The removal of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate surfactant from water using silica/titania nanorods/nanotubes composite membrane with photocatalytic capability

This paper reports experimental results on removal of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), using silica/titania nanorods/nanotubes composite membrane with photocatalytic capability. This multifunctional composite membrane has been successfully prepared from colloidal X-silica/titania sols (X denotes molar percent of silica) by the sol-gel technique. The prepared nanorods/nanotubes composite membranes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), scanning probe microscope (SPM) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). XRD patterns confirmed that the embedding of amorphous silica into nanophase titania matrix helped to increase the thermal stability of titania and control the size of titania particles. The small size titania particles with anatase phase played an important role in formation of silica/titania nanorods/nanotubes composite membranes with photocatalytic capability. The percentage of anatase phase titania reached 93% when 20%-silica/titania nanorods/nanotubes composite membrane calcined at 400 °C for 2 h. Most (95%) of the pore volume was located in mesopores of diameters ranging from 1.4 to 10 nm. The experimental results showed that the removal of SDBS achieved 89% after 100 min by combining the photocatalysis with membrane filtration techniques. Although the SDBS was not completely decomposed by photocatalysis, the degradation of the SDBS helped to enhance composite membrane flux and prevent membrane fouling. It was possible to treat successfully surfactant wastewater using multifunctional silica/titania nanorods/nanotubes composite membrane by means of a continuous process; this could be interesting for industrial applications.     

Electron beam induced formation of carbon nanorods

Electron beam induced formation of carbon nanorods was realized in situ under high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM). When a CVD deposited carbon nanotube sample was irradiated with an electron beam in an HRSEM, progressive etching of the sample, expanding of the nanotubes, and formation of additional nanorods have been observed. Transmission electron microscopy study revealed typical nanorods of 20 nm in diameter and with amorphous structure. The direct observation of the synthesis of nanorods under electron microscopy manifests the possibility of nano-machining of such nanomaterials using electron beams. This may lead to future integration and networking of nanostructures of different functionalities, which is crucial for nanotechnology.     

Preparation of large area sub-50 nm polymer nanoring arrays

We have prepared large area (4 mm²) periodic arrays of polymer nanorings on GaAs and Si by means of an electron-beam lithography process based on dose-dependent negative PMMA. The rings have identical outer diameters which can be precisely chosen between 40 and 95 nm. The width of the inner diameter can be adjusted between 20 and 60 nm, resulting in line widths between 10 and 20 nm. The periodicity of the rings can be arbitrarily chosen down to 500 nm. The nanorings have been characterized by using several high resolution microscopy techniques including high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). First experiments to prepare lattices of metal nanorings have been performed by using the nanorings as a negative resist.     

From crystalline V2O5 to nanostructured vanadium oxides using aromatic amines as templates

Nanoneedles, nanorods of B-VO₂, and vanadium oxide nanotubes with high crystallinity were synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal treatment using crystalline V₂O₅ as a precursor and aromatic amines (C₆H₅-(CH₂)_n-NH₂ with n=0, 1, 3) as structure-directing templates. Samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms and infrared spectroscopy. Nanoneedles, 0.5-5 μm in length and about 50 nm in average diameter and VO₂(B) nanorods about 20-100 nm wide and up to 2.5 μm long, have been obtained. The inner and the outer diameters of the vanadium oxide nanotubes vary, respectively, between 15-25 and 70-100 nm with a length up to 4 μm.     

Nylon and nylon blend nanotubes and nanorods

Nylon nanorods and nanotubes (200 nm diameter) were fabricated by the membrane wetting technique (solvent and melt wetting) from a range of nylons (6; 6,6; 6,9; 6,10; 6,12; 11; 12, 6(3)T) and nylon blended with different dyes (Nylon Cast Blue, Nylon 6/6 Black) or with molybdenum disulfide (Nylon cast MDS). The 65-μm long nylon nanotubes and nanorods were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The nanoscale nylon 6,6 served as an effective high surface area alternative to a nylon membrane as a solid support in a chemiluminescent assay for nylon-bound biotinylated nucleic acids based on streptavidin- alkaline phosphatase and chemiluminescent detection of the bound alkaline phosphatase label with the dioxetane substrate, CDP-Star. Layer-by-layer deposition of the cationic polymer (Sapphire-II™; Tropix) onto the nylon 6,6 nanostructures prior to UV-cross-linking with biotinylated DNA resulted in further enhancement of binding and detection of biotinylated DNA.     

