Unlike conventional bulk or film materials, one-dimensional (1D) semiconducting zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures exhibit excellent photoelectric properties including ultrahigh intrinsic photoelectric gain, multiple light confinement, and subwavelength size effects. Compared with polycrystalline thin films, nanowires usually have high phase purity, no grain boundaries, and long-distance order, making them attractive for carrier transport in advanced optoelectronic devices. The properties of one-dimensional nanowires—such as strong optical absorption, light emission, and photoconductive gain—could improve the performance of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors, solar cells, nanogenerators, field-effect transistors, and sensors. For example, ZnO nanowires behave as carrier transport channels in photoelectric devices, decreasing the loss of the light-generated carrier. The performance of LEDs and photoelectric detectors based on nanowires can be improved compared with that of devices based on polycrystalline thin films. This article reviews the fabrication methods of 1D ZnO nanostructures—including chemical vapor deposition, hydrothermal reaction, and electrochemical deposition—and the influence of the growth parameters on the growth rate and morphology. Important applications of 1D ZnO nanostructures in optoelectronic devices are described. Several approaches to improve the performance of 1D ZnO-based devices, including surface passivation, localized surface plasmons, and the piezo-phototronic effect, are summarized.

Semiconductor-based photodetectors (PDs) convert light signals into electrical signals via a photon–matter interaction process, which involves surface/interface carrier generation, separation, and transportation of the photo-induced charge media in the active media, as well as the extraction of these charge carriers to external circuits of the constructed nanostructured photodetector devices. Because of the specific electronic and optoelectronic properties in the low-dimensional devices built with nanomaterial, surface/interface engineering is broadly studied with widespread research on constructing advanced devices with excellent performance. However, there still exist some challenges for the researchers to explore corresponding mechanisms in depth, and the detection sensitivity, response speed, spectral selectivity, signal-to-noise ratio, and stability are much more important factors to judge the performance of PDs. Hence, researchers have proposed several strategies, including modification of light absorption, design of novel PD heterostructures, construction of specific geometries, and adoption of specific electrode configurations to modulate the charge-carrier behaviors and improve the photoelectric performance of related PDs. Here, in this brief review, we would like to introduce and summarize the latest research on enhancing the photoelectric performance of PDs based on the designed structures by considering their surface/interface engineering and how to obtain advanced nanostructured photo-detectors with improved performance, which could be applied to design and fabricate novel low-dimensional PDs with ideal properties in the near future.

Perovskite photovoltaic materials (PPMs) have emerged as one of superstar object for applications in photovoltaics due to their excellent properties—such as band-gap tunability, high carrier mobility, high optical gain, astrong nonlinear response—as well as simplicity of their integration with other types of optical and electronic structures. Meanwhile, PPMS and their constructed devices still present many challenges, such as stability, repeatability, and large area fabrication methods and so on. The key issue is: how can PPMs be prepared using an effective way which most of the readers care about. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology with high efficiency, controllability, and repeatability has been regarded as a cost-effective road for fabricating high quality perovskites. This paper provides an overview of the recent progress in the synthesis and application of various PPMs via the CVD method. We mainly summarize the influence of different CVD technologies and important experimental parameters (temperature, pressure, growth environment, etc.) on the stabilization, structural design, and performance optimization of PPMS and devices. Furthermore, current challenges in the synthesis and application of PPMS using the CVD method are highlighted with suggested areas for future research.

Blood coagulation function monitoring is important for people who are receiving anticoagulation treatment and a portable device is needed by these patients for blood coagulation self-testing. In this paper, a novel smartphone based blood coagulation test platform was proposed. It was developed based on parylene-C coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) dissipation measuring and analysis. The parylene-C coating constructed a robust and adhesive surface for fibrin capturing. The dissipation factor was obtained by measuring the frequency response of the sensor. All measured data were sent to a smartphone via Bluetooth for dissipation calculation and blood coagulation results computation. Two major coagulation indexes, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT) were measured on this platform compared with results by a commercial hemostasis system in a clinical laboratory. The measurement results showed that the adjusted R-square (R²) value for APTT and PT measurements were 0.985 and 0.961 respectively. The QCM dissipation method for blood coagulation measurement was reliable and effective and the platform together with the QCM dissipation method was a promising solution for point of care blood coagulation testing.