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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2020) | Viewed by 17732

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Prof. Dr. Xuejun Lu

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Guest Editor

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Francis College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA
Interests: quantum dot infrared photodetectors; nanoplasmonics; optical antennas; flexible electronics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nano materials and low dimensional materials such as quantum wells (QW), nanowires (NW), and quantum dots (QD), as well as two-dimensional (2D) materials, have been important research fields in both fundamental physics and a variety of practical applications in light generation, manipulation, receiving, and harvesting, as well as biosensing. Due to strong quantum confinement, nanomaterials show extraordinary electrical and optical properties that strongly depend on their materials and geometric properties. This Special Issue is dedicated to introducing recent advances in the optical properties of nanomaterials and their applications in a wide variety areas. It is my great pleasure serve as the Guest Editor for this Special Issue, and, accordingly, I cordially invite you to submit a review paper or an original research paper. Short communication papers are welcome as well.

Prof. Xuejun Lu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

nanomaterials
low dimensional materials
quantum confinement
optical properties
metamaterials
optoelectronics

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 5008 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optical and Photoacoustic Properties of Laser-Ablated Silver Nanoparticles in a Carbon Dots Solution

by Amir Reza Sadrolhosseini, Ganesan Krishnan, Suhaidi Shafie, Suraya Abdul Rashid and Sulaiman Wadi Harun

Molecules 2020, 25(24), 5798; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25245798 - 09 Dec 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1875

Abstract

This study used the carbon dots solution for the laser ablation technique to fabricate silver nanoparticles. The ablation time range was from 5 min to 20 min. Analytical methods, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to categorize the prepared samples. The UV-visible and z-scan techniques provided optical parameters such as linear and nonlinear refractive indices in the range of 1.56759 to 1.81288 and 7.3769 × 10⁻¹⁰ cm² W⁻¹ to 9.5269 × 10⁻¹⁰ cm² W⁻¹ and the nonlinear susceptibility was measured in the range of 5.46 × 10⁻⁸ to 6.97 × 10⁻⁸ esu. The thermal effusivity of prepared samples, which were measured using the photoacoustic technique, were in the range of 0.0941 W s^1/2 cm⁻² K⁻¹ to 0.8491 W s^1/2 cm⁻² K⁻¹. The interaction of the prepared sample with fluoride was investigated using a Raman spectrometer. Consequently, the intensity of the Raman signal decreased with the increasing concentration of fluoride, and the detection limit is about 0.1 ppm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Properties of Nanomaterials)

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13 pages, 3274 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inkjet-Printed Molybdenum Disulfide and Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Active Layer High On/Off Ratio Transistors

by Mohi Uddin Jewel, Mahmuda Akter Monne, Bhagyashree Mishra and Maggie Yihong Chen

Molecules 2020, 25(5), 1081; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25051081 - 28 Feb 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3326

Abstract

Fully inkjet-printed device fabrication is a crucial goal to enable large-area printed electronics. The limited number of two-dimensional (2D) material inks, the bottom-gated structures, and the low current on/off ratio of thin-film transistors (TFTs) has impeded the practical applications of the printed 2D material TFTs. In the search for TFTs with high current ratios, we introduce a stable and efficient method of nitrogen-doped graphene (NDG) ink preparation for inkjet printing by liquid-phase exfoliation. The NDG thin film is print-stacked with molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) by multiple printing passes to construct a MoS₂–NDG stack. We demonstrate top-gated fully inkjet-printed MoS₂–NDG transistors with silver drain, source, and gate electrodes, and a barium titanate (BaTiO₃) dielectric. A 100% inkjet-printed MoS₂–NDG vertical 2D active heterostructure layer transistor with a current on/off ratio of 1200 is exhibited. The results may lead towards the development of all-printed 2D material-based transistor switches. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Properties of Nanomaterials)

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10 pages, 3701 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Atomic Force Microscope Guided SERS Spectra Observation for Au@Ag-4MBA@PVP Plasmonic Nanoparticles

by Liu Yang, Libei Xu, Xiuju Wu, Hui Fang, Shenfei Zhong, Zhuyuan Wang, Jing Bu and Xiaocong Yuan

Molecules 2019, 24(20), 3789; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24203789 - 21 Oct 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2654

Abstract

Recently polymer encapsulated surface-enhanced-Raman-scattering (SERS) probes with internal noble metal core–shell structure has found growing applications in biomedical applications. Here we studied the SERS spectra of Au@Ag–4MBA@PVP (4MBA: 4-mercaptobenzoic acid; PVP: polyvinylpyrrolidone) plasmonic nanoparticles produced from a chemical reduction method. By linking the atomic force microscope (AFM) with the homebuilt confocal Raman spectrometer thus to use AFM images as guidance, we realized the measurement of the SERS spectra from separated nanoparticles. We investigated the cases for single nanoparticles and for dimer structures and report several observed results including SERS spectra linearly scaled with laser power, abrupt boosting and abnormal shape changing of SERS spectra for dimer structures. Based on the finite element method simulation, we explained the observed ratio of SERS signals between the dimer structure and the single nanoparticle, and attributed the observed abnormal spectra to the photothermal effect of these plasmonic nanoparticles. Our study provides valuable guidance for choosing appropriate laser power when applying similar SERS probes to image biological cells. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Properties of Nanomaterials)

