Nanoforest-like CdS/TiO_2 heterostructure composites:Synthesis and photoelectrochemical application

In this study, TiO_2 nanoforest films consisting of nanotubes have been synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and a subsequent sintering technique. The hydrothermal reaction time is important for the controlling of the nanotube diameter and the specific surface area of holistic TiO_2 films. When the hydrothermal process reaction time is up to 8 hours,the diameter of the nanotube is about 10 nm, and the specific surface area of TiO_2 nanoforest films reaches the maximum.CdS nanoparticles are synthesized on TiO_2 nanoforest films by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction(SILAR)technique. The transmission electron microscope(TEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy(EDX) mapping results verify that TiO_2/CdS heterostructures are realized. A significant red-shift of the absorption edge from 380 nm to 540 nm can be observed after the pure TiO_2 film is sensitized by CdS nanoparticles. Under irradiation of light, the current density of the optimal TiO_2/CdS photoanode is 2.30 mA·cm-2 at 0 V relative to the saturated calomel electrode(SCE), which is 6 times stronger than that of the pure TiO_2 photoanode. This study suggests that the TiO_2 nanoforest consisting of interlinked pony-size nanotubes is a promising nanostructure for photoelectrochemical.     

Spectral features and antibacterial properties of Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel method

Zn_(1-x)Cu_x O(x=0.00, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05) nanoparticles are synthesized via the sol-gel technique using gelatin and nitrate precursors. The impact of copper concentration on the structural, optical, and antibacterial properties of these nanoparticles is demonstrated. Powder x-ray diffraction investigations have illustrated the organized Cu doping into ZnO nanoparticles up to Cu concentration of 5%(x = 0.05). However, the peak corresponding to CuO for x= 0.01 is not distinguishable. The images of field emission scanning electron microscopy demonstrate the existence of a nearly spherical shape with a size in the range of 30–52 nm. Doping Cu creates the Cu–O–Zn on the surface and results in a decrease in the crystallite size. Photoluminescence and absorption spectra display that doping Cu causes an increment in the energy band gap. The antibacterial activities of the nanoparticles are examined against Escherichia coli(Gram negative bacteria)cultures using optical density at 600 nm and a comparison of the size of inhibition zone diameter. It is found that both pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles indicate appropriate antibacterial activity which rises with Cu doping.     

Island-growth of SiCGe films on SiC

SiCGe ternary alloys have been grown on SiC by hot-wall low-pressure chemical vapour deposition. It has been found that the samples cxhibit an island configuration, and the island growth of SiCGe epilayer depends on the processing parameters such as the growth temperature. When the growth temperature is comparatively low, the epilayer has two types of islands： onc is spherical island; another is cascading triangular island. With the increase of the growth temperature, the islands change from spherical to cascading triangular mode. The size and density of the islands depend on the growth duration and GeH4 flow-rate. A longer growth time and a larger GeH4 flow-rate can increase the size and density of the island in thc initial stage of the epitaxy. In our case, The optimal growth for a high density of uniform islands occurred at a growth temperature of 1100℃ for l-minute growth, with 10 SCCM GeH4, resulting in a narrow size distribution （about 30nm diameter） and high density （about 3.5 ×10^10 dots/cm2）. The growth follows Stranski- Krastanov modc （2D to 3D modc）, both of the islands and the 2D growth layer have face-centred cubic structure, and the critical thickness of the 2D growth layer is only 2.5 nm.[第一段]     

Microstructure and photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles with an average diameter of about 10 nm are fabricated using a sintering method. The degradation of methyl orange indicates that the photocatalytic efficiency is greatly enhanced, which is measured to be 62.81%. Transmission electron microscopy is used to investigate the microstructure of TiO 2 nanoparticles in order to correlate their photocatalytic properties. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy examinations show that all the nanoparticles belong to the anatase phase, and pure edge dislocations exist in some nanoparticles. The great enhancement of photocatalytic efficiency is attributed to two factors, the quantum size effect and the surface defects in the nanoparticles.     

Synthesis and Spectroscopy of Silica Nanoparticles as Scatter Centers in Random Gain Porous Media

This work was carried out to synthesis a silica matrix by sol-gel technique, which used as host to Kiton Red laser dye doped with silica nanoparticles, which also prepared by sol-gel technique, to obtain KR-SiO₂ nanoparticles confined in silica xerogel matrix. The rods at different pH values were successfully synthesized. The different values of pH cause different size of obtained nanoparticles, these nanoparticles act as scatter centers in the matrix. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), threshold pumping energy (E_th), and mean free path (l_t) for photons in the rods have been reported. the results show that the values of bandwidth at full width half-maximum (FWHM) and the threshold energy are about 8.7 nm and 12 mJ respectively.     

