Thorough tuning of the aspect ratio of gold nanorods using response surface methodology

In the present work a central composite design based on response surface methodology (RSM) is employed for fine tuning of the aspect ratios of seed-mediated synthesized gold nanorods (GNRs). The relations between the affecting parameters, including ratio of l-ascorbic acid to Au³⁺ ions, concentrations of silver nitrate, CTAB, and CTAB-capped gold seeds, were explored using a RSM model. It is observed that the effect of each parameter on the aspect ratio of developing nanorods highly depends on the value of the other parameters. The concentrations of silver ions, ascorbic acid and seeds are found to have a high contribution in controlling the aspect ratios of NRs. The optimized parameters led to a high yield synthesis of gold nanorods with an ideal aspect ratio ranging from 1 (spherical particle) to 4.9. In addition, corresponding tunable surface Plasmon absorption band has been extended to 880 nm. The resulted nanorods were characterized by UV–visible spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy.     

Effect of the aspect ratio of silicate platelets on the mechanical and barrier properties of hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR)/layered silicate nanocomposites

The role of the aspect ratio of the layered silicate platelets on the mechanical and oxygen permeation properties of hydrogenated nitrile rubber (HNBR)/organophilic layered silicate nanocomposites was investigated. Montmorillonite (MMT) and fluorohectorite (FHT) bearing the same type of intercalant (i.e., octadecylamine; ODA), however, showing different aspect ratio was involved in this study. The dispersion of the layered silicates was assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. Increasing aspect ratio (MMT < FHT) resulted in higher stiffness under uniaxial tensile loading. The dispersion state (“secondary structure”) of the organophilic layered silicates reduced dramatically the oxygen permeability of the rubber matrix based on the labyrinth principle. The lowest oxygen permeability was measured for the HNBR/FHT-ODA films in which the layered silicates had the highest aspect ratio. By varying the FHT-ODA volume fraction in the latter compound the mechanical and permeation properties were measured and modelled. It was found that the modified Guth’s and Nielsen’s equations predicted accurately the mechanical and permeation responses, respectively.     

Effects of α-zirconium phosphate aspect ratio on the properties of polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposites

To study the effect of the aspect ratio (ratio of platelet length to thickness) of α-zirconium phosphate (α-ZrP) on the mechanical and thermal properties of polymer nanocomposites, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/α-zirconium phosphate (α-ZrP) nanocomposites with three distinctive aspect ratios at ca. 300, 590 and 1300 were prepared and characterized. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical (DMA) and tensile testing were utilized to characterise the film properties. As expected, it was found that the storage modulus, tensile strength (σ_b), elongation at break (_b) and decomposition temperature increased as the α-ZrP aspect ratio increased from 300 to 590. However, when the aspect ratio reached 1300, the enormously enlarged specific surface area of α-ZrP resulted in strong aggregation of the nanolayers which resulted in severe deterioration of the film properties.     

Determination of thickness, aspect ratio and size distributions for platey particles using sedimentation field-flow fractionation and electron microscopy

Sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF) can be used to prepare fractions of very narrow mass range for electron microscopic (EM) analysis. Assuming the particle density is the same for all particles within that fraction the equivalent spherical diameter for the particles can be calculated from SdFFF theory. Integration of the micrograph image of each particle yields an area measurement which, when used in conjunction with the equivalent spherical particle diameter (from SdFFF), provides information about the particle thickness and aspect ratio. Thus SdFFF-SEM can be used to provide detailed information about clay morphology across the particle size distribution of the sample. Three clay minerals have been studied using the methodologies outlined in this paper. The aspect ratio for the Purvis School Mine kaolinite ranged from 2.8–5.9, for RM30 illite from 11.3–24.3, and for Muloorina illite from 3.1–4.3.     

