Special Issue: “Optical Thin Films and Structures: Design and Advanced Applications”

This Special Issue is devoted on design and application of thin films and structures with special emphasis on optical applications. It comprises ten papers, five featured and five regular papers, authored by respective scientists all over the world. Diverse materials are studied and their possible applications are demonstrated and discussed: transparent conductive coatings and structures from ZnO doped with Al and Ga and Ti-doped SnO2, polymer and nanosized zeolite thin films for optical sensing, TiO2 with linear and non-linear optical properties, organic diamagnetic materials, broadband optical coatings, CrWN glass molding coatings and silicon on insulator waveguides.

Identification and separation of metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes

This article describes the identification and separation of metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes according to their electric properties. It first provides an overview of the electronic structure of nanotubes, focusing on how their metallic and semiconducting properties arise. It then considers the most widely used characterization techniques used in determining metallic or semiconducting behavior, including Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurements. It also discusses specific chirality-selective growth techniques, physical postgrowth selection methods, enrichment by chirality-sensitive chemical reactions, and modification of transport properties without change in chirality. The article concludes with a review of some applications of metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes as transparent conductive coatings.