The use of silver nanoparticles as an effective modifier for the determination of arsenic and antimony by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were proposed as a new chemical modifier for the elimination of interferences when determining arsenic and antimony in aqueous NaCl or Na₂SO₄ solutions and in sea-water by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. For this purpose, the AgNPs were prepared simply by reducing silver nitrate with sodium citrate. The effects of pyrolysis and atomization temperatures and the amounts of interferents and modifiers on the sensitivities of these elements were investigated. In the presence of the proposed modifier, a pyrolysis temperature of at least 1100 °C for arsenic and 900 °C for antimony could be applied without the loss of analytes, and the interferences were greatly reduced to allow for interference-free determination. The detection limits (N = 10, 3σ) for arsenic and antimony were 0.022 ng and 0.046 ng, respectively. AgNPs are cheaper and more available compared to many other modifiers. No background was detected, and the blank values were negligible.     

Size Effect of 3D Aggregates Assembled from Silver Nanoparticles on Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering

Size matters: Nanometer‐sized gaps in aggregates of silver nanoparticles are generated by covering the nanoparticle surface with a bilayer of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The nanometer‐ to micrometer‐sized wells are lithographically generated on polydimethylsiloxane surfaces. The wells filled with the modified nanoparticles (see picture) and the effect of the aggregate size on SERS enhancement are investigated.

     

FAAS slurry analysis of lead and copper ions preconcentrated on titanium dioxide nanoparticles coated with a silver shell and modified with cysteamine

We report on the separation and preconcentration of lead(II) and copper(II) ions using silver-coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles modified with cysteamine, and their determination by slurry analysis via flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The ions were adsorbed via a conventional batch technique, and the ion-loaded slurry was separated and directly introduced into the spectrometer, thereby eliminating a number of drawbacks. The effects of pH, amount of sorbent, slurry volume, sample volume and other ions on the recovery were investigated. Under optimized experimental conditions, copper and lead can be recovered within the 95% confidence level in certificated waste water, but also in spiked sea water samples. The technique is fast, simple, and leads to complete elution. The limit of detection (3δ, at n?=?10) was 0.37 μg L^?1 for Cu(II), and 0.38 μg L^?1 for Pb(II).

Preparation of fluorine containing hybrid coatings: investigation of coating performance onto ABS and PMMA substrates

UV‐curable fluorinated organic–inorganic hybrid coatings were prepared by the sol–gel technique. Perfluorinated urethane modified alkoxysilane was synthesized by the reaction between perfluoro alcohol and 3‐isocyanatopropyltrimethoxysilane. The prepared formulations were applied onto poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) panels and polymerized by UV‐curing. The properties of the hybrid coatings such as hardness, chemical resistance, thermal stability, surface morphology, double bond conversion, and also contact angle measurements were investigated. Contact angle measurements have shown that the addition of fluorinated silane precursor to the hybrid system improved the water repellency and increased the contact angle from 65° to 106°. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards single-microorganism detection using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The identification and discrimination of microorganisms is important not only for clinical reasons but also for pharmaceutical clean room production and food-processing technology. Vibrational spectroscopy such as IR, Raman, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) can provide a rapid ‘fingerprint’ on the chemical structure of molecules and is used to obtain a ‘fingerprint’ from microorganisms as well. Because of the requirement that a single bacterium cell and noble metal nanoparticles must be in close contact and the lack of a significant physical support to hold nanoparticles around the single bacterium cell, the acquisition of SERS spectra for a single bacterium using colloidal nanoparticles could be a challenging task. The feasibility of SERS for identification down to a single bacterium is investigated. A Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, is chosen as a model for the investigation. Because the adsorption of silver nanoparticles onto the bacterial cell is an exclusive way for locating nanoparticles close to the bacterium cell, the absorption characteristics of silver nanoparticles with different surface charges are investigated. It is demonstrated that the citrate-reduced colloidal silver solution generates more reproducible SERS spectra. It is found that E. coli cells aggregate upon mixing with silver colloidal solution, and this may provide an additional benefit in locating the bacterial cell under a light microscope. It is also found that a laser wavelength in the UV region could be a better choice for the study due to the shallow penetration depth. It is finally shown that it is possible to obtain SERS spectra from a single cell down to a few bacterial cells, depending on the aggregation properties of bacterial cells for identification and discrimination.     

Slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric determination of chromium after separation/enrichment by mercaptoundecanoic acid modified gold coated TiO2 nanoparticles

In this study, a novel preconcentration/separation technique based on the slurry analysis of chromium loaded on mercaptoundecanoic acid modified TiO₂ core-Au shell nanoparticles prior to its determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry was described. For this purpose, at first, TiO₂ nanoparticles were coated with gold shell and then modified with mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA). Cr (III) was collected on the prepared sorbent by conventional batch technique. After separation of liquid phase, slurry of the sorbent was prepared and directly introduced into graphite furnace of atomic absorption spectrometry. By this way, all drawbacks due to elution procedure were eliminated. Optimum conditions for quantitative sorption and preparation of the slurry were investigated. The chromium in certificated sea-water and spiked drinking water was recovered in the range of 95% confidence level. The proposed technique was fast and simple as well as the risks of contamination and loss during elution were low. The limit of detection (3σ, N = 10) was 0.34 μg L^{− 1}.     

Improvements to compressible Euler methods for low‐Mach number flows

In the present study improvements to numerical algorithms for the solution of the compressible Euler equations at low Mach numbers are investigated. To solve flow problems for a wide range of Mach numbers, from the incompressible limit to supersonic speeds, preconditioning techniques are frequently employed. On the other hand, one can achieve the same aim by using a suitably modified acoustic damping method. The solution algorithm presently under consideration is based on Roe's approximate Riemann solver [Roe PL. Approximate Riemann solvers, parameter vectors and difference schemes. Journal of Computational Physics 1981; 43 : 357–372] for non‐structured meshes. The numerical flux functions are modified by using Turkel's preconditioning technique proposed by Viozat [Implicit upwind schemes for low Mach number compressible flows. INRIA, Rapport de Recherche No. 3084, January 1997] for compressible Euler equations and by using a modified acoustic damping of the stabilization term proposed in the present study. These methods allow the compressible Euler equations at low‐Mach number flows to be solved, and they are consistent in time. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed modifications have been assessed by comparison with experimental data and other numerical results in the literature. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.