Controllable synthesis and photocatalytic activities of rod-shaped mesoporous titanosilicate composites with varied aspect ratios

Rod-shaped mesoporous titanosilicate composites （RMTSs） with controllable aspect ratios （ARs） were fabricated using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide （CTAB） and ammonium hydroxide （NH4OH） at a continuous stirring rate, resulting in ARs ranging from 1 to 5. Slowing the stirring rate or increasing the concentration of CTAB mainly impacted the length growth, whereas NH4OH affected the width growth. Photocatalytic activity studies revealed that the length of RMTSs played a more significant role than the width at lower ARs in their photocatalytic activity.     

Tuning the size,concaveness, and aspect ratio of concave cubic gold nanoparticles produced with high reproducibility

Reproducible fabrication of concave cubic gold nanoparticles with precise control over size, concaveness, and aspect ratio is important because the nanoscale structural characteristics can influence their plasmonic and catalytic properties. However, this is particularly challenging because the number of synthetic parameters involved in the fabrication strategy adds complexity to the reaction mechanism. Here, we introduce a simplified seed-mediated method and uncover the unknown conceptual insights on how the different halides and their concentration influence the surface structure and stability of underpotential silver monolayer deposited on the high energy facets of nanoparticles. The results reveal that adding Br^? and I^? ions to growth solution offers a predominant way to control the reaction kinetics and engineering nanoparticles with a predefined size, morphology, concaveness, aspect ratio, and plasmonic properties. Using spectroscopy and microscopy techniques, we shed new light on the reaction kinetics of concave cubic gold nanoparticles using the combined influence of silver underpotential deposition and halides. The strategy developed here can be expanded to fabricate gold nanoparticles of complex geometries. The results from our electromagnetic calculations suggest that the self-assembled superstructure of concave cubic gold nanoparticles can be more appealing for developing an ultra-sensitive sensing platform than to self-assembled superstructures of truncated cubic gold nanoparticles.     

Precisely Tailor the Longitudinal Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance of Gold Nanorods by Mild Oxidation with NaNO2

In this work, we introduce a new method to precisely tailor the longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (LLSPR) wavelengths of gold nanorods (GNRs) through the use of NaNO₂ as the oxidant. The effects of the concentrations of NaNO₂, NH₄Br and HCl on the reaction kinetics were investigated separately. To prepare GNRs with desired LLSPR wavelengths, equations were derived and were proved to be able to guide the tailoring of the LLSPR wavelengths through carefully tuning either the amount of NaNO₂ or the reaction time. TEM characterizations performed on two representative sets of GNRs show that the GNRs obtained exhibited shortened lengths but unchanged diameter with good monodispersity. In particular, GNRs with targeted LLSPR at 800 nm, 750 nm, 700 nm and 650 nm were successfully synthesized with relative errors of only 1 %～5 %. This method shall promote more applications of GNRs and may advance the synthesis of other metal nanoparticles.     

阴离子氨基酸表面活性剂调控下水热合成羟基磷灰石纳米片

利用水热合成方法, 在含有氨基酸结构的阴离子表面活性剂N-酰基十二烷基肌氨酸钠(Sar-Na)的控制下, 合成具有较大长径比(aspect ratio)的片状纳米羟基磷灰石晶体. 采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)和傅立叶变换红外(FTIR)光谱表征, 并分析了合成产物的形貌、结构和组成. 结果表明, 在Sar-Na的调控下合成了长度0.5-1.0 μm、宽约30 nm的片状羟基磷灰石晶体, 其长径比约为20:1. 考察了表面活性剂Sar-Na的用量对羟基磷灰石形貌的影响. 随着Sar-Na的添加及用量的增加, 羟基磷灰石由椭圆形变为长片状, 并且片的两端逐渐变尖. 结果显示了Sar-Na对羟基磷灰石形貌的控制作用, 为合成具有较大长径比的羟基磷灰石纳米片提供了一个新的途径.     

