Distinct magnetic properties of one novel type of nanoscale cobalt-iron Prussian blue analogues synthesized in microemulsion

One novel type of nanoscale cobalt-iron Prussian blue analogues (PBA) in the form of mixed nanorods and nanocubes were synthesized using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the surfactant in microemulsion at low temperature. The generated products were characterized by SQUID, XRD and IR techniques, etc. The effects of potassium contents, cobalt-to-iron ratios, reaction temperatures on the properties of the nanoscale cobalt-iron PBA were systematically explored. The results showed that the novel type of nanomaterials possessed distinct magnetic properties in that their coercivities were intensely dependent on cobalt-to-iron ratios and potassium contents. Furthermore, it was observed that low reaction temperature not only affected the morphologies of the products, but also had influence on their magnetic properties. Additionally, the cobalt-iron Prussian blue analogues were strongly influenced by CTAB around their surface, which led to higher Curie temperatures.     

Ultrafast laser based “green” synthesis of non-toxic nanoparticles in aqueous solutions

Inorganic nanoparticles offer novel promising properties for biological sensing and imaging, as well as in therapeutics. However, these applications are often complicated by the possible toxicity of conventional nanomaterials, arising as a result of inadequate purification procedures of nanoparticles obtained via synthetic pathways using toxic or non-biocompatible substances. We review novel femtosecond laser-assisted methods, which enable the preparation of metal nanomaterials in clean, biologically friendly aqueous environment (“green” synthesis) and thus completely solve the toxicity problem. The proposed methods, including laser ablation and fragmentation, make possible the production of stable metal colloids of extremely small size (∼2 nm) with a low coefficient of variation (15–25%). Those nanoparticles exhibit unique surface chemistry and can be used for bio-imaging, cancer treatment and nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.     

Uptake and Sequestration of Naphthalene and 1,2-Dichlorobenzene by C60

The interactions of common environmental contaminants with C₆₀ have been studied to evaluate the environmental impact of carbon nanomaterials. The adsorption and desorption interaction of the hydrophobic contaminants naphthalene and 1,2-dichlorobenzene with C₆₀ was characterized. Processes that cause the wetting and disaggregating of C₆₀ particles also affect the extent of organic contaminant sorption to C₆₀ aggregates by orders of magnitude. C₆₀ dissolved in organic solvents such as toluene can form stable nanoscale aggregates upon vigorous mixing in water. These nanoscale C₆₀ particles form stable suspensions in water and are referred to as ‘nano-C₆₀’. Desorption of contaminants from stable suspensions of nano-C₆₀ exhibits hysteresis. The experimentally observed adsorption/desorption hysteresis is described by a two-compartment desorption model: first, adsorption to the external surfaces that are in contact with water, and second, adsorption to the internal surfaces within the aggregates.     

Nanoscale Imaging and Stabilization of Silica Nanospheres in Liquid Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy

Liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LP‐TEM) is a novel and highly promising technique for the in situ study of important nanoscale processes, in particular the synthesis and modification of various nanostructures in a liquid. Destabilization of the samples, including reduction, oxidation, or dissolution by interactions between electron beam, liquid, and sample, is still one of the main challenges of this technique. This work focuses on amorphous silica nanospheres and the phenomena behind their reshaping and dissolution in LP‐TEM. It is proposed that silica degradation is primarily the result of reducing radical formation in the liquid phase and the subsequent accelerated hydroxylation of the silica, while alterations in silica solid structure, pH, and oxidizing species formation had limited influence. Furthermore, the presence of water vapor instead of liquid water also results in degradation of silica. Most importantly however, it is shown that the addition of scavengers for reducing radicals significantly improved amorphous silica stability during LP‐TEM imaging. Devising such methods to overcome adverse effects in LP‐TEM is of the utmost importance for further development and implementation of this technique in studies of nanoscale processes in liquid.     

