退火温度对TiO2/CdSe纳米片异质结薄膜光电性能的影响

采用水热法在FTO上制备（001）高活性晶面主导的TiO₂纳米片薄膜,利用循环伏安法在TiO₂纳米片薄膜上沉积CdSe颗粒,制备了TiO₂/CdSe纳米片异质结薄膜。分别在150、250、350、450 ℃,氩气保护气氛中对样品进行退火。利用X射线衍射仪（XRD）、场发射扫描电镜（FESEM）、X射线光电子能谱分析仪（XPS）、紫外-可见（UV-Vis）分光光度计以及电化学工作站对不同温度退火后的TiO₂/CdSe纳米片异质结薄膜的微观形貌、晶体结构、光电化学性能进行表征和测试。结果表明：六方相CdSe纳米颗粒均匀包覆在TiO₂纳米片表面,直径30 nm左右;随着退火温度的升高CdSe纳米颗粒长大,形成光滑的CdSe薄膜,且晶化程度提高;TiO₂纳米片表面的Se元素与Cd元素发生氧化;TiO₂/CdSe纳米片异质结薄膜对可见光的吸收光谱发生红移,禁带宽度逐渐减小。光电化学性能测试表明随着退火温度的升高,TiO₂/CdSe纳米片异质结薄膜的光电流密度显著提高,开路电压减小,但由于SeO2和CdO的出现,导致填充因子减小,影响光电转换效率的提高。在本实验条件下,TiO₂/CdSe纳米片异质结薄膜的最佳退火温度为150 ℃,填充因子为0.77,光电转换效率达到3.12%。     

阴-非离子表面活性剂复合改性水滑石的表面性质研究

采用十二烷基苯磺酸钠（SDBS）、吐温-80（Tween-80）及两种表面活性剂复合改性镁铝水滑石,得到SDBS-LDHs,Tween-LDHs及SDBS/Tween-LDHs₃种改性水滑石。利用反相气相色谱法（IGC）对样品进行表面性质的研究,定量计算了表面吸附自由能（ΔG₀）和表面能色散组分（γ_s^d）。结果表明,改性材料的ΔG₀与γ_s^d值均比未处理的镁铝水滑石小,其中阴-非离子表面活性剂复合改性后的水滑石的ΔG₀与γ_s^d值最小,说明阴-非离子表面活性剂复合改性水滑石较单一改性水滑石更有利于提高材料的稳定性。此外,各类水滑石的γ_s^d值均随着温度的升高而减小,因此,在制备聚合物/水滑石类材料时,可以利用提高温度来改善其与聚合物的相容性。     

High efficiency palladium catalysts supported on multi-wall carbon nanotubes synthesized with 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino) propane for ethanol oxidation

In this paper, a facile and effective method is introduced to prepare palladium electrocatalysts for the oxidation of ethanol in alkaline media. According to the transmission electron microscopy measurement, the as-prepared Pd nanoparticles with the average particle size of 2.5 nm are evenly deposited on the surface of the multi-wall carbon nanotubes by using 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino) propane as a special additive. Electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the as-prepared catalyst exhibits good electrocatalytic activity and stability for the electrooxidation of ethanol.     

A Hairpin Electrochemical Aptasensor for Sensitive and Specific Detection of Thrombin Based on Homogenous Target Recognition

An electrochemical aptasensor was developed for sensitive and specific detection of thrombin by combining homogenous recognition strategy and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) amplification. Streptavidin‐alkaline phosphatase was used as reporter molecule. Compared with the traditional hairpin aptasensor monitoring the distance of the redox molecule from the electrode surface, the proposed aptasensor successfully overcome the limitations of distance and improved the stability and high affinity of the aptamer hairpin through homogenous recognition, which enhanced the sensitivity and selectivity of the sensors effectively. Additionally, AuNPs were employed to increase the active area and conductivity of the electrode, thus, improving the sensitivity of the aptasensor. As a result, the designed thrombin detection sensor obtained a lower detection limit of 0.52 pM in buffer and 6.9 pM in blood serum.     

Electrochemical Recognition of Chiral Molecules with Poly(4‐bromoaniline) Modified Gold Electrode

A poly(4‐bromoaniline) (PBA) film is electrochemically synthesized on a gold electrode for the recognition of amino acids enantiomers. Scanning electron microscopy measurements show that the porous PBA films are made up of nano‐ribbons. At the PBA modified Au electrode differential pulse voltammograms of L ‐ and D ‐glutamic acids not only have very different current densities, but also produce different waveforms, providing an intuitive way to differentiate the two chiral molecules. Similar results are obtained in analyzing L ‐ and D ‐aspartic acids. Control experiments suggest that the observed sensing behavior arises from synergistic interactions between Au and the PBA film, where polymerization at the meta‐position creates a steric structure needed for differentiating chiral molecules.     

