Studies of surface-enhanced Raman scattering of C60 Langmuir-Blodgett film on a new substrate

A new substrate of "gold nano-particle/silver nano-rod/ITO surface" was obtained by electrodeposition. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrum of high quality of C60 and stearic acid (SA) mixed Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film shifted onto the new substrate was reported for the first time according to our knowledge. The results show that the substrate of "gold nano-particle/silver nano-rod/ITO surface" is very effective and active for C60 LB film. Furthermore, the C60 molecules are oriented on pentagons of C60 on the substrate. It is difficult to separate the electromagnetic and chemical mechanisms to the great enhancement of the Raman signal. On the one hand, the gold nano-particles grown on silver nano-rod surface perform an important action for magnifying the surface local electric field through the resonant excitation of surface plasma. And the needle-like rod may further magnify the local electric field because of lightning rod effect. On the other hand, charge transfer factor may not be neglected.     

Laser-MBE of nickel nanowires using AAO template: a new active substrate of surface enhanced Raman scattering

The highly ordered anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template was fabricated using aluminum anodizing in electrolytes with two-step method, which apertures were about 50-80nm. The nickel nanowires with about 40-70nm in diameter was prepared on the AAO template by laser-MBE (molecular beam epitaxy). And high quality Raman spectra of SudanII were obtained on the glass covered with the nickel nanowires. On the nickel nanowires there are both surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and tip enhanced Raman scattering (TERS). The new observations not only enlarge the range of SERS applications, but also imply a possible new enhancement mechanism. Otherwise the Raman and SERS frequencies of SudanII molecule were calculated using, respectively, DFT and B3PW91.     

A new surface-enhanced Raman scattering system for C60 fullerene: Silver nano-particles/C60/silver film

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrum of very good quality of “silver nano-particles/C60/silver film” system was reported for the first time by using the pyridine as a intermediate to connect and nest the C60 molecules to the gap of silver nano-particles and silver film. Experiment results show that the ternary system of “silver nano-particles/C60/silver film” is very effective and active. Not only was the number of vibrational modes greatly increased, especially some modes that were forbidden in Raman spectrum, but also were the significant Raman bands splitted as well as frequencies up and down shifted, respectively, arising from symmetry lowering and selection rule relaxing of C60 induced by the silver surface. Furthermore, the splitting of the Raman modes is consistent with the calculation based on group theory. The adsorption of C60 molecules is oriented on pentagons of C60 on the silver surface. It is difficult to separate the contributions of the electromagnetic and chemical mechanisms to the great enhancement of the Raman signal. On the one hand, the silver nanoparticles modified on the silver film play an important role in magnifying the surface local electric field near the silver surface through resonant surface plasmon excitation. On the other hand, charge transfer factor may not be neglected.     

Photoassisted magnetization of fullerene C60 with magnetic-field trapped Raman scattering

We report a photoassisted method to magnetize microcrystal fullerene C(60) at room temperature by exciting it to triplet states via a proper laser radiation and then trapping the spin-polarized states under a strong magnetic field. Novel changes on Raman scattering of the C(60) microcrystals were observed in the presence and absence of the magnetic field. In particular, the Raman spectra were found to exhibit a "hysteresis" phenomenon when the external magnetic field was removed. In light of this, we propose magnetic-field-trapped Raman spectroscopy (MFTRS) and employ first-principle calculations to reproduce the Raman activities of C(60) at different states. Further, MFTRS of the fullerene is demonstrated to originate from its photoassisted magnetization (PAM). The PAM strategy enables the magnetization of materials which consist of only light elements; meanwhile, the MFTRS investigation may open a new research field in Raman spectroscopy.     

Novel fabrication of Ag thin film on glass for efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering

This paper describes a very simple electroless-plating method used to prepare optically tunable nanostructured Ag films. Very stable Ag films can be reproducibly fabricated simply by soaking glass substrates in ethanolic solutions of AgNO3 and butylamine. The grain size of silver can be readily controlled to range from 20 to 150 nm, and these nanostructural features correlated well with their UV/vis absorption characteristics, as well as with their surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activities. It is also very advantageous that the Ag films prepared exhibit very even SERS activity over an area up to hundreds thousand square-micrometers, and the enhancement factor estimated using benzenethiol as a prototype adsorbate reaches approximately 2 x 10(5). Since the proposed method is cost-effective and is suitable for the mass production of diverse Ag films irrespective of the shapes of the underlying substrates, it is expected to play a significant role in the development of surface plasmon-based analytical devices.     