Three-Dimensional Self-Shaping Nanostructures Based on Free Stressed Heterofilms

The present review examines the formation of three-dimensional nanostructures (nanoshells, nanotubes, nanospirals, nanorings, etc.) from single-crystal heterostructures based on III–V Si/GeSi semiconductors as well as metal and hybrid heterostructures. New results on the formation of various nanostructures with a minimum curvature radius of the order of 1 nm are presented.     

Highlighting the mechanisms of the titanate nanotubes to titanate nanoribbons transformation

Titanate nanorods, nanoribbons, and nanofibers synthesized by hydrothermal treatment are being investigated by several groups. Similar to titanate nanotubes, with average diameter of 9 nm, there is a strong controversy regarding the composition and microscopic formation mechanism of these non-hollow nanostructures (nanoribbons). In this article, we report the synthesis and characterization of the titanate nanostructures by exploiting some aspects that were not exploited so far. By using X-ray diffraction, FT-infrared and Raman spectroscopies and electron microscopy, we have studied the intermediate structure and morphology between nanotubes and the non-hollow nanostructures. Our findings give further evidence that the transformation of nanotubes into non-hollow nanostructures is induced by a sequence of both oriented attachment and Ostwald rippening cooperative mechanisms.     

Synthesis, structure, and photoluminescence of Zn2SnO4 single-crystal nanobelts and nanorings

A large quantity of single-crystal Zn₂SnO₄ (ZTO) nanobelts is synthesized by using a thermal evaporation method. The lengths of the nanobelts are up to several hundreds of micrometers, and the average width and thickness are about 400 and 30 nm, respectively. Some ring-like nanobelts, called nanorings here, are also observed. The nanobelts are characterized in detail with scanning electron microscope, X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscope and selected area electron diffraction. Possible growth mechanisms for the ZTO nanobelts and nanorings are proposed. In addition, the photoluminescence spectrum (PL) of the nanobelts at room temperature shows a stable broad blue-green emission around the 400-600 nm wavelengths with a maximum center at 490 nm. The strong PL emission of the nanobelts may find potential applications in nano-scale optoelectronic devices.     

Growth and optical properties of quadrangular zinc oxide nanorods on copper-filled porous silicon

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods with quadrangular morphology have been successfully prepared on a copper-filled porous silicon substrate using a vapor phase transport method. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the diameters of the nanorods were scattered in a range of 100–400 nm and the lengths up to 2 m. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and a selected-area electron-diffraction pattern confirmed that the quadrangular ZnO nanorods had a single-crystal wurtzite structure and grew along the (0001) direction. The photoluminescence spectrum under excitation at 325 nm showed an ultraviolet emission at 386 nm and a strong broad green emission at 518 nm at room temperature. PACS 81.05.Dz; 81.05.Rm; 81.07.Bc     

The effect of Al doping on the morphology and optical property of ZnO nanostructures prepared by hydrothermal process

The undoped and Al-doped ZnO nanostructures were fabricated on the ITO substrates pre-coated with ZnO seed layers using the hydrothermal method. The undoped well-aligned ZnO nanorods were synthesized. When introducing the Al dopant, ZnO shows various morphologies. The morphology of ZnO changes from aligned nanorods, tilted nanorods, nanotubes/nanorods to the nanosheets when the Al doping concentrations increase. The ZnO nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence and Raman technology. The Al doping concentrations play an important role on the morphology and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures. The possible growth mechanism of the ZnO nanostructures was discussed.     

