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Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications

by

Sotirios Baskoutas

Nanomaterials 2023, 13(9), 1506; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13091506 - 28 Apr 2023

Viewed by 470

Abstract

The intense interest in nanostructured materials is fueled by the tremendous economic and technological benefits anticipated to be achieved by nanotechnology and nanodevices [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

Research

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Open AccessArticle

Nanoscale Waveguide Beam Splitter in Quantum Technologies

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Nanomaterials 2022, 12(22), 4030; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12224030 - 16 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 864

Abstract

Usually in quantum optics, the theory of large- and small-scale waveguide beam splitters is the same. In this paper, it is shown that the theory of the nanoscale waveguide beamsplitter has a significant difference from a similar device, but of a larger scale. [...] Read more.

Usually in quantum optics, the theory of large- and small-scale waveguide beam splitters is the same. In this paper, it is shown that the theory of the nanoscale waveguide beamsplitter has a significant difference from a similar device, but of a larger scale. It is shown that the previously known theory of the waveguide beam splitter is a particular case of the theory presented here. The wave function at the output ports of the nanoscale beam splitter is analyzed. The results obtained are sensitive to the size of the beam splitter, the coupling parameter of the two waveguides, and the degree of nonmonochromaticity of the photons entering the first and second ports of the beam splitter. The results are important for quantum technologies using a nanosized beam splitter. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Thermal and Medium Stability Study of Polyvidone-Modified Graphene Oxide-Coated Gold Nanorods with High Photothermal Efficiency

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Thabang Calvin Lebepe

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Oluwatobi Samuel Oluwafemi

Nanomaterials 2022, 12(19), 3382; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12193382 - 27 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 958

Abstract

Coating gold nanorods (AuNRs) with different materials, such as polymers and graphene-based materials, has improved their biocompatibility. However, these materials have been shown to cause the instability of AuNRs in thermal and culture mediums. In addressing this issue, we herein report the synthesis, [...] Read more.

Coating gold nanorods (AuNRs) with different materials, such as polymers and graphene-based materials, has improved their biocompatibility. However, these materials have been shown to cause the instability of AuNRs in thermal and culture mediums. In addressing this issue, we herein report the synthesis, thermal and culture medium stability, and photothermal profiling of Polyvidone (PVP)-modified graphene oxide (GO)-coated AuNRs (mGO@AuNRs). The AuNRs, with a size of 40.70 nm × 9.16 nm and absorbing at 820 nm, were coated with PVP, GO, and mGO. The colloidal stability of the nanocomposites was tested in three commonly used cell culture mediums: the Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 (RPMI-1640), Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium, (DMEM) and Dulbecco’s phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) using UV-Vis-NIR and dynamic light scattering. The GO-based nanocomposites were stable compared to PVP@AuNRs and AuNRs in all mediums. The photothermal profiling of mGO@AuNRs showed higher heat production, with the photothermal conversion efficiency of 54.8%, which is higher than the bare AuNRs, GO@AuNRs, and PVP@AuNRs. In addition, the mGO@AuNRs also showed good thermal stability at 70 °C for more than 24 h. These results present the dual coating of PVP and GO as excellent stabilising agents for AuNRs with good photothermal profiling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Design and Simulation of Efficient SnS-Based Solar Cell Using Spiro-OMeTAD as Hole Transport Layer

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Nanomaterials 2022, 12(14), 2506; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12142506 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1685

Abstract

In the present paper, the theoretical investigation of the device structure ITO/CeO₂/SnS/Spiro-OMeTAD/Mo of SnS-based solar cell has been performed. The aim of this work is to examine how the Spiro-OMeTAD HTL affects the performance of SnS-based heterostructure solar cell. Using SCAPS-1D [...] Read more.