Vapour pressure of C60 by a transpiration method using a horizontal thermobalance

A horizontal thermal analysis system was adopted for the measurement of vapour pressure of C₆₀ using the vapour transport technique. The experimental precautions taken in order to ensure measurement of equilibrium vapour pressure by the transpiration method are described. The equilibrium nature of these measurements was ensured by the existence of plateau regions in the isothermal plots of apparent vapour pressure as a function of flow rate of the carrier gas. To verify the applicability of this TG based transpiration method, vapour pressure of CsI was measured to be log(p/Pa)=11.667±0.013−(9390±0.078)/T (K) over the range 737–874 K yielding a value of 195.6 kJ mol⁻¹ for the third-law enthalpy of sublimation, ΔH⁰_sub,298 of CsI, the value which compares well with the literature data. The vapour pressure measurements on C₆₀ over the range 789–907 K could be represented by log(p/Pa)=9.018±0.061−(7955±0.280)/T(K). Third-law treatment of the data yielded a value of 183.5±1.0 kJ mol⁻¹ for ΔH⁰_sub,298 of C₆₀ which is in good agreement with some of the other vapour pressure measurements in the literature, if subjected to third-law processing using the same set of free energy functions reliably reported in the literature.     

Preparation and tribological studies of C60 thin film chemisorbed on a functional polymer surface

A novel self-assembled C60 film was prepared by chemical adsorption of C60 molecules onto an amino-group-containing polyethyleneimine-coated silicon substrate surface. The contact angle of distilled water on the C60 film was measured, the thickness was determined by means of ellipsometric analysis, and the morphology was observed with an atomic force microscope. The tribological properties of the films were investigated as well. It was found that the C60 thin film had a contact angle of about 72 degrees and thickness of 1.8 nm and exhibited a surface domain microstructure composed of fullerene clusters. Due to the hydrophobicity and low surface energy, the C60 film possessed good adhesive resistance and had an adhesive force of about 7.1 nN, which was about an order of magnitude lower than that of the silicon substrate surface. Moreover, the C60 film showed good friction reduction, load-carrying capacity, and antiwear ability, which were attributed to the higher mechanical stiffness and elastic modulus of C60 molecules. Besides, the friction coefficient decreased with increasing sliding velocity and normal loads, due to the rolling effect of the physisorbed C60 molecules.     

Polarization dependence of Raman scattering from a thin film involving optical anisotropy theorized for molecular orientation analysis

Polarized Raman scattering from a thin film involving uniaxial optical anisotropy deposited on a dielectric substrate has analytically been theorized. The analyte film is modeled as a three-phase system (air/film/substrate) to calculate the electromagnetic fields of the incident and scattered light propagating across the system with an aid of the transfer matrix method to exactly take the optical anisotropy of the film into account. On the new theory, a methodology for molecular orientation analysis of an extended polymethylene chain in the film is proposed, which is employed for determination of the tilt angles of the chains in single- and five-monolayer Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of cadmium stearate deposited on a glass plate. The results agree well with those obtained by infrared spectroscopy, which confirms reliability of the present method.     

Synthesis of TiO2 thin film by a modified sol-gel method and properties of the prepared films for photocatalyst

PTA (peroxo titanic acid) gel was prepared by a modified sol-gel method from peroxo titanic acid using TiCl₄/ethanol/water solution as the starting material at room temperature. Physicochemical properties of heat-treated gel were characterized by IR, XRD, TG-DTA and SEM. Optimal preparing conditions were chosen to prepare anatase film for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. The dip-coating technique was used to synthesis the supported anatase film on quartz glass. Photocatalytic efficiency for the degradation of methyl orange under UV irradiation was also examined. It was found that the degradation efficiency of the anatase film synthesized in this paper is higher than commercial titania P25.     

模板法组装纳米有序阵列的研究进展

由金属、半导体、碳纳米管、聚苯胺等组成的纳米有序阵列体系,在能量存储或转换、传感等方面具有广阔的应用前景。模板法组装纳米有序阵列体系是以具有特定微孔结构的材料为模板,通过电化学沉积、溶胶-凝胶沉积和化学气相沉积等手段,让纳米单元在模板提供的受控环境中原位生成,形成纳米有序阵列体系。模板法具有可控性好、工艺简便、能耗低等优点。本文综述了模板法组装纳米有序阵列体系的研究进展,并对纳米有序阵列体系的应用前景作了展望。     

C60 thin film growth on graphite: Coexistence of spherical and fractal-dendritic islands

The initial growth stage of C(60) thin film on graphite substrate has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy in ultrahigh vacuum at room temperature. The C(60) layer grows in a quasi-layer-by-layer mode and forms round, monolayer high islands on the graphite surface. The islands are confined by terraces on the graphite surface and the mobility of C(60) fullerenes across steps is low in all layers. The second and all subsequent layers adopt a fractal-dendritic shape, which was confirmed by calculating the fractal dimension (D=1.74 prior to island coalescence) and is in agreement with a diffusion limited aggregation. The profound differences between the growth of C(60) layers on graphite (first layer) and on C(60) surfaces (second and higher layers) are caused by the restriction of the C(60) mobility on the highly corrugated fullerene surfaces. The orientation of the fractal islands follows the hexagonal symmetry of the densely packed (111) surface of the fullerene lattice, which introduces a bias in the direction of molecule movement. The differences in surface topography on the nanoscale determine the mode of film growth in this van der Waals bonded system.     

