Nanostructured biosensors built by layer-by-layer electrostatic assembly of enzyme-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes and redox polymers

In this study, we describe the construction of glucose biosensors based on an electrostatic layer-by-layer (LBL) technique. Gold electrodes were initially functionalized with negatively charged 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid followed by alternate immersion in solutions of a positively charged redox polymer, poly[(vinylpyridine)Os(bipyridyl)2Cl(2+/3+)], and a negatively charged enzyme, glucose oxidase (GOX), or a GOX solution containing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The LBL assembly of the multilayer films were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and cyclic voltammetry, while characterization of the single-walled nanotubes was performed with transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When the GOX solution contained single-walled carbon nanotubes (GOX-SWNTs), the oxidation peak currents during cyclic voltammetry increased 1.4-4.0 times, as compared to films without SWNTs. Similarly the glucose electro-oxidation current also increased (6-17 times) when SWNTs were present. By varying the number of multilayers, the sensitivity of the sensors could be controlled.     

Oxidation, deformation, and destruction of carbon nanotubes in aqueous ceric sulfate

A simple wet chemical method involving only ultrasonic processing in dilute ceric sulfate (CS) was used to functionalize carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Unexpectedly, single-walled and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs) were cut, oxidized, and disintegrated by sonication in 0.1 N CS for 2-5 h. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Raman scattering, and photoacoustic Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to probe wall damage during the chemical processing. Cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy were used to evaluate the conductivity of the CS-treated CNTs. This one-step process resulted in the destruction of SWCNTs to produce nonconducting amorphous carbon. MWCNTs were oxidized and converted to graphitic materials and amorphous carbon with retained conductivity.     

电弧放电法制备大面积高纯单壁碳纳米管薄膜

介绍了一种制备大面积高纯度单壁碳纳米管(SWCNT)薄膜的新方法. 利用改进的电弧放电法, 在真空放电室内分别安装两枚石墨极板, 使之形成一个球冠型电容器. 使用这种新型装置, 可以在两枚球冠型石墨极板之间产生一个合适的附加电场和成膜基板, 通过控制放电时间, 可在阴极的球冠型石墨极板上制备出厚度从数微米至1毫米不等的SWCNT薄膜. 场发射扫描电子显微镜(FESEM)、高分辨透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)、拉曼光谱和热重分析(TGA)的表征结果表明, 这个方法可以高效地制备具有高纯度的SWCNT薄膜.     

Sulfonated carbon catalyzed oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids by hydrogen peroxide

Sulfonated carbon as a strong and stable solid acid catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance in various acid-catalyzed reactions. Here, sulfonated carbon, as catalyst for oxidation reaction, was prepared via the carbonization of starch followed by sulfonation with concentrated sulfuric acid. N₂ physisorption, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and acid-base titration were used to characterize the obtained materials. The catalytic activity of sulfonated carbon was studied in the oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids using 30 wt% H₂O₂ as oxidant. This oxidation protocol works well for various aldehydes including aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes. The sulfonated carbon can be recycled for three times without obvious loss of activity.     

Ruthenium porphyrin functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube arrays--a step toward light harvesting antenna and multibit information storage

Ruthenium porphyrin functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube arrays have been prepared using coordination of the axial position of the metal ion onto 4-aminopyridine preassembled single-walled carbon nanotubes directly anchored to a silicon(100) surface (SWCNTs-Si). The formation of these ruthenium porphyrin functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube array electrodes (RuTPP-SWCNTs-Si) has been monitored using infrared spectroscopy (IR), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), atomic force microscopy (AFM), laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (LDI-TOF-MS), UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. Electrochemical results show two successive one-electron reversible redox waves. The surface concentration of the ruthenium porphyrin molecules is 3.44 x 10 (-8) mol cm (-2). Optical results indicate that the immobilization of ruthenium porphyrin enhances the light absorption of SWCNTs-Si surfaces in the visible light region. Moreover mixed assembly of ferrocene/porphyrin onto carbon nanotube arrays has been achieved by altering the ratio of two redox-active species in the deposition solution. These results suggest the ruthenium porphyrin modified electrodes are excellent candidates for molecular memory devices and light harvesting antennae.     

Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy-assisted purification of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Single-walled carbon nanotubes were produced by the conventional arc discharge method, and purified with a two-step treatment. First, the raw soot containing single-walled carbon nanotubes was burned up at ca. 350 °C in air to remove amorphous carbon, and then it was treated by strong acidic solvents to remove metal catalysts. Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy was applied to analyze the defects on single-walled carbon nanotubes in whole purification process, so the experimental conditions can be optimized, and finally high-purity single-walled carbon nanotubes were obtained as revealed by various spectroscopic characterizations such as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and Raman spectroscopy.     

Remarkable support effect of SWNTs in Pt catalyst for methanol electrooxidation

Carbon nanotubes have been proposed as advanced metal catalyst support for electrocatalysis. In this work, different carbon support materials including single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and XC-72 carbon black, were compared in terms of their electrochemical properties using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The SWNTs is found to exhibit the highest accessible surface area in electrochemical reactions and the lowest charge transfer resistance at the SWNTs/electrolytes. These carbon materials are then loaded with varying amount of Pt by the electrodeposition technique to prepare carbon supported Pt catalysts. Electrochemical measurements of methanol oxidation reveal that the SWNTs supported Pt catalyst exhibits the highest mass activity (mA/mg-Pt). In comparison with Pt-XC-72 and Pt-MWNTs, the remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity of the Pt-SWNTs maybe attributed to a higher dispersion and utilization of the Pt particles, which are directly related to the electrochemical characteristics of SWNTs. The high concentration of oxygen-containing functional groups, high accessible surface area, low charge transfer resistance at the carbon/electrolyte interfaces can be important for the Pt dispersing and strong metal-support interaction in the Pt-SWNTs catalyst.     

磁性碳基磺酸化固体酸催化剂的制备及其催化水解纤维素

以纤维素和硝酸铁为原料,发烟硫酸为磺酸化试剂,采用热解法合成了磁性碳基磺酸化固体酸催化剂(Fe/C-SO3H).利用扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、傅里叶变换红外(FT-IR)光谱仪和振动样品磁强计(VSM)等手段对催化剂进行了表征,评价了催化剂在纤维素水解反应中的催化活性.结果表明,Fe是以γ-Fe2O3的形式存在于碳本体中,催化剂呈现超顺磁性.对于纤维素的水解反应,在优化条件下,纤维素的转化率可达40.6%.此外,催化剂可稳定分散于反应体系中,并在外加磁场作用下可快速与反应体系分离.但催化剂重复使用时催化活性有所下降,其失活原因经初步认定是由于表面部分磺酸基团在反应过程中脱落.     

稻壳碳基固体酸催化剂的制备及在木糖脱水制备糠醛反应中的催化性能

以工业生产中碱法溶硅剩余的稻壳残渣为碳源,采用硫酸磺化法制备稻壳碳基固体酸催化剂,考察了其催化木糖脱水制备糠醛的性能.采用红外光谱、元素分析及表面酸浓度测定等手段对催化剂进行了表征.对固体酸催化剂的制备条件进行了优化,所得催化剂的表面酸浓度可达1.03 mmol/g.以木糖脱水制备糠醛为模型反应,考察了溶剂类别、反应温度和反应时间对固体酸催化剂催化性能的影响.实验结果表明,以二甲基亚砜(DMSO)为反应溶剂效果优于水,并且随着反应温度的升高和反应时间的延长,反应产率逐渐增加,最高可达75.8%.此外,还对催化剂的循环性能进行了研究,探讨了其失活原因和再生方法.     

