Charge transfer dynamics in fully operational dye sensitised solar cells consisting of an electrolyte or organic spiroOMeTAD in contact with a highly porous electrodeposited ZnO film sensitised with a monolayer of the indoline dye DN216 were observed using ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. From the temporal evolution of spectral signatures assigned with the help of spectroelectrochem...

Heterostructures based on ZnO-TiO₂/delaminated montmorillonite coated with Ag have been prepared by sol-gel and photoreduction procedures, varying the Ag and ZnO contents. They have been thoroughly characterized by XRD, WDXRF, UV-Vis, and XPS spectroscopies, and N₂ adsorption, SEM, and TEM. In all cases, the montmorillonite was effectively delaminated with the formation of TiO₂ anatase particle...

ZnSO(3) microrods with uniform size and shape can be prepared under microwave irradiation at much higher speed than a conventional heating bath, usually in minutes. The annealing of ZnSO(3) microrods produced porous ZnO microrods with pore size between 50-200 nm.

C-dopedZnOhierarchically porous nanoarchitectures were synthesized in situ on indium tin oxide (ITO) through a counter strategy. The PECperformance of the C-doped ZnOnanoarchitectures in the splitting of water without sacrificial reagents was systematically evaluated for the first time. In comparison to other ZnO-based photoanodes in the literature, C-doped ZnO nanoarchitectures exhibit a strik...

In this paper, we investigated the effect of humidity on paper substrates and propose a simple and low-cost method for their passivation using ZnO nanoparticles. To this end, we built paper-based microdevices based on an interdigitated electrode (IDE) configuration by means of a mask-less laser patterning method on simple commercial printing papers. Initial resistive measurements indicate that ...

Optical structures fabricated on silicon-on-insulator technology provide a convenient platform for the implementation of highly compact, versatile and low cost devices. In this work, we demonstrate the promise of this technology for integrated low power and low cost optical gas sensing. A room temperature ethanol vapor sensor is demonstrated using a ZnO nanoparticle film as a coating on an SOI ...

In this work, a new poly (3-hexylthiophene):1.00 mol% Au-loaded zinc oxide nanoparticles (P3HT:Au/ZnO NPs) hybrid sensor is developed and systematically studied for ammonia sensing applications. The 1.00 mol% Au/ZnO NPs were synthesized by a one-step flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) process and mixed with P3HT at different mixing ratios (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 1:2) before drop casting on an Al2O3 s...

Laboratory of Nanotechnologies and Optical Instrumentation (LNIO) : Relaying on the development of complementary know-hows*, the research conducted in the photonics and nanooptics group at LNIO is committed to basic research on optical properties of lowdimensional photonic materials and structures : near field characterisation (integrated waveguides, photonic crystals, VECSEL), new component de...

In this work a two-step procedure is reported for the formation of ZnO/porous silicon (PS) composites in which ZnO is embedded in the pores of sponge like mesoporous silicon. The procedure consists of an isothermal annealing of the PS layer in Zn vapors using a close space configuration and a subsequent oxidation of the Zn infiltrated in the pores. The oxidation agent and the annealing duration...

The present investigation depicts the development of a simple and low cost method for the removal of color from textile dyeing and printing wastewater using ZnO as photocatalyst supported with porous activated carbon (AC). Photocatalytic degradation studies were carried out for water soluble toxic alizarin cyanin green (ACG) dye in aqueous suspension along with activated carbon (AC) as co-adsor...