Prospective Chalcohalide Perovskites: Pursuing (and Failing) the Synthesis of CsBiSCl Nanocrystals.

Heavy pnictogen chalcohalides are often termed lead-free, perovskite-inspired materials. Despite theoretical predictions, incontrovertible experimental demonstrations of heavy pnictogen chalcohalides adopting a perovskite structure are lacking. Here we report our attempts to prepare CsBiSCl adopting a perovskite structure as colloidal nanocrystals.

Two-Channel Indirect-Gap Photoluminescence and Competition between the Conduction Band Valleys in Few-Layer MoS.

MoS is a two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenide with unique electronic and optical properties. The fabrication of ultrathin MoS is vitally important, since interlayer interactions in its ultrathin varieties will become thickness-dependent, providing thickness-governed tunability and diverse applications of those properties. Unlike with a number of studies that have reported detailed information on direct bandgap emission from MoS monolayers, reliable experimental evidence for thickness-induced evolution or transformation of the indirect bandgap remains scarce.

Molybdenum precursor delivery approaches in atomic layer deposition of α-MoO.

In this research work, we present a study on time-sequenced plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) processes towards the achievement of high-quality α-MoO thin films which are suitable for exfoliation. In particular, a conventional precursor injection method along with a boosted precursor delivery approach are discussed and analysed. In the latter, the proposed gas supply mechanism ensures a large number of deposited Mo atoms per unit of time, which, along with a proper thermal energy, leads to high-quality and oriented orthorhombic α-MoO films.

Pseudocapacitive behaviour in sol-gel derived electrochromic titania nanostructures.

Nanostructured thin films are widely investigated for application in multifunctional devices thanks to their peculiar optoelectronic properties. In this work anatase TiO nanoparticles (average diameter 10 nm) synthesised by a green aqueous sol-gel route are exploited to fabricate optically active electrodes for pseudocapacitive-electrochromic devices. In our approach, highly transparent and homogeneous thin films having a good electronic coupling between nanoparticles are prepared.

Graphene-TiO hybrids for photocatalytic aided removal of VOCs and nitrogen oxides from outdoor environment.

Outdoor and indoor air pollution has become a global concern in modern society. Although many policies and regulations on air quality have been promulgated worldwide over the past decades, airborne pollution still negatively affects health and therefore the life-style of human beings. One of the strategies to challenge this problem might be reducing the amount of airborne pollutant by mineralising them photoinduced reactions.