Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties of Nanomaterials

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Crystalline Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 6527

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Laser, Photonics and Optoelectronics Team, Directed Energy Research Centre, Technology Innovation Institute, P.O. Box 9639, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Interests: laser ablation; induction plasma synthesis; photoluminescence; Raman spectroscopy; semiconductor optics; chemical vapor deposition; time-resolved spectroscopy; pump–probe spectroscopy; photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy; laser–matter interactions
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomaterials have remarkably different physical and chemical properties from their bulk counterparts with the same constituents and have potential applications in many different fields, including coatings, catalysts, sensors, magnetic data storage, solar energy devices, ferrofluids, cell labeling, and special drug delivery systems. Many different techniques have been employed to synthesize nanomaterials, including chemical vapor deposition, thermal decomposition, induction plasma synthesis, pulsed laser ablation, the template technique, the gas phase method, the sol–gel method, the combustion method, solvothermal synthesis, and hydrothermal synthesis. One-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanowires and nanorods have received increasing attention in recent years in hopes of demonstrating practical optoelectronic nanodevices at room temperature. Moreover, monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides, such as MoS2, WS2, and WSe2, have attracted the attention of the scientific community as two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor crystals with direct gaps in the visible spectrum; in bulk form, these systems have an indirect band gap. Several characterization techniques have been employed to investigate the properties of nanomaterials, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP–MS), dark field microscopy, aerodynamic particle sizer (APS), scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). Besides the aforementioned characterization techniques, advanced optical spectroscopic methods have been used to investigate different semiconductor structures in order to make them suitable for optoelectronic device applications. The most efficient and effective optical spectroscopic experimental techniques are time-integrated photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE), time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy, micro-PL and Raman spectroscopy, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and cathodoluminescence.

This Special Issue aims to present a collection of reviews of the most recent research outcomes and original research papers in the field of nanomaterials. Potential research topics are not strictly limited to those in the aforementioned research fields and can be from any other research field relevant to the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials.

Dr. Antaryami Mohanta
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • optical spectroscopy
  • time-resolved spectroscopy
  • pump-probe spectroscopy
  • tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
  • zeta potential
  • 2D materials

