The creation of a suitable inorganic colloidal nanocrystal ink for use in a scalable coating process is a key step in the development of low-cost thin film solar cells. We have developed an innovative method of using copper indium gallium disulfide (CIGS) nanocrystals as the building block for the fabrication of bulk CIGSSe thin films. The CIGS nanocrystal ink solution is applied directly on va...

It is of great value to develop a simple, controllable, and scalable method of making superamphiphobic surfaces. Here we present a facile one-step photolithographic method to engineer superamphiphobic surfaces consisting of photoresist micropillars decorated with nanoparticles of the same photoresist. The surface or coating is optically transparent and versatile, and can be fabricated on a broa...

Plastic deformation causes very small changes in the thermoelastic response of metallic materials; this variation of the thermoelastic constant has the potential to form the basis of a new non-destructive, non-contact, full-field technique for residual stress assessment that is quicker and cheaper than existing methods. The effect of plastic strain on the thermoelastic constant is presented as ...

In this study, the synthesis of the core/shell structured diamond/akageneite hybrid particles was performed through one-step isothermal hydrolyzing. The hybrid particle was characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectra. The test results overall reveal that the akageneite coating, phase β-FeO(OH), was uniformly coated onto...

ecorative coatings applied with D . . sputter ion plating processes have become a widely accepted application for vacuum technology. Although the deposition itself is only one important step among others, indusmal decorative applications require a reproducible and productive coating system. Leybold, as a system manufacturer, is featuring machines with a high level of up-time as well as an extra...

In this study, we developed a reflective localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) optical fiber sensor, based on silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). To enhance the sensitivity of the LSPR optical sensor, two key parameters were optimized, the length of the sensing area and the coating time of the Ag NPs. A sensing length of 1.5 cm and a 1-h coating time proved to be suitable conditions to produce ...

Colonization on the surface of tooth by Streptococcus mutans is an important step in the initiation of dental plaque. Polystyrene microtiter plates have been employed to study bacterial colonization and biofilm formation of periodontal bacteria. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of coating the wells of a polystyrene microtiter plate with xanthorrhizol isolated from java turm...

We report the synthesis of silver nanodecahedrons (Ag NDs) and their use as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nano-composites. The as-prepared Ag NDs possess strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) with widely tunable peaks between 420–660 nm, which was formerly not possible, thus greatly improving the prospect of using silver nanoparticles for SERS applications. The growth of ...

A novel and facile synthetic method for h-BN films from borazine oligomer (B3N3H4)x precursors has been developed. This method only includes spin-coating of borazine oligomer onto nickel catalysts and a subsequent annealing step. Large areal and highly crystalline h-BN films were obtained. The stoichiometric B/N ratio of borazine oligomer precursor was preserved in the final h-BN product such t...

We have developed a new functionalization approach for semiconductor nanocrystals based on a single-step exchange of surface ligands with custom-designed peptides. This peptide-coating technique yield small, monodisperse and very stable water-soluble NCs that remain bright and photostable. We have used this approach on several types of core and core-shell NCs in the visible and near-infrared sp...