphere with the same radius was embedded, the maximum current density was improved by about 1.8 times to 25.8 mA/cm². Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental and Numerical Modelling of Nanostructures Processing, Structure and Properties: Volume II)

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