A gold-based nanobeacon probe for fluorescence sensing of organophosphorus pesticides

A nanomaterials-based novel molecular beacon has attracted growing attentions in fluorescent assays as many nanomaterials possess excellent quenching efficiency. In this work, a gold-based nanobeacon probe was established to detect organophosphorus pesticides for the first time. The constructed gold-based nanobeacon acted as a signal indicator and could display the decreasing of the intensity in the presence of targets, which competitively bound to single strand DNA. To achieve a high sensitive probe, some parameters including solution pH, temperature and reaction time were investigated and optimized. The gold-based nanobeacon probe assay was proved to be rapid and sensitive to achieve a detection limit of 0.035 μM for isocarbophos, 0.134 μM for profenofos, 0.384 μM for phorate and 2.35 μM for omethoate, respectively. The prepared nanobeacon effectively reduced the background and improved the detection sensitivity and selectivity. The probe is stable, easy to operate and does not need sophisticated instruments. These features makes the probe feasible for screening trace organophosphorus pesticides in real samples.     

Electrical behavior of the Au/MoS2 interface studied by light emission induced by scanning tunneling microscopy

Light emitted in the tunneling junction of a scanning tunneling microscope has been used to establish the electrical characteristics of nanojunctions made of Au islands deposited on flat MoS₂ surfaces. It is shown that these characteristics are those of rectifying contacts when the gold islands are isolated and that they evolve toward those of ohmic contacts when the island density increases. It is observed that the rectifying behavior also evolves over time as on infinite metal/semiconductor contacts. Using the STM tip, single gold islands can be manipulated on the MoS₂ surface so that their electrical behavior can be changed depending on their position with regard to the other islands.     

金催化化学发光新体系——苯并吡喃化学发光分析法测定金矿中的痕量金

本文提出了一种测定矿样中痕量金的化学发光分析法,氯化6,7-二羟基-2,4-二甲基苯并吡喃-H_2O_2化学发光体系,方法的检出限为7ppb。工作曲线线性范围是10～1000ppbAu,测定的相对标准偏差小于7％。应用本法测定矿样中的金,结果良好。     

Theoretical insight of adsorption thermodynamics of multifunctional molecules on metal surfaces

Adsorption thermodynamics based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations are exposed for the interaction of several multifunctional molecules with Pt and Au(1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surfaces. The Gibbs free adsorption energy explicitly depends on the adsorption internal energy, which is derived from DFT adsorption energy, and the vibrational entropy change during the chemisorption process. Zero-point energy (ZPE) corrections have been systematically applied to the adsorption energy. Moreover the vibrational entropy change has been computed on the basis of DFT harmonic frequencies (gas and adsorbed phases, clean surfaces), which have been extended to all the adsorbate vibrations and the metallic surface phonons. The phase diagrams plotted in realistic conditions of temperature (from 100 to 400 K) and pressure (0.15 atm) show that the ZPE corrected adsorption energy is the main contribution. When strong chemisorption is considered on the Pt surface, the multifunctional molecules are adsorbed on the surface in the considered temperature range. In contrast for weak chemisorption on the Au surface, the thermodynamic results should be held cautiously. The systematic errors of the model (choice of the functional, configurational entropy and vibrational entropy) make difficult the prediction of the adsorption-desorption phase boundaries.     

Preparation and characterization of ZnO nanorods from NaOH solutions with assisted electrical field

ZnO naorods on ZnO-coated seed substrates were fabricated by solution chemical method from Zn(NO₃)₂/NaOH under assisted electrical field. The working mechanism of electrical field was analyzed and the factors affecting the rod growth such as potential, precursor concentration and growth temperature were elucidated. The structural and optical properties are characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, HRTEM and UV-vis. The results indicated that the nanorods have wurtzite structure without electrical field and are primarily of zincite structure under electrical field; when the electrical field is 1.1-1.3 V, not only the elevation of ion diffusion and adsorption lower the crystallite/solution interfacial energy and then the crystal nucleation barrier by increasing charge intensity, but also the production of H⁺ through oxidation of OH⁻ increases properly the degree of solution supersaturation near the substrate, and thus lowers the activation energy. Both the two processes do favor to rod growth. With increasing precursor concentration in this system, the average diameter and length of ZnO nanorods increase, leading to decreasing of optical transmittance. The maximum rod growth rate at given concentration of Zn²⁺ occurs at a specific temperature.     

Electrochemical Immunoanalysis for Carcinoembryonic Antigen Based on Multilayer Architectures of Gold Nanoparticles and Polycation Biomimetic Interface on Glassy Carbon Electrode

This paper describes a layer‐by‐layer (LBL) self‐assembly process of chitosan (CTS) and gold nanoparticles (Au) on the pretreated negatively charged glassy carbon (GC) electrode to fabricate electrochemistry immunosensor with a nontoxic biomimetic interface, which provided an environment similar to a native system and allowed more freedom in orientation for immobilization of carcinoembryonic antibody (anti‐CEA) to monitor carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). UV‐vis spectroscope, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and cyclic voltammetric (CV) measurements were used to follow the multilayer film formation. The performance of the biominetic interface and factors influencing the assay system were investigated in detail. The differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) current response is used for the CEA concentration assay. The dynamic range was from 0.50 to 80.00 ng mL^?1 with a detection limit of 0.27 ng mL^?1 at 3σ. In addition, the experiment results indicate that immobilization described in this proposed method exhibits a good sensitivity, selectivity, and stability.     

Au deposits on graphite: On the nature of high temperature desorption peaks in CO thermal desorption spectra

Due to the discovery of Au as a catalyst for low temperature CO oxidation, the adsorption of CO on Au surfaces has attracted a lot of attention recently. On stepped and rough single crystal surfaces as well as on deposited particles two characteristic desorption states above 100 K have been observed via TPD. We have studied Au deposits on graphite in order to elucidate the nature of these desorption peaks in more detail. For this purpose, Au was deposited at 100 K and 300 K on HOPG as a weakly interacting support. In analogy to other supports, we obtain two desorption states (∼140 K and ∼170 K) whose relative intensities depend strongly on the deposition temperature with the high temperature peak being much more pronounced for the 100 K deposits. After annealing to 600 K, both states drastically lose intensity. XP spectra, on the other hand, show virtually no decrease of the Au 4f intensity as would be expected for desorption or significant changes of the particle morphologies. We conclude that both desorption peaks are defect-related and connected with under-coordinated Au atoms that are lost for the most part upon annealing. These sites could be located at the perimeter of dendritic islands or on small, defect-rich particles in addition to larger particles not adsorbing CO at 100 K. Preliminary STM results are in favour of the second interpretation.