The evolution of the optical phonon spectra of colloidal core/shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots with an increase of the shell thickness from 0.5 to 3.4 monolayers has been studied by resonant Raman spectroscopy. The results obtained suggest that the ZnS shell changes its structure from amorphous to partly crystalline as the thickness increases. Simultaneously, an increase in Raman scattering by surface ͑core/shell interface͒ phonons and the redshift of the corresponding phonon band have been observed and assigned to variations in the shell structure. The disorder present in the shell provides a major contribution to the line shape of the Raman spectra at higher ZnS coverage. A method to control the quality of quantum dots based on Raman spectroscopy is proposed.

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Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have been intensively investigated due to their interesting properties and range of potential applications. Although most research has focused on graphene, atomic layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and particularly MoS2 have gathered much deserved attention recently. Here, we report the induction of chirality into 2D chiral nanomaterials by carrying out liquid exfoliation of MoS2 in the presence of chiral ligands (cysteine and penicillamine) in water. This processing resulted in exfoliated chiral 2D MoS2 nanosheets showing strong circular dichroism signals, which were far past the onset of the original chiral ligand signals. Using theoretical modeling, we demonstrated that the chiral nature of MoS2 nanosheets is related to the presence of chiral ligands causing preferential folding of the MoS2 sheets. There was an excellent match between the theoretically calculated and experimental spectra. We believe that, due to their high aspect ratio planar morphology, chiral 2D nanomaterials could offer great opportunities for the development of chiroptical sensors, materials, and devices for valleytronics and other potential applications. In addition, chirality plays a key role in many chemical and biological systems, with chiral molecules and materials critical for the further development of biopharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, and this research therefore should have a strong impact on relevant areas of science and technology such as nanobiotechnology, nanomedicine, and nanotoxicology.

The design, synthesis and complete characterization of a smart material composed of the merocyanine open form. We were also able to provide the first example of a continuous solution based on-off switching in a spiropyran-nanotube material.