Polycarbonate activation for electroless plating by dimethylaminoborane absorption and subsequent nanoparticle deposition

Electroless plating of metal films on polymer substrates usually requires the presence of metal particles acting as catalytically active nuclei for the deposition reaction. Herein, we present a novel and versatile approach towards the activation of polycarbonate substrates with metal nanoparticles. It is based on the diffusion of dimethylaminoborane into the polymer matrix, followed by reaction of the sensitized substrates with metal salt solutions. The reducing agent uptake was controlled by changing the duration of the sensitization and the dimethylaminoborane concentration in the sensitization solution. Different seed types (Ag, Au, Pd, Pt and Rh) were deposited by variation of the activation solution. The proposed mechanism was confirmed with FTIR and TEM measurements. In addition, AFM revealed that apart from a slight roughening in the nanometer range, the surface morphology of the polymer remained unchanged, rendering the method viable for template-based nanomaterial fabrication. Due to its pronounced variability, the new technique allows to tailor the activity of polymer substrates for consecutive electroless plating. The feasibility and nanoscale homogeneity of the process were proven by the electroless fabrication of well-defined Au and Pt nanotubes in ion-track etched polycarbonate templates. The combination of features (use of simple and easily scalable wet-chemical processes, facile seed variation, high activation quality on complex surfaces) renders the outlined technique promising for the fabrication of intricate nanomaterials as well as for the metallization of macroscopic work pieces.     

Micro- and nano-mechanics in China: A brief review of recent progress and perspectives

The past three decades have witnessed the explosion of nanoscience and technology, where notable research efforts have been made in synthesizing nanomaterials and controlling nanostructures of bulk materials. The uncovered mechanical behaviors of structures and materials with reduced sizes and dimensions pose open questions to the community of mechanicians, which expand the framework of continuum mechanics by advancing the theory, as well as modeling and experimental tools. Researchers in China have been actively involved into this exciting area, making remarkable contributions to the understanding of nanoscale mechanical processes, the development of multi-scale, multi-field modeling and experimental techniques to resolve the processing-microstructures-properties relationship of materials, and the interdisciplinary studies that broaden the subjects of mechanics. This article reviews selected progress made by this community, with the aim to clarify the key concepts, methods and applications of micro- and nano-mechanics, and to outline the perspectives in this fast-evolving field.     

High pressure structural phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials

Recently, the high pressure study on the TiO_2 nanomaterials has attracted considerable attention due to the typical crystal structure and the fascinating properties of TiO_2 with nanoscale sizes. In this paper, we briefly review the recent progress in the high pressure phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials. We discuss the size effects and morphology effects on the high pressure phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials with different particle sizes, morphologies, and microstructures. Several typical pressure-induced structural phase transitions in TiO_2 nanomaterials are presented, including size-dependent phase transition selectivity in nanoparticles, morphology-tuned phase transition in nanowires, nanosheets,and nanoporous materials, and pressure-induced amorphization(PIA) and polyamorphism in ultrafine nanoparticles and TiO_2-B nanoribbons. Various TiO_2 nanostructural materials with high pressure structures are prepared successfully by high pressure treatment of the corresponding crystal nanomaterials, such as amorphous TiO_2 nanoribbons, α-PbO_2-type TiO_2 nanowires, nanosheets, and nanoporous materials. These studies suggest that the high pressure phase transitions of TiO_2 nanomaterials depend on the nanosize, morphology, interface energy, and microstructure. The diversity of high pressure behaviors of TiO_2 nanomaterials provides a new insight into the properties of nanomaterials, and paves a way for preparing new nanomaterials with novel high pressure structures and properties for various applications.     