In the present paper, the theoretical investigation of the device structure ITO/CeO₂/SnS/Spiro-OMeTAD/Mo of SnS-based solar cell has been performed. The aim of this work is to examine how the Spiro-OMeTAD HTL affects the performance of SnS-based heterostructure solar cell. Using SCAPS-1D simulation software, various parameters of SnS-based solar cell such as work function, series and shunt resistance and working temperature have been investigated. With the help of Spiro-OMeTAD, the suggested cell’s open-circuit voltage was increased to 344 mV. The use of Spiro-OMeTAD HTL in the SnS-based solar cell resulted in 14% efficiency increase, and the proposed heterojunction solar cell has 25.65% efficiency. The cell’s performance is determined by the carrier density and width of the CeO₂ ETL (electron transport layer), SnS absorber layer and Spiro-OMeTAD HTL (hole transport layer). These data reveal that the Spiro-OMeTAD solar cells could have been a good HTL (hole transport layer) in regards to producing SnS-based heterojunction solar cell with high efficiency and reduced cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Feasibility of Silicon Quantum Dots as a Biomarker for the Bioimaging of Tear Film

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Sidra Sarwat

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Fiona Jane Stapleton

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Mark Duncan Perry Willcox

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Nanomaterials 2022, 12(12), 1965; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12121965 - 08 Jun 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1900

Abstract

This study investigated the fluorescence and biocompatibility of hydrophilic silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) that are doped with scandium (Sc-SiQDs), copper (Cu-SiQDs), and zinc (Zn-SiQDs), indicating their feasibility for the bioimaging of tear film. SiQDs were investigated for fluorescence emission by the in vitro [...] Read more.

This study investigated the fluorescence and biocompatibility of hydrophilic silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) that are doped with scandium (Sc-SiQDs), copper (Cu-SiQDs), and zinc (Zn-SiQDs), indicating their feasibility for the bioimaging of tear film. SiQDs were investigated for fluorescence emission by the in vitro imaging of artificial tears (TheraTears^®), using an optical imaging system. A trypan blue exclusion test and MTT assay were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of SiQDs to cultured human corneal epithelial cells. No difference was observed between the fluorescence emission of Sc-SiQDs and Cu-SiQDs at any concentration. On average, SiQDs showed stable fluorescence, while Sc-SiQDs and Cu-SiQDs showed brighter fluorescence emissions than Zn-SiQDs. Cu-SiQDs and Sc-SiQDs showed a broader safe concentration range than Zn-SiQDs. Cu-SiQDs and Zn-SiQDs tend to aggregate more substantially in TheraTears^® than Sc-SiQDs. This study elucidates the feasibility of hydrophilic Sc-SiQDs in studying the tear film’s aqueous layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Unconventional Thermal and Magnetic-Field-Driven Changes of a Bipartite Entanglement of a Mixed Spin-(1/2,S) Heisenberg Dimer with an Uniaxial Single-Ion Anisotropy

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Hana Vargová

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Jozef Strečka

Nanomaterials 2021, 11(11), 3096; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11113096 - 16 Nov 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1218

Abstract

The concept of negativity is adapted in order to explore the quantum and thermal entanglement of the mixed spin-(1/2,S) Heisenberg dimers in presence of an external magnetic field. The mutual interplay between the spin size S, XXZ exchange and uniaxial [...] Read more.

The concept of negativity is adapted in order to explore the quantum and thermal entanglement of the mixed spin-(1/2,S) Heisenberg dimers in presence of an external magnetic field. The mutual interplay between the spin size S, XXZ exchange and uniaxial single-ion anisotropy is thoroughly examined with a goal to tune the degree and thermal stability of the pairwise entanglement. It turns out that the antiferromagnetic spin-(1/2,S) Heisenberg dimers exhibit higher degree of entanglement and higher threshold temperature in comparison with their ferromagnetic counterparts when assuming the same set of model parameters. The increasing spin magnitude S accompanied with an easy-plane uniaxial single-ion anisotropy can enhance not only the thermal stability but simultaneously the degree of entanglement. It is additionally shown that the further enhancement of a bipartite entanglement can be achieved in the mixed spin-(1/2,S) Heisenberg dimers, involving half-odd-integer spins S. Under this condition the thermal negativity saturates at low-enough temperatures in its maximal value regardless of the magnitude of half-odd-integer spin S. The magnetic field induces consecutive discontinuous phase transitions in the mixed spin-(1/2,S) Heisenberg dimers with

