Research of the Structure of Nanomaterials by Analysis of Micromorphology Images

Gas sensors have attracted intensive research interest due to the demand of sensitive, fast response, and stable sensors for industry, environmental monitoring, biomedicine, and so forth. The development of nanotechnology has created huge potential to build highly sensitive, low cost, portable sensors with low power consumption. The extremely high surface-to-volume ratio and hollow structure of nanomaterials is ideal for the adsorption of gas molecules. Particularly, the advent of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has fuelled the inventions of gas sensors that exploit CNTs' unique geometry, morphology, and material properties. Upon exposure to certain gases, the changes in CNTs' properties can be detected by various methods. Therefore, CNTs-based gas sensors and their mechanisms have been widely studied recently. In this paper, a broad but yet in-depth survey of current CNTs-based gas sensing technology is presented. Both experimental works and theoretical simulations are reviewed. The design, fabrication, and the sensing mechanisms of the CNTs-based gas sensors are discussed. The challenges and perspectives of the research are also addressed in this review.

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Design and Construction of Low Temperature Attachment for Commercial AFM

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.209.137 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 209 ◽

pp. 137-142

Author(s):

Abrarkhan M. Pathan ◽

Dhawal H. Agrawal ◽

Pina M. Bhatt ◽

Hitarthi H. Patel ◽

U.S. Joshi

Keyword(s):

Atomic Force Microscope ◽

Cryogenic Temperature ◽

Low Cost ◽

Perovskite Manganite ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Structure Of Nanomaterials ◽

Negative Bending ◽

Set Up ◽

Free Environment ◽

Repulsive Forces

With the rapid advancements in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology, scanning probe microscopy has become an integral part of a typical R&D lab. Atomic force microscope (AFM) has become a familiar name in this category. The AFM measures the forces acting between a fine tip and a sample. The tip is attached to the free end of a cantilever and is brought very close to a surface. Attractive or repulsive forces resulting from interactions between the tip and the surface will cause a positive or negative bending of the cantilever. The bending is detected by means of a laser beam, which is reflected from the backside of the cantilever. Atomic force microscopy is currently applied to various environments (air, liquid, vacuum) and types of materials such as metal semiconductors, soft biological samples, conductive and non-conductive materials. With this technique size measurements or even manipulations of nano-objects may be performed. An experimental setup has been designed and built such that a commercially available Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) (Nanosurf AG, Easyscan 2) can be operated at cryogenic temperature under vacuum and in a vibration-free environment. The design also takes care of portability and flexibility of AFM i.e. it is very small, light weight and AFM can be used in both ambient and cryogenic conditions. The whole set up was assembled in-house at a fairly low cost. It is used to study the surface structure of nanomaterials. Important perovskite manganite Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3thin films were studied and results such as morphology, RMS area and line roughness as well as the particle size have been estimated at cryogenic temperature.

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Progress on Nanomaterials for Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells: from Titania to Perovskites

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/201912514015 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 125 ◽

pp. 14015

Author(s):

Indriana Kartini

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Short Review ◽

Natural Dyes ◽

Pec Solar Cells ◽

Structure Of Nanomaterials ◽

Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells ◽

And Performance ◽

The One ◽

Silicon Based ◽

New Generation

Solar cells have been the queen of alternative renewable energy for the earth. From silicon-based solar cells to the new generation of perovskite-based solar cells, the choice and performance of the materials of the corresponding cells are still the focus of research interest. Amongst, photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar cells trigger the use and exploration of nanomaterials to boost their cell’s performance. This short review focus on the development of nanomaterials used for PEC, from nanoparticles to the one-dimensional titanium dioxide (titania) such as nanofibers and nanotubes, as well as the hybrid system with the perovskite halide. The search for light-harvesting materials is also included especially natural dyes. The review ends with a strategy to marry the natural dyes' potential with the sophisticated structure of nanomaterials to result in an efficient natural dyes PEC solar cells.

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A low cost platform for linking transport properties to the structure of nanomaterials

Nanotechnology ◽

10.1088/0957-4484/17/5/051 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 17 (5) ◽

pp. 1470-1475 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

S Y Xu ◽

J Xu ◽

M L Tian

Keyword(s):

Transport Properties ◽

Low Cost ◽

Structure Of Nanomaterials

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Nanoparticles

Nanotechnology ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-5125-8.ch049 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 1071-1089

Author(s):

Bakhtiyor Rasulev ◽

Danuta Leszczynska ◽

Jerzy Leszczynski

Keyword(s):

Biological Activity ◽

Quantum Chemical ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Modern Life ◽

Quantum Chemical Methods ◽

Physico Chemical ◽

Structure Of Nanomaterials ◽

The Subject ◽

Complicated Task

Nanomaterials are becoming an important component of the modern life and have been the subject of increasing number of investigations involving various areas of natural sciences and technology. However, theoretical modeling of physicochemical and biological activity of these species is still very scarce. The prediction of the properties and activities of ‘classical’ substances via correlating with molecular descriptors is a well known procedure, i.e. QSAR. In spite of this, the application of QSAR for the nanomaterials is a very complicated task, because of “non-classical” structure of nanomaterials. Here, the authors show that an application of the QSAR methods for nanomaterials is nevertheless possible and can be useful in predicting their various properties and activities (toxicity). In the chapter briefly explained how the physico-chemical properties can be predicted for nanomaterials. Furthermore, it was also demonstrated how the biological activity, particularly toxicity, can be modeled and predicted for the series of nanoparticles, by applying the quantum-chemical methods in combination with the nano-QSAR.

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