Progress on phthalocyanine-conjugated Ag and Au nanoparticles: Synthesis,characterization, and photo-physicochemical properties

Phthalocyanine (Pc) complexes are an important class of dyes with numerous (e.g., biological, photophysical, and analytical) applications. Among the methods used to improve the properties of these complexes, one should mention the introduction of different substituents, variation of the central metal ion, ligand exchange, and conjugation to nanomaterials (e.g., carbon-based nanomaterials and metal nanoparticles (NPs)). This work briefly reviews Pc complex conjugation to Ag and Au NPs, highlights the different NP shapes, and discusses the diversity of conjugation approaches. Moreover, the use of UV–Vis spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to characterize Pc-NP hybrids is summarized. The effect of conjugation on Pc photo-physicochemical properties (fluorescence, singlet oxygen generation, triplet state formation, and optical limiting behavior) is discussed, and future perspectives for the synthesis and applications of new hybrids are provided.     

Carbon‐based Nanosensors for Salicylate Determination in Pharmaceutical Preparations

Thiourea derivative‐based carbon paste electrode (TUD1‐CPE) was constructed as a potentiometric sensor for the determination of salicylate anion in pharmaceutical formulations, Aspocid® and Aspirin®. The optimized CPE contained 45.5 % graphite, 0.5 % reduced graphene oxide (rGO), 46.0 % nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) plasticizer, 5.0 % TUD1 ionophore, and 3.0 % tridodecylmethyl ammonium chloride as additive. The incorporation of NPOE of high dielectric constant, and rGO in electrode caused better performance of the sensor; Nernstian response of 59.0 mV decade^?1 in the concentration range of 10^?1–10^?5 mole L^?1, a detection limit of 1×10^?5 mole L^?1 in a very short response time of 6 seconds. The prepared sensor showed high selectivity against similar anions (i. e. , benzoate, I^?, SCN^?). Selectivity was confirmed by calculating the formation constant (K_β) using sandwich membrane method, where K_β for TUD1‐salicylate is 10^0.43. Theoretical calculations at DFT‐B3LY/6‐31G** level of theory were performed to find interaction mechanism, Energies of HOMO and LUMO orbitals, non‐linear optical (NLO) properties (the electronic dipole moment (μ), first‐order hyperpolarizability (β), the hyper‐Rayleigh scattering (β_HRS) and the depolarization ratio (DR)), and other global properties; these calculations showed lower values of β and DR, higher value of β_HRS, and the shortest lengths of the four N?H bonds between TUD1 and salicylate which confirm their strong complexation and salicylate‐selectivity. Also, all the studied anion‐TUD1 exhibited relatively high NLO properties, and these results were considered as a preliminary study for investigating new types of NLO bearing materials. The sensors were applied successfully for the determination of salicylate anion in Aspocid® and Aspirin®.     

GO-SWCNT Buckypapers as an Enhanced Technology for Water Decontamination from Lead

Water decontamination is an important challenge resulting from the incorrect disposal of heavy metal waste into the environment. Among the different available techniques (e.g., filtration, coagulation, precipitation, and ion-exchange), adsorption is considered the cheapest and most effective procedure for the removal of water pollutants. In the last years, several materials have been tested for the removal of heavy metals from water, including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), and graphene oxide (GO). Nevertheless, their powder consistency, which makes the recovery and reuse after adsorption difficult, is the main drawback for these materials. More recently, SWCNT buckypapers (SWCNT BPs) have been proposed as self-standing porous membranes for filtration and adsorption processes. In this paper, the adsorption capacity and selectivity of Pb²⁺ (both from neat solutions and in the presence of other interferents) by SWCNT BPs were evaluated as a function of the increasing amount of GO used in their preparation (GO-SWCNT buckypapers). The highest adsorption capacity, 479 ± 25 mg g⁻¹, achieved for GO-SWCNT buckypapers with 75 wt.% of graphene oxide confirmed the effective application of such materials for cheap and fast water decontamination from lead.     

高比探测率和高速石墨烯/n-GaAs复合结构的光电探测器

混合结构的石墨烯/半导体光电晶体管因其超高的响应度而备受关注.然而,该类光电晶体管通过源-漏电极测试得到的比探测率(D．)容易受到1/f噪声的限制.本文制备了混合结构的石墨烯/GaAs光电探测器,通过源-栅电极测得D*大约为1.82X1011 Jones,与通过源-漏电极测量相比,D'提高了约500倍.这可归因于界面上...     