Atomic-scale simulation of nano-grains:structure and diffusion properties

Nanograins are characterized by a typical grain size from lto 100 nm.Mclecular dynamics aimubations have been carried out for the nanograin sphere with the diameters from 1.45 to 10.12 nm.We study the influence of grain size on structure and diffusion properties of the nanograins.The results reveal that as the grain size is reduced,the fraction of grain surface increases significantly,and the surface width is approximately constant；the diffusicn coefficlent is increased sharply,and the relation of the diffusion coefficient and the grain size is close to exponential relation below 10nm.     

Preparation and Size Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Produced by Femtosecond Laser Ablation in Water

Femtosecond laser ablation of silver plate placed in water is used to produce nanoparticle suspension. The method is easy to operate and the suspension is relatively stable. The optical properties and the size distribution of the suspension are studied with UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, respectively. The shape of the nanoparticles is investigated by an atomic force microscope, which is near spherical. There are two kinds of nanoparticles, small particles with diameter about 35 nm, and large particles with diameter about 120 nm.     

Morphologies and microstructures of carbon nanotubes prepared by self—sustained arc discharging

We have investigated the morphology and microstructure of carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles in cathode deposits prepared by self-sustained arc discharge. Scanning electron microscopy images indicate that there are two regions exhibiting different morphologies on the top surface of the cathode deposits. In the central region, there is a triangular pattern of spots with a diameter up to 100μm, which consists of carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles. In the fringe region, carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles are distributed randomly. In addition, carbon nanotubes in the central region have a larger inner diameter, compared with those in the fringe region. The outer diameter distribution of tubes in the central region is narrower than that of tubes in the fringe region, while the former has a smaller peak value than the latter. For the nanoparticles, they exhibit a different behaviour from the tubes existing in the same region. The difference between the microstructure of tubes or particles in the two regions is attributed to the different temperatures and temperature gradients during their formation.     

Polydisperse spherical colloidal silica particles:Preparation and application

A new industrial method has been developed to produce polydisperse spherical colloidal silica particles with a very broad particle size,ranging from 20-95 nm.The process uses a reactor in which the original seed solution is heated to 100 ℃,and then active silicic acid and the seed solution are titrated to the reactor continuously with a constant rate.The original seeds and the titrated seeds in the reactor will go through different particle growth cycles to form different particle sizes.Both the particles' size distribution and morphology have been characterized by dynamic light scattering(DLS)and the focus ion beam(FIB) system.In addition,the as-prepared polydisperse colloidal silica particle in the application of sapphire wafer's chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) process has been tested.The material removal rate(MRR) of this kind of abrasive has been tested and verified to be much faster than traditional monodisperse silica particles.Finally,the mechanism of sapphire CMP process by this kind of polydisperse silica particles has been investigated to explore the reasons for the high polishing rate.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of jet breakup and ejecta production from a grooved Cu surface under shock loading

Large-scale non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are performed to explore the jet breakup and ejecta production of single crystal Cu with a triangular grooved surface defect under shock loading. The morphology of the jet breakup and ejecta formation is obtained where the ejecta clusters remain spherical after a long simulation time. The effects of shock strength as well as groove size on the steady size distribution of ejecta clusters are investigated. It is shown that the size distribution of ejecta exhibits a scaling power law independent of the simulated shock strengths and groove sizes. This distribution, which has been observed in many fragmentation processes, can be well described by percolation theory.     

Luminescence of Nile red as indicator of composition of nanoparticles from diketonate complexes of trivalent metals

We study the sensitization of fluorescence of Nile red in nanoparticles formed in aqueous solutions of complexes of Al, In, Sc, and Lu with DBM, DBM, and phen and of complexes of In with MBTA and phen. We show that, at concentrations of Nile red of 2–50 nM and complexes of 10–30 μM, the fluorescence intensity of Nile red in aqueous solutions increases by 1.5–2 orders of magnitude compared to its fluorescence in H₂O. We find that, at these concentrations of Nile red in solutions of complexes Al, the dye is completely contained in nanoparticles from these complexes. We show that Nile red molecules are inhomogeneously distributed in nanoparticles from complexes and, upon the completion of the formation of nanoparticles, dye molecules tend to be localized in regions of nanoparticles formed from diketonate complexes M(diketone)₃phen (M is Lu or In) and Al(DBM)₃. Upon the localization of Nile red in these regions, the maximum of its fluorescence spectrum shifts toward ∼600 nm and, upon the penetration of Nile red into nanoparticles from Sc complexes, the shift of the maximum of its fluorescence spectrum compared to the spectrum in water does not exceed 10 nm. The shifts of the spectra are collated with the ability of ions to form diketonate and hydroxy diketonate complexes. We demonstrate that the fluorescence of Nile red is efficiently sensitized, not only upon its penetration into nanoparticles formed from complexes, but also upon its adsorption on the nanoparticle surface when Nile red molecules are introduced in solutions of already formed nanoparticles.     

