Close‐Packed Two‐Dimensional Silver Nanoparticle Arrays: Quadrupolar and Dipolar Surface Plasmon Resonance Coupling

Silver nanoparticles (NPs) ranging in size from 40 to 100 nm were prepared in high yield by using an improved seed‐mediated method. The homogeneous Ag NPs were used as building blocks for 2D assembled Ag NP arrays by using an oil/water interface. A close‐packed 2D array of Ag NPs was fabricated by using packing molecules (3‐mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane) to control the interparticle spacing. The homogeneous 2D Ag NP array exhibited a strong quadrupolar cooperative plasmon mode resonance and a dipolar red‐shift relative to individual Ag NPs suspended in solution. A well‐arranged 2D Ag NP array was embedded in polydimethylsiloxane film and, with biaxial stretching to control the interparticle distance, concomitant variations of the quadrupolar and dipolar couplings were observed. As the interparticle distance increased, the intensity of the quadrupolar cooperative plasmon mode resonance decreased and dipolar coupling completely disappeared. The local electric field of the 2D Ag NP array was calculated by using finite difference time domain simulation and qualitatively showed agreement with the experimental measurements.     

Gauge natural formulation of conformal gravity

We consider conformal gravity as a gauge natural theory. We study its conservation laws and superpotentials. We also consider the Mannheim and Kazanas spherically symmetric vacuum solution and discuss conserved quantities associated to conformal and diffeomorphism symmetries.     

Controlling effective interactions and spatial dispersion of nanoparticles in multiblock copolymer melts

The microscopic Polymer Reference Interaction Site Model theory is employed to study, for the first time, the effective interactions, spatial organization, and miscibility of dilute spherical nanoparticles in non‐microphase separating, chemically heterogeneous, compositionally symmetric AB multiblock copolymer melts of varying monomer sequence or architecture. The dependence of nanoparticle wettability on copolymer sequence and chemistry results in interparticle potentials‐of‐mean force that are qualitatively different from homopolymers. An important prediction is the ability to improve nanoparticle dispersion via judicious choice of block length and monomer adsorption‐strengths which control both local surface segregation and chain connectivity induced packing constraints and frustration. The degree of dispersion also depends strongly on nanoparticle diameter relative to the block contour length. Small particles in copolymers with longer block lengths experience a more homopolymer‐like environment which renders them relatively insensitive to copolymer chemical heterogeneity and hinders dispersion. Larger particles (sufficiently larger than the monomer diameter) in copolymers of relatively short block lengths provide better dispersion than either a homopolymer or random copolymer. The theory also predicts a novel widening of the miscibility window for large particles upon increasing the overall molecular weight of copolymers composed of relatively long blocks. The influence of a positive chi‐parameter in the pure copolymer melt is briefly studied. Quantitative application to fullerenes in specific copolymers of experimental interest is performed, and miscibility predictions are made. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 1098–1111     

Kinetic Analysis of the Hydrolysis of Pentose-1-phosphates through Apparent Nucleoside Phosphorolysis Equilibrium Shifts**

Herein, we report an addition to the toolbox for the monitoring and quantification of the hydrolytic decay of pentose-1-phosphates, which are known to be elusive and difficult to quantify. This communication describes how apparent equilibrium shifts of a nucleoside phosphorolysis reaction can be employed to calculate hydrolytic loss of pentose-1-phosphates based on the measurement of post-hydrolysis equilibrium concentrations of a nucleoside and a nucleobase. To demonstrate this approach, we assessed the stability of the relatively stable ribose-1-phosphate at 98 °C and found half-lives of 1.8–11.7 h depending on the medium pH. This approach can be extended to other sugar phosphates and related reaction systems to quantify the stability of UV-inactive and hard-to-detect reaction products and intermediates.     

Synthesis and applications of graphene oxide aerogels in bone tissue regeneration: a review

Development of biocompatible porous supports is a promising strategy in the field of tissue engineering for the repair and regeneration of bone tissues with severe damage. Graphene oxide aerogels (GOAs) are excellent candidates for the manufacture of these systems due to their porosity, ability to imitate bone structure, and mechanical resistance, and according to their surface chemical reactivity, they can facilitate osseointegration, osteogenesis, osteoinduction and osteoconduction. In this review, synthesis of GOAs from the most primary source is described, and recent studies on the use of these functionalized carbonaceous foams as scaffolding for bone tissue regeneration are presented.     

Plasmon Coupling-Induced Hot Electrons for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

We present the fabrication of core-shell-satellite Au@SiO₂-Pt nanostructures and demonstrate that LSPR excitation of the core Au nanoparticle can induce plasmon coupling effect to initiate photocatalytic hydrogen generation from decomposition of formic acid. Further studies suggest that the plasmon coupling effect induces a strong local electric field between the Au core and Pt nanoparticles on the SiO₂ shell, which enables creation of hot electrons on the non-plasmonic-active Pt nanoparticles to participate hydrogen evolution reaction on the Pt surface. In addition, small SiO₂ shell thickness is required in order to obtain a strong plamon coupling effect and achieve efficient photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation.