Advanced nanostructured materials that demonstrate useful activity under solar excitation in fields concerned with the elimination of pollutants, partial oxidation and the valorization of chemical compounds, water splitting and CO 2 reduction processes, are discussed. Point defects present in nanoparticulated anatase present both 5-fold- and 6-fold-coordinated titanium atoms, as well as 2-fold- and 3-fold-coordinated oxygens.…
Osmotic shock in a vesicle or cell is the stress build-up and subsequent rupture of the phospholipid membrane that occurs when a relatively high concentration of salt is unable to cross the membrane and instead an inflow of water alleviates the salt concentration gradient. This is a well-known failure mechanism for cells and vesicles (for…
A procedure to prepare porous photonic crystal resonators containing gold nanoparticles is reported. The optical absorption of the ensemble, resulting from the excitation of the localized surface plasmon of the metallic beads, is finely tuned by a gradual shift of the cavity mode. This is achieved by infiltration of the void network with different guest…
A new kind of visible-blind organic thin-film material, consisting of a polymeric matrix with a high concentration of embedded 3-hydroxyflavone (3HF) dye molecules, that absorbs UV light and emits green light is presented. The thin films can be grown on sensitive substrates, including flexible polymers and paper. Their suitability as photonic active components photonic devices…
A simple route for the fabrication of dichroic optical structures based on Ag nanoparticles deposited onto SiO2 nanocolumns is presented. The strict control of the optical response is achieved after infrared laser treatment of the supported nanoparticles with a commercial nanosecond pulsed laser. Preliminary examples of the utilization of the laser-treated AgNPs/SiO2 nanocolumn system for…
Crystalline porous zirconium membranes were obtained by physical vapor deposition on AAO templates at room temperature. These membranes were found to have similar hexagonal nanohole arrays as the template and high crystallinity. The pore size of the synthesized metallic membranes could be controlled during the synthesis through appropriate parameters in the experimental procedure.