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.

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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.

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Visible-Light Photocatalysis in Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Oxides

Organized composite molecular nanoassemblies of fullerene and poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) prepared in acetonitrile/toluene mixed solvent absorb light over the entire spectrum of visible light. The highly colored composite clusters can be assembled as a three-dimensional array onto nanostructured SnO2 films by electrophoretic deposition approach. The composite cluster films exhibit an incident photon-to-photocurrent efficiency (IPCE) as high as 18%, which is significantly higher than that of a molecular assembly composed of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)-21H,23H-porphyrin (H2P) and C60 prepared in the same manner (4%). The maximum IPCE value increases to 25% at an applied bias potential of 0.2 V vs saturated calomel reference electrode (SCE). The power conversion efficiency of a MEH-PPV and C60 assembly-modified electrode is determined to be 0.24%. The photocurrent generation properties observed with MEH-PPV and C60 clusters demonstrate the synergy of these systems towards yielding efficient photoinduced charge separation within these composite nanoclusters.

Fullerene-Based Supramolecular Nanoclusters with Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] for Light Energy Conversion

Riding the New Wave of Perovskites

Radiolysis of aqueous solutions of TNT was examined to provide fundamental information concerning the reactions of TNT with radical species in water. γ-Radiation was used in conjunction with radical scavengers to compare yields for radiation-induced TNT transformation under oxidizing and reducing conditions and in the presence and absence of oxygen. Pulse radiolytic techniques were employed to determine rate constants and absorption spectra for the reactions of TNT with the hydroxyl radical and the aqueous electron. TNT was rapidly transformed under both reducing (1% tert-butyl alcohol, N 2 sparged) and oxidizing (N 2 O sparged) conditions although rates under reducing conditions were greater. The initial yield for transformation of a 350 μmol L -1 TNT solution under reducing conditions was 0.14 μmol/J as opposed to 0.10 μmol/J measured in oxidizing conditions. The reactions of TNT with reduced oxygen species were found to be highly inefficient in aqueous solution. Although TNT is transformed by both oxidizing and reducing radicals, TNT degradation yields in the absence of a radical scavenger were low, indicating that under these conditions there were significant secondary reactions in which the species resulting from reactions between TNT and the primary radicals further reacted to reform the parent compound. The bimolecular rate constant for the reaction between TNT and - OH was determined to be 4.3 x 10 8 mol -1 s -1 . Byproduct analyses from γ-radiolysis suggest that hydroxyl radical abstraction of a methyl hydrogen to form the trinitrotoluyl radical is an initial oxidative reaction. The bimolecular rate constant for the reaction between TNT and e aq - was measured as 3.5 x 10 10 mol -1 s -1 . These results provide quantitative and qualitative insight into the reactions between TNT and the various aqueous radicals produced in many remediation processes.

Radiation-Induced Reactions of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene in Aqueous Solution

Reductive quenching of two photoexcited ruthenium(II) complexes by an anionic electron donor, 2,2{prime}-azinobis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS{sup 2{minus}}), in aqueous solution was examined by laser flash photolysis before and after adding positively charged colloidal (250-{angstrom} diameter) alumina-coated silica particles. The kinetics and quantum yields of electron transfer with an anionic sensitizer, RuL{sub 3}{sup 4{minus}} (L = bathophenanthroline disulfonate), and a cationic one, Ru(bpy){sub 3}{sup 2+} (bpy = 2,2{prime}-bipyridine), were compared. Coadsorption of ABTS{sup 2{minus}} and RuL{sub 3}{sup 4{minus}} by the particles greatly enhanced the rate of quenching such that only the reaction occurring on the surfaces of the particles was observed. Electron transfer from ABTS{sup 2{minus}} to RuL{sub 3}{sup 4-*} occurred by a static (nondiffusional) process, and the quenching efficiency was maximal when there was close to monolayer coverage of the reactants on the particles. Ru(bpy){sub 3}{sup 2+} was not adsorbed by the particles and served as a luminescent probe for the determination of the binding capacity of the particles for ABTS{sup 2{minus}}.

Photochemistry on surfaces. 2. Intermolecular electron transfer on colloidal alumina-coated silica particles

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jz201345y

Prashant V. Kamat

Papers

Fullerene-Based Supramolecular Nanoclusters with Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] for Light Energy Conversion

Riding the New Wave of Perovskites

Radiation-Induced Reactions of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene in Aqueous Solution

Photochemistry on surfaces. 2. Intermolecular electron transfer on colloidal alumina-coated silica particles

Semiconductor Nanocrystals: To Dope or Not to Dope