Liquid crystalline properties of unsegmented and segmented polyurethanes synthesised from high aspect ratio mesogenic diols

A series of novel tetrad high aspect ratio mesogenic diol monomers 4-{[4-(n-hydroxyalkoxy)-phenylimino]-methyl}-benzoic acid 4-{[4-(n-hydroxyalkoxy)-phenylimino]-methyl}-phenyl ester were prepared with varying alkoxy spacer length (n=2,4,6,8,10) by reacting 4-formylbenzoic acid 4-formylphenyl ester and 4-(n-hydroxyalkoxy) anilines. Two series of thermotropic main chain liquid crystalline unsegmented polyurethanes (PUs) were obtained by the polyaddition of the mesogenic diols with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) and methylene bis(cyclohexylisocyanate) (H₁₂MDI) in dimethylformamide respectively. The effect of the incorporation of a third component namely polyol on the liquid crystalline properties of the polyurethanes was also studied. Linear segmented PUs were synthesised by a two-step block copolymerisation method. The PUs synthesised were based on six spacer mesogenic diol chain extender, soft segments poly(tetramethylene oxide)glycol (PTMG) (M_n= 650,1000,2000) and polycaprolactone diol (PCL) (M_n=530,1250,2000) of varying molecular weights and different diisocyanates including HMDI, H₁₂MDI and methylene bis(phenylene isocyanate) (MDI). Structural elucidation was carried out by elemental analysis, fourier transform infra red (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR) spectroscopy. Inherent viscosity of the unsegmented polymers measured in methanesulphonic acid at 26°C was in the range of 0.13 - 0.65 dL/g while the molecular weights and molecular weight distribution of the segmented polyruethanes was determined using gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Mesomorphic properties were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and hot stage polarising optical microscopy and the thermal stability was determined by thermogravimetric(TG)analysis. The monomeric diols and the polyurethanes exhibited nematic texture and good mesophase stability. It was observed that the partial replacement of the mesogenic diol by the polyol of varying molecular weights influenced the phase transitions and the occurrence of mesophase textures. The phase transition temperatures of the investigated polyurethanes showed dependence on the chain length of the soft segment and on the content of the mesogen moiety. A higher content of mesogenic moiety was needed to obtain liquid crystalline property when the soft segment length was increased as observed in the case of PTMG. Grained and threaded textures were observed depending on the molecular weight of the soft segment, the mesogen content and the diisocyanate. The stress-strain analyses showed that the polymers bused on high molecular weight PTMG soft segment have elastomeric property while the PCL based PUs displayed no elastomeric property.     

Relations between the aspect ratio of carbon nanotubes and the formation of percolation networks in biodegradable polylactide/carbon nanotube composites

The biodegradable polylactide composites containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with high aspect ratio (HAR) and low aspect ratio (LAR) were prepared by melt mixing. The physical properties of those two systems were characterized in terms of rheology, conductivity, and mechanical properties for establishing preliminary structure–property relations. Several viscoelastic models were then used to further describe the relations between aspect ratio and percolation network of CNTs. The results show that these two CNTs present different structural characteristics in the polylactide (PLA) matrix during melt mixing: the LAR CNTs are far stiffer than the HAR CNTs. At low loading levels, the former is dispersed as bent fibers or their small bundles, whereas the latter is dispersed as self‐entangled flocs, presenting far larger hydrodynamic radius than the former. At high loading levels, both are dispersed as flocs due to strong tube–tube interactions. However, the two CNTs show approximate average floc size and mesh size because they present same rigid length and effective aspect ratio. At identical loadings, therefore, the HAR CNTs have more total number of flocs than that of the LAR CNTs, forming network with more compact structure and imparting higher contributions to properties of the composites as a result. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 479–489, 2010     

Effect of aspect ratio of vertically aligned copper nanowires in the presence of cellulose nanofibers on the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites

