There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Two organolead halide perovskite nanocrystals, CH3NH3PbBr3 and CH3NH3PbI3, were found to efficiently sensitize TiO2 for visible-light conversion in photoelectrochemical cells. When self-assembled on mesoporous TiO2 films, the nanocrystalline perovskites exhibit strong band-gap absorptions as semiconductors. The CH3NH3PbI3-based photocell with spectral sensitivity of up to 800 nm yielded a solar energy conversion efficiency of 3.8%. The CH3NH3PbBr3-based cell showed a high photovoltage of 0.96 V with an external quantum conversion efficiency of 65%.

Organometal Halide Perovskites as Visible-Light Sensitizers for Photovoltaic Cells

Single-layer metal dichalcogenides are two-dimensional semiconductors that present strong potential for electronic and sensing applications complementary to that of graphene.

/pdf/electronics-and-optoelectronics-of-two-dimensional-2jbqr1unvw.pdf

Electronics and optoelectronics of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides.

Although gold is the subject of one of the most ancient themes of investigation in science, its renaissance now leads to an exponentially increasing number of publications, especially in the context of emerging nanoscience and nanotechnology with nanoparticles and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). We will limit the present review to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), also called gold colloids. AuNPs are the most stable metal nanoparticles, and they present fascinating aspects such as their assembly of multiple types involving materials science, the behavior of the individual particles, size-related electronic, magnetic and optical properties (quantum size effect), and their applications to catalysis and biology. Their promises are in these fields as well as in the bottom-up approach of nanotechnology, and they will be key materials and building block in the 21st century. Whereas the extraction of gold started in the 5th millennium B.C. near Varna (Bulgaria) and reached 10 tons per year in Egypt around 1200-1300 B.C. when the marvelous statue of Touthankamon was constructed, it is probable that “soluble” gold appeared around the 5th or 4th century B.C. in Egypt and China. In antiquity, materials were used in an ecological sense for both aesthetic and curative purposes. Colloidal gold was used to make ruby glass 293 Chem. Rev. 2004, 104, 293−346

Gold nanoparticles: assembly, supramolecular chemistry, quantum-size-related properties, and applications toward biology, catalysis, and nanotechnology.

To use solar irradiation or interior lighting efficiently, we sought a photocatalyst with high reactivity under visible light. Films and powders of TiO 2- x N x have revealed an improvement over titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) under visible light (wavelength 2 has proven to be indispensable for band-gap narrowing and photocatalytic activity, as assessed by first-principles calculations and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy.

/pdf/visible-light-photocatalysis-in-nitrogen-doped-titanium-np6nklr9gh.pdf

Visible-Light Photocatalysis in Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Oxides

Influence of Plasmonic Cu x S Interfacing Layer on Photovoltaic Performance of CIZS Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells

Electrocatalytic Activity of Graphene Oxide: Mediating Electron Transfer Between Two Redox Couples

Photoinduced Transformations at semiconductor/metal interface

Fullerenes : fullerenes and nanotubes : the building blocks of next generation nanodevices : proceedings of the International Symposium on Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Carbon Nanoclusters

http://ma.ecsdl.org/content/MA2012-01/37/1349.full.pdf

Prashant V. Kamat

Papers

Influence of Plasmonic Cu x S Interfacing Layer on Photovoltaic Performance of CIZS Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells

Electrocatalytic Activity of Graphene Oxide: Mediating Electron Transfer Between Two Redox Couples

Photoinduced Transformations at semiconductor/metal interface

Fullerenes : fullerenes and nanotubes : the building blocks of next generation nanodevices : proceedings of the International Symposium on Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Carbon Nanoclusters

Capture Store and Discharge of Electrons in Graphene Based Assemblies