Exploring Copper Oxide and Copper Sulfide for Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensors: Current Progress and Future Directions.

Millions of people worldwide are affected by diabetes, a chronic disease that continuously grows due to abnormal glucose concentration levels present in the blood. Monitoring blood glucose concentrations is therefore an essential diabetes indicator to aid in the management of the disease. Enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensors presently account for the bulk of glucose sensors on the market.

The effect of the metal and selenium precursors on the properties of NbSe and NbSe nanostructures and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Herein, we report on the effect of the precursors on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of niobium selenide using the heat-up colloidal method. The metal precursor was varied from the conventional NbCl to NbF whilst Se, SeO, and selenourea were used as the selenium precursors. The NbCl and NbF resulted in the formation of NbSe and NbSe respectively.

Novel 2D-AuSe nanostructures as effective platinum replacement counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Studies to improve the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) include, but are not limited to, finding alternatives such as 2D layered materials as replacement counter electrodes (CEs) to the commonly used Pt. Herein, we report for the first time, the use of AuSe as a counter electrode for the reduction of triiodide ions (I ) to iodide ions (I). The colloidal synthesis of gold selenide nanostructures produced α-AuSe and β-AuSe dominated products as determined by XRD.

Probing the stoichiometry dependent catalytic activity of nickel selenide counter electrodes in the redox reaction of iodide/triiodide electrolyte in dye sensitized solar cells.

Nickel selenide (Ni Se ) systems have received much attention in recent years as potential low cost counter electrodes (CEs) in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Their electrocatalytic activities are comparable to that of the conventional platinum CE. Despite their achievements, the effect of stoichiometry on their catalytic performance as CEs in DSSCs still remains unclear, hence the motivation for this work.

Elucidating the effect of precursor decomposition time on the structural and optical properties of copper(i) nitride nanocubes.

To study the effect of time on the colloidal synthesis of CuN nanoparticles, copper(ii) nitrate was thermally decomposed at 260 °C for up to 60 min in octadecylamine as a stabilizing ligand. Thermolysis of the nitrate followed four steps which included; nucleation, growth, ripening and decomposition. At 5 min, partially developed nanocubes were found in a dense population of CuN nuclei.