聚合物表面银纳米颗粒的大面积均匀沉积及其应用

通过化学浸润和光还原法在聚合物薄膜基片（三醋酸纤维树酯）上直接沉积制备出大面积范围内颗粒大小、表面密度等分布均匀的纳米金属银颗粒.紫外吸收光谱和高分辨透射电镜分析表明，在室温实验条件下调整化学溶液浓度，可获得颗粒直径在2—5nm范围内的球形金属纳米银颗粒.通过接触拷贝方式，获得了基于银纳米颗粒形成的全息光栅. 关键词： 银纳米颗粒 聚合物薄膜 浸润 光还原     

Electron transport properties of TiO_2 shell on Al_2O_3 core in dye-sensitized solar cells

The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs)is strongly affected by the properties of semiconductor nanoparticles.In this work,we used TiO_2 particles prepared by TiCl_4 hydrolysis n times on Al_2O_3 films(A/T(n)),and investigated morphology,photoelectric,and electron transport properties of A/T(n).The TiO_2 shell was composed of 10-20 nm nanoparticles and the number of nanoparticles increased with increasing TiCl_4 treatment times.The highest photoelectric conversion efficiency of 3.23% was obtained as A/T(4).IMPS results indicated that electron transport rate was high enough to conduct current,and was not the dominating effect to limit the Jsc.Jsc was mainly determined by dye loading on TiO_2 and the interconnection of TiO_2.These may provide a new strategy for preparing semiconductor working electrodes for DSSC.     

TiO2 Nanoparticles Produced by Electric-Discharge-Nanofluid-Process as Photoelectrode of DSSC

利用自制TiO₂纳米粒子研究敏化染敏太阳能电池. 使用自制的旋转涂布加热平台装置将产出的TiO₂粒子均匀的涂布在ITO导电玻璃上形成薄膜,浸泡于N-719 染料中12小时以上作为DSSCs的光电极 元件,最后完成染料敏化太阳能电池的系统组装并进行光电转换效率测量. 实验结果表明,放电过程产出的TiO₂纳米粒子具有锐钛矿晶相,粒径尺寸可控制在20～70 nm,粒子表面电位约为-30 mV,是稳定的纳米悬浮夜. 添加0.5 mL 的Triton X-100在导电玻璃表面上,利用的旋转涂布加热到22 oC可以制得厚度均匀缜密的薄膜结构,不但粒子不受到热处理效应与介面活性剂的影响而发生晶相改变,并且薄膜也有良好的染料吸附效果. 较厚二氧化钛薄膜的光电极会提升敏化染敏太阳能电池的效率. 实验结果得知,以15 μm的二氧化钛薄膜组装DSSCs测得最高效率2.15%,但是当薄膜厚度超过15 μm 则会导致开路电压与充填因子逐渐下降,光电转换效率变差.     

TiO_2 composite electron transport layers for planar perovskite solar cells by mixed spray pyrolysis with precursor solution incorporating TiO_2 nanoparticles

Perovskite solar cells with planar structure are attractive for their simplified device structure and reduced hysteresis effect. Compared to conventional mesoporous devices, TiO_2 porous scaffold layers are removed in planar devices. Then,compact TiO_2 electron transport layers take the functions of extracting electrons, transporting electrons, and blocking holes.Therefore, the properties of these compact TiO_2 layers are important for the performance of solar cells. In this work, we develop a mixed spray pyrolysis method for producing compact TiO_2 layers by incorporating TiO_2 nanoparticles with different size into the precursor solutions. For the optimized nanoparticle size of 60 nm, a power conversion efficiency of 16.7% is achieved, which is obviously higher than that of devices without incorporated nanoparticles(9.9%). Further investigation reveals that the incorporation of nanoparticles can remarkably improve the charge extraction and recombination processes.     

Synthesis and magnetic characterization of Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4 nanoparticles via microwave-assisted combustion route

We report on the synthesis of Zn_0.7Ni_0.3Fe₂O₄ nanoparticles via microwave assisted combustion route by using urea as fuel. XRD and FT-IR analyses confirm the composition and structure as spinel ferrite. The crystallite size estimated from XRD (16.4 nm) and the magnetic core size (15.04 nm) estimated from VSM agree well, while a slightly smaller magnetic diameter reflects a very thin magnetically dead layer on the surface of the nanoparticles. Morphological investigation of the products was done by TEM which revealed the existence of irregular shapes such spherical, spherodial and polygon. Magnetization measurements performed on Zn_0.7Ni_0.3Fe₂O₄ nanoparticles showed that saturation was not attained at even in the high magnetic field. The sample shows superparamagnetic behavior at around the room temperature and ferromagnetic behavior below the blocking temperature which is measured as 284 K.     

