Facile synthesis of CuO hollow nanospheres assembled by nanoparticles and their electrochemical performance

CuO hollow nanospheres with an average diameter of 400 nm and shell thickness of 40 nm have been successfully synthesized via a simple thermal oxidation strategy with Cu₂O solid nanospheres as the precursor. The products have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The formation of CuO hollow nanospheres mainly results from the Kirkendall effect on the basis of temperature-dependent experiments. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of CuO hollow nanospheres as anode materials for lithium ion batteries has been evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic discharge-charge experiments. The as-prepared CuO hollow nanospheres assembled by nanoparticles exhibit higher initial discharge capacity and better cycle performance than the reported CuO nanoparticles. The hierarchical hollow nanospheres have been demonstrated to take the advantages of nanoparticles and hollow architectures, which could not only shorten the lithium ion transport distance and increase the kinetics of conversion reactions, but also provide suitable electrode/electrolyte contact area and accommodate the volume change associated with lithium ion insertion and extraction.     

Simultaneous synthesis of TiO2 microrods in situ decorated with Ag nanoparticles and their bactericidal efficiency

In this study, we report a simple and cost-effective method for in situ decoration of Ag NPs onto nanoporous TiO₂ microrods by one medium (ethylene glycol) that can produce two different morphologies. In order to investigate the morphology, phase composition, crystalline structure, and chemical state (valency) of samples before and after annealing in air at different temperatures, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were performed. The present results show that the size, morphology and crystallinity of both Ag NPs and TiO₂ microrod substrate depend on the post-annealing treatment temperatures. The annealed Ag–TiO₂ NP/microrod composites show large inhibition zones against E. coli bacteria. The obtained Ag–TiO₂ composites have the potential for use as a novel antibacterial material and in water treatment applications.     

Electrochemical method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles

The article deals with a novel electrochemical method of preparing long-lived silver nanoparticles suspended in aqueous solution as well as silver powders. The method does not involve the use of any chemical stabilising agents. The morphology of the silver nanoparticles obtained was studied using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements. Silver nanoparticles suspended in water solution that were produced by the present technique are nearly spherical and their size distribution lies in the range of 2 to 20 nm, the average size being about 7 nm. Silver nanoparticles synthesised by the proposed method were sufficiently stable for more than 7 years even under ambient conditions. Silver crystal growth on the surface of the cathode in the electrochemical process used was shown to result in micron-sized structures consisting of agglomerated silver nanoparticles with the sizes below 40 nm.     

Green synthesis of finely-dispersed highly bactericidal silver nanoparticles via modified Tollens technique

In this article, we represent a versatile and effective technique which using non-toxic chemicals to prepare stable aqueous dispersions of silver nanoparticles (NPs) via modified Tollens process. It was shown that as-prepared silver colloids consisted of finely-dispersed NPs with average diameter about 10 nm and a relatively narrow size distribution. Moreover, they could be stored very stable after several months without observation of aggregates or sedimentation. In comparison with previous works where Tollens process was being used, we for the first time applied UV-irradiation simultaneously with glucose reduction of silver salt through NPs preparation. The colloidal solutions of silver NPs were found to exhibit a high antibacterial activity against gram-negative Escherichia coli. The concentration of silver leading to a complete inhibition of bacteria growth was revealed as low as at 1.0 μg ml⁻¹ and found much lower compared to earlier reports. These advantages of aqueous dispersions of silver NPs make them ideal for green industrial, medicinal, microbiological and other applications.     

Combustion synthesis of ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO and their bactericidal and photocatalytic activities

The combustion synthesized ZnO and 0.9 at.% Ag-doped ZnO have been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray, UV-visible diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence and impedance spectroscopies. Doping sharpens the band gap absorption, displays surface plasmon resonance, suppresses the blue emission, enhances the near band gap emission and increases the charge transfer resistance and capacitance. Ag-doping by combustion method improves significantly the bactericidal activity but not the photocatalytic activity.     

