Synthesis of Nitrogen Doped Multilayered Graphene Flakes: Selective Non‐enzymatic Electrochemical Determination of Dopamine and Uric Acid in presence of Ascorbic Acid.

Nitrogen doped multilayered graphene (NDMLG) is synthesized by annealing the black fluffy mass obtained by decomposing the complex prepared from Zn(OAc)₂, diethanolamine and triethanolamine. The NDMLG has been characterized by HRTEM, FESEM, XRD, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, BET which indicate formation of nitrogen doped multilayer graphene flakes with high surface area. NDMLG shows better electrochemical oxidation property towards Dopamine, Uric acid and Ascorbic acid. The linear response ranges for determination of DA, UA and AA are 0.5–150 µM, 3–60 µM and 80–2000 µM respectively and the detection limits (S/N=3) are 15 nM, 15 nM, 580 nM, respectively in the mixture.     

A Nitrite Electrochemical Sensor Based on Boron‐Doped Diamond Planar Electrochemical Microcells Modified with a Monolacunary Silicotungstate Polyoxoanion

A new boron doped diamond microcells (BDD) was modified, for rapid, selective and highly sensitive determination of nitrite, using a coating film of polyoxometalates (POMs), formed by cyclic voltammetry on the molecular p‐phenylenediamine (PPD) functionalized BDD. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique was used to examine the morphology of (PPD/SiW₁₁) modified (BDD) electrode. It was found that (SiW₁₁) layer was uniformly formed on the electrode surface. It was observed that (BDD/PPD/SiW₁₁) showed excellent electrocatalytic activities towards nitrite ion. Under the selected conditions, the anodic peak maximum at ?0.6 V was linear versus nitrite concentration in the 40 µM–4 mM range, and the detection limit obtained was 20 µM. The newly developed electrode has been successfully applied to the determination of nitrite content in real river water samples.     

Non‐Invasive Salivary Electrochemical Quantification of Paraquat Poisoning Using Boron Doped Diamond Electrode

The present work describes the first electrochemical method for quantifying paraquat herbicide poisoning in human saliva samples. Paraquat shows two couples of well‐defined peaks in aqueous solution using a boron doped diamond (BDD) electrode. By using square wave voltammetry (SWV) technique under optimum experimental conditions, a linear analytical curve was obtained for paraquat concentrations ranging from 0.800 to 167 µmol L^?1, with a detection limit of 70 nmol L^?1. This method was applied to quantify paraquat spikes in human saliva samples and in two different water samples (tap and river). The recovery values obtained ranged from 83.0 to 104 % and 99.1 to 105 %, respectively, which highlight the accuracy of the proposed method.     

Magnetic nanocomposite of self‐doped polyaniline–graphene as a novel sorbent for solid‐phase extraction

This work is the first study on the extraction efficiency of self‐doped polyaniline that is immobilized on the graphene‐modified magnetic nanoparticles. The new material was used as a sorbent for the magnetic solid‐phase extraction of methyl‐, propyl‐, and butylparabens. The use of graphene provides a high surface area and prevents aggregation of the nanoparticles. The self‐doped polyaniline also provides multifunctionality, high extraction capacity, and chemical stability even in the basic medium. The parabens were acetylated for determination by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. The effects of monomer ratio, extraction solvent, sorbent amount, sample volume, desorption solvent volume, adsorption and desorption times, and sample ionic strength were optimized. Preconcentration factors obtained were from 190 to 310. The detection limits of the method were <2.8 μg/L. Linear ranges of the method were 5–2000 μg/L for propyl and butyl parabens, and 10–2000 μg/L for methyl paraben. The method was applied for the determination of the parabens in cosmetic products and extraction recoveries were 89–101% with RSDs ≤7.9%.     

Surface‐enhanced Raman scattering characteristics of CuO : Mn/Ag heterojunction probed by methyl orange: effect of Mn2+ doping

Interest in the synthesis of hybrid substrates for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has surged recently. Hereof, in the present work, a hybrid SERS substrate CuO : Mn/Ag heterojunction has been synthesised. To accomplish this, the nanostructred Ag island film and CuO : Mn nanoparticles are synthesised by vacuum thermal evaporation method and sol–gel method respectively, and thereafter, a heterojunction between the CuO : Mn and Ag is fabricated by adsorption of CuO : Mn (10^‐3 m in ethanol) on Ag island film. Further, the SERS sensitivity of CuO : Mn/Ag heterojunctions has been studied by probing methyl orange. We observed that with Mn‐doping in the lattice of CuO, the SERS signal is enhanced considerably because of ferromagnetic ordering in CuO : Mn. DFT/B3LYP/6‐311 G(d, p) method is used to calculate the energy of HOMO and LUMO level of methyl orange. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Defects band enhanced by resonance Raman effect in praseodymium doped CeO2

In this work, the origin of the Raman defects band at 570 cm⁻¹ of praseodymium‐doped ceria was revisited from in situ spectra using six different exciting lines between 458 and 785 nm at low temperatures after oxidizing or reducing treatment. The observation of overtones and the fast change of relative intensity with excitation wavelength were explained by a resonance effect around 514 nm, which involved a Pr⁴⁺ containing defect stabilized at the oxidized state leading to an absorption band around 530 nm. The reduction of Pr⁴⁺ cations contained in such defects modifies the electronic properties of praseodymium doped ceria inhibiting the resonance effect. Additionally, the number of D1 defects that involved Pr³⁺ cations and oxygen vacancies increased allowing them to be distinguished. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interactions of DNA with graphene and sensing applications of graphene field-effect transistor devices: A review