Detection of dopamine in the presence of excess ascorbic acid at physiological concentrations through redox cycling at an unmodified microelectrode array

The electrochemical behavior of dopamine was examined under redox cycling conditions in the presence and absence of a high concentration of the interferent ascorbic acid at a coplanar, microelectrode array where the area of the generator electrodes was larger than that of the collector electrodes. Redox cycling converts a redox species between its oxidized and reduced forms by application of suitable potentials on a set of closely located generator and collector electrodes. It allows signal amplification and discrimination between species that undergo reversible and irreversible electron transfer. Microfabrication was used to produce 18 individually addressable, 4-μm-wide gold band electrodes, 2 mm long, contained in an array having an interelectrode spacing of 4 μm. Because the array electrodes are individually addressable, each can be selectively biased to produce an overall optimal electrochemical response. Four adjacent microbands were shorted together to serve as the collector, and were flanked on each side by seven microbands shorted as the generator (a ratio of 1:3.5 of electroactive area, respectively). This configuration achieved a detection limit of 0.454?±?0.026 μM dopamine at the collector in the presence of 100 μM ascorbic acid in artificial cerebrospinal fluid buffer, concentrations that are consistent with physiological levels. Enhancement by surface modification of the microelectrode array to achieve this detection limit was unnecessary. The results suggest that the redox cycling method may be suitable for in vivo quantification of transients and basal levels of dopamine in the brain without background subtraction.

Tuning of Ti-doped mesoporous silica for highly efficient enrichment of phosphopeptides in human placenta mitochondria

Extraction of phosphopeptides from rather complex biological samples has been a tough issue for deep and comprehensive investigation into phosphoproteomes. In this paper, we present a series of Ti-doped mesoporous silica (Ti-MPS) materials with tunable composition and controllable morphology for highly efficient enrichment of phosphopeptides. By altering the molar ratio of silicon to titanium (Si/Ti) in the precursor, the external morphology, Ti content, internal long-rang order, and surface area of Ti-MPS were all modulated accordingly with certain regularity. Tryptic digests of standard phosphoprotein α- and β-casein were employed to assess the phosphopeptide enrichment capability of Ti-MPS series. At the Si/Ti molar ratio of 8:1, the optimum enrichment performance with admirable sensitivity and capacity was achieved. The detection limit for β-casein could reach 10 fmol, and 15 phosphopeptides from the digest of α-casein were resolved in the spectrum after enrichment, both superior to the behavior of commercial TiO₂ materials. More significantly, for the digest of human placenta mitochondria, 396 phosphopeptides and 298 phosphoproteins were definitely detected and identified after enrichment with optimized Ti-MPS material, demonstrating its remarkable applicability for untouched phosphoproteomes. In addition, this research also opened up a universal pathway to construct a composition-tunable functional material in pursuit of the maximum performance in applications.

Synthesis and self-assembly behaviors of four-armed amphiphilic polystyrene-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymers

Four-armed amphiphilic block copolymers polystyrene-b-poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PSt-b-PNIPAAM)₄ were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in two steps. Star narrow dispersed polystyrene, (PSt-Br)₄, with controlled number-average molecular weight was firstly synthesized by ATRP of styrene (St) using pentaerythritol tetrakis (2-bromoisobutyrate) (4Bri-Bu) as four-armed initiator. Then, (PSt-b-PNIPAAM)₄ was prepared using (PSt-Br)₄ as macroinitiator by ATRP. The structures of (PSt-Br)₄ and (PSt-b-PNIPAAM)₄ were confirmed by characterization by nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR). The apparent viscosity of the four-armed (PSt-b-PNIPAAM)₄ was significantly lower than that of the linear PSt-b-PNIPAAM with the same amount of repeat units of PSt and PNIPAAM. The self-assembly behavior of the four-armed amphiphilic block copolymers (PSt-b-PNIPAAM)₄ in mixed solution (DMF/H₂O) and the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the resulting micelles were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The results show that the size of the mono-dispersed spherical micelles decreased with the increment of the chain length of PNIPAAM in the block copolymers, while LCST increased.