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We report results from investigations of the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient of (2E)-3-[4-(Dimethylamino)phenyl]-1-(2,5-dimethylthiophen-3-yl)prop-2-en-1-one and (2E)-3-(3,4-Dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2,5-dimethylthiophen-3-yl) prop-2-en-1-one using Z-scan technique with a continuous wave (cw) laser at wavelengths 488 nm and 514 nm. The nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient of both samples were evaluated. The origin of the nonlinear effects was discussed. Optical limiting based on light induced nonlinear refractive index variation is demonstrated. The limiting thresholds were estimated for both samples. The results suggested that these materials offer promise as candidates for optical limiting and optical devices in the low power regime.

The use of adsorption capacity of porous and large-surface-area materials is an important approach to treat dye-containing effluents. In this study, the porous carbon nanocages (CNCs) were synthesized from the precursor of phenol in home-made chemical vapor deposition (CVD) setup at 600–1000^°C, and were convincingly characterized. The as-prepared CNCs are amorphous, porous and hollow, and have the size of 50–100nm in width, 100–200nm in length and several nm in thickness, causing to the large surface area of 800m²/g and pore volume of 1.63cm³/g. The growth of amorphous-like CNCs was related to the thermolysis species of phenol. Interestingly, each CNC has large volume hollow coelom and small opening (a typical ink bottle pore), being in favor of adsorption but in disfavor of desorption, thus it is very fit for acting as the adsorbent of dye. As expected, the products showed excellent adsorbility of rhodamine B when compared with the most used activated carbon having straight and slit pore structures, displaying broad application prospects in removing dye from wastewater.

The ZnO film prepared by doctor blade method are highly porous in presence of structure directing agent PEG and then can be easily sensitized by various molecules. In the present work, the nanostructured ZnO/dye hybrid film prepared by doctor blade method has been investigated in conductivity and photoconductivity measurements in view of applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) and in optoelectronics, since electron transport in these devices plays a decisive role for the electron collection efficiency and therefore for the overall efficiency. The absorption of ZnO film sensitized by Rose Bengal dye (RB) has been studied by UV spectroscopy which indicates that after the dye is adsorbed on the ZnO electrode, its absorption spectra showed red-shift in the peak position compared to the absorbance spectra of dye in ethanol. Highly porous ZnO films are found to have high dark conductivity, probably because of a higher n-doping, which is due to higher concentration of Zn atoms in the film. On the other hand, ZnO/RB hybrid film is found to show a much higher sensitivity to illumination with visible light in photoconductivity measurements due to a higher absolute photoconductivity and lower conductivity in the dark.