Synergistic bactericidal effects and mechanisms of low intensity ultrasound and antibiotics against bacteria: a review

Low intensity ultrasonic therapy is always an important research area of ultrasonic medicine. This review concentrates on low intensity ultrasound enhancing bactericidal action of antibiotics against bacteria in vitro and in vivo, including planktonic bacteria, bacterial biofilms, Chlamydia, and bacteria in implants. These literatures show that low intensity ultrasound alone is not effective in killing bacteria, while the combination of low intensity ultrasound and antibiotics is promising. Low intensity ultrasound facilitating antibiotic treatment is still in its infancy, and still requires a great deal of research in order to develop the technology on medical treatment scale.     

Electrochemical synthesis of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with controlled size

We present a novel and facile method enabling synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles, which are composed mainly of maghemite according to X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Mössbauer spectroscopy studies. The proposed process is realized by anodic iron polarization in deaerated LiCl solutions containing both water and ethanol. Water seems to play an important role in the synthesis. Morphology of the product was studied by means of transmission electron microscopy and XRD. In the solution containing almost 100% of water a black suspension of round shaped maghemite nanoparticles of 20–40 nm size is obtained. Regulating water concentration allows to control nanoparticle size, which is reduced to 4–6 nm for 5% of water with a possibility to reach intermediate sizes. For 3% or lower water concentration nanoparticles are of a needle-like shape and form a reddish suspension. In this case phase determination is problematic due to a small particle size with the thickness of roughly 3 nm. However, XRD studies indicate the presence of ferrihydrite. Coercivities of the materials are similar to those reported for nanoparticle magnetite powders, whereas the saturation magnetization values are considerably smaller.     

Solvothermal synthesis of green-fluorescent carbon nanoparticles and their application

A novel solvothermal approach to synthesize green-fluorescent carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) was developed using l-ascorbic acid as the carbon source, glycol and triple distilled water as the solvent. The CNPs emit strong green fluorescence under UV irradiation, and the fluorescence intensity showed a good linear relationship with pH value within a certain range. Direct yeast cell labeling was achieved through cell endocytosis of these CNPs.     

Novel porous CuO microrods: synthesis,characterization, and their photocatalysis property

Porous copper oxide microrods have been synthesized via calcining copper glycinate monohydrate microrod precursor which was prepared in mild conditions without any template or additive. Several techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) N₂ adsorption–desorption analyses, were used to characterize the structure and morphology of the products. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses show that the precursor consists of a large quantity of uniform rod-like micro/nanostructures with typical lengths in the range of 25–40 µm and diameters in the range of 0.1–0.35 µm. The microrod-like precursors transformed into porous microrod products after calcination at 450 °C in flow air for 2 h. The BET surface area of the porous CuO microrods was calculated to be 8.5 m² g⁻¹. In addition, the obtained porous CuO microrods were used as catalysts to photodegrade rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange, methylene blue, eosin B, and p-nitrophenol. Compared with commercial CuO powders, the as-prepared porous CuO microrods exhibit superior properties on photocatalytic decomposition of RhB due to their porous hierarchical structures.     

Preparation of CuO nanoparticles by metal salt-base reaction in aqueous solution and their metallic bonding property

This article describes a method for preparing CuO nanoparticles in aqueous solution, and a demonstration of feasibility of metallic bonding with the use of the CuO particles. Colloid solution of CuO nanoparticles was prepared from Cu(NO₃)₂ aqueous solution (0.01 M) and NaOH aqueous solution (0.019 M) at 5–80 °C. Leaf-like aggregates with an average size of 567 nm composed of CuO nanoparticles were produced at 20 °C. The size of leaf-like aggregates decreased with increasing reaction temperature. Metallic copper discs could be bonded using the CuO nanoparticles under annealing at 400 °C and pressurizing at 1.2 MPa for 5 min in H₂ gas. A shear strength required for separating the bonded discs was 25.4 MPa for the CuO nanoparticles prepared at 20 °C, whose aggregates were the largest among the CuO particles examined. These results indicated that the formation of leaf-like aggregates of CuO nanoparticles led to efficient metallic bonding.     