Graphene field-effect transistors (GFET) have emerged as powerful detection platforms enabled by the advent of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) production of the unique atomically thin 2D material on a large scale. DNA aptamers, short target-specific oligonucleotides, are excellent sensor moieties for GFETs due to their strong affinity to graphene, relatively short chain-length, selectivity, and a high degree of analyte variability. However, the interaction between DNA and graphene is not fully understood, leading to questions about the structure of surface-bound DNA, including the morphology of DNA nanostructures and the nature of the electronic response seen from analyte binding. This review critically evaluates recent insights into the nature of the DNA graphene interaction and its affect on sensor viability for DNA, small molecules, and proteins with respect to previously established sensing methods. We first discuss the sorption of DNA to graphene to introduce the interactions and forces acting in DNA based GFET devices and how these forces can potentially affect the performance of increasingly popular DNA aptamers and even future DNA nanostructures as sensor substrates. Next, we discuss the novel use of GFETs to detect DNA and the underlying electronic phenomena that are typically used as benchmarks for characterizing the analyte response of these devices. Finally, we address the use of DNA aptamers to increase the selectivity of GFET sensors for small molecules and proteins and compare them with other, state of the art, detection methods.     

高分散钴氮共掺杂碳纳米纤维氧还原催化剂

过渡金属氮掺杂碳基催化剂已成为替代铂基氧还原反应(ORR)电催化剂的理想选择。本文通过静电纺丝技术制备了高比表面、高度分散的钴原子配位氮掺杂的碳纳米纤维催化剂(Co-N/C)。X射线衍射(XRD)和高分辨率透射电镜(HRTEM)结果证实Co元素高度分散于制备的Co-N/C催化剂中。X射线光电子能谱结果表明N元素主要以吡啶N和石墨N形式存在。该Co-N/C催化剂对ORR反应呈现出较高的电催化活性,其氧还原起始和半波电位分别为0.92 V和0.80 V(相对于标准氢电极),接近于商业化Pt/C催化剂的性能。以制备的Co-N/C催化剂作为阴极,25℃下锌空气燃料电池的开路电位1.54 V、最大功率密度达到了190 m V·cm~(-2)表明该催化剂具有良好的应用前景。     

O_2在Si掺杂石墨烯上吸附与活化

采用包含色散力校正的密度泛函理论方法(DFT-D)研究了O2在Si掺杂石墨烯(Si-Gra)上吸附与活化.研究结果表明:1)与纯净石墨烯相比,Si掺杂极大的增强了石墨烯对O2的吸附能力.O2的最稳定吸附构型是以Side-on模式吸附在掺杂的Si的顶位,形成O-Si-O三元环.次稳定吸附构型是与Si及近邻的一个C形成O-Si-C-O四元环结构.两个吸附构型对应的吸附能分别为-2.40和-1.93eV;2)O2有两种分解路径:直接分解路径(势垒为0.53eV)和整体扩散后的分解路径(势垒为0.81eV);3)分解之后的两个O原子分别吸附在Si的顶位和相邻碳环的两个碳原子的桥位;4)电子结构分析表明吸附的O2从Si-Gra获得较多电荷,从而被活化.总之,Si-Gra具有较强的催化氧气还原能力,是一种潜在的良好的非金属氧还原催化剂.     

稀土离子(Eu3+,Tb3+,Ce3+)掺杂ZnAl2O4/SiO2微晶玻璃的制备与发光性能

采用凝胶法分别制备出4.5ZnO-5.5Al₂O₃-90SiO₂(ZAS)以及ZAS[DK]:RE³⁺ (RE=Eu,Tb,Ce) 透明微晶玻璃。利用X射线衍射仪(XRD)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)和荧光光谱仪(PL)等测试手段,研究了稀土离子掺杂浓度对ZAS微晶玻璃的结构和发光性能的影响。XRD结果表明,ZAS[DK]:RE³⁺ (RE=Eu,Tb,Ce)微晶玻璃包含ZnAl₂O₄晶相和SiO₂非晶相,ZnAl₂O₄平均晶粒尺寸约为30 nm,稀土离子的掺杂没有显著改变原来的ZnAl₂O₄晶体结构。TEM结果表明,900 ℃时ZnAl₂O₄从ZAS体系中析出。PL光谱显示,Eu³⁺ 存在 ⁵D₀→⁷F₂跃迁,ZAS[DK]:Eu³⁺在611 nm 处发出强烈的红色光;由于Tb³⁺ 的⁵D₄→⁷F₅ 跃迁,ZAS[DK]:Tb³⁺在541 nm 处发出明亮的绿色光;ZAS[DK]:Ce³⁺ 在381 nm处显示了蓝光发射,对应于Ce³⁺ 的5d→4f 轨道跃迁。ZAS[DK]:RE³⁺ (RE=Eu, Tb, Ce)的PL发射光谱存在着浓度猝灭现象,Eu³⁺、Tb³⁺ 和Ce³⁺的最佳单掺杂摩尔分数分别为20%、20%和3%。CIE色度图表明,ZAS[DK]: RE³⁺ (RE=Eu,Tb,Ce)的色坐标分别位于红光、绿光和蓝光区域。实验结果表明,ZAS:RE³⁺ (RE=Eu,Tb,Ce) 微晶玻璃是一种良好的可用于全色显示的白光LED材料。