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Special Issue "Optoelectronic Properties of Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Nanostructures"

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanophotonics Materials and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 18 September 2023 | Viewed by 2319

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Dr. Francesco Muniz-Miranda

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, Modena and ‎Reggio Emilia‎, ‎Italy
Interests: physical chemistry; computational chemistry; theoretical chemistry; DFT; car-parrinello molecular dynamics; nanomaterials; computational spectroscopy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A detailed understanding of the formation, properties, and dynamical behavior of nanostructured materials becomes increasingly important with the development of new devices and technologies. In particular, the lion’s share of the interest in these objects is due to their optoelectronic properties, which allow for a large number of applications ranging from sensing to theranostics to photovoltaics. In particular, both organic and inorganic nano-objects suffer from limitations in their optoelectronic uses: for instance, inorganic materials are expensive and have reached a sort of plateau in their current possible applications, and organic materials would be cheap to produce, but also show reduced efficiency and deteriorate easily. For this reason, hybrid materials made up by both organic and inorganic components might represent a breakthrough with the possibility to combine the best of both worlds. However, for the latter to occur, a deeper understanding of their assembly, properties, and features is needed.

This Special Issue will be devoted to advances in the experimental as well as theoretical knowledge of hybrid organic/inorganic nanostructured materials suitable for optoelectronic applications: specifically, full papers, short communications, and reviews addressing the current challenges in designing, synthesizing, characterizing, and understanding hybrid nanoparticles are very welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Francesco Muniz-Miranda
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

nanoparticles
nanoclusters
optoelectronics
photovoltaics
organic/inorganic
hybrid materials

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Heterostructures of Cut Carbon Nanotube-Filled Array of TiO₂ Nanotubes for New Module of Photovoltaic Devices

and

Nanomaterials 2022, 12(20), 3604; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12203604 - 14 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 612

Abstract

In this work, a new photovoltaic device was prepared. The device uses titanium (Ti) foil/TiO₂ nanotubes as the photoanode and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a photosensitizer. Titanium dioxide nanotube arrays (TiO₂-NTs) were prepared by one-step anodic oxidation. Cut-MWCNTs with a length of less than 100 nm were obtained by the mixed-acid oxidation of MWCNTs. The two materials were combined to form a TiO₂[email protected] heterostructure by electrophoresis. TiO₂[email protected] were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed that the two materials were effectively combined. We fabricated the heterostructure into a photovoltaic device, showing an enhanced photocurrent response and an efficiency of 0.0138%, and explained this phenomenon by performing UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical tests. It is hoped that this work can provide a reference value for the application of carbon nanotubes in photovoltaic devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optoelectronic Properties of Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Nanostructures)

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Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

DFT and TD-DFT Study of the Chemical Effect in the SERS Spectra of Piperidine Adsorbed on Silver Colloidal Nanoparticles

Francesco Muniz-Miranda

Alfonso Pedone

Maria Cristina Menziani

and

Maurizio Muniz-Miranda

Nanomaterials 2022, 12(17), 2907; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12172907 - 24 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 677

Abstract

The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of piperidine adsorbed on silver/chloride colloids were studied by a combined density functional theory (DFT)/time dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approach. The mechanism of chemical enhancement on the Raman signals is due to at least two contributions: the first comes from the changes in the molecular force constants and the dynamic polarizabilities of the normal modes, when the molecule is chemisorbed. DFT calculations satisfactorily reproduce the SERS spectra of piperidine adsorbed on silver, showing that the species formed on the silver particle is a complex formed by a deprotonated piperidine linked to a silver cation. A second contribution to the SERS chemical enhancement is due to a resonance Raman effect occurring when the wavelength of the Raman excitation falls within the electronic excitation band of the molecule/metal complex. Actually, the SERS spectra of piperidine show a significant dependence on the wavelength of the laser excitation, with a marked enhancement in the green-light region. TD-DFT calculations on the most-probable complex explain this behavior, because a strong excitation band of the complex is calculated in the green spectral region. This pinpoints that a resonance between the exciting radiation and the absorption band of this complex is responsible for this enhancement effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optoelectronic Properties of Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Nanostructures)

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Open AccessArticle

SnS Nanoflakes/Graphene Hybrid: Towards Broadband Spectral Response and Fast Photoresponse

Xiangyang Li

Shuangchen Ruan

and

Haiou Zhu

Nanomaterials 2022, 12(16), 2777; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12162777 - 13 Aug 2022

Viewed by 658

Abstract

High responsivity has been recently achieved in a graphene-based hybrid photogating mechanism photodetector using two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor nanosheets or quantum dots (QDs) sensitizers. However, there is a major challenge of obtaining photodetectors of fast photoresponse time and broad spectral photoresponse at room temperature due to the high trap density generated at the interface of nanostructure/graphene or the large band gap of QDs. The van der Waals interfacial coupling in small bandgap 2D/graphene heterostructures has enabled broadband photodetection. However, most of the photocarriers in the hybrid structure originate from the photoconductive effect, and it is still a challenge to achieve fast photodetection. Here, we directly grow SnS nanoflakes on graphene by the physical vapor deposition (PVD) method, which can avoid contamination between SnS absorbing layer and graphene and also ensures the high quality and low trap density of SnS. The results demonstrate the extended broad-spectrum photoresponse of the photodetector over a wide spectral range from 375 nm to 1550 nm. The broadband photodetecting mechanisms based on a photogating effect induced by the transferring of photo-induced carrier and photo-hot carrier are discussed in detail. More interestingly, the device also exhibits a large photoresponsivity of 41.3 AW⁻¹ and a fast response time of around 19 ms at 1550 nm. This study reveals strategies for broadband response and sensitive photodetectors with SnS nanoflakes/graphene. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optoelectronic Properties of Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Nanostructures)

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