Structural properties of amorphous Fe2O3 nanoparticles

We have investigated the microstructure of amorphous Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Non-periodic boundary conditions with Born-Mayer type pair potentials were used to simulate a spherical model of different diameters of 2, 3, 4 and 5 nm. Structural properties of an amorphous model obtained at 350 K have been analyzed in detail through the partial radial distribution functions (PRPFs), coordination number distributions, bond-angle distributions and interatomic distances. Calculations showed that structural characteristics of the model are in qualitative agreement with the experimental data. The observation of a large amount of structural defects as the particle size is decreased suggested that surface structure strongly depends on the size of nanoparticles. In addition, surface structure of amorphous Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles have been studied and compared with that observed in the core and in the bulk counterpart. Radial density profiles and stoichiometry in morphous Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were also found and discussed.     

纳米Pt-Au合金修饰电极对鲁米诺电化学发光的增敏研究

用化学还原法制备了不同比例及不同粒径的纳米Au-Pt合金,并用UV-Vis、TEM、激光粒径、XRD等方法进行了表征,确认所合成物质确系双金属合金纳米粒子而非两种金属纳米粒子的混合物,通过改变合成方法和条件,可以得到一系列不同含量比和粒径,粒径范围在4.025～92.33 nm之间。采用电化学沉积法可将所制备合金修饰到铂盘电极上,在碱性介质(pH 12)中,随着合金比例的改变和合金粒径的减小,鲁米诺的电化学发光强度显著增强,当合金中Pt∶Au=6∶1,粒子粒径为最小时,所获得修饰电极上鲁米诺的电化学发光强度较裸电极增强近1个数量级。     

Resistive Pulse Sensing as a High‐Resolution Nanoparticle Sizing Method: A Comparative Study

One of the main challenges of sizing methods for nanoparticle (NP) suspensions is to distinguish between particles and particle populations with very small size differences. This would be especially important to follow various surface functionalization processes of nanoparticles resulting in small alterations of their size. In this respect, methods involving the detection of single particles, such as resistive pulse sensing (RPS) or nanoparticle tracking analysis, are generally considered superior to ensemble measuring methods such as dynamic light scattering. However, to compare the exact capabilities of these methodologies require systematic investigations in optimized conditions for each method. Here, such a study is presented for a narrow size range of spherical latex nanoparticles (60–200 nm). It is concluded that the RPS methodology based on quartz nanopipets as single nanopore counters, is the only sizing method among those studied capable to fully resolve a ternary mixture of 70, 110, and 140 nm average diameter NPs. The practical usefulness of this size resolution is demonstrated by following the increase in diameter of latex nanoparticles after their surface modification with antibodies.     

The mutual influence of two different dyes on their sensitized fluorescence (cofluorescence) in nanoparticles from complexes

We have studied the fluorescence sensitization and quenching for pairs of different dyes simultaneously incorporated into nanoparticles from complexes M(diketone)₃phen, where M(III) is La(III), Lu(III), or Sc(III); diketone is p-phenylbenzoyltrifluoroacetone (PhBTA) or naphthoyltrifluoroacetone (NTA); and phen is 1,10-phenanthroline. We have shown that, upon formation of nanoparticles in the solution in the presence of two dyes the concentrations of which are either comparable with or lower than the concentration of nanoparticles (<20 nM), the intensities of the sensitized fluorescence of dyes in nanoparticles in binary solutions and in solutions of either of the dyes coincide. We have found that the intensity of sensitized fluorescence of small (<20 nM) concentrations of rhodamine 6G (R6G) or Nile blue (NB) increases by an order of magnitude upon simultaneous introduction into nanoparticles of 1 μM of coumarin 30 (C30), while the intensity of fluorescence of C30 sensitized by complexes decreases by an order of magnitude. The same effect is observed as 1 μM of R6G are introduced into nanoparticles with NB ([NB] ≤ 20 nM). The increase in the fluorescence of dye molecules upon their incorporation from the solution into nanoparticles from complexes is noticeably lower than that expected from the proposed ratio of concentrations of complexes and dyes in nanoparticles. Analysis of the obtained data indicates that the introduction of large concentrations of C30 or R6G dyes into nanoparticles makes it possible to prevent large energy losses due to impurities or upon transition to a triplet state that arises during the migration of the excitation energy over S ₁ levels of complexes. Energy accumulated by these dyes is efficiently transferred to another dye that is present in the solution at lower concentrations and that has a lower-lying S ₁ level, which makes it possible to increase its fluorescence by an order of magnitude upon its incorporation into nanoparticles.