The design and fabrication of new high-performance electrode materials are critical for driving the development of next-generation energy conversion and energy storage devices.

describes the low-temperature, solution-based doping of Mn 2+ ions into colloidal ZnO nanorods, and the yield of the products is in a gram scale. The structures and chemical compositions of the products were characterized by XRD, XPS, EDS, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The results demonstrate that Mn 2+ ions were successfully incorporated into the lattice position of Zn 2+ ions in ZnO. The concentration of Mn 2+ ions (in molar %) in the products can be controlled in the range of 1.25∼5%. The surfaces of Mn-doped ZnO nanocrystals have very rich hydroxyl groups, which enhance their solubility in many polar and nonpolar solvents. TEM and FESEM were used to characterize the morphology of ZnO and Mn-doped ZnO nanocrystals, and they revealed that both the undoped and doped ZnO nanocrystals are composed of uniform nanorods with a diameter of 8 nm and a length of 95 nm. The doping of Mn 2+ ions has significant influences on the optical properties of ZnO nanorods. UV-vis absorption spectroscopy measurements reveal that the doping of Mn 2+ lead to a red shift of the absorption edge of ZnO nanorods. Undoped ZnO nanorods exhibit a pure excitonic emission centered at 384 nm, whereas Mn-doped ZnO nanorods only show a red emission that is assigned to the Mn 2+ 4 T(G) ligand-field excited state.

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High-quality Cu3Se2 nanoplates were synthesized in a large scale through microwave-enhanced reaction between selenium and copper(I) oleate. The nanoplates are approximately round with thickness of 17 nm and the diameter in the range of 700∼1000 nm. The distinct shape of the nanoplates provides an ideal site for combining functional units, and as an example, carboxyl-terminated CdTe quantum dots were adsorbed onto Cu3Se2 nanoplates to form Cu3Se2−CdTe nanocluster by the chemical linkage of carboxyl to Cu. The fabricated nanoclusters exhibit an enhanced photovoltaic property (i.e., large photocurrent and short response time). Furthermore, this work provides a rational method to the design and fabrication of quantum dots decorated semiconductor nanocomposites.