Purified squid ink was used as a natural dye in TiO 2 nanocomposite films for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The squid ink extract was purified by the reaction over a proteolytic enzyme and coated onto composites of TiO 2 nanotubes/ nanoparticles. The resulting cells were compared with reference DSSCs in which N719 was used as a standard dye. Analysis revealed that the sub-500-nm eumelanine-based spherical nanoparticles were well adsorbed on the surface of the TiO 2 nanotubes/ nanoparticles, and the cells demonstrated efficiencies of 0.72 and 0.86%, respectively. The mechanisms over photosensitization induced by the purified ink particles are elucidated.
High-energy charged particle irradiation of cross-linking polymers gives nanowires formed by cross-linking reactions along the ion track trajectories. Here, the direct formation of nanowires consisting of a conjugated polymer by single-particle nanofabrication technique (SPNT) is investigated. Poly(9,9'-di-n-octylfluorene) (PFO), regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (rrP3HT), and poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) underwent an efficient cross-linking reaction upon irradiation, resulting in the formation of 1-dimensional nanostructures with high and desired aspect ratio reaching up to ∼200. The size of nanowires was perfectly interpreted by well-sophisticated theoretical aspects based on the statistical theory of polymer backbone configurations, suggesting that simple cross-linking reactions of the polymers determine the size and structure of nanowires. PFO based nanostructures exhibited sharp and intense emission with high fluorescence quantum yield indicating the absence of any significant inter/intra polymer chromophore interactions in the nanowires assemblies.
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