手印纳米显现效果的评价研究进展

近些年来,将量子点、金属及金属氧化物纳米材料、稀土上转换及下转换发光纳米材料、荧光碳点、金属-有机框架材料、聚集诱导发光材料等新型材料应用于手印显现领域的研究日益增多,由此衍生出一类新兴的手印显现技术--手印纳米显现技术。手印纳米显现技术具有操作简单、方法灵活、效果显著、适用广泛等突出优势,已经成为传统手印显现技术的重要补充。国内外研究人员对手印纳米显现技术的探索主要集中在显现材料的推陈出新和显现方法的交叉融合两方面,而对手印显现效果的影响因素及综合评价等研究却较为分散且缺乏系统性。准确客观地评价手印纳米显现效果对于显现方法的合理选择和物证价值的客观评估都具有非常重要的意义。该综述从对比度、灵敏度、选择性、毒害性等四方面对手印显现特别是手印纳米显现的效果评价方法进行梳理总结,并对影响手印纳米显现效果的诸多因素分别进行讨论。纳米材料的发光性质主要决定了手印显现的对比度,纳米材料的微观形貌和颗粒尺寸主要决定了手印显现的灵敏度,纳米材料的吸附性能和表面性质主要决定了手印显现的选择性,因此可通过调整显现材料的诸多性质来提升改善手印纳米显现的效果。最后,对手印纳米显现未来的发展方向提出全新展望。纳米显现材料必然由单一发光性能向多元发光性能过渡,由现有材料的借鉴使用向形貌尺寸的精细操控过渡,由表面简单处理向靶向分子修饰过渡,由潜在毒害材料向绿色环保材料过渡;纳米显现方法必然由强背景干扰向弱背景干扰发展,由细节特征的清晰显现向汗孔特征的清晰显现发展,由物理吸附向靶向识别发展,由痕迹物证的高效显现向生物物证的微观无损发展。同时建议科研人员在注重提升手印显现效果的同时,更加重视对手印显现效果的定量评价研究,进而促进手印纳米显现技术体系的完善,也可使手印纳米显现技术在刑事科学技术领域中发挥出重要的作用。     

Circulation model for water circulation and purification in a water Cerenkov detector

Owing to its low cost and good transparency, highly purified water is widely used as a medium in large water Cerenkov detector experiments. The water circulation and purification system is usually needed to keep the water in good quality. In this work, a practical circulation model is built to describe the variation of the water resistivity in the circulation process and compared with the data obtained from a prototype experiment. The successful test of the model makes it useful in the future design and optimization of the circulation/purification system.     

稳态强磁场实验装置水冷系统水耗分析及回用设计

稳态强磁场实验装置水冷系统主要用于带走大功率水冷磁体运行过程中所产生的热量. 为了防止水中的离子导电, 磁体循环冷却水采用去离子水, 因此水冷系统配备了10 m3/h 的去离子水制备系统及65 m3/h 的提纯系统, 以保障循环水水质的高稳定性. 磁体循环冷却水的热量通过板式换热器由低温冷冻水带走. 系统在纯水制备及提纯过程中存在排水量大, 排水水质高等特征, 而在冷冻水制备过程中则存在较高的冷却水蒸发损失. 本文结合系统特征对其各环节排水量及其水质等进行了分析, 得出了该类型水冷系统的水耗特征及系统日均水耗. 结合水质, 对纯水系统的主要排水进行了回用方案分析并通过计算得出了最大回用率.     

Toward Uniform Optical Properties of Carbon Dots

Carbon dots possess versatile optical properties that have prompted their investigation in applications including photocatalysis, photovoltaics, imaging, and drug delivery, among others. However, the preparation of these nanodots is accompanied by the formation of fluorophores and intermediates, which can be difficult to separate. In the absence of thorough purification protocols, the reported optical properties are often heterogeneous, which hinders understanding of their physicochemical and optical properties and concrete application development. Here, two hydrophilic carbon dot systems starting with citric acid and diethylenetriamine are prepared. The impact of purification, including dialysis, ultrafiltration, and organic washes, on the properties of the dots is demonstrated. It is shown that monitoring the purification endpoint using near-infrared, fluorescence, and absorbance spectroscopies is possible. Moreover, it is demonstrated that fluorescence quantum yields can be a reliable tool to determine the purification endpoint. This work shows that even carbon dots derived from the same chemical precursors can have different purification profiles and purification requirements. However, the developed approach can be used to determine the proper purification procedure and endpoint for any carbon dot system regardless of the starting materials. Finally, it is envisioned that this work can be easily extended toward the purification of other hydrophilic nanomaterials.     

