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Three different types of TiO2 nanoparticles in anatase and rutile phases were subject to nanosecond 532‐nm laser pulses in aqueous solution for enhanced reactivity in photocatalytic applications. Color changes observed during the laser processes resulted from laser pulse‐induced heating of TiO2 surfaces to form surface disorder with surface defects. Interestingly, TiO2 nanoparticles with different size and bulk phases undergo different changes in surface morphology, bulk phase, and defect density under the same laser pulses. The results are related with the differences in the absorption by initial defects on the TiO2 surface. Our results show that the type and density of initial defects within TiO2 matrix are important in determining subsequent thermal equilibrium‐driven changes. It is suggested that nanosecond laser pulses with energies lower than the bandgap of the semiconductor materials provide a chance for selective modification of oxide nanomaterials such as TiO2 for a new photoresponsive functionality in diverse applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have various electronic and optical properties depending on their structure, so they can be used as a fascinating material in various applications including photonics, electronics, optoelectronics, and valleytronics. In particular, spiral TMDCs grown through the formation of screw dislocations exhibit novel electronic and optical properties different from layer‐by‐layer TMDCs. However, large‐area structure‐selective synthesis of TMDCs remains challenging. Here, this work reports for the first time the large‐area structure‐selective synthesis of monolayer MoSe2 and spiral MoSe2 using a flux‐controlled chemical vapor deposition method. Under a low MoSe2 flux condition, monolayer MoSe2 is synthesized, whereas thick spiral MoSe2 is synthesized under a high flux condition. Under a medium flux condition, both monolayer and spiral MoSe2 are synthesized. In addition, through the nonlinear optical (NLO) signal analysis of monolayer MoSe2 and spiral MoSe2, the giant enhancement of NLO signals induced by the combined effect of breaking inversion symmetry and the excitonic resonance effects in the synthesized MoSe2 is confirmed. Monolayer MoSe2 and spiral MoSe2 synthesized using this method are expected to be used as advanced optical materials for novel electronics, optoelectronics, and NLO applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asa p-type semiconducting oxide that can absorb visiblelight, cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is an attractive material forsolar energy conversion. This work introduces a high-temperature,vapor-phase synthesis that produces faceted Cu2O nanowiresthat grow epitaxially along the surface of a lattice-matched, single-crystalMgO substrate. Individual wires were then fabricated into single-wire,all-oxide diodes and solar cells using low-temperature atomic layerdeposition (ALD) of TiO2and ZnO films to form the heterojunction.The performance of devices made from pristine Cu2O wiresand chlorine-exposed Cu2O wires was investigated underone-sun and laser illumination. These faceted wires allow the fabricationof well-controlled heterojunctions that can be used to investigatethe interfacial properties of all-oxide solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we fabricated three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical plasmo-photonic nanoarchitectures by epitaxially integrating semiconducting zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires with vertically oriented plasmonic gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoplatforms and investigated their growth mechanisms in detail. We synthesized 3D hierarchical Au–ZnO nanostructures via a vapor–solid mechanism leading to the epitaxial growth of ZnO nanowires on vertically oriented single-crystalline Au nanowires on a strontium titanate (SrTiO3) substrate. The elongated half-octahedral Au nanowires with a rhombus cross-section were transformed into thermodynamically stable elongated cuboctahedral Au nanowires with a hexagonal cross-section during the reaction. After the transformation, ZnO thin films with six twinned domains were formed on the side planes of the elongated cuboctahedral Au nanowire trunks, and six ZnO nanowire branches were grown on the ZnO thin films. Further, 3D hierarchical Ag–ZnO nanostructures were obtained via the same vapor–solid mechanism leading to the epitaxial growth of ZnO nanowires on vertically oriented Ag nanoplates on an aluminum oxide (Al2O3) substrate. Therefore, the growth mechanism developed herein can be generally employed to fabricate 3D hierarchical plasmo-photonic nanoarchitectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monolayer MoS2 can be used for various applications such as flexible optoelectronics and electronics due to its exceptional optical and electronic properties. For these applications, large-area synthesis of high-quality monolayer MoS2 is highly desirable. However, the conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using MoO3 and S powder has shown limitations in synthesizing high-quality monolayer MoS2 over a large area on a substrate. In this study, we present a novel carbon cloth-assisted CVD method for large-area uniform synthesis of high-quality monolayer MoS2. While the conventional CVD method produces thick MoS2 films in the center of the substrate and forms MoS2 monolayers at the edge of the thick MoS2 films, our carbon cloth-assisted CVD method uniformly grows high-quality monolayer MoS2 in the center of the substrate. The as-synthesized monolayer MoS2 was characterized in detail by Raman/photoluminescence spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. We reveal the growth process of monolayer MoS2 initiated from MoS2 seeds by synthesizing monolayer MoS2 with varying reaction times. In addition, we show that the CVD method employing carbon powder also produces uniform monolayer MoS2 without forming thick MoS2 films in the center of the substrate. This confirms that the large-area growth of monolayer MoS2 using the carbon cloth-assisted CVD method is mainly due to reducing properties of the carbon material, rather than the effect of covering the carbon cloth. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our carbon cloth-assisted CVD method is generally applicable to large-area uniform synthesis of other monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, including monolayer WS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-ordered bioreceptors on atomically flat Au surfaces can be a high-performance biosensor. Cardiac troponin I proteins (cTnIs) have been regarded as a specific biomarker for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Here, we report the accurate detection of cTnIs using an aptamer-immobilized Au nanoplate platform. The single-crystalline and atomically flat Au nanoplate was characterized by atomic force microscopy. For the precise detection of cTnI, we immobilized an aptamer that can strongly bind to cTnI onto an atomically flat Au nanoplate. Using the aptamer-immobilized Au nanoplate, cTnIs were successfully detected at a concentration of 100 aM (2.4 fg/mL) in buffer solution. Furthermore, cTnIs in serum could be identified at a concentration of 100 fM (2.4 pg/mL). The total assay time was ~7 h. Importantly, the aptamer-immobilized Au nanoplate enabled us to diagnose AMI patients accurately, suggesting the potential of the present method in the diagnosis of AMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]