Structural features of molecular-colloidal solutions of C60 fullerenes in water by small-angle neutron scattering

Highly stable and reproducible molecular-colloidal water solutions of C60 fullerenes (FWS) obtained by transferring fullerenes from an organic solution into an aqueous phase with the help of ultrasonic treatment are investigated by means of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). A polydispersity in the size of detected particles up to 84 nm is revealed. These particles are slightly anisotropic and have a characteristic size of approximately 70 nm. Along with it, there are some indications that a significant part of fullerenes composes particles with the size of the order of 1 nm. The contrast variation based on mixtures of light and heavy water shows that the mean scattering length density of the particles is close to that of the packed fullerene associates as well as that the characteristic size of possible fluctuations of the scattering length density within the particles does not exceed 2 nm. A smooth surface resulting in the Porod law for the scattering is detected. A number of models discussed in the literature are considered with respect to the SANS data.     

Surface-enhanced Raman spectrometry of triamterene on a silver substrate prepared by the nitric acid etching method

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrometry of the diuretic drug triamterene is discussed. The SERS-active substrate used is a silver foil etched with nitric acid. The influence of solvent and sample doping method on sensivity, intercept and shape of the calibration graphs is discussed.     

Enhanced electrochromics of nanoporous cobalt oxide thin film prepared by a facile chemical bath deposition

A highly porous cobalt oxide thin film was prepared on ITO glass by a facile chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The as-prepared cobalt oxide film has an intercrossing net-like morphology. The electrochromic performance of cobalt oxide film was investigated in 0.1 M KOH by means of transmittance, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) measurements. The cobalt oxide thin film exhibits a noticeable electrochromism with reversible color changes from pale yellow to dark grey and presents a transmittance variation with 36% in the visible range. The porous cobalt oxide thin film also shows good reaction kinetics with fast switching speed, and the coloration and bleaching time are 2.5 and 2 s, respectively.     

Nonvolatile polymer memory device based on bistable electrical switching in a thin film of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) with covalently bonded C60

A functional polymer (PVK-C60), containing carbazole moieties (electron donors) and fullerene moieties (electron-acceptors) in a molar ratio of about 100:1, was synthesized via covalent tethering of C60 to poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK). The molecular structure and composition of PVK-C60 were characterized by FTIR, Raman, and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and cyclic voltammetry (CyV). The C60-modified PVK exhibited an enhanced glass-transition temperature (Tg = 226 degrees C) and good solubility in organic solvents such as toluene, tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). It could be cast into transparent films from solutions. For a thin film of PVK-C60 sandwiched between an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and an Al electrode (ITO/PVK-C60/Al), the device behaved as nonvolatile flash (rewritable) memory with accessible electronic states that could be written, read, and erased. The polymer memory exhibited an ON/OFF current ratio of more than 105 and write/erase voltages around -2.8 V/+3.0 V. Both the ON and OFF states were stable under a constant voltage stress of -1 V for 12 h and survived up to 108 read cycles at -1 V under ambient conditions.     

The adsorption properties of aluminophosphates prepared by the template method from deanionized alumina sol

Isotherms of adsorption-desorption of tetrachloromethane vapors by mesoporous aluminophosphate precipitated with the cetylpyridinium template from an alumina sol deanionized by ion-exchange are measured. As the concentration of the cetylpyridinium template varies from 0.045 to 1.8 wt %, the aluminophosphate samples are shown to have a bi-or unimodal distribution of the volume of mesopores with respect to their radius depending on the conditions of the sol-gel transition. The values of the predominant radii of mesopores amount to less than 4–10 nm and to 7–13 nm for the bimodal distribution and to 9–14 nm for the unimodal distribution. Original Russian Text ? T.F. Kuznetsova, A.I. Ratĭko, O.A. Kudina, 2006, published in Kolloidnyi Zhurnal, 2006, Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 219–225.     

Direct measurement of the laplace pressure in a very thin liquid film

Meniscus force plays an important part in magnetic storage devices, scanning probe microscopy, and micromachines, because the meniscus force increases steeply as the clearance between solid surfaces decreases down to submicrometers. Recently increased experimental and analytical studies on the subject have been published from the point of view of mechanical engineering. Meniscus force is generated by the Laplace pressure within the thin liquid film. Investigating the Laplace pressure is a direct way to clarify the generation mechanism of meniscus force. However, no appropriate measuring method of the Laplace pressure is available for a very thin liquid film confined by solid surfaces. This paper proposes a simple method of direct measurement of the Laplace pressure for the cases. The principle of the measurement method is described. Measurement is conducted using the measuring device. Experimental results on the Laplace pressure show good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

Structural characterization of thin films formed or changed on materials by micro Raman spectroscopy

Micro Raman spectroscopy is shown as a useful method of high spatial resolution in characterization of thin films on or in materials formed or changed as a result of external influences. Identification of black films in the glaze of porcelain, of impairing deposits on components of an ICP mass spectrometer and of tribologically stressed contacts of ADLC films or (Ti,Mo)(C,N) ceramics, respectively, are examples for application.