NEXAFS光谱分析聚合物修饰的单壁碳纳米管

利用C1s、O1s、N1s近边X射线吸收精细结构(Near Edge X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure,NEXAFS)光谱对聚合物修饰的碳纳米管进行了分析,研究了氧化及偶联聚合物对碳纳米管结构的影响。氧化碳纳米管及十八胺修饰的、聚合物/十八胺双修饰的碳纳米管的NEXAFS光谱均出现了碳/氧K边π*(C=O)和σ*(C-O)共振峰;而十八胺修饰的、聚合物/十八胺双修饰的碳纳米管则出现了氮K边π*(N-C=O)和σ*(N1s)共振峰。分析表明,NEXAFS光谱可有效表征聚合物修饰的碳纳米管。     

Layer-by-layer fabrication and characterization of DNA-wrapped single-walled carbon nanotube particles

Carbon nanotubes have been proposed as support materials for numerous applications, including the development of DNA sensors. One of the challenges is the immobilization of DNA or other biological molecules on the sidewall of carbon nanotubes. This paper introduces a new fabrication of DNA-carbon nanotubes particles using the layer-by-layer (LBL) technique on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Poly(diallyldimethylammonium) (PDDA), a positively charged polyelectrolyte, and DNA as a negatively charged counterpart macromolecule are alternatively deposited on the water-soluble oxidized SWCNTs. Pure DNA/PDDA/SWCNTs particles can be prepared and separated by simple unltracentrifugation. The characterization of DNA/PDDA/SWCNTs particles was carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). An electrode modified by the DNA/PDDA/SWCNTs particles shows a dramatic change of the electrochemical signal in solutions of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) ((Ru(bpy)(3)2+) as a reporting redox probe. A preliminary application of the DNA-modified carbon nanotubes in the development of DNA sensors used in the investigation of DNA damage by nitric oxide is presented.     

磺化笼型介孔碳催化的1,1-二乙酸酯的选择性合成

以磺化的笼型介孔碳为催化剂温和、高效、高选择性地合成了缩羰基二乙酸酯. 在室温和无溶剂条件下,用磺化的笼型介孔碳作催化剂使醛类化合物与乙酸酐之间在5~12 min内反应生成1,1-二乙酸酯,产率高达89%~98%. 在相同条件下酮类化合物不会发生此反应. 反应后催化剂经过简单的处理即可回收利用,回收利用7次活性无明显降低.     

磺化石墨烯/活性炭复合电极的制备及其不对称电容器脱盐

在还原剂NaBH₄存在下, 采用对氨基苯磺酸重氮盐与氧化石墨(GO)表面共价键合制备磺化石墨烯(GP-SO₃H). 傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)证明磺酸基团在石墨烯表面接枝. 采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)研究了磺化石墨烯的表面形貌. 以磺化石墨烯为添加剂, 制备了磺化石墨烯/活性炭(GP-SO₃H/AC)复合电极. 循环伏安及阻抗分析结果表明, 该复合电极的电容特性及导电性有明显改善. 以活性炭电极为对电极组装了不对称电容器(GP-SO₃H/AC|AC), 研究了该不对称电容器的电化学脱盐性能. 与对称电容器(AC|AC)相比, 不对称电容器中由于电极内磺酸基团对反离子的屏蔽作用, 电容器的电流效率达到89.4%以上, 脱盐量提高2.4倍, 单个循环脱盐量达到10.87 mg/g.     

Protein-assisted solubilization of single-walled carbon nanotubes

We report a simple method that uses proteins to solubilize single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in water. Characterization by a variety of complementary techniques including UV-Vis spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy confirmed the dispersion at the individual nanotube level. A variety of proteins differing in size and structure were used to generate individual nanotube solutions by this noncovalent functionalization procedure. Protein-mediated solubilization of nanotubes in water may be important for biomedical applications. This method of solubilization may also find use in approaches for controlling the assembly of nanostructures, and the wide variety of functional groups present on the adsorbed proteins may be used as orthogonal reactive handles for the functionalization of carbon nanotubes.     

Synthesis, characterization and investigation of catalytic activity of a highly sulfonated carbon solid acid in the synthesis of dihydropyrimidinones under solvent-free conditions

A highly sulfonated carbon as an efficient, recyclable, nontoxic and green solid acid catalyst was synthesized readily by simultaneous sulfonation, dehydration and carbonization of sucrose C¹²H²²O¹¹ in sulfuric acid and was characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric and differential thermal gravimetric analysis (TG-DTG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), carbon-hydrogen-nitrogen-sulfur analysis (CHNS), neutralization potentiometric titration and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This new catalyst was used in one pot three-component condensation reaction of various aromatic aldehydes with ??-ketoester and urea under solvent-free conditions to afford the corresponding dihydropyrimidinones (DHPMs). This catalyst can be reused several times without loss of its activity.     