Toward responsible development and effective risk management of nano-enabled products in the U.S. construction industry

The global construction sector is experiencing major improvements to building materials used in large quantities through commercial applications of nanotechnology. Nano-enabled construction products hold great promise for energy efficiency and resource conservation, but risk assessments lag as new products emerge. This paper presents results from an inventory, survey, and exposure assessment conducted by the authors and explores these findings in the broader context of evolving research trends and responsible development of nanotechnology. An inventory of 458 reportedly nano-enabled construction products provided insight into product availability, potential exposures, and deficiencies in risk communication that are barriers to adoption of proactive safety measures. Seasoned construction trainers surveyed were largely unaware of the availability of nano-enabled construction products. Exposure assessment demonstrated the effectiveness of ventilation to reduce exposures during mechanical abrasion of photocatalytic tiles containing titanium dioxide (TiO₂). Dissociated particles of TiO₂ just above the nanoscale (138 nm) were detected in the debris collected during cutting of the tiles, but measurements were below recommended exposure limits for TiO₂. Exposure assessments remain scarce, and toxicological understanding primarily pertains to unincorporated nanomaterials; less is known about the occupational risks of nano-enabled construction products across their life cycle. Further research is needed to characterize and quantify exposure to debris released from nanocomposite materials for realistic risk assessment, and to ascertain how nanocomposite matrices, fillers, and degradation forces interact to affect release dynamics. Improving risk communication strategies and implementing safe work practices will cultivate responsible development of nanotechnology in construction, as will multidisciplinary research efforts.     

Value chain of nanotechnology: a comparative study of some major players

The article provides a general overview for the landscapes of national nanotechnology development from 1991 to 2010. More than 230,000 unique patents are identified based on a composite search strategy in the Derwent innovation index database. According to the concordance between patent classification and industry technology, some main application areas are identified to compare the positions and specializations among the leading countries. By extracting the content of the “use” subfield in the abstracts and harvesting the keywords representing characteristics of life cycle, nanotechnology patents are grouped into four categories: nanomaterials, nanointermediates, nano-enabled products, and nanotools, which can be seen as four stages of nanotechnology’s value chain. These analyses enable us to identify the distributions of value chain and prolific research institutions among the leading countries. It is found that China is productive in nanomaterials and nanointermediates, rather than nano-enabled products and nanotools, which could be mainly explained by the fact that Chinese academia makes a main contribution to nanotechnology patenting. However, there is a big gap between university patenting and market demands, leading to a low rate of technology transfer or licensing.     

Thermal conduction of one-dimensional carbon nanomaterials and nanoarchitectures

This review summarizes the current studies of the thermal transport properties of one-dimensional(1D) carbon nanomaterials and nanoarchitectures. Considering different hybridization states of carbon, emphases are laid on a variety of 1D carbon nanomaterials, such as diamond nanothreads, penta-graphene nanotubes, supernanotubes, and carbyne. Based on experimental measurements and simulation/calculation results, we discuss the dependence of the thermal conductivity of these 1D carbon nanomaterials on a wide range of factors, including the size effect, temperature influence, strain effect, and others. This review provides an overall understanding of the thermal transport properties of 1D carbon nanomaterials and nanoarchitectures, which paves the way for effective thermal management at nanoscale.     

Circulation model for water circulation and purification in a water Cerenkov detector

Owing to its low cost and good transparency,highly purified water is widely used as a medium in large water Cerenkov detector experiments. The water circulation and purification system is usually needed to keep the water in good quality. In this work,a practical circulation model is built to describe the variation of the water resistivity in the circulation process and compared with the data obtained from a prototype experiment. The successful test of the model makes it useful in the future design and optimization of the circulation/purification system.     

