Hydrothermal synthesis of cdS nanoparticle-decorated TiO2 nanobelts for solar cell.

We fabricated a solar cell using a hybrid film consisting of CdS nanoparticle-decorated TiO2 nanobelts, which were synthesized via a modified alkaline hydrothermal method. The hybrid film is flexible and contains homogeneous CdS nanoparticle light absorbers. Furthermore, the type II heterostructure of CdS/TiO2 facilitates charge separation in the CdS nanoparticle-decorated TiO2 nanobelts.

Complementary microscopy techniques applied for optimizing the structure and performance of graphene-based hybrids.

To improve the performance of graphene and to extend its potential applications, one of the most effective efforts is to hybridize graphene with one or more metal/metal oxide nanocrystals (NCs). In this paper, we demonstrate the complementary techniques of X-ray diffraction, high resolution electron microscopy (HREM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM), which enables us to optimize the synthetic conditions, improve the quality of attached NCs, and tailor the performance of graphene-based hybrids for green energy related applications. Specifically, we explored the EFTEM technique to characterize two graphene-based composites.