The composites comprising vertically aligned network of copper nanowires (CuNWs) in the presence of cellulose nanofibers were fabricated by using the freeze‐templating method and the effect of aspect ratio (A/R) of CuNWs on the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites was investigated. The thermal conductivity of epoxy composites increased to 0.79 W m^?1 K^?1 at 1.12 vol% of high A/R CuNWs loading, corresponding to the thermal conductivity enhancement of 365% as compared to the pure epoxy. The thermal conductivity of vertically aligned higher A/R CuNWs/epoxy, which is 38.5% and 51.9% higher than those of the lower A/R CuNWs and the randomly aligned CuNWs, respectively. The application of the epoxy composites in heat dissipation was demonstrated by the temperature changes of composites on a hot plate with the increase of heating time. These results indicate that the thermally conductive composites in this study could be applied for thermal dissipating materials in electronic devices.     

Tuning the Dimensions of ZnO Nanorod Arrays for Application in Hybrid Photovoltaics

ZnO nanorod arrays are a very eligible option as electron acceptor material in hybrid solar cells, owing to their favorable electrical properties and abundance of available, easy, and low‐cost synthesis methods. To become truly effective in this field, a major prerequisite is the ability to tune the nanorod dimensions towards optimal compatibility with electron‐donating absorber materials. In this work, a water‐based seeding and growth procedure is used to synthesize ZnO nanorods. The nanorod diameter is tuned either by modifying the zinc concentration of the seeding solution or by changing the concentration of the hydrothermal growth solution. The consequences of this morphological tailoring in the performance of hybrid solar cells are investigated, which leads to a new record efficiency of 0.82 % for hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods of size 300 nm in combination with poly(3‐hexylthiophene‐2,5‐diyl) (P3HT). This improvement is attributed to a combined effect of nanorod diameter and orientation, and possibly to a better alignment of the P3HT backbone resulting in improved charge transport.     

Tuning the morphology of ZnO nanoparticles by Zn-clusters and application on the photoreduction of Cr(VI)

The ZnO nanoparticles in a uniformed size have been applied as the photocatalysts over the reduction of Cr(VI). The morphologies of the ZnO nanoparticles are decided by the cluster type of mother sample Zn-MOFs, which are prepared with the same bi-ligands 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (H3BTC) and phenanthroline (phen) in the presence of Zn ions. The SEM, TEM, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and UV–vis study reveal the physical properties and structural information of ZnO nanoparticles. The reduction rate of Cr(VI) under the UV light irradiation indicates that the ZnO nanoparticles have higher activities with promoting reduction rate comparing with the related Zn-MOFs. The test of photocurrent approves the reduction ability of each sample.     

Experimental design in the analysis of interferential effects for the determination of Sr in high Ca/Sr ratio brine by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy technique

The ICP-AES technique and experimental design were employed to precisely determine the content of strontium in high Ca/Sr ratio oil field brine of Qaidam basin (Qinghai province, western China). From the statistical analysis using six factor factorial, it was found that Ca²⁺ is the significant interfering element for the recovery of strontium. Accurate strontium content was derived by eliminating the interference contribution according to the influencing model. The experimental results indicate that, under optimal conditions, the ICP-AES method for strontium determination has low LOD and LOQ, and the precision and accuracy are good with the relatively standard deviation below 1% and recovery between 98.0%?～?105.0%.     

Correlation of precursor and product ions in single-stage high resolution mass spectrometry. A tool for detecting diagnostic ions and improving the precursor elemental composition elucidation

Monitoring of common diagnostic fragments is essential for recognizing molecules which are members of a particular compound class. Up to now, unit resolving tandem quadrupole mass spectrometers, operating in the precursor ion scan mode, have been typically used to perform such analysis. By means of high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) a much more sensitive and selective detection can be achieved. However, using a single-stage HRMS instrument, there is no unequivocal link to the corresponding precursor ion, since such instrumentation does not permit a previous precursor selection. Thus, to address this limitation, an in silico approach to locate precursor ions, based on diagnostic fragments, was developed. Implemented as an Excel macro, the algorithm rapidly assembles and surveys exact mass data to provide a list of feasible precursor candidates according to the correlation of the chromatographic peak shape profile and other additional filtering criteria (e.g. neutral losses and isotopes). The macro was tested with two families of veterinary drugs, sulfonamides and penicillins, which are known to yield diagnostic product ions when fragmented. Data sets obtained from different food matrices (fish and liver), both at high and low concentration of the target compounds, were investigated in order to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of the reported approach. Finally, other possible applications of this technique, such as the elucidation of elemental compositions based on product ions and corresponding neutral losses, were also presented and discussed.     