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3074 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Surfactants and Essential Oils on Microwave−Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Iron Oxides
by Ivana Mitar, Lucija Guć, Martina Vrankić, Andrea Paut, Marijan Marciuš, Ante Prkić, Stjepko Krehula, Anđela Mastelić, Josipa Ramljak and Paula Ćurlin
Crystals 2022, 12(11), 1567; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12111567 - 3 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1790
Abstract
Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis is a simple, reproducible, rapid, and effective method, and therefore, has attracted considerable interest among scientists in the field of synthesis not only of iron oxide but also of other metal oxides. This method has been used for the synthesis [...] Read more.
Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis is a simple, reproducible, rapid, and effective method, and therefore, has attracted considerable interest among scientists in the field of synthesis not only of iron oxide but also of other metal oxides. This method has been used for the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles, hematite (α-Fe2O3), and goethite (α-FeOOH) in strongly alkaline media with iron(III) chloride (FeCl3) as precursor under microwave emission of 850 W. In this work, the effect on the size, shape, and composition of the final product was investigated by changing the conditions, such as shortening the synthesis time, increasing the synthesis temperature, and adding various substances to the synthesis pathway. Samples synthesized at 200 °C for 20 min by increasing the added percentage of polyethylene glycol (PEG), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), rosemary essential oil and lavender essential oil promote goethite-to-hematite transformation, while N-guanylurea sulfate (NGS) and sage essential oil behave differently. The aforementioned substances added at 260 °C resulted in a decrease in particle size, but pure hematite was obtained, regardless of the type of the substances added or the decrease in synthesis time from 20 min to 5 min. Furthermore, the use of essential oils rather than surfactants in this study was presented as a novel, environmentally friendly method of iron oxide synthesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties of Nanomaterials)
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12 pages, 4894 KiB  
Article
Single-Step Fabrication and Characterization of Nanoscale Cu Thinfilms for Optoelectronic Applications
by Hussein Alrobei, Adnan Maqbool, Muhammad Asif Hussain, Rizwan Ahmed Malik, Muhammad Ramzan Abdul Karim, Ibrahim AlBaijan, Azeem Hafiz and Muhammad Latif
Crystals 2022, 12(1), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst12010062 - 4 Jan 2022
Viewed by 1613
Abstract
Nanostructured materials with optical transmittance with sufficient electrical conductivity are feasible for the transparent electrical devices and optoelectronic applications. Copper (Cu) possesses inherent superior electrical conductivity. Cu thin films on glass substrates provide the basic design understanding of the transparent electrodes for humidity [...] Read more.
Nanostructured materials with optical transmittance with sufficient electrical conductivity are feasible for the transparent electrical devices and optoelectronic applications. Copper (Cu) possesses inherent superior electrical conductivity. Cu thin films on glass substrates provide the basic design understanding of the transparent electrodes for humidity sensors and solar cells applications. To understand the fundamental fabrication and electrical properties, a single-step facile fabrication approach was applied for Cu nanofilms through the DC sputtering method. Correlation of thickness of Cu nanofilms with optical and electrical properties was established. Parameters such as current, voltage, vacuum pressure, and time of coating were varied to develop different thickness of metal coating. Under optimized conditions of 10−1 torr vacuum, 1.45 KV voltage, and 4–6 min coating time, a conductive path is successfully established. A 1 min coated sample demonstrated resistance of 4000 ohm and conductance of a 6 min coated sample was raised to 56 m-mho. A higher surge of voltage assisted the production of relatively thick and uniform coatings with the crystallite size of 12 nm. The average coating thickness of 19.8 nm and roughness of 4.5 nm was obtained for a 5 min coated sample through AFM analysis. Further, it was observed that uniform nanostructured coating is essential to establish a mean free path of coated particles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties of Nanomaterials)
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13 pages, 3814 KiB  
Article
Optimization Preparation of Indium Tin Oxide Nanoparticles via Microemulsion Method Using Orthogonal Experiment
by Zhucheng Jiang, Ting Liu, Xiaoyu Zhai and Jiaxiang Liu
Crystals 2021, 11(11), 1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11111387 - 13 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2288
Abstract
Indium tin oxide (ITO), an experimentally friendly transparent conducting oxide (TCO), has attracted great attention in the photoelectric field due to its intrinsically low resistivity and high transparency. In this work, the experimental conditions of preparing ITO nanoparticles using the microemulsion method were [...] Read more.
Indium tin oxide (ITO), an experimentally friendly transparent conducting oxide (TCO), has attracted great attention in the photoelectric field due to its intrinsically low resistivity and high transparency. In this work, the experimental conditions of preparing ITO nanoparticles using the microemulsion method were optimized by an orthogonal experiment. The optimal experimental conditions were obtained: mass ratio of the surfactant (AEO-3, MOA-5), a co-surfactant (n-propyl alcohol) of 5:3, molar ratio of indium and ammonia of 1:20, calcination temperature of 700 °C and calcination time of 4 h. Subsequently, the influence from process variables on the resistivity was researched systematically. The results demonstrated that the calcination temperature had a great effect on the resistivity; the resistivity reduced from 11.28 to 2.72 Ω·cm with the increase in the calcination temperature from 500 to 700 °C. Ultimately, ITO nanoparticles were prepared and systematically characterized under the optimal experimental conditions. The particles with a size of 60 nm were attributed to the cubic ITO crystal phase and showed low resistivity of 0.3675 Ω·cm. Significantly, ITO nanoparticles with low resistivity were obtained using the microemulsion method, which has potential application in the field of ITO nanoparticle preparation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties of Nanomaterials)
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