Nanohybridization of Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials: Synthesis,Classification, and Application

Nanomaterials have attracted much attention from academic to industrial research. General methodologies are needed to impose architectural order in low-dimensional nanomaterials composed of nanoobjects of various shapes and sizes, such as spherical particles, rods, wires, combs, horns, and other non specified geometrical architectures. These nanomaterials are the building blocks for nanohybrid materials, whose applications have improved and will continuously enhance the quality of the daily life of mankind. In this article, we present a comprehensive review on the synthesis, dimension, properties, and present and potential future applications of nanomaterials and nanohybrids. Due to the large number of review articles on specific dimension, morphology, or application of nanomaterials, we will focus on different forms of nanomaterials, such as, linear, particulate, and miscellaneous forms. We believe that almost all the nanomaterials and nanohybrids will come under these three categories. Every form or dimension or morphology has its own significant properties and advantages. These low-dimensional nanomaterials can be integrated to create novel nano-composite material applications for next-generation devices needed to address the current energy crisis, environmental sustainability, and better performance requirements. We discuss the synthesis, properties, and morphology of different forms of nanomaterials (building blocks). Moreover, we elaborate on the synthesis, modification, and application of nanohybrids. The applications of these nanomaterials and nanohybrids in sensors, solar cells, lithium batteries, electronic, catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and bio-based applications will be detailed. The time is now ripe to explore new nanohybrids that use individual nanomaterial components as basic building blocks, potentially affording additionally novel behavior and leading to new, useful applications. In this regard, the combination or integration of linear nanorods/nanowires and spherical nanoparticles to produce mixed-dimensionality, higher-level nanocomposites of greater complexity is an interesting theme, which we explore in this review article.     

基于紫外-可见光谱国标Ⅰ级水净化系统的设计与实现

国家标准规定的Ⅰ级水是分析实验室常用的试验用水,为快速、准确的实现纯水水质分析,为分析实验室设备自动化、智能化提供科学依据,采用全波段（200~900 nm）紫外-可见光谱分析技术,设计了基于紫外-可见光谱国标Ⅰ级水净化系统（NSGI-WPS）。该系统以树莓派为核心控制器,光谱探测器、电导率传感器为采集模块,改良的硅钼蓝分光光度法为可溶性硅测定方法,实现了对分析实验室用水254 nm吸光度、电导率和可溶性硅含量的同时在线检测。在痕量硅含量的测定试验中,为了消除噪声干扰对试验的影响,系统采用Savitzky-Golay平滑去噪法对光谱进行预处理,通过窗口宽度和多项式次数的不同组合形式,获得了80组平滑后的光谱数据,将其分别与0.004,0.006,0.008,0.010和0.012 mg·L-1硅标准溶液浓度进行一元线性回归分析后,得到单波长吸光度与硅标溶液浓度的相关光谱。试验结果表明,当窗口宽度为17,多项式次数为2时,相关光谱的特征峰宽度最宽,特征峰区间为796~824 nm,特征峰峰值所处波长与平滑后的显色溶液吸收光谱峰值波长一致。通过比较不同硅标准溶液的显色溶液吸收光谱分布,发现硅标液浓度与吸收光谱呈线性正相关,因此,试验选取812.638 nm为最优特征波长。为了建立可溶性硅含量与显色溶液吸光度的关系模型,以加入的硅标准溶液浓度为横坐标x,812.638 nm处显色溶液的吸光度为纵坐标y,绘制了其工作曲线,曲线的决定系数R2=0.999 6,表明了模型具有较强的拟合能力。此外,编写的NSGI-WPS系统管理软件实现了参数的实时处理和自动控制,对未达到分析实验室国标Ⅰ级水用水规格的纯水通过反渗透（RO）、连续电去离子技术（EDI）、混合床离子交换树脂和紫外光氧化等技术处理,实现了对纯水的严格控制。通过对比分析自来水、Ⅲ级水、Ⅱ级水在净化前后各参数变化,发现净化后各参数数值下降显著,其中,电导率最高下降幅度可达99.94%,各参数的相对平均偏差均小于2%。试验结果表明,基于紫外-可见光谱分析法的NSGI-WPS系统具有净化能力强、准确性高、鲁棒性好等优点,经过检测、分析和净化后的纯水满足分析实验室国标Ⅰ级水用水要求。本文为紫外-可见光谱分析法在纯水净化系统中的应用做出了探索性研究。     

