2,9,16,23-tetranitrophthalocyanine zinc (TNZnPc)/TiO2 organic–inorganic heterostructures were successfully fabricated by a simple combination method of electrospinning technique and solvothermal processing. These photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, UV–Vis, energy dispersive X-ray and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The photocatalytic studies revealed that the TNZnPc/TiO2 organic–inorganic heterostructures exhibited enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of photodegradation of rhodamine B compared with pure TiO2 nanofibers under visible-light irradiation. Further studies indicate that the photosynergistic effect of organic–inorganic heterostructures can remarkably enhance the photoinduced interfacial charge transfer, thereby increasing the charge separation during the photocatalytic reaction.

We investigated hybridized-polarization surface phonon polaritons (HSPhPs) of transversely truncated a metamaterial (MM) that consists of alternating ionic-crystal and ordinary-dielectric layers. We predicted five HSPhPs in the reststrahlen frequency window of ionic-crystal layers, which belong to five different types, respectively. One is of Dyakonov-like type and another is traditional-like. The other three HSPhPs are of new type. We used a numerical-simulating method of attenuated total reflection (ATR) measurements to examine them. The obtained ATR spectra also demonstrate that they are observable and exhibit their polarization features. These results expand the potential-application space of phononics and photonics in the infrared to the terahertz range.

Hybrid-polarization surface plasmon polaritons (HSPPs) at the interface between an isotropic medium and a one-dimensional metal–dielectric metamaterial (MM) were discussed, where the metal-layer permittivity was described with the improved Drude model. From the obtained dispersion equations, we predicated five types of HSPPs. One type is the Dyakonov-like surface polariton and another type is the tradition-like surface polarton. The others are new types of HSPPs. We establish a numerical simulation method of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) measurement to examine these HSPPs. The results from the ATR spectra are consistent with those from the dispersion equations and indicate the different polarization features of these HSPPs. The numerical results also demonstrate that the observation of each type of HSPPs requires different conditions dictated by the material parameters and the polarization direction of incident light used in the ATR spectra. These results may further widen the space of potential applications of surface plasmon polaritons.