Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using open-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube arrays functionalized with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) in the channel to create a plasmonic effect, and then coated with large TiO₂ NPs to create a scattering effect in order to improve energy conversion efficiency. Compared to closed-ended freestanding TiO₂ nanotube array-based DSSCs without Ag or large T...

The miniature bulge test is an acknowledged method for characterizing freestanding thin films. Nevertheless, some discrepancies in the quantitative results from such tests can be found in literature, explained in part by erroneous assumptions in the analytical description used to compute the global stress and strain from the membrane pressure and deflection. In this research, a new method is pr...

Graphene oxide (GO) contains several chemical functional groups that are attached to the graphite basal plane and can be manipulated to tailor GO for specific applications. It is now revealed that the reaction of GO with ozone results in a high level of oxidation, which leads to significantly improved ionic (protonic) conductivity of the GO. Freestanding ozonated GO films were synthesized and u...

In this study, we investigated the internal structure of ’as-grown’ vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotube (VA-SWNT) films by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The VA-SWNTs were produced by the alcohol catalytic CVD method [1, 2], and transferred onto a TEM grid using a hot water technique [3]. The resulting freestanding VA-SWNT film was observed along the alignm...

In its freestanding, yet hypothetical form, the Si counterpart of graphene called silicene is predicted to possess massless Dirac fermions and to exhibit an experimentally accessible quantum spin Hall effect. Such interesting electronic properties are not realized in two-dimensional (2D) Si honeycomb lattices prepared recently on metallic substrates where the crystal and hybrid electronic struc...

Flexible magnetic materials with robust and controllable perpendicular anisotropy (PMA) are highly desirable for developing flexible high-performance spintronic devices. However, it is still challenge to fabricate PMA films through current techniques of direct deposition on polymers. Here, we report a facile method synthesizing single-crystal freestanding SrRuO3 (SRO) membranes controlled cryst...

Flexible magnetic materials and devices with basic functional properties are highly desirable for flexible electronic applications in wearable products implantable systems. In this work, a freestanding polycrystalline yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin film strong magnetism has been synthesized by pulsed laser deposition using water-dissolvable Sr3Al2O6 sacrificial layer, the of resulting was confi...

Van der Waals (vdW) epitaxy is an attractive method for the fabrication of vdW heterostructures. Here Sb2Te3 films grown on three different kind of graphene substrates (monolayer epitaxial graphene, quasi freestanding bilayer graphene and the SiC (6√3 × 6√3)R30° buffer layer) are used to study the vdW epitaxy between two 2-dimensionally (2D) bonded materials. It is shown that the Sb2Te3 /graphe...