Construction of GQDs-Decorated Ultrathin Bi2WO6 Nanosheets Hydrogel: a Recyclable-Flexible Platform with Excellent Piezo-Photocatalytic Activity for High-Performance Water Decontamination and its Theoretical Interpretation

It is demonstrated that, by using the electronic reconstruction of ultrathin Bi₂WO₆ (BWO) nanosheets with graphene quantum dots (GQDs) upon a unique process of laser irradiation in liquid (LAL), a kind of GQDs modified BWO nanosheets under metastable state were synthesized, which performed excellent visible-light piezo-photocatalytic organics degradation. Furthermore, using commercial cpolyacrylamids (PAM) as the additional materials, a kind of electronic reconstruction GQDs-BWO nanosheets hydrogel was achieved by dispersed the functionalized powders into a super absorbent polymers (SAPs) system upon in situ polymerization method, which showed that it is a bracing idea to use SAPs for water decontamination reactors to enable full use of vibration energy synergistic with light of nature to driven pollution degradation. First-principles calculation was also simultanously performed in this study. This study may provide a new enlightenment on fabricating novel 2D nanomaterials hydrogel for efficient effluent purification and potentially other environmental or energy applications.     

Digital Assembly of Colloidal Particles for Nanoscale Manufacturing

From unravelling the most fundamental phenomena to enabling applications that impact our everyday lives, the nanoscale world holds great promise for science, technology, and medicine. However, the extent of its practical realization relies on manufacturing at the nanoscale. Among the various nanomanufacturing approaches being investigated, the bottom‐up approach involving assembly of colloidal nanoparticles as building blocks is promising. Compared to a top‐down lithographic approach, particle assembly exhibits advantages such as smaller feature size, finer control of chemical composition, less defects, lower material wastage, and higher scalability. The capability to assemble colloidal particles one by one or “digitally” has been heavily sought as it mimics the natural method of making matter and enables construction of nanomaterials with sophisticated architectures. An insight into the tools and techniques for digital assembly of particles, including their working mechanisms and demonstrated particle assemblies, is provided. Examples of nanomaterials and nanodevices are presented to demonstrate the strength of digital assembly in nanomanufacturing.     

Nanotechnology in the Chemical Industry – Opportunities and Challenges

The traditional chemical industry has become a largely mature industry with many commodity products based on established technologies. Therefore, new product and market opportunities will more likely come from speciality chemicals, and from new functionalities obtained from new processing technologies as well as new microstructure control methodologies. It is a well-known fact that in addition to its molecular structure, the microstructure of a material is key to determining its properties. Controlling structures at the micro- and nano-levels is therefore essential to new discoveries. For this article, we define nanotechnology as the controlled manipulation of nanomaterials with at least one dimension less than 100nm. Nanotechnology is emerging as one of the principal areas of investigation that is integrating chemistry and materials science, and in some cases integrating these with biology to create new and yet undiscovered properties that can be exploited to gain new market opportunities. In this article market opportunities for nanotechnology will be presented from an industrial perspective covering electronic, biomedical, performance materials, and consumer products. Manufacturing technology challenges will be identified, including operations ranging from particle formation, coating, dispersion, to characterization, modeling, and simulation. Finally, a nanotechnology innovation roadmap is proposed wherein the interplay between the development of nanoscale building blocks, product design, process design, and value chain integration is identified. A suggestion is made for an R&D model combining market pull and technology push as a way to quickly exploit the advantages in nanotechnology and translate these into customer benefits.