Synthesis and photocatalytic property of N-doped TiO2 nanorods and nanotubes with high nitrogen content

Nano N-doped TiO₂ nanotubes were fabricated by hydrothermally treating N-doped TiO₂ nanorods in a 8 M NaOH solution at 110 °C for 20 h. The N-doped TiO₂ nanorods were synthesized by a solvothermal process with precursor solution containing titanium sulfate, urea, and dichloroethane. The N-doped TiO₂ nanorods and nanotubes were characterized with X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and UV-vis spectrophotometry. The nitrogen contents of the N-doped TiO₂ nanorods and nanotubes were reached to high values of 36.9 at.% and 25.7 at.%, respectively. The nitrogen doping narrowed the band gap of the N-doped TiO₂ nanorods and nanotubes and introduced indirect band gap to the powders, which respectively extended the absorption edge to visible light and infrared region. The nanotubes showed larger specific surface area and greater degradation efficiency to methyl orange than the nanorods.     

Characterization of crystalline silica nanorods synthesized via a solvothermal route using polyvinylbutyral as a template

The preparation of crystalline silica nanorods is presented. Crystalline silica nanorods were synthesized via a simple solvothermal route using polyvinylbutyral (PVB) as a template in an autoclave with ethylenediamine as a solvent at 180 °C for 25 h. Silica nanorods with diameters in the range of 50–80 nm were obtained. The solvothermal route with a PVB template played affected the crystallization process and the growth of the silica nanorods. The as-synthesized products were characterized using X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy.     

TiO2 Wedgy Nanotubes Array Flims for Photovoltaic Enhancement

In this study, TiO₂ wedgy nanotubes with rectangular cross-sections were fabricated on transparent conductive substrates by using TiO₂ nanorods as the precursor via the anisotropic etching route. TiO2 nanotubes with V-shaped hollow structure and the special crystal plane exposed on the tube wall possess nature of high surface area for more dye molecules absorption, and the strong light scattering effects and dual-channel for effective electron transport of the TiO₂ V-shaped nanotubes based dye-sensitized solar cell exhibit a remarkable photovoltaic enhancement compared with the TiO₂ nanorods. The photoanode based on our V-shaped TiO₂ nanotubes with a length of 1.5 μm show a 123% increase of the dye loading and a 182% improvement in the overall conversion efficiency when compared with 4 μm rutile TiO₂ nanorods photoanode.     

Thermal stability and morphological variation of carbon nanorings of different radii during the temperature elevating process: a molecular dynamics simulation study

We study the thermal stability and morphological variations of nanorings with different radii during the temperature elevation using the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method. Five metastable nanorings were generated using the different initial C–C bond length of armchair carbon nanotubes. The stable structures of the two smallest nanorings have several kinked regions around the nanorings, with the deformations of the inner and outer walls occurring at the same temperature. For the largest three cases, the morphologies of nanorings from the top view display circular shapes at 0 K. For the nanoring with a radius of 146 Å(350 units), the thermal deformation process is very similar to the smallest two cases, but the temperature at which the thermal deformation begins is higher. For the nanoring with nanoring radii of 165 Å (400 units) and 185 Å (450 units), thermal deformation will take place at the inner wall of the nanoring, and then will induce deformation of the outer wall at a higher temperature. Variations of local structures at the kinked regions at different temperatures are also drawn.     

Nanostructure characterization of tungsten-containing nanorods deposited by electron-beam-induced chemical vapour decomposition

Electron-beam-induced chemical vapour decomposition was performed in a scanning transmission electron microscope using a precursor of tungsten carbonyl (W(CO)₆). The self-supporting nanorods were grown from the edges of a C film with widths that depend on the electron-beam scanning speed used in the fabrication process. The nanostructure of as-deposited nanorods has been characterized in detail using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, selected-area electron diffraction, microdiffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. A mixture of nanocrystallites and amorphous phases was observed for all beam scanning speeds used for deposition. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the size of nanocrystallites in as-deposited nanorods ranges between 1.5 and 2.0?nm. The direct evidence of the presence of pure W nanocrystallites in as-deposited nanorods was revealed by microdiffraction.     

