Quantitative evaluation of the antibacterial factors of ZnO nanorod arrays under dark conditions: Physical and chemical effects on Escherichia coli inactivation.

Although zinc oxide nanorod (ZnO NR) arrays are a nanomaterial that offers efficient bactericidal activity, they have not been systematically evaluated to quantitatively investigate their disinfection mechanism under dark conditions. In this study, ZnO NR arrays of different lengths (0.5-4 μm) were uniformly grown via hydrothermal synthesis.

Stretchable and colorless freestanding microwire arrays for transparent solar cells with flexibility.

Transparent solar cells (TSCs) are emerging devices that combine the advantages of visible transparency and light-to-electricity conversion. Currently, existing TSCs are based predominantly on organics, dyes, and perovskites; however, the rigidity and color-tinted transparent nature of those devices strongly limit the utility of the resulting TSCs for real-world applications. Here, we demonstrate a flexible, color-neutral, and high-efficiency TSC based on a freestanding form of -silicon microwires (SiMWs).

Morphology-Controlled Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanofibers for Highly Sensitive NO Sensors with Full Recovery at Room Temperature.

Room-temperature (RT) gas sensitivity of morphology-controlled free-standing hollow aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanofibers for NO gas sensors is presented. The free-standing hollow nanofibers are fabricated using a polyvinylpyrrolidone fiber template electrospun on a copper electrode frame followed by radio-frequency sputtering of an AZO thin overlayer and heat treatment at 400 °C to burn off the polymer template. The thickness of the AZO layer is controlled by the deposition time.

Preparation, characterization, and application of TiO-patterned polyimide film as a photocatalyst for oxidation of organic contaminants.

Photocatalytically active TiO-patterned polyimide (PI) films (PI-TiO) were fabricated using thermal transfer patterning (TTP). When subjected to hot pressing, the TiO nanoparticles electrosprayed on steel mesh templates were successfully transferred and formed checker plate patterns on PI film. FE-SEM studies confirmed that pressing at 350°C and 100MPa was optimum for obtaining patterns with uniform TiO coverage.

Enhanced piezoresponse of highly aligned electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers.

Well-ordered nanostructure arrays with controlled densities can potentially improve material properties; however, their fabrication typically involves the use of complicated processing techniques. In this work, we demonstrate a uniaxial alignment procedure for fabricating poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) electrospun nanofibers (NFs) by introducing collectors with additional steps. The mechanism of the observed NF alignment, which occurs due to the concentration of lateral electric field lines around collector steps, has been elucidated via finite-difference time-domain simulations.