Silver nanoparticles formed in bio- and chemical syntheses with biosurfactant as the stabilizing agent

In this work, the comparison of the physical properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) obtained via the reduction of silver nitrate (AgNO₃) in biological and chemical (model) syntheses supplemented with the biosurfactant surfactin is described. In the studies, two strains of Bacillus subtilis (denoted T’1 and I’1a) were used. The biological synthesis of AgNPs was performed using supernatants obtained from cultures of bacteria growing on brewery effluents, molasses, and Luria–Bretani (LB) medium. In model experiments, ascorbic acid served as the reductant; surfactin acted as the stabilizing agent. The surfactin concentrations were adjusted to 5 and 30?mg/L, which corresponded to minimum and maximum surfactin concentrations as measured in the supernatants obtained from the B. subtilis cultures. The chemical synthesis was carried out at acidic as well as alkaline pH. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed that in model and biological samples, single AgNPs were accompanied by aggregated structures. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the contribution of the aggregates in bacterial supernatants and in chemical synthesis is negligible under acidic conditions. However, in the alkaline environment, this contribution predominates. In the model experiments, smaller nanoparticles were formed with higher concentrations of surfactant. The presence of surfactin significantly increased the stability of AgNPs in both bio- and chemical syntheses.     

Fe_3O_4/RGO复合材料的制备及其电化学性能研究

以改进Hummers法合成的氧化石墨烯(GO)为前驱体,通过水热法结合烧结工艺制备了四氧化三铁/还原氧化石墨烯(Fe_3O_4/RGO)复合材料。利用X射线衍射(XRD)、拉曼光谱(Raman)、扫描电镜(SEM)、透射电镜(TEM)等手段对复合材料的理化性能进行表征;通过充放电测试、循环伏安(CV)和电化学阻抗谱(EIS)等技术,综合考察了材料的储锂性能及电化学性能增强机制。结果表明,在200和600 m A/g电流密度下,Fe_3O_4/RGO复合负极循环60次后的放电比容量分别保持在709和479 mAh/g,表现出良好的倍率性能;相较于纯Fe_3O_4负极,复合负极呈现出更优异的锂电性能,其电化学性能的改善得益于RGO能增强材料的电导性和结构稳定性。     

基于光子晶体带边效应的表面增强拉曼基底

将光子晶体的带边效应与金纳米粒子的拉曼散射增强作用相结合,制备了一种新型光子晶体表面增强拉曼散射基底(PC-AuNPs),利用罗丹明B(RhB)作为报告分子,对所得基底性能进行检测.PC-AuNPs基底的制备包括3个步骤:在SiO2微球表面修饰氨基,再通过垂直沉降自组装得到蛋白石结构光子晶体(PC), 最后, 在光子晶体表面负载金纳米粒子(AuNPs).结果表明,光子晶体的带隙范围及AuNPs的负载量直接影响了PC-AuNPs基底的检测效果;以所得的PC-AuNPs基底测定RhB分子,其拉曼散射特征峰强度与浓度对数值呈现良好的线性关系,线性方程为I=1711lg[RhB(mol/L)]+15244,线性相关系数R2=0.9994,检出限为1×10-8 mol/L,表明此PC-AuNPs基底可用于目标物的定性及定量检测.本方法提高了传统拉曼散射光谱检测灵敏度,操作简单,具有良好的重现性,可为其它新型检测基底的制备提供.     

Nanoparticle enabled thermal control of ions in liquid crystals

Typically, ionic species in thermotropic liquid crystals are nearly fully ionised. Therefore, the concentration of mobile ions practically does not depend on the temperature. Interestingly, the same liquid crystals doped with nanoparticles exhibit totally different behaviour. The concentration of mobile ions become temperature dependent. This paper reports the effects of the temperature on the concentration of ions in liquid crystal nanocolloids. Liquid crystals doped with both 100% pure and contaminated nanoparticles are considered. Regardless the ionic purity of nanodopants, the concentration of mobile ions in liquid crystal nanocolloids increases towards the saturation as their temperature goes up. The magnitude of this saturation level equals the initial concentration of ions in liquid crystals doped with 100% pure nanoparticles. The temperature induced release of ions by contaminated nanoparticles in liquid crystals increases the above-mentioned saturation level. While the dispersion of 100% pure nanoparticles in liquid crystals leads to the temperature-dependent purification only, the use of contaminated nanoparticles results in the temperature-driven switching between the purification and contamination regimes enabling thermal control of ions.     

Simple and rapid surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy assay for safranine T and its application in highly sensitive determination of mercury (Ⅱ)

A simple and sensitive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method for the detection of safranine T (ST) and Hg²⁺ using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as substrate was developed. ST can absorb on the surface of AgNPs through electrostatic interaction, the electromagnetic effect combined with chemical adsorption effect give a notable Raman enhancement for ST. The presence of Hg²⁺ well decreased the absorbed ST molecules on AgNPs, leading to a significant decrease of SERS signals thus enabling to detect Hg²⁺. The determination conditions for SERS, including the amount of AgNPs, the concentration of NaCl, the concentration of HCl, the concentration of ST and the reaction time, were optimised. Under the optimised experimental conditions, good linear responses were obtained for ST and Hg²⁺ in the concentration ranges of 0.01–4.0 μmol L^?1 (3.5–1403.4 ng mL^?1) and 0.01–2.0 μmol L^?1 (2.0–401.2 ng mL^?1), the limit of detection were 3.0 nmol L^?1 (1.1 ng mL^?1) and 2.0 nmol L^?1 (0.4 ng mL^?1), respectively. The present method was subsequently applied to the determination of ST in tomato sauces and Hg²⁺ in environmental waters, the recoveries of ST and Hg²⁺ in spiked samples are 95.5–107.8% and 91.4–110.8 %, respectively.     

