Elongated critical-angle prisms that provide multiple reflections have been used to increase measurement sensitivity while retaining excellent linearity in the recently developed angle-measurement method, angle measurement based on the internal-reflection effect.

Transition metallic oxides have attracted considerable attention for supercapacitor applications because of their superior electrochemical performance at relatively low cost. Co3O4/NiO nanofilms were successfully prepared by calcination of precursor -Co(OH)2/-Ni(OH)2. XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM techniques were used to characterize the composition and morphology of as-prepared samples. The results demonstrated that Co3O4/NiO nanofilms presented graphene-like morphology with shrinkage and wrinkles. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurement showed that specific surface area of Co3O4/NiO was 176.5 m 2 /g. Electrochemical properties tests indicated that the Co3O4/NiO nanofilms had a higher specific capacitance and better rate capability than that of precursor -Co(OH)2/-Ni(OH)2 at high current density. As to the cycling performance, the specific capacitance of Co3O4/NiO electrode would first increase from 556 F/g to 710 F/g quickly at 2 A/g after 80 cycles and then remained stable. Therefore, compared with that of precursor -Co(OH)2/-Ni(OH)2, the capacitance performance of as-prepared Co3O4/NiO nanofilms was improved after calcination. The possible reason for the enhancement of capacitance performance was discussed.

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Shuttle-like AgBr-ZnO nanocomposites were successfully synthesized via a facile chemical precipitation method using CTAB as both an cationic surfactant and Br − source. The structure, composition and morphology of the as-synthesized products were characterized by means of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurements. The results revealed that the as-synthesized samples were single crystalline nanostructures with a shuttle-like morphology. The reaction temperature played an important role in the composition and morphology of the products. When the temperature was increased from 40 °C to 80 °C, the components of corresponding products changed from binary Ag-ZnO to ternary Ag-AgBr-ZnO, then to binary AgBr-ZnO, and the morphology underwent a change from aggregated nanoparticles to regular shuttle-like shaped crystals with diameters of ca. 200 nm and lengths of ca. 600 nm. Significantly, the as-prepared AgBr-ZnO nanocomposites showed enhanced photocatalytic properties for the degradation of Rhodamine B in aqueous solution under UV irradiation with a filter (λ = 365 nm) in comparison to the pure ZnO nanomaterials.