New Challenges in Nanofilm and Nanowire Characterization

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2022) | Viewed by 3835

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Instituto de Micro y Nanotecnología-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IMN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
Interests: optical; electrical; thermal; thermoelectrics; radiative coolers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, nanofilms and nanowires have attracted significant attention as a demanding research topic due to their interesting properties, which give rise to a wide range of potential applications. Recently, new advanced concepts and techniques have become relevant for new developments in different areas. The study of the new challenges in the characterization of nanofilms and nanowires in terms of crystallinity, composition, morphology, mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties, etc., is essential for the applicability of these nanostructures.

The present Special Issue of Nanomaterials focuses on the new challenges that are presented in the characterization of nanofilms and nanowires. This Special Issue will offer a complete perspective in relation to the new characterization concepts found in nanofilms and nanowires with different properties such as crystallographic structure, composition, morphology and mechanical, optical, electrical and thermal properties. These properties will affect the application of these nanostructures including in photocatalysis, water oxidation, solar cells, thermoelectrics, radiative coolers, nanosensing and hydrogen evolution. The studied materials of nanofilms and nanowires may cover any type of material such as polymers, metals and semiconductors. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the current knowledge of the characterization of nanofilms and nanowires to open new applications for the future.

Dr. Cristina Vicente Manzano
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • nanofilms
  • nanowires
  • optical
  • electrical
  • thermal
  • mechanical
  • morphology
  • structure

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4045 KiB  
Article
Electrochemical Synthesis, Magnetic and Optical Characterisation of FePd Dense and Mesoporous Nanowires
by Deepti Raj, Gabriele Barrera, Federico Scaglione, Federica Celegato, Matteo Cialone, Marco Coïsson, Paola Tiberto, Jordi Sort, Paola Rizzi and Eva Pellicer
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(3), 403; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13030403 - 19 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1780
Abstract
Dense and mesoporous FePd nanowires (NWs) with 45 to 60 at.% Pd content were successfully fabricated by template- and micelle-assisted pulsed potentiostatic electrodeposition using nanoporous anodic alumina and polycarbonate templates of varying pore sizes. An FePd electrolyte was utilized for obtaining dense NWs [...] Read more.
Dense and mesoporous FePd nanowires (NWs) with 45 to 60 at.% Pd content were successfully fabricated by template- and micelle-assisted pulsed potentiostatic electrodeposition using nanoporous anodic alumina and polycarbonate templates of varying pore sizes. An FePd electrolyte was utilized for obtaining dense NWs while a block copolymer, P-123, was added to this electrolyte as the micelle-forming surfactant to produce mesoporous NWs. The structural and magnetic properties of the NWs were investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The as-prepared NWs were single phase with a face-centered cubic structure exhibiting 3.1 µm to 7.1 µm of length. Mesoporous NWs revealed a core-shell structure where the porosity was only witnessed in the internal volume of the NW while the outer surface remained non-porous. Magnetic measurements revealed that the samples displayed a soft ferromagnetic behavior that depended on the shape anisotropy and the interwire dipolar interactions. The mesoporous core and dense shell structure of the NWs were seen to be slightly affecting the magnetic properties. Moreover, mesoporous NWs performed excellently as SERS substrates for the detection of 4,4′-bipyridine, showing a low detection limit of 10−12 M. The signal enhancement can be attributed to the mesoporous morphology as well as the close proximity of the embedded NWs being conducive to localized surface plasmon resonance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges in Nanofilm and Nanowire Characterization)
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14 pages, 5913 KiB  
Article
The Thermoelectric Properties of Spongy PEDOT Films and 3D-Nanonetworks by Electropolymerization
by Cristina V. Manzano, Olga Caballero-Calero, Aída Serrano, Pedro M. Resende and Marisol Martín-González
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(24), 4430; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12244430 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1221
Abstract
Recently, polymers have been attracted great attention because of their thermoelectric materials’ excellent mechanical properties, specifically their cost-effectiveness and scalability at the industrial level. In this study, the electropolymerization conditions (applied potential and deposition time) of PEDOT films were investigated to improve their [...] Read more.
Recently, polymers have been attracted great attention because of their thermoelectric materials’ excellent mechanical properties, specifically their cost-effectiveness and scalability at the industrial level. In this study, the electropolymerization conditions (applied potential and deposition time) of PEDOT films were investigated to improve their thermoelectric properties. The morphology and Raman spectroscopy of the PEDOT films were analyzed according to their applied potential and deposition time. The best thermoelectric properties were found in films grown at 1.3 V for 10 min, with an electrical conductivity of 158 ± 8 S/cm, a Seebeck coefficient of 33 ± 1 µV/K, and a power factor of 17 ± 2 µW/K·m2. This power factor value is three times higher than the value reported in the literature for electropolymerized PEDOT films in acetonitrile using lithium perchlorate as a counter-ion. The thermal conductivity was found to be (1.3 ± 0.3) × 10−1 W/m·K. The highest figure of merit obtained at room temperature was (3.9 ± 1.0) × 10−2 using lithium perchlorate as a counter-ion. In addition, three-dimensional (3D) PEDOT nanonetworks were electropolymerized inside 3D anodic aluminum oxide (3D AAO), obtaining lower values in their thermoelectric properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges in Nanofilm and Nanowire Characterization)
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13 pages, 3842 KiB  
Article
Far-Field and Non-Intrusive Optical Mapping of Nanoscale Structures
by Guorong Guan, Aiqin Zhang, Xiangsheng Xie, Yan Meng, Weihua Zhang, Jianying Zhou and Haowen Liang
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(13), 2274; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12132274 - 1 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1731
Abstract
Far-field high-density optics storage and readout involve the interaction of a sub-100 nm beam profile laser to store and retrieve data with nanostructure media. Hence, understanding the light–matter interaction responding in the far-field in such a small scale is essential for effective optical [...] Read more.
Far-field high-density optics storage and readout involve the interaction of a sub-100 nm beam profile laser to store and retrieve data with nanostructure media. Hence, understanding the light–matter interaction responding in the far-field in such a small scale is essential for effective optical information processing. We present a theoretical analysis and an experimental study for far-field and non-intrusive optical mapping of nanostructures. By a comprehensive analytical derivation for interaction between the modulated light and the target in a confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) configuration, it is found that the CLSM probes the local density of states (LDOSs) in the far field rather than the sample geometric morphology. With a radially polarized (RP) light for illumination, the far-field mapping of LDOS at the optical resolution down to 74 nm is obtained. In addition, it is experimentally verified that the target morphology is mapped only when the far-field mapping of LDOS coincides with the geometric morphology, while light may be blocked from entering the nanostructures medium with weak or missing LDOS, hence invalidating high-density optical information storage and retrieval. In this scenario, nanosphere gaps as small as 33 nm are clearly observed. We further discuss the characterization for far-field and non-intrusive interaction with nanostructures of different geometric morphology and compare them with those obtainable with the projection of near-field LDOS and scanning electronic microscopic results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges in Nanofilm and Nanowire Characterization)
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