Growth Mechanism of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays

Vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays grown on quartz substrate are obtained by co-pyrolysis of xylene and ferrocene at 850 oC in a tube furnace. Raman spectroscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements show that the single-walled carbon nanotubes are only present on top of vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays. It has been revealed that isolated single-walled carbon nanotubes are only present in those floating catalyst generated materials. It thus suggests that the single-walled carbon nanotubes here are also generated by floating catalyst. Vertically alignedcarbon nanotube arrays on the quartz substrate have shown good orientation and good graphitization. Meanwhile, to investigate the growth mechanism, two bi-layers carbon nan-otube films with di erent thickness have been synthesized and analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. The results show that the two-layer vertically aligned carbon nanotube films grow “bottom-up”. There are distinguished Raman scattering signals for the second layer itself, surface of the first layer, interface between the first and second layer, side wall and bottom surface. It indicates that the obtained carbon nanotubes follow the base-growth mechanism, and the single-walled carbon nanotubes grow from their base at the growth beginning when iron catalyst particles have small size. Those carbon nanotubes with few walls (typically <5 walls) have similar properties, which also agree with the base-growth mechanism.     

Low-temperature growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes by water plasma chemical vapor deposition

Preferential growth of pure single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) over multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) was demonstrated at low temperature by water plasma chemical vapor deposition. Water plasma lowered the growth temperature down to 450 degrees C, and the grown nanotubes were single-walled without carbonaceous impurities and MWNTs. The preferential growth of pure SWNTs over MWNTs was proven with micro-Raman spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and electrical characterization of the grown nanotube networks.     

磺化碳催化Biginelli反应一锅法合成3,4-二氢-2(1H)-酮和硫酮(英文)

A sulfonated carbon material was shown to be a highly efficient,eco-friendly,and recyclable solid acid catalyst for the Biginelli reaction of β-ketoester,aldehyde,and urea or thiourea under solvent-free conditions.It gave 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones and-thiones in good to excellent yields.This method has the advantages of a simple procedure with easy work-up,short reaction time,and high yields.The catalyst can be recycled after a simple work-up and was reused four times without substantial reduction in activity.     

Production of single-walled carbon nanotubes from methane over Co-Mo/MgO nanocatalyst:A comparative study of fixed and fluidized bed reactors

In this study,the performances of fixed and fluidized bed reactors in the production of single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)have been investigated.In both reactors,single-walled carbon nanotubes were grown by catalytic chemical vapor decomposition(CCVD)of methane over Co-Mo/MgO nanocatalyst under two different operating conditions.The synthesized samples were characterized by TEM,TGA and Raman spectroscopy.It is found that the performance of a fluidized bed in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes is much better than that of a fixed bed.The quality of carbon nanotubes obtained from the fluidized bed was significantly higher than that from the fixed bed and the former one with the ID/IG ratio of 0.11 while the latter one with the ID/IG ratio of 0.71.Also,the yield of SWNTs in the fluidized bed was 92 wt%,while it was 78 wt%in the fixed bed.These advantages of fluidized bed reactors for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes can be attributed to more available space for the growth of carbon nanotubes and more uniform temperature and concentration profiles.     

A new method of preparing single-walled carbon nanotubes

A novel method of purification for single-walled carbon nanotubes, prepared by an arc-discharge method, is described. The method involves a combination of acid washing followed by high temperature hydrogen treatment to remove the metal nanoparticles and amorphous carbon present in the as-synthesized singlewalled carbon nanotubes. The purified single-walled carbon nanotubes have been characterised by low-angle X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, thermo-gravi-metric analysis and Raman spectroscopy. Dedicated to Professor C N R Rao on his 70th birthday