Radially organized pillars in TiO2 and in TiO2/C microspheres: Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic tests

Graphite nanoplatelets and carbon nanotubes based polyethylene composites: Electrical conductivity and morphology

“…Upon these low acceleration potentials the electrical properties of the material can be obtained, being the image contrast related to the local conductivity [28]. More in detail, under the adopted acquisition parameters (300V, 100 pA) bright and dark regions indicate conductive and non-conductive regions, respectively [21,29]. Once the value of ≈1 kV was exceeded, the contrast begins to be reversed: this means that bright and dark regions appear respectively non conductive and conductive for this kind of materials [21].…”

Zinc Oxide Nanostructures: From Chestnut Husk-Like Structures to Hollow Nanocages, Synthesis and Structure

“…The common synthetic to be quite different when compared to the one of ZnO, coming from the combustion of metal Zn. This means that only the Zn-O couples that are present on extended and prismatic and (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) faces are able to dissociate hydrogen, where a cooperative mechanism between surface zinc and oxygen species could be hypothesized to cause the hydrogen molecule polarization and then its consequent breaking. It must be underlined that the ability of prismatic faces to become covered by reversibly adsorbed H 2 at room temperature, makes ZnO unique among the oxidic systems, (like MgO, Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , etc.)…”

Nanocrystalline TiO2 micropillar arrays grafted on conductive glass supports: microscopic and spectroscopic studies

“…In fact, the high photocatalytic activity, induced by isolated nanoparticles, is not the exclusive requisite for practical applications. The separation of TiO 2 material from the solution after irradiation is necessary as well as the presence of a hierarchical porosity, providing a fast accessibility and a facile fluid transport may be mandatory for an efficient use of the material in the industrial applications [8]. As far as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are concerned, an overall light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of~12% has been obtained [9,10].…”

“…On the other hand, the electronic properties and the efficiency of the light harvesting process can be tuned, by tailoring phase composition, crystallinity, surface roughness, porosity, shape and crystal size of TiO 2 -based materials [2,11]. By playing with several methods of preparation (sol-gel, chemical etching, hydrothermal, spray-pyrolysis, chemical and physical vapor deposition techniques) [1], many morphologies and structures can be obtained, such as nanotubes [17] and nanowires (1D) [18], nanoplatelets and nanosheets (2D) [19], spheres [8] and crystals exposing peculiar facets [20], and fibers coated by TiO 2 [21]. However, it is believed that the one dimensional nanostructures are the most attractive candidates for solar energy conversion because of …”