非近邻跳跃对扶手椅型石墨烯纳米带电子结构的影响

根据π电子的紧束缚模型,将电子的次近邻和第三近邻跳跃能考虑在内,得到扶手椅型石墨烯纳米带（AGRNs）能带结构的解析解.讨论了由次近邻和第三近邻电子跳跃引起的能带和能隙变化,发现次近邻和第三近邻跳跃分别对带隙产生增大和减小的影响. 比较了边界弛豫与非近邻跳跃之间的互相竞争关系. 当纳米带的宽度n为奇数时,二维石墨面的紧束缚模型中所固有的van Hove奇异性表现为AGRNs中的无色散带. 当AGRNs宽度增加时,能谱趋向于二维石墨烯时的能谱结构. 关键词： 扶手椅型石墨烯纳米带 非近邻跳跃 边界弛豫 电子结构     

基于第一性原理的锂空气电池钌掺杂石墨烯正极 氧还原反应机理研究

双电解液锂空气电池因其高理论能量密度受到广泛研究,但电池正极侧氧还原反应(ORR)速率低,其反应速率是限制锂空气电池发展的主要因素之一.本文提出了以钌(Ru)掺杂单层石墨烯作为正极ORR催化剂,采用第一性原理计算nRu (n=1～3)掺杂石墨烯的电子结构和氧气在Ru掺杂石墨烯表面的吸附性能,并以过渡态搜索方法获得ORR反应路径,研究碱性溶液中Ru掺杂单层石墨烯作用下的ORR机理.研究结果表明,经Ru原子掺杂后,石墨烯能够获得稳定的掺杂结构,且电导率显著提升.同原始单层石墨烯相比,Ru掺杂石墨烯增强了对O₂的吸附能力.在三Ru(n=3)掺杂石墨烯表面进行的ORR无需克服任何能垒.此外,三Ru掺杂石墨烯表面对OH基团的吸附能最低,有利于ORR的连续进行.研究表明三Ru掺杂石墨烯有望成为一种新型的ORR催化剂以提高双电解液锂空气电池的性能.     

Tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber

Optical fiber temperature sensors have been widely employed in enormous areas ranging from electric power industry, medical treatment, ocean dynamics to aerospace. Recently, graphene optical fiber temperature sensors attract tremendous attention for their merits of simple structure and direct power detecting ability. However, these sensors based on transfer techniques still have limitations in the relatively low sensitivity or distortion of the transmission characteristics, due to the unsuitable Fermi level of graphene and the destruction of fiber structure, respectively. Here, we propose a tunable and highly sensitive temperature sensor based on graphene photonic crystal fiber (Gr-PCF) with the non-destructive integration of graphene into the holes of PCF. This hybrid structure promises the intact fiber structure and transmission mode, which efficiently enhances the temperature detection ability of graphene. From our simulation, we find that the temperature sensitivity can be electrically tuned over four orders of magnitude and achieve up to ～ 3.34×10^-3 dB/(cm·℃) when the graphene Fermi level is ～ 35 meV higher than half the incident photon energy. Additionally, this sensitivity can be further improved by ～ 10 times through optimizing the PCF structure (such as the fiber hole diameter) to enhance the light-matter interaction. Our results provide a new way for the design of the highly sensitive temperature sensors and broaden applications in all-fiber optoelectronic devices.     

氧化石墨烯/壳聚糖复合薄膜材料的制备及其非线性光限幅效应的研究

石墨烯及其衍生物作为新型碳纳米结构,由于其优异的光限幅性能而受到广泛关注,但现有的工作多侧重于其在液相体系中光限幅效应及其起因研究.本文以壳聚糖为成膜基质,将氧化石墨烯(GO)与壳聚糖(CS)在液相中均匀共混后成膜,对比研究GO溶液和GO-CS复合膜的光限幅效应及其起因.结果表明在线性透过率相同的情况下,GO在固相基质中表现出比液相基质更强的光限幅效应和更弱的非线性散射.这说明不同于碳纳米管简单的非线性散射,在GO中可能存在多种非线性光学效应.     

Chiral selective tunneling induced graphene nanoribbon switch

An armchair graphene nanoribbon switch has been designed based on the principle of the Klein paradox. The resulting switch displays an excellent on-off ratio performance. An anomalous tunneling phenomenon, in which electrons do not pass through the graphene nanoribbon junction even when the conventional resonance condition is satisfied, is observed in our numerical simulations. A selective tunneling rule is proposed to explain this interesting transport behavior based on our analytical results. Based on this selective rule, our switch design can also achieve the confinement of an electron to form a quantum qubit.