Liquid crystal-gold nanoparticle composite-modified indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates and their electrochemical characterisation

A simple efficient strategy for the simultaneous synthesis and anchoring of liquid crystal (LC)-stabilised gold nanoparticles (NPs) on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate is described. A monolayer of 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxy silane (MPS) compound was formed on ITO and quality of the monolayer was assessed using electrochemical techniques namely cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Gold NP preparation was carried out on this monolayer-modified substrate (and on bare ITO), in a single-step reaction, simply by drop-casting a solution containing an appropriate amount of chloroauric acid and a LC compound possessing a terminal amino group, on the MPS monolayer-modified substrate and heating (70degree) for 2-3 min.. The LC compound served as a reducing agent as well as a capping ligand. LC-capped NPs were chemically anchored onto the ITO substrate through bonding to thiol moiety of the MPS. The CV and EIS analysis of the MPS monolayer showed a complete blocking behaviour for the electron transfer across the electrode/electrolyte interface confirming the formation of a high-quality dense compact monolayer. On the other hand, upon immobilisation of LC-gold NP composite on self-assembled monolayer-modified ITO substrates, both CV and impedance studies showed a small current indicating the gold NP-mediated electron transfer, thus confirming the successful immobilisation of NPs.     

Delayed Fluorescent Emission from Pyrene Doped Phenanthrene Nanoparticles Based on Triplet-triplet Energy Transfer

Doped nanoparticles were prepared from pyrene and phenanthrene using a facile reprecipitation method. The doped nanoparticles presented unique delayed fluorescent emissions of pyrene under the unprotected condition. The ratio of the intensity of delayed fluorescence (I_DF) to that of phosphorescence (I_P) is about 4:1, which almost keeps unchanged with the decrease of pyrene content at room temperature. The intensity of the delayed fluorescence emissions is dependent on the relative content of pyrene, as well as the aggregation degree of nanoparticles. The delayed emissions are contributed to efficient triplet‐triplet energy transfer from phenanthrene (donor) to pyrene (acceptor). Steady fluorescence measurement have proved that the singlet‐singlet energy transfer process was also existent dominated by the radiation energy transfer mechanism.     

CuO Crystalline Modified Glassy Carbon Electrodes for Anodic Amperometric Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide

As an alternative selection of electrocatalytic surface modifier, the electrochemically generated copper oxides is re‐ investigated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Interesting phenomena have been found, which indicate that the electrodeposition from the Cu²⁺ solution under cyclic voltammetric conditions can generate a transparent Cu(OH)₂ crystalline on the surface of glassy carbon electrodes, and this crystalline can be further transferred to a novel cubic opaque CuO crystalline of about 300 nm in size by second step of cyclic voltammetry in pH 12 NaOH solution. The final electrode (denoted as nano‐CuO/GCE) can catalyze the oxidation (as well as the reduction) of H₂O₂ in basic solutions. It shows pH dependent three‐part catalytic mechanism in the range from pH 7 to pH 14. In 0.10 mol/L NaOH solution, the amperometric response at 0.15 V (vs. SCE) can give a current sensitivity as high as 139 mA/(mol·L^?1) in the rage of 5.0×10^?7?6.0×10^?4 mol/L with a lower detection limit (s/n=3) of 2.5×10^?8 mol/L, and a current sensitivity of 78.4 mA/(mol·L^?1) in the rage of 6.0×10^?4–2.0×10^?3 mol/L. This electrode also has excellent reproducibility and stability. The mechanisms for the two steps of preparation and the catalytic reactions are proposed. The nano‐CuO crystalline modified electrode may have more applications in the field of electrochemical sensing.     

Fluorescence quenching method for the determination of catechol with gold nanoparticles and tyrosinase hybrid system

<正>The determination method of catechol by fluorescence quenching was developed.The assay was based on the combination of the unique property of gold nanoparticles with tyrosinase enzymatic reaction.In the presence of tyrosinase,the fluorescence of gold nanoparticles was quenched by catechol which can be employed to detect catechol.Under the optimal conditions,a linear range 5.0×10~(-7)-1.0×10~(-3) mol L~(-1) and a detection limit 1.0×10~(-7) mol L~(-1) of catechol were obtained.o-Quinone intermediate produced from the enzymatic catalyzed oxidation of catechol was considered to play the main role in the fluorescence quenching.     

镍纳米粒子修饰碳糊电极直接电催化鸟嘌呤的研究

将镍纳米粒子与石蜡、石墨按照一定比例混合制备镍纳米粒子修饰碳糊电极,采用循环伏安法(CV)对修饰碳糊电极进行电化学表征,在0.1 mol/L B-R缓冲溶液(pH4.5)中研究了鸟嘌呤在该修饰电极上的电化学行为。结果表明,与裸碳糊电极相比,以掺杂法制备的镍纳米粒子修饰电极能够明显降低鸟嘌呤的过电位,增大其氧化电流,很好地催化氧化鸟嘌呤。在优化的实验条件下,鸟嘌呤在该修饰电极上的氧化峰电流与其浓度在1.0×10-5~5.0×10-4mol/L范围内呈良好的线性关系,检出限(3σ)为7.5×10-6mol/L。