Laser-induced synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their conjugation with protein

Partially oxidized spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of different size are prepared by pulsed laser ablation in water and directly conjugated to protein S-ovalbumin for the first time and characterized by various optical techniques. UV–Visible spectrum of AgNPs showed localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak at 396 nm which red shift after protein addition. Further the increased concentration of AgNPs resulted a decrease in intensity and broadening of S-ovalbumin peak (278 nm), which can be related to the formation of protein NPs complex caused by the partial adsorption of S-ovalbumin on the surface of AgNPs. The red shift in LSPR peak of AgNPs after mixing with S-ovalbumin and decrease in protein-characteristic peak with increased silver loading confirmed the formation of protein–AgNPs bioconjugates. The effect of laser fluence on the size of AgNPs and nanoparticle–protein conjugation in the size range 5–38 nm is systematically studied. Raman spectra reveal broken disulphide bonds in the conjugated protein and formation of Ag–S bonds on the nanoparticle surface. Fluorescence spectroscopy showed quenching in fluorescence emission intensity of tryptophan residue of S-ovalbumin due to energy transfer from tryptophan moieties of albumin to AgNPs. Besides this, small blue shift in emission peak is also noticed in presence of AgNPs, which might be due to complex formation between protein and nanoparticles. The binding constant (K) and the number of binding sites (n) between AgNPs and S-ovalbumin have been found to be 0.006 M^?1 and 7.11, respectively.     

Structural and optical properties of Li substituted CuO nanoparticles

Copper oxide (CuO) is a favorable material for photovoltaic application where lattice defects/distortions play a significant role for shaping its optical and several other physical properties. In this study, pristine and lithium (Li) substituted CuO nanoparticle (1.0, 3.0, 5.0 and 7.0 mol% of Li) have been prepared via an eco-friendly and cost-effective sol–gel method and a systematic study on the effect of Li ion substitution has been drawn. The Rietveld refinement results confirmed the Li ion substitution obsessed structural alteration from monoclinic to tetragonal symmetry (C2/c?→?I4/mmm). It was observed that the C2/c and I4/mmm synchronized phases continues up to 7%. Such structural alteration leads to fascinating optical properties due to destruction of parent phase. Moreover, lithium cations inhibit the crystal growth, which created various types of vacancy/defect states that essentially need to be investigated using SEM, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, we have demonstrated that the native lattice alterations brought by size misalliance amid the host [Cu²⁺ (0.73 Å)] and the dopant [Li?+?(0.76 Å)] and the presence of oxygen vacancies created via Li substitution in CuO also results in the increment of deep level emission in photoluminescence spectra. The obtained results confirmed that Li ion substitution remarkably enhance optical properties, making such materials promising for device applications.     

Hydrothermal synthesis and ferromagnetism of CuO nanosheets

Large quantity of CuO nanosheets was synthesized through hydrothermal method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and superconducting quantum interference device. The results showed that the as prepared samples are monoclinic phase CuO with width of about 500 nm, length of about 1000 nm and thickness of 40-50 nm. Magnetic measurements revealed ferromagnetism was existed in the CuO nanosheets. The ferromagnetism could be attributed to the uncompensated spins on the surface of the nanosheets.     

Selective synthesis of clinoatacamite Cu2(OH)3Cl and tenorite CuO nanoparticles by pH control

To investigate the shell deposited kinetics, CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and nanorods (NRs) with a maximum length of 17 nm were fabricated via organic synthesis routes. CdSe with a hexagonal crystal structure (wurtzite) favors epitaxial growth on the {002} surfaces when well-controlled conditions were used. The morphologies and sizes of CdSe samples depended strongly on chemicals and temperature. In the case of 320 °C, CdSe NRs with adjusted length of 7–17 nm were obtained from trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and tetradecylphosphonic acid (TDPA). In contrast, short CdSe NRs (less than 10 nm) were created from octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA) and trioctylamine (TOA). Spherical CdSe QDs were further fabricated using stearic acid (SA) and TOPO at 300 °C. CdSe cores were coated with Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S and CdTe shells. Anisotropic growth occurred during shell deposition because CdS shells grown preferentially on the {001} facet of the CdSe core. In the case of CdSe core prepared from TOPO and TDPA, CdSe/Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S core/shell samples prepared from long CdSe NRs (more than 10 nm) revealed a peanut morphology while the core/shell samples created from short ones (less than 10 nm) exhibited a spherical morphology. All of the CdSe/Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S core/shell samples revealed a similar length to that of the CdSe cores. This phenomenon was also observed for the core/shell samples fabricated using CdSe NRs prepared by ODPA and TOA. This is ascribed to the well-developed crystal structure of CdSe NRs fabricated using an organic synthesis at high temperature. In contrast, this anisotropic growth did not occur when spherical CdSe QDs prepared from SA and TOPO and the shell (Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S) coating carried out using SA and TOA. To indicate the shell depositing process, CdSe NRs fabricated using TDPA and TOPO were coated with a CdTe shell. CdTe monomers were deposited on the middle and tip parts of the CdSe NRs to form a tetrapod-like morphology at 220 °C. This is ascribed to the large difference of structure of CdSe (hexagonal) and CdTe (zinc blende).     