S > 1

, which are manifested in a surprising oscillating magnetic-field dependence of the negativity observed at low enough temperature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Optical Efficiency Enhancement of Nanojet-Based Dielectric Double-Material Color Splitters for Image Sensor Applications

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Nanomaterials 2021, 11(11), 3036; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11113036 - 12 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1652

Abstract

We propose a new type of color splitter, which guides a selected bandwidth of incident light towards the proper photosensitive area of the image sensor by exploiting the nanojet (NJ) beam phenomenon. Such splitting can be performed as an alternative to filtering out [...] Read more.

We propose a new type of color splitter, which guides a selected bandwidth of incident light towards the proper photosensitive area of the image sensor by exploiting the nanojet (NJ) beam phenomenon. Such splitting can be performed as an alternative to filtering out part of the received light on each color subpixel. We propose to split the incoming light thanks to a new type of NJ-based near-field focusing double-material element with an insert. To suppress crosstalk, we use a Deep-Trench Isolation (DTI) structure. We demonstrate that the use of a dielectric insert block allows for reduction in the size of the color splitting element. By changing the position of the DTI, the functionality of separating blue, green and red light can be improved. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Accurate Truncations of Chain Mapping Models for Open Quantum Systems

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Mónica Sánchez-Barquilla

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Johannes Feist

Nanomaterials 2021, 11(8), 2104; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11082104 - 19 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1866

Abstract

The dynamics of open quantum systems are of great interest in many research fields, such as for the interaction of a quantum emitter with the electromagnetic modes of a nanophotonic structure. A powerful approach for treating such setups in the non-Markovian limit is [...] Read more.

The dynamics of open quantum systems are of great interest in many research fields, such as for the interaction of a quantum emitter with the electromagnetic modes of a nanophotonic structure. A powerful approach for treating such setups in the non-Markovian limit is given by the chain mapping where an arbitrary environment can be transformed to a chain of modes with only nearest-neighbor coupling. However, when long propagation times are desired, the required long chain lengths limit the utility of this approach. We study various approaches for truncating the chains at manageable lengths while still preserving an accurate description of the dynamics. We achieve this by introducing losses to the chain modes in such a way that the effective environment acting on the system remains unchanged, using a number of different strategies. Furthermore, we demonstrate that extending the chain mapping to allow next-nearest neighbor coupling permits the reproduction of an arbitrary environment, and adding longer-range interactions does not further increase the effective number of degrees of freedom in the environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Efficient Biexciton Preparation in a Quantum Dot—Metal Nanoparticle System Using On-Off Pulses

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Athanasios Smponias

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Dionisis Stefanatos

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Emmanuel Paspalakis

Nanomaterials 2021, 11(7), 1859; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11071859 - 19 Jul 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1825

Abstract

We consider a hybrid nanostructure composed by semiconductor quantum dot coupled to a metallic nanoparticle and investigate the efficient creation of biexciton state in the quantum dot, when starting from the ground state and using linearly polarized laser pulses with on-off modulation. With [...] Read more.

We consider a hybrid nanostructure composed by semiconductor quantum dot coupled to a metallic nanoparticle and investigate the efficient creation of biexciton state in the quantum dot, when starting from the ground state and using linearly polarized laser pulses with on-off modulation. With numerical simulations of the coupled system density matrix equations, we show that a simple on-off-on pulse-sequence, previously derived for the case of an isolated quantum dot, can efficiently prepare the biexciton state even in the presence of the nanoparticle, for various interparticle distances and biexciton energy shifts. The pulse durations in the sequence are obtained from the solution of a transcendental equation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessArticle

Quantum Confined Stark Effect on the Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties of SiGe/Si Semi Oblate and Prolate Quantum Dots Grown in Si Wetting Layer

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Nanomaterials 2021, 11(6), 1513; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11061513 - 08 Jun 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2347

Abstract

We have studied the parallel and perpendicular electric field effects on the system of SiGe prolate and oblate quantum dots numerically, taking into account the wetting layer and quantum dot size effects. Using the effective-mass approximation in the two bands model, we computationally [...] Read more.

