A highly selective, sensitive, and stable non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on Ni hydroxide modified nitrogen-incorporated nanodiamonds (Ni(OH)₂-NND) was developed. The sensor was fabricated by e-beam evaporation of a thin Ni film on NND followed by the growth of Ni(OH)₂ using an electrochemical process. It was found that the Ni film thickness greatly affects the morphology and electro-catalytic activity of the as-synthesized electrode for non-enzymatic glucose oxidation. Owing to its nanostructure characteristics, the best sensor fabricated by 150 nm Ni deposition showed two wide response ranges, namely, 0.02–1 mM and 1–9 mM, with sensitivities of 3.20 and 1.41 mA mM⁻¹ cm⁻², respectively, and a detection limit of 1.2 μM (S/N = 3). The sensor also showed good long-term stability as well as high selectivity in the presence of interferences such as ascorbic acid, acetaminophen, and uric acid. This finding reveals the possibility of exploiting the NND as an electrochemical biosensor platform where high performance addressable sensor arrays could be built.

Wide-range low-voltage continuous color tuning is achieved in multilayerlight-emitting diodes based exclusively on the commonly used high-efficiency electroluminescent conjugated polymers. There are three layers for red, green, and blue emission, and one extra layer for electron blocking. The color of the emitted photon depends on the position of the electron-hole recombination. Due to the stronger field dependence of the electron mobility relative to the hole mobility, the recombination zone is pushed away from the cathode and concentrated in different emissive layers as the voltage increases.

CdS/CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) were fabricated on two types of TiO2 photoanodes, namely nanosheets (NSs) and nanoparticles. The TiO2 NSs with high (001)-exposed facets were prepared via a hydrothermal method, while the TiO2 nanoparticles used the commercial Degussa P-25. It was found that the pore size, specific surface area, porosity, and electron transport properties of TiO2 NSs were generally superior to those of P-25. As a result, the TiO2 NS-based CdS/CdSe QDSSC has exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 4.42%, which corresponds to a 54% improvement in comparison with the P-25-based reference cell. This study provides an effective photoanode design using nanostructure approach to improve the performance of TiO2-based QDSSCs.