A simple urea-based route to ternary metal oxynitride nanoparticles

Ternary metal oxynitrides are generally prepared by heating the corresponding metal oxides with ammonia for long durations at high temperatures. In order to find a simple route that avoids use of gaseous ammonia, we have employed urea as the nitriding agent. In this method, ternary metal oxynitrides are obtained by heating the corresponding metal carbonates and transition metal oxides with excess urea. By this route, ternary metal oxynitrides of the formulae MTaO₂N (M=Ca, Sr or Ba), MNbO₂N (M=Sr or Ba), LaTiO₂N and SrMoO_3−xN_x have been prepared successfully. The oxynitrides so obtained were generally in the form of nanoparticles, and were characterized by various physical techniques.     

A facile route to synthesize silver nanoparticles in polyelectrolyte capsules

We are reporting a novel green approach to incorporate silver nanoparticles (NPs) selectively in the polyelectrolyte capsule shell for remote opening of polyelectrolyte capsules. This approach involves in situ reduction of silver nitrate to silver NPs using PEG as a reducing agent (polyol reduction method). These nanostructured capsules were prepared via layer by layer (LbL) assembly of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and dextran sulfate (DS) on silica template followed by the synthesis of silver NPs and subsequently the dissolution of the silica core. The size of silver nanoparticles synthesized was 60±20 nm which increased to 100±20 nm when the concentration of AgNO(3) increased from 25 mM to 50 mM. The incorporated silver NPs induced rupture and deformation of the capsules under laser irradiation. This method has advantages over other conventional methods involving chemical agents that are associated with cytotoxicity in biological applications such as drug delivery and catalysis.     

A simple hydrothermal route to large-scale synthesis of uniform silver nanowires

This paper describes the preparation of uniform silver nanowires by reducing freshly prepared silver chloride with glucose at 180 degrees C for 18 hours in the absence of any surfactants or polymers. Scanning electron microscopy studies indicated that the silver nanowires are about 100 nm in diameter and up to 500 microm in length. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses showed that the silver nanowires grow perpendicularly to the Ag(200) plane. The silver nanowires are believed to grow through a solid-solution-solid process. Some influential factors on the growth of silver nanowires are also discussed.     

Phenol assisted deaggregation of polyaniline chains: simple route to high quality polyaniline film

High conducting polyaniline films were readily prepared by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization/deposition of aniline in the presence of a very small amount of organic additive such as phenol. The conductivity of a thin ( approximately 150 nm) polyaniline film synthesized in the presence of 0.01 wt % of phenol ( r-PANI) is an order of magnitude higher (as well as better conducting homogeneity) than that of a film (PANI) obtained from the conventional method without an additive. r-PANI also has better adhesion and electrochemical stability/reversibility, more transparency in the visible-light region, and faster/easier doping/dedoping response compared to PANI. The function of phenol molecule is to avoid the formation of the inter- and/or intrachain hydrogen bonding during the growth of the polyaniline chains. The deaggregation/reducing intrachain hydrogen bonding of polyaniline chains by phenol molecules was revealed with IR, SAXS, and SEM data. All these data supported that phenol does assist the deaggregation of polyaniline chains during the growth of polymer chains or nanorods.     

A simple method to synthesize triangular silver nanoparticles by light irradiation

We describe a simple method to synthesize triangular silver nanoparticles by photoreducing the silver ions by citrate. A noteworthy difference of the present method as compared with the previous photo-induced methods is that good shape control over the nanoparticles can be realized in the absence of soft templates or polymer directing agents. The formation process of the silver nanoparticles was investigated by UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that the concentration of reactant plays important role in the morphology control of produced silver nanoparticles. As one of the applications of these nanoparticles, they were used as surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates and 1,4-bis[2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl]-benzene (BVPP) was used as a Raman probe to evaluate the enhancement ability of the triangular silver nanoparticles.     

A general chemical route to polyaniline nanofibers

Uniform polyaniline nanofibers readily form using interfacial polymerization without the need for templates or functional dopants. The average diameter of the nanofibers can be tuned from 30 nm using hydrochloric acid to 120 nm using perchloric acid as observed via both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. When camphorsulfonic acid is employed, 50 nm average diameter fibers form. The measured Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of the nanofibers increases as the average diameter decreases. Further characterization including molecular weight, optical spectroscopy, and electrical conductivity are presented. Interfacial polymerization is shown to be readily scalable to produce bulk quantities of nanofibers.     

溶剂热法制备银纳米晶

以聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)作为表面活性剂,利用乙二醇溶剂热法成功制备了银纳米颗粒;利用场发射扫描电子显微镜(FE-SEM)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)分析了样品的形貌和晶体结构,并考察了溶剂组成等因素对银纳米颗粒形貌的影响.研究结果表明所得银纳米晶粒径均一,直径约为90nm;增大PVP的加入量会降低产物的粒径,溶剂中水的引入会影响银纳米晶的形貌.     

Direct synthesis of silver/polymer/carbon nanocables via a simple hydrothermal route

High-yield silver/polymer/carbon nanocables were synthesized via a one-step simple hydrothermal route by using silver chloride and glucose as precursors. High-resolution TEM and element mapping proved that as-prepared nanocables consist of a silver nanowire core, a polymer inner shell, and a graphitic carbon outer shell. A three-step growth mechanism was proposed to explain the growth of such three-layer nanocables, i.e. the formation of silver nanowires, the glycosidation of glucose molecules on silver nanowire surface and the carbonization of the outmost glycosidation layer. We believe that reaction temperature plays the key role in the polymerization of glucose and sequent surface-carbonization.     

