A new class of third-order nonlinear optical materials: laser pulse-duration dependant saturable absorption and nonlinear refraction in platinum(II) diimine-dithiolate complexes.

The third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of a series of platinum diimine-dithiolate complexes [Pt(N^N)(S^S)] were investigated by means of Z-scan measurements, revealing second hyperpolarizability values up to 10-29 esu, saturable absorption properties, and nonlinear refractive behaviour, which were rationalized also by means of DFT calculations.

Charge Carrier Dynamics in Colloidally Synthesized Monolayer MoX2 Nanosheets.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are nanostructured semiconductors with prospects in optoelectronics and photocatalysis. Several bottom-up procedures to synthesize such materials have been developed yielding colloidal transition metal dichalcogenides (c-TMDs). Where such methods initially yielded multilayered sheets with indirect band gaps, recently, also the formation of monolayered c-TMDs became possible. Despite these advances, no clear picture on the charge carrier dynamics in monolayer c-TMDs exists to date. Here, we show through broadband and multiresonant pump-probe spectroscopy, that the carrier dynamics in monolayer c-TMDs are dominated by a fast electron trapping mechanism, universal to both MoS2 and MoSe2, contrasting hole-dominated trapping in their multilayered counterparts. Through a detailed hyperspectral fitting procedure, sizable exciton red shifts are found and assigned to static shifts originating from both interactions with the trapped electron population and lattice heating. Our results pave the way to optimizing monolayer c-TMDs via passivation of predominantly the electron-trap sites.

[AuIII(N

A series of new complexes of general formula [AuIII(N^N)Br2](PF6) (N^N = 2,2'-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline derivatives) were prepared and characterized by spectroscopic, electrochemical, and diffractometric techniques and tested against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus intermedius, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli), showing promising antibacterial and antibiofilm properties.

A colloidal route to semiconducting tungsten disulfide nanosheets with monolayer thickness.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are a class of materials that have been extensively studied in the last decade, with molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) being the main protagonist. Typically, the interesting TMD properties, e.g. a direct band gap transition, or broken inversion symmetry, are only present in monolayer thick TMDs, and in the absence of strong lateral confinement, we require different materials or alloys thereof when we want to obtain TMDs with varying (direct) band gap energies. With this in mind, tungsten disulfide (WS2) is emerging as a direct competitor of MoS2 due to its similar properties but larger band gap energy. While several colloidal strategies have been reported for the synthesis of WS2, the synthesis of monolayer WS2 and detailed studies on the effect of synthesis parameters on the synthesis outcome have remained elusive. In this work we therefore focused on a colloidal synthesis method for monolayer WS2 using a design of experiment (DOE) approach. After optimization, we obtained nanosheets with a band gap transition consistent with the expected value for a monolayer. The thickness was further confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. While we could identify two temperature ranges where we could obtain a monolayer, sample characterization by XPS spectroscopy revealed the presence of different ratios of the metallic phase, with the sample synthesized at lower temperature displaying a lower concentration of the metallic phase.