Raman spectra of graphene oxide and thermally reduced graphene oxide were analyzed in order to relate spectral parameters with the structural properties. The chemical composition of different graphene oxides was determined by organic elemental analysis, and the microstructure of nanocrystals was analyzed by X-ray diffraction. We find five reported bands (D, D′, G, D″, and D*) in the region between 1000 and 1800 cm–1 in all spectra. The band parameters such as position, intensity ratio, and width have been related with structural properties such as oxygen content, crystallinity, and disorder degree of GO and rGO platelets. An assessment of the validity of the Tuinstra–Koenig and Cuesta models was carried out by using the results obtained from the fit of the first-order spectra of graphene oxide derivatives at five functions: two Gaussian and three pseudo-Voigt peaks.

We study the influence of Nb doping on the TiO 2 anatase-to-rutile phase transition, using combined transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction analysis. This approach enabled anatase-to-rutile phase transition hindering to be clearly observed for low Nb-doped TiO 2 samples. Moreover, there was clear grain growth inhibition in the samples containing Nb. The use of high resolution transmission electron microscopy with our samples provides an innovative perspective compared with previous research on this issue. Our analysis shows that niobium is segregated from the anatase structure before and during the phase transformation, leading to the formation of NbO nanoclusters on the surface of the TiO 2 rutile nanoparticles.

Dissipated power in metal oxide nanowires (rNW<45 nm) often causes important self-heating effects and as a result, undesired aging and failure of the devices. Nevertheless, this effect can be used to optimize the sensing conditions for the detection of various gaseous species, avoiding the requirement of external heaters. In this letter, the sensing capabilities of self-heated individual SnO2 nanowires toward NO2 are presented. These proof-of-concept systems exhibited responses nearly identical to those obtained with integrated microheaters, demonstrating the feasibility of taking advantage of self-heating in nanowires to develop ultralow power consumption integrated devices.

The responses of individual ZnO nanowires to UV light demonstrate that the persistent photoconductivity (PPC) state is directly related to the electron-hole separation near the surface. Our results demonstrate that the electrical transport in these nanomaterials is influenced by the surface in two different ways. On the one hand, the effective mobility and the density of free carriers are determined by recombination mechanisms assisted by the oxidizing molecules in air. This phenomenon can also be blocked by surface passivation. On the other hand, the surface built-in potential separates the photogenerated electron-hole pairs and accumulates holes at the surface. After illumination, the charge separation makes the electron-hole recombination difficult and originates PPC. This effect is quickly reverted after increasing either the probing current (self-heating by Joule dissipation) or the oxygen content in air (favouring the surface recombination mechanisms). The model for PPC in individual nanowires presented here illustrates the intrinsic potential of metal oxide nanowires to develop optoelectronic devices or optochemical sensors with better and new performances.

Silicon nanowires—filamentary crystals with a very high ratio of length to diameter (see figure)—allow growth of the wurtzite crystalline phase, which is also semiconducting for silicon. The association of this phenomenon with the competition between surface energy and pressure effects occurring at diameters below 150 nm is shown.