Large-scale synthesis of GaN nanorods and their photoluminescence

Large quantities of gallium nitride (GaN) nanorods have been synthesized via direct reaction of metallic gallium vapor with flowing ammonia at 970 °C in a quartz tube. The nanorods have been confirmed as crystalline wurzite GaN by powder X-ray diffraction, selected-area electron diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy reveal that the nanorods are straight and uniform, with diameters ranging from 40 nm to 150 nm and lengths up to hundreds of micrometers. The growth mechanism is discussed briefly. Photoluminescence measurements on bulk GaN nanorods at room temperature show two strong peaks at 377 nm (3.28 eV) and 360 nm (3.44 eV) attributed to the zero-phonon donor-acceptor pair transition and the donor-bound exciton, respectively. Received: 19 April 2001 / Accepted: 10 May 2001 / Published online: 20 June 2001     

Synthesis and photoluminescence of single-crystal GaN nanorods prepared by sol-gel method

A new method was applied to prepare GaN nanorods. In this method, gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) gel was firstly formed by a sol-gel processing using gallium ethanol, Ga(OC₂H₅)₃, as a new precursor. GaN nanorods were successfully synthesized after annealing of the Ga₂O₃ gel at 1000 °C for 20 min in flowing ammonia. The as-prepared nanorods were confirmed as single crystalline GaN with wurtzite structure by X-ray diffraction (XRD), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) displayed that the GaN nanorods were straight and smooth, with diameters ranging from 200 nm to 1.8 μm and lengths typically up to several tens of microns. When excited by 280 nm light at room temperature, the GaN nanorods had a strong ultraviolet luminescence peak located at 369 nm and a blue luminescence peak located at 462 nm, attributed to GaN band-edge emission and the existence of the defects or surface states, respectively.     

Controllable vertically aligned ZnO nanorods on flexible polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate using chemical bath deposition synthesis

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were successfully grown on polyethylene naphthalate substrates with a seed layer using a wet chemical bath deposition method at a low temperature. Using various precursor concentrations, the diameter, length, and density of the ZnO nanorods were controlled, and their optical and crystallinity properties were investigated. X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy were used to examine the structure and morphology of the ZnO nanorods. The obtained ZnO nanorods were hexagonal and grew vertically from the substrate in the (002) direction along the c-axis. The low compressive strain values confirmed the high-quality crystal structure of the synthesized ZnO nanorods. A 0.050 M precursor concentration resulted in nanorods with a uniform diameter along their entire length and diameters ranging from 10 nm to 40 nm. The photoluminescence results indicated that the ZnO nanorods grown using a 0.050 M precursor concentration exhibited the sharpest and most intense PL peaks in the UV range compared with the other samples. Therefore, the precursor concentration considerably influenced the growth of the ZnO nanorods. These ZnO nanorods can be greatly applied for the development of flexible, elastic electronic, and optoelectronic devices.     

Controlled synthesis of light rare-earth hydroxide nanorods via a simple solution route

Ln(OH)₃ (Ln=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd) nanorods are synthesized without using any surfactants or templates at room temperature. The as-obtained nanorods are within 4–25 nm in diameter and up to 200 nm in length. The most important improvement is that the aspect ratio of the obtained nanorods can be effectively controlled by adjusting the reaction time and pH value of the reaction system. The as-synthesized nanorods are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). It is interesting to find that both the inherent crystal structure of light lanthanide hydroxide and the chemical potential affect the formation of nanorods. The photoluminescence (PL) instrument is used to investigate the optical properties of the Eu(OH)₃ nanorods and its abnormal luminescence behaviors are observed.     

Growth of Indium Nanorods by Magnetron Sputtering

Indium nanorods are grown on silicon substrates by using magnetron-sputtering technique. Film morphologies and nanorod microstructure are investigated by using scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy （HRTEM）, and x-ray diffraction. It is found that the mean diameter of the nanorods ranges from 30nm to 100nm and the height ranges from 30nm to 200nm. The HRTEM investigations show that the indium nanorods are single crystals and grow along the [100] axis. The nanorods grow from the facets near the surface undulation that is caused by compressive stress in the indium grains generated during grain coalescence process. For low melting point and high diffusivity metal, such as bismuth and indium, this spontaneous nanorod growth mechanism can be used to fabricate nanostructures.