Understanding the interaction between graphene oxide (GO) and the biomolecules is fundamentally essential, especially for disease- and drug-related peptides and proteins. In this study, GO was found to strongly interact with amino acids (tryptophan and tyrosine), peptides (Alzheimer's disease related amyloid beta 1-40 and type 2 diabetes related human islet amyloid polypeptide), and proteins (drug-related bovine and human serum albumin) by fluorescence quenching, indicating GO was a universal quencher for tryptophan or tyrosine related peptides and proteins. The quenching mechanism between GO and tryptophan (Trp) or tyrosine (Tyr) was determined as mainly static quenching, combined with dynamic quenching (Förster resonance energy transfer). Different quenching efficiency between GO and Trp or Tyr at different pHs indicated the importance of electrostatic interaction during quenching. Hydrophobic interaction also participated in quenching, which was proved by the presence of nonionic amphiphilic copolymer Pluronic F127 (PF127) in GO dispersion. The strong hydrophobic interaction between GO and PF127 efficiently blocked the hydrophobic interaction between GO and Trp or Tyr, lowering the quenching efficiency.

Structural and band alignment properties of atomic layer Al2O3 oxide film deposited on crystallographically oriented epitaxial Ge grown in-situ on (100), (110), and (111)A GaAs substrates using two separate molecular beam epitaxy chambers were investigated using cross-sectional transmission microscopy (TEM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). High-resolution triple axis x-ray measurement demonstrated pseudomorphic and high-quality Ge epitaxial layer on crystallographically oriented GaAs substrates. The cross-sectional TEM exhibited a sharp interface between the Ge epilayer and each orientation of the GaAs substrate as well as the Al2O3 film and the Ge epilayer. The extracted valence band offset, ΔEv, values of Al2O3 relative to (100), (110), and (111) Ge orientations using XPS measurement were 3.17 eV, 3.34 eV, and 3.10 eV, respectively. Using XPS data, variations in ΔEv related to the crystallographic orientation were ΔEV(110)Ge>ΔEV(100)Ge≥ΔEV(111)Ge and the conduction band offset, ΔEc, related to the crystallographic orientation was ΔEc(111)Ge>ΔEc(110)Ge>ΔEc(100)Ge using the measured ΔEv, bandgap of Al2O3 in each orientation, and well-known Ge bandgap of 0.67 eV. These band offset parameters are important for future application of Ge-based p- and n-channel metal-oxide field-effect transistor design.

Novel approaches to boost quantum dot solar cell (QDSC) efficiencies are in demand. Herein, three strategies are used: (i) a hydrothermally synthesized TiO-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite instead of conventional TiO, (ii) a counter electrode (CE) that has not been applied to QDSCs until now, namely, tin sulfide (SnS) nanoparticles (NPs) coated over a conductive carbon (C)-fabric, and (iii) a quasi-solid-state gel electrolyte composed of S, an inert polymer and TiO nanoparticles as opposed to a polysulfide solution based hole transport layer. MWCNTs by virtue of their high electrical conductivity and suitably positioned Fermi level (below the conduction bands of TiO and PbS) allow fast photogenerated electron injection into the external circuit, and this is confirmed by a higher efficiency of 6.3% achieved for a TiO-MWCNT/PbS/ZnS based (champion) cell, compared to the corresponding TiO/PbS/ZnS based cell (4.45%). Nanoscale current map analysis of TiO and TiO-MWCNTs reveals the presence of narrowly spaced highly conducting domains in the latter, which equips it with an average current carrying capability greater by a few orders of magnitude. Electron transport and recombination resistances are lower and higher respectively for the TiO-MWCNT/PbS/ZnS cell relative to the TiO/PbS/ZnS cell, thus leading to a high performance cell. The efficacy of SnS/C-fabric as a CE is confirmed from the higher efficiency achieved in cells with this CE compared to the C-fabric based cells. Lower charge transfer and diffusional resistances, slower photovoltage decay, high electrical conductance and lower redox potential impart high catalytic activity to the SnS/C-fabric assembly for sulfide reduction and thus endow the TiO-MWCNT/PbS/ZnS cell with a high open circuit voltage (0.9 V) and a large short circuit current density (∼20 mA cm). This study attempts to unravel how simple strategies can amplify QDSC performances.

A novel assembly of a photocathode and a photoanode is investigated to explore their complementary effects in enhancing the photovoltaic performance of a quantum-dot solar cell (QDSC). While p-type nickel oxide (NiO) has been used previously, antimony selenide (SbSe) has not been used in a QDSC, especially as a component of a counter electrode (CE) architecture that doubles as the photocathode. Here, near-infrared (NIR) light-absorbing SbSe nanoparticles (NPs) coated over electrodeposited NiO nanofibers on a carbon (C) fabric substrate was employed as the highly efficient photocathode. Quasi-spherical SbSe NPs, with a band gap of 1.13 eV, upon illumination, release photoexcited electrons in addition to other charge carriers at the CE to further enhance the reduction of the oxidized polysulfide. The p-type conducting behavior of SbSe, coupled with a work function at 4.63 eV, also facilitates electron injection to polysulfide. The effect of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as co-sensitizers as well as electron conduits is also investigated in which a TiO/CdS/GQDs photoanode structure in combination with a C-fabric CE delivered a power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.28%, which is a vast improvement over the 4.23% that is obtained by using a TiO/CdS photoanode (without GQDs) with the same CE. GQDs, due to a superior conductance, impact efficiency more than SbSe NPs do. The best PCE of a TiO/CdS/GQDs-nS/S-SbSe/NiO/C-fabric cell is 5.96% (0.11 cm area), which, when replicated on a smaller area of 0.06 cm, is seen to increase dramatically to 7.19%. The cell is also tested for 6 h of continuous irradiance. The rationalization for the channelized photogenerated electron movement, which augments the cell performance, is furnished in detail in these studies.