A new two-phase route to high-quality CdS nanocrystals

A new two-phase route has been developed to synthesize high-quality CdS nanocrystals with a narrow size distribution and a high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY). In the two-phase system, toluene and water were used as separate solvents for cadmium myristate (CdM2) and thiourea, which served as cadmium source and sulfur source, respectively, and oleic acid (OA) was used as a ligand for stabilizing the nanocrystals. The reactions were completed in the heated autoclaves. The initial Cd/S molar ratio of the precursors and the reaction temperature were found to be factors that affected the growth of nanocrystals. Furthermore, a seeding-growth technique was developed to synthesize CdS nanocrystals of different sizes, which exhibit PL peaks with quite similar full width at half-maximum (FWHM) values compared to those of the initial nanocrystal seeds in all cases.     

A simple route to cyclopentane annulation

We have developed a simple method for cyclopentane annulation using inexpensive reagents which is useful for the synthesis of polyquinane systems.     

A general synthetic route to nanofibers of polyaniline derivatives

Nanofibrous mats of a wide variety of polyaniline derivatives can be synthesized without the need for templates or functional dopants by simply introducing an initiator into the reaction mixture of a rapidly mixed reaction between monomer and oxidant.     

A simple catalytic route to naproxen

We report herein the asymmetric synthesis of naproxen involving catalytic enantioselective methylation for the first time. The reaction is conducted in a solid–liquid biphasic system using chiral quaternary ammonium salts.     

A simple route to β-aminomethylketones

A simple procedure leading to β-aminomethylketones has been developed. The procedure involves base-catalyzed Michael-type addition of sodium t-butyl acetoacetate to N-Boc imines generated in situ followed by hydrolysis and decarboxylation of the adducts.     

A mild, copper catalyzed route to conducting polyaniline

The aniline dimer, N-(4-aminophenyl)aniline has been polymerized cleanly under mild conditions to obtain an emeraldine base form of polyaniline using [MeB(3-(Mes)Pz)3]CuCl as the catalyst and H2O2 as the oxidant, while the subsequent acidification of the emeraldine base gives the conducting emeraldine salt form of polyaniline.     

Pyridinium chlorochromate oxidation route to polyaniline

In this work, for the first time, pyridinium chlorochromate is used as an oxidizing agent inorder to oxidize aniline to polyaniline salts via an aqueous polymerization pathway in the presence of protic acids such as sulfuric, nitric, hydrochloric and phosphoric acid. The polymer samples were characterized by infrared, electronic absorption spectral, elemental analysis, conductivity, density and water absorption measurements. The results of the polyaniline salts prepared by pyridinium chlorochromate as an oxidizing agent were compared with that of the polyaniline salt prepared by ammonium persulfate. Generally, aniline is oxidized using ammonium persulfate as an oxidizing agent, which is unstable. In this work, pyridinium chlorochromate is used to oxidize aniline to polyaniline salt and the polymerization reaction could be completed in 30 min. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel route to in‐situ incorporation of silver nanoparticles into supramolecular hydrogel networks

A novel strategy was developed for the in situ incorporation of silver nanoparticles into the supramolecular hydrogel networks, in which colloidally stable silver hydrosols were firstly prepared in the presence of an amphiphilic block copolymer of poly(oxyethylene)‐poly(oxypropylene)‐poly(oxyethylene) and then mixed with aqueous solution of α‐cyclodextrin. The analyses from rheology, X‐ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy confirmed the formation of the supramolecular‐structured hydrogels hybridized with silver nanoparticles. In particular, the colloidal stability of the resultant silver hydrosol and its gelation kinetics in the presence of α‐cyclodextrin as well as the viscoelastic properties of the resultant hybrid hydrogel were investigated under various concentrations of the used block copolymer. It was found that the used block copolymer could act not only as the effective reducing and stabilizing agents for the preparation of the silver hydrosol but also as the effective guest molecule for the supramolecular self‐assembly with α‐cyclodextrin. In addition, the effects of silver nanoparticles on the gelation process and the hydrogel strength were also studied. Such a hybrid hydrogel material could show a good catalytic activity for the reduction of methylene blue dye by sodium borohydride. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 740–749, 2009     

Gamma irradiation route to synthesis of highly re-dispersible natural polymer capped silver nanoparticles

Aqueous dispersions of highly stable, redispersible silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were synthesized using gamma radiolysis with gum acacia as a protecting agent. The formation of nanosized silver was confirmed by its characteristic surface plasmon absorption peak at around 405 nm in UV–vis spectra. The size of the silver nanoparticles can be tuned by controlling the radiation dose, ratio of gum acacia to silver ions and also the ionic strength of the medium. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement of the as-synthesized nanoparticles indicated the size less than 3 nm at higher dose of radiation and this also corroborated the size measurement from the width of the corresponding X-ray diffraction (XRD) peak. The face centered cubic (fcc) crystallinity of the nanoparticles was evident from XRD and high resolution transmission electron microscopic (HRTEM) measurements. Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopic data indicate a bonding of Ag NPs with COO^? group of acacia through bridging bidentate linkage.     

A simple route to micropatterned polymer surfaces

Polymer surfaces with uniform microscale concave arrays were fabricated by spreading polymer solution on the nonsolvent surface, and the concave-patterned surface could further be used as a template to structure convex-patterned polymer surfaces.