We have studied the parallel and perpendicular electric field effects on the system of SiGe prolate and oblate quantum dots numerically, taking into account the wetting layer and quantum dot size effects. Using the effective-mass approximation in the two bands model, we computationally calculated the extensive variation of dipole matrix (DM) elements, bandgap and non-linear optical properties, including absorption coefficients, refractive index changes, second harmonic generation and third harmonic generation as a function of the electric field, wetting layer size and the size of the quantum dot. The redshift is observed for the non-linear optical properties with the increasing electric field and an increase in wetting layer thickness. The sensitivity to the electric field toward the shape of the quantum dot is also observed. This study is resourceful for all the researchers as it provides a pragmatic model by considering oblate and prolate shaped quantum dots by explaining the optical and electronic properties precisely, as a consequence of the confined stark shift and wetting layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

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Grigor A. Mantashian

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Paytsar A. Mantashyan

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Nanomaterials 2021, 11(5), 1274; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11051274 - 12 May 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2571

Abstract

By using the numerical discretization method within the effective-mass approximation, we have theoretically investigated the exciton-related Raman scattering, interband absorption and photoluminescence in colloidal CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots ensemble. The interband optical absorption and photoluminescence spectra have been revealed for CdSe/CdS quantum dots, [...] Read more.

By using the numerical discretization method within the effective-mass approximation, we have theoretically investigated the exciton-related Raman scattering, interband absorption and photoluminescence in colloidal CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots ensemble. The interband optical absorption and photoluminescence spectra have been revealed for CdSe/CdS quantum dots, taking into account the size dispersion of the ensemble. Numerical calculation of the differential cross section has been presented for the exciton-related Stokes–Raman scattering in CdSe/CdS quantum dots ensemble with different mean sizes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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Iron-Based Hollow Nanoplatforms for Cancer Imaging and Theranostics

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Nanomaterials 2022, 12(17), 3023; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12173023 - 31 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1515

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Over the past decade, iron (Fe)-based hollow nanoplatforms (Fe-HNPs) have attracted increasing attention for cancer theranostics, due to their high safety and superior diagnostic/therapeutic features. Specifically, Fe-involved components can serve as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents (CAs) and Fenton-like/photothermal/magnetic hyperthermia (MTH) therapy [...] Read more.

Over the past decade, iron (Fe)-based hollow nanoplatforms (Fe-HNPs) have attracted increasing attention for cancer theranostics, due to their high safety and superior diagnostic/therapeutic features. Specifically, Fe-involved components can serve as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents (CAs) and Fenton-like/photothermal/magnetic hyperthermia (MTH) therapy agents, while the cavities are able to load various small molecules (e.g., fluorescent dyes, chemotherapeutic drugs, photosensitizers, etc.) to allow multifunctional all-in-one theranostics. In this review, the recent advances of Fe-HNPs for cancer imaging and treatment are summarized. Firstly, the use of Fe-HNPs in single T₁-weighted MRI and T₂-weighted MRI, T₁-/T₂-weighted dual-modal MRI as well as other dual-modal imaging modalities are presented. Secondly, diverse Fe-HNPs, including hollow iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles (NPs), hollow matrix-supported IO NPs, hollow Fe-complex NPs and hollow Prussian blue (PB) NPs are described for MRI-guided therapies. Lastly, the potential clinical obstacles and implications for future research of these hollow Fe-based nanotheranostics are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nanomaterials for Quantum Technology, Sensor and Health Therapy Applications)

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