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11 pages, 3633 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ratiometric pH Sensing and Imaging in Living Cells with Dual-Emission Semiconductor Polymer Dots

by Piaopiao Chen, Iqra Ilyas, Su He, Yichen Xing, Zhigang Jin and Chaobiao Huang

Molecules 2019, 24(16), 2923; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24162923 - 12 Aug 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3158

Abstract

Polymer dots (Pdots) represent newly developed semiconductor polymer nanoparticles and exhibit excellent characteristics as fluorescent probes. To improve the sensitivity and biocompatibility of Pdots ratiometric pH biosensors, we synthesized 3 types of water-soluble Pdots: Pdots-PF, Pdots-PP, and Pdots-PPF by different combinations of fluorescent dyes poly(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO), poly[(9,9-dioctyl-fluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-(1,4-benzo-{2,1′,3}-thiadazole)] (PFBT), and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). We found that Pdots-PPF exhibits optimal performance on pH sensing. PFO and FITC in Pdots-PPF produce pH-insensitive (λ = 439 nm) and pH-sensitive (λ = 517 nm) fluorescence respectively upon a single excitation at 380 nm wavelength, which enables Pdots-PPF ratiometric pH sensing ability. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) together with the use of PFBT amplify the FITC signal, which enables Pdots-PPF robust sensitivity to pH. The emission intensity ratio (I₅₁₇/I₄₃₉) of Pdots-PPF changes linearly as a function of pH within the range of pH 3.0 to 8.0. Pdots-PPF also possesses desirable reversibility and stability in pH measurement. More importantly, Pdots-PPF was successfully used for cell imaging in Hela cells, exhibiting effective cellular uptake and low cytotoxicity. Our study suggests the promising potential of Pdots-PPF as an in vivo biomarker. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Properties of Nanomaterials)

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11 pages, 3385 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A High-Efficiency Multispectral Filter Based on Plasmonic Hybridization between Two Cascaded Ultrathin Nanogratings

by Bo Zhao, Zhenfen Huang, Jianjun Yang, Lei Zhang, Rajagopal S. Joshya and Chunlei Guo

Molecules 2019, 24(11), 2038; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24112038 - 28 May 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2256

Abstract

Overcoming the disadvantages of low transmission and broad peak bandwidth of previously reported plasmonic color filters, a high-efficiency multispectral plasmonic color filter is theoretically proposed with two cascaded ultrathin metallic nanogratings separated by two heterogeneous dielectric layers, and its optical properties are theoretically investigated using the finite-difference time-domain method. The transmission spectrum presents three near-unity peak bands accompanied with three near-null dip bands adjacent around them. Both transmission efficiencies of above 90% and ultranarrow peak bandwidth of 20 nm are achieved in the visible regime. The peak band positions can be flexibly tailored by varying the structural parameters. The filter selects the visible color with high signal noise ratio at the peak bands. The outstanding spectral properties of this filter indicate significant improvement for the high-accuracy color filtering and multispectral imaging applications. The simulated near-field electromagnetic distributions suggest that the excitation of the hybrid antisymmetric surface plasmon polariton (SPP) leaky mode and metal-insulator-metal waveguide modes are responsible for the peak transmission bands, while the formation of the hybrid SPP bound modes confined on the bottom nanograting makes the dip transmission bands, all of which are the consequence of the plasmonic hybridization between the two neighboring metallic nanogratings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Properties of Nanomaterials)

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Review

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18 pages, 3253 KiB

Open AccessReview

Metamaterial Lensing Devices

by Jiangtao Lv, Ming Zhou, Qiongchan Gu, Xiaoxiao Jiang, Yu Ying and Guangyuan Si

Molecules 2019, 24(13), 2460; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24132460 - 04 Jul 2019

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3904

Abstract

In recent years, the development of metamaterials and metasurfaces has drawn great attention, enabling many important practical applications. Focusing and lensing components are of extreme importance because of their significant potential practical applications in biological imaging, display, and nanolithography fabrication. Metafocusing devices using ultrathin structures (also known as metasurfaces) with superlensing performance are key building blocks for developing integrated optical components with ultrasmall dimensions. In this article, we review the metamaterial superlensing devices working in transmission mode from the perfect lens to two-dimensional metasurfaces and present their working principles. Then we summarize important practical applications of metasurfaces, such as plasmonic lithography, holography, and imaging. Different typical designs and their focusing performance are also discussed in detail. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Properties of Nanomaterials)

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