Self‐organized micropatterns of high aspect ratio polymer nanofibers by wetting of nanopores

The self‐organized micropatterns of high aspect ratio polymer nanofibers were prepared via a facile nanoporous wetting strategy. Various micropatterns with labyrinth‐like or honeycomb‐like topography can be formed in a controllable manner by adjusting the nanoporous template's nanochannel characteristic (deep‐hole or through‐hole), the size of nanopores, and the wetting time. The honeycomb‐like micropattern shows a little higher hydrophobicity than labyrinth‐like micropattern when the diameters of their nanofibers are similar. The formation of various self‐organized micropatterns is mainly dependant on the dilation stress and interaction between nanofibers during the template's removal and solvent evaporation process. The confining or free conditions of unreleased nanofibers' tips in nanopores determine the topography of the resultant self‐organized micropattern, i.e., labyrinth‐like or honeycomb‐like. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 1280–1289, 2008     

Identification of the chemical constituents of Chinese medicine Yi‐Xin‐Shu capsule by molecular feature orientated precursor ion selection and tandem mass spectrometry structure elucidation

The incomplete identification of the chemical components of traditional Chinese medicinal formula has been one of the bottlenecks in the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. Tandem mass spectrometry has been widely used for the identification of chemical substances. Current automatic tandem mass spectrometry acquisition, where precursor ions were selected according to their signal intensity, encounters a drawback in chemical substances identification when samples contain many overlapping signals. Compounds in minor or trace amounts could not be identified because most tandem mass spectrometry information was lost. Herein, a molecular feature orientated precursor ion selection and tandem mass spectrometry structure elucidation method for complex Chinese medicine chemical constituent analysis was developed. The precursor ions were selected according to their two‐dimensional characteristics of retention times and mass‐to‐charge ratio ranges from herbal compounds, so that all precursor ions from herbal compounds were included and more minor chemical constituents in Chinese medicine were identified. Compared to the conventional automatic tandem mass spectrometry setups, the approach is novel and can overcome the drawback for chemical substances identification. As an example, 276 compounds from the Chinese Medicine of Yi‐Xin‐Shu capsule were identified.     

液相法制备取向ZnO纳米线阵列的场发射特性(英文)

采用水热合成工艺,在不同条件下制备了不同的一维取向ZnO纳米线阵列样品.用X射线衍射仪(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)及透射电镜(TEM)对样品的晶体结构和形貌等进行了表征,对样品的场发射特性进行了分析和比较,并用Fowler-Nordheim方程对影响ZnO纳米线场发射的因素进行了研究.结果表明,具有较低生长密度分布、较高的长径比和较尖锐生长端的ZnO纳米线阵列样品具有较好的场发射特性.     

镍钴锰酸锂中镍、钴、锰三元素摩尔比的能谱测定

采用扫描电子显微镜-X射线能谱(SEM-EDS)及电感耦合等离子体发射光谱(ICP-OES)法对锂离子电池用镍钴锰酸锂中镍、钴、锰三元素间的摩尔比进行了测定。结果显示,在SEM-EDS测定过程中,如果将样品压成片状,选择合理的测定电压,同时对镍、钴谱线的重叠峰进行分峰拟合,以独立正态分布峰的面积换算各元素的摩尔百分比,SEM-EDS的测定结果与ICP-OES的测定结果具有较高的一致性,二者相对偏差不大于5%。镍、钴、锰三元素摩尔比的SEM-EDS测量值的相对标准偏差(n=3)不大于1%。