Metal nanoparticles are key electrode materials in a variety of electrochemical applications including basic electron-transfer study, electrochemical sensing, and electrochemical surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Metal nanoparticles have also been extensively applied to electrocatalytic processes in recent years due to their high catalytic activity and large surface areas. Because the...

The "electrochemical/chemical method" (or "E/C method") is a new wet chemical method for synthesizing semiconductor quantum dots on graphite surfaces. The E/C synthesis of quantum dots composed of the generic semiconducting salt, MX, typically involves three steps: (1) electrochemical deposition of nanoparticles of the metal, M degrees, from a solution of metal ions, M(n)(+); (2) electrochemica...

Laser ablation in liquids is actively used for generation of clean colloidal nanoparticles with unique shapes and functionalities. The fundamental mechanisms of the laser ablation in liquids and the key processes that control the nanoparticle structure, composition, and size distribution, however, are not yet fully understood. In this paper, we report the results of first atomistic simulations ...

Carbon nanotube (CNT) and metal nanoparticle (NP) assemblies are conjugated nanosystems with potential applications in catalysis, sensing, and light harvesting. Due to poor solubility of CNTs, previously reported synthetic approaches are limited to large multi-walled CNTs, bundles of single-walled CNTs (SWNTs), or surface-bound CNTs. Here we report a solution-phase synthesis of SWNT-metal NP as...

A challenge in the research of solar energy conversion and photocatalysts is the rational design of materials that can efficiently trap solar energy, convert into charges, and allow controlled transfer of those charges. Notable breakthroughs have been realized recently in the development of molecular catalysts capable of controlled photogenerated electron transfer. 3 However, much less progress...

This paper presents a simple approach for forming anti-reflective film stacks on plastic substrates employing aqueous colloidal dispersions of metal oxide nanoparticles. Results demonstrate that it is possible to fabricate a polymeric thin film of continuously tunable refractive index over a wide range by loading the film with varying concentrations of metal oxide nanoparticles. Specifically, t...

During metal-catalyzed growth of tapered silicon nanowires, or silicon nanocones (SiNCs), Au-Si eutectic particles are seen to undergo significant and reproducible reductions in their diameters. The reductions are accompanied by the transfer of eutectic droplet mass to adjacent, initially metal catalyst-free substrates, producing secondary nucleation and growth of SiNCs. Remarkably, the catalys...

Solid state dewetting of ultrathin films is the most straightforward means of fabricating substrate-supported noble metal nanostructures. This assembly process is, however, quite inflexible, yielding either densely packed smaller structures or widely spaced larger structures. Here, we demonstrate the utility of introducing a sacrificial antimony layer between the substrate and noble metal overl...