Structural, optical, and electronic properties of colloidal CuO nanoparticles formed by using a colloid-thermal synthesis process

Colloidal cupric oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were formed by using a colloid-thermal synthesis process. X-ray diffraction patterns, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, high-resolution TEM images, and X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry profiles showed that the colloidal CuO nanoparticles were formed. The optical band-gap energy of CuO nanoparticles at 300 K, as determined from the absorbance spectrum, was 3.63 eV. A photoluminescence spectrum at 300 K showed that a dominant emission peak appeared at the blue region. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy profiles showed that the O 1s and the Cu 2p peaks corresponding to the CuO nanoparticles were observed.     

Electrochemical detection of copper ions leached from CuO nanoparticles in saline buffers and biological media using a gold wire working electrode

We performed explorative cyclic voltammetry in phosphate-buffered saline buffers, Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM), and fetal bovine serum-added DMEM using Au wire as working electrode, both in the absence and in the presence of known nominal concentrations of Cu²⁺ ions or 15 nm CuO nanoparticles. Addition of either Cu²⁺ ions or aqueous suspension of CuO nanoparticles caused a single anodic peak to appear in the double-layer region of all three pristine media. The height of the anodic peak was found to increase in a monotonic fashion vs. Cu²⁺ concentration in Cu²⁺-added media, and versus time since CuO addition in CuO-added media. Stepwise addition of glycine to Cu²⁺-added phosphate-buffered saline buffer caused an increasing cathodic shift of the anodic peak accompanied by decreasing peak currents. Results indicate that preparing Cu²⁺-free suspensions of CuO nanoparticles in such media is difficult, owing to the presence of leached copper ions. The implications on results of experiments in which CuO nanoparticle-added biological media are used as cell culture substrates are discussed. Literature data on the interactions between Cu²⁺ ions, dissolved carbon dioxide in aqueous CuO suspensions, and amino acids present in such media are compared to our results.     

Theory of phonon properties in doped and undoped CuO nanoparticles

We have studied the phonon properties of CuO nanoparticles and have shown the importance of the anharmonic spin–phonon interaction. The Raman peaks of CuO nanoparticles shift to lower frequency and become broader as the particle size decreases in comparison with those of bulk CuO crystals owing to size effects. By doping with different ions, in dependence of their radius compared to the host ionic radius the phonon energies ω could be reduced or enhanced. The phonon damping is always enhanced through the ion doping effects.     

Particle size dependence of exchange-bias and coercivity in CuO nanoparticles

For CuO nanocrystals of size 6.6-37 nm, the exchange bias H_eb and coercivity H_c are measured at 5 K in zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC at 50 kOe) samples and their variations investigated as a function of particle size D. The similar 1/D variations observed for the difference coercivity ΔH_c=H_c(FC)−H_c(ZFC) and the interfacial exchange energy Δσ=H_ebM_fD are discussed in terms of the ferromagnetic magnetization M_f being produced by the uncompensated surface Cu²⁺ spins in the otherwise antiferromagnetically ordered CuO nanoparticles. This leads to the observation that the experimentally measured ΔH_c provides a good measure of Δσ in nanoparticle systems, with H_eb/ΔH_c varying as 1/M_fD.