Microstructure and composition evolution of He charged solid-gas nanocomposite films of different matrix elements during thermal annealing in vacuum

Sputtering of cobalt, silicon and zirconium in a helium magnetron discharge (MS) is reported as a bottom-up procedure to obtain He-charged films (i.e. He-4 and He-3 filled nanopores encapsulated in the matrix material). Composition and microstructural analyses are presented from ion beam analysis (IBA) and scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). Helium desorption…

Design of highly stabilized nanocomposite inks based on biodegradable polymer-matrix and gold nanoparticles for Inkjet Printing

Nowadays there is a worldwide growing interest in the Inkjet Printing technology owing to its potentially high levels of geometrical complexity, personalization and resolution. There is also social concern about usage, disposal and accumulation of plastic materials. In this work, it is shown that sugar-based biodegradable polyurethane polymers exhibit outstanding properties as polymer-matrix for gold…

Bionanocomposites based on chitosan intercalation in designed swelling high-charged micas

Bionanocomposites based on layered inorganic components, as clays, and polymers of biological origin, as chitosan, have a major impact in medical and environmental fields, being economical and environmentally friendly materials. Na-Mn micas (n = 2 and 4) with controlled surface charge, high cation exchange capacity and swelling behaviour, are attractive inorganic composite components that exhibit…

Photoluminescence quenching of dye molecules near a resonant silicon nanoparticle

Luminescent molecules attached to resonant colloidal particles are an important tool to study light-matter interaction. A traditional approach to enhance the photoluminescence intensity of the luminescent molecules in such conjugates is to incorporate spacer-coated plasmonic nanoantennas, where the spacer prevents intense non-radiative decay of the luminescent molecules. Here, we explore the capabilities of an alternative…

One-reactor plasma assisted fabrication of ZnO@TiO2 multishell nanotubes: assessing the impact of a full coverage on the photovoltaic performance

This paper addresses the fabrication of vertically aligned ZnO@TiO2multishell nanotubes by a combined full vacuum-plasma approach at mild temperatures. The growth is carried out within the premises of a one-reactor approach, i.e. minimizing the number of vacuum chambers and sample transferences. In this way, the interface between ZnO and TiO2 is fully preserved from humidity thus…