Graphene on Au-coated SiOx substrate: Its core-level photoelectron micro-spectroscopy study

The core-level electronic structures of the exfoliated graphene sheets on a Au-coated SiOx substrate have been studied by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES) on a micron-scale. The graphene was firstly demonstrated its visibility on the Au-coated SiOx substrate by micro-optical characterization, and then conducted into SR-PES study. Because of the elimination of charging effect, precise C 1s core-level characterization clearly shows graphitic and contaminated carbon states of graphene. Different levels of Au-coating-induced p-type doping on single- and double-layer graphene sheets were also examined in the C 1s core-level shift. The Au-coated SiOx substrate can be treated as a simple but high-throughput platform for in situ studying graphene under further hybridization by PES

Optimization of Cu2O Thickness to Enhance Photocatalytic Properties of Electrodeposited Cu2O/FTO Photoanode

Currently, n-type cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a promising material as photocatalyst because of its energy gap of 2 eV that absorbs visible light up to a wavelength of 600 nm. As a photoelectrode, the thickness of Cu2O is crucial, where the improper thickness may worsen the photocatalytic properties. This work aimed to enhance the photocatalytic properties of Cu2O electrodeposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), called Cu2O/FTO, by optimizing the Cu2O thickness. The thickness of Cu2O was controlled by adjusting the deposition time in the electrochemical deposition of Cu2O/FTO. By changing the deposition time from 5 to 45 min, the morphology of Cu2O changed from a leaf-like shape to an irregular facet shape with highly dense coverage, and the average thickness increased from 370 to 1100 nm. The increasing Cu2O thickness resulted in the increasing light absorption. The Cu2O/FTO demonstrated anodic photocurrent, which increased with the Cu2O thickness up to a threshold value of 1000 nm (35 min deposition time). At a thickness of 1000 nm, Cu2O/FTO achieved the highest photocurrent (150 and 58 µA under irradiation of 365 and 470 nm, respectively) due to the highly dense morphology and high absorption. In addition, with a thickness of 1000 nm, the charge diffusion was still good. Further, the increase of Cu2O film thickness higher than 1000 nm caused low photocatalytic properties even though the morphology was highly dense, and the absorption was the highest. This condition could be due to the relatively too-high resistance of Cu2O that caused poor charge diffusion. Copyright © 2024 by Authors, Published by BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Fabrication of spatial modulated second order nonlinear structures and quasi-phase matched second harmonic generation in a poled azo-copolymer planar waveguide

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Mechanical and structural properties of major ampullate silk from spiders fed carbon nanomaterials.

The dragline silk of spiders is of particular interest to science due to its unique properties that make it an exceptional biomaterial that has both high tensile strength and elasticity. To improve these natural fibers, researchers have begun to try infusing metals and carbon nanomaterials to improve mechanical properties of spider silk. The objective of this study was to incorporate carbon nanomaterials into the silk of an orb-weaving spider, Nephila pilipes, by feeding them solutions containing graphene and carbon nanotubes. Spiders were collected from the field and in the lab were fed solutions by pipette containing either graphene sheets or nanotubes. Major ampullate silk was collected and a tensile tester was used to determine mechanical properties for pre- and post-treatment samples. Raman spectroscopy was then used to test for the presence of nanomaterials in silk samples. There was no apparent incorporation of carbon nanomaterials in the silk fibers that could be detected with Raman spectroscopy and there were no significant improvements in mechanical properties. This study represents an example for the importance of attempting to replicate previously published research. Researchers should be encouraged to continue to do these types of investigations in order to build a strong consensus and solid foundation for how to go forward with these new methods for creating novel biomaterials