Preparation and characterization of gold nanoparticles and nanowires loaded into rod-shaped silica by a one-step procedure

Rod-shaped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (RMSN) with built-in gold nanoparticles or thin gold nanowires in the pore channels were in situ synthesized via a one-step procedure. The insertion of a hydrophobic gold precursor into the mesopores of RMSN was reached through a micellar solubilization mechanism and gold nanoparticles were achieved through a thermal reduction. The resulting RMSN and Au-RMSN samples were characterized by using X-ray diffraction, transmission and scanning microscopies (TEM and SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), nitrogen physisorption and solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). The interaction of Au precursor (a carbene complex) with the thiol group at the silica surface was identified and found to play a crucial role in the dispersion of the uniform metal nanoparticles at the internal surface of RMSN. Moreover, TEM micrographs revealed the absence of large gold particles outside the mesopore network. The shape of Au nanoparticles and their loading amount in the mesoporous silica could be easily tuned by altering the concentration of gold precursor.     

Phase boundaries as agents of structural change in macromolecules

We model long rod-like molecules, such as DNA and coiled-coil proteins, as one-dimensional continua with a multi-well stored energy function. These molecules suffer a structural change in response to large forces, characterized by highly typical force-extension behavior. We assume that the structural change proceeds via a moving folded/unfolded interface, or phase boundary, that represents a jump in strain and is governed by the Abeyaratne–Knowles theory of phase transitions. We solve the governing equations using a finite difference method with moving nodes to represent phase boundaries. Our model can reproduce the experimental observations on the overstretching transition in DNA and coiled-coils and makes predictions for the speed at which the interface moves. We employ different types of kinetic relations to describe the mobility of the interface and show that this leads to different classes of experimentally observed force-extension curves. We make connections with several existing theories, experiments and simulation studies, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the phase transitions-based approach in a biological setting.     

Colloidal characterization of micron-sized rod-like magnetite particles

Rod-like magnetite particles have been prepared following a precipitation procedure in the presence of an external magnetic field. These particles have been characterized and results compared to those obtained for spheres which were synthesized following the same recipe but in the absence of a magnetic field. Both spheres and rod-like particles have a saturation magnetization of 475 kA/m, an isoelectric point at approximately pH 6.6, and a magnetite inverse spinel structure. DLVO theory qualitatively predicts the results obtained regarding the stability of the magnetite dispersions.     

Effect of growth time of hydrothermally grown cobalt hydroxide carbonate on its supercapacitive performance

We present the time-dependent synthesis of cobalt hydroxide carbonate nanorods by hydrothermal method with a systematic increase of different parameters such as specific surface area and specific capacitance as a function of different synthesis time. Morphological characterization of the cobalt hydroxide carbonate nanorods were carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that variation of the time of reaction plays a crucial role in the transformation of samples’ morphology. Cobalt hydroxide carbonate nanorods synthesized with 12 h reaction time, which is the reaction just before the materials transforms into cobalt oxide under the same synthesis conditions exhibited the highest specific capacitance of 466 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ in 6 M KOH electrolyte and also showed excellent stability with ∼99% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g⁻¹. Based on the above results, the cobalt hydroxide carbonate nanorods show a considerable potential as electrodes materials for supercapacitor applications.     

棒状纳米纤维素仿生矿化及光谱分析

以棒状纳米纤维素为模板,采用仿生矿化的方法制备纳米纤维素/纳米羟基磷灰石复合材料。并利用X射线衍射(XRD)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、扫描电镜能谱分析(SEM-EDAX)对仿生矿化前后纳米纤维素中碳、氧、钙、磷元素的变化情况及分布状态进行了表征,并探讨了纳米羟基磷灰石的生长机理。结果表明纳米纤维素表面形成了纳米羟基磷灰石;纳米纤维素的碳氧比为1.81,仿生矿化后下降为1.54;仿生矿化后纳米纤维素的钙磷比nCa/nP=1.70;纳米羟基磷灰石成核是在纳米纤维素的羟基上,并且纳米纤维素表面羟基和纳米羟基磷灰石的钙离子之间发生了配位作用。纳米羟基磷灰石较为均一的形成在纳米纤维素的基体中。通过原子力显微镜(AFM)图片可以看出,直径为20nm左右的羟基磷灰石生长在纳米纤维素的表面。     

Novel method to fabricate magnetic hollow silica particles with anisotropic structure

Magnetic Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ particles with rod-like structure and hollow interior have been constructed by a template method. During this procedure, β-FeOOH was firstly synthesized as the rod-like template to fabricate β-FeOOH/SiO₂ core/shell-like particles. These β-FeOOH/SiO₂ nanorods could be further transformed to Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ via the decomposition-reducing method. These particles showed ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature with high coercivity and may provide potential applications in biological area.     

Orientated-assembly of rod-like silica particles based on sandwich structure from the superhydrophobic template and the superhydrophilic substrates

The paper demonstrated a facile approach for the orientated assembly of the rod-like silica particles by sandwich structure from the combined effect of superhydrophobic template and the superhydrophilic substrates. The rod-like particles can be arranged in ring-like, square-like and etc from the confined effect of the template, which will produce an important insight for the oriented assembly of anisotropic particles and the development of the novel functional materials and devices.     

GROWTH AND MORPHOLOGY OF POLYMER-ACTIN COMPLEXES

F-actins are semi-flexible polyelectrolytes and can be assembled into large polymer-actin complex with polymorphism through electrostatic interaction with polycations. This study investigates the structural phase behavior and the growth of polymer-actin complexes in terms of its longitudinal and lateral sizes. Our results show that formation of polymer-actin complexes is cooperative, and morphology and growth of polymer-actin complexes depend on polycation species and concentrations of polycation and salt in a constant actin concentration. We found that the longitudinal growth and lateral growth of polymer-actin complexes are dominated by different factors. This induces the structural polymorphism of polymer-actin complexes. Major factors to influence the polymorphism of polymer-actin complexes in polyelectrolyte system have been discussed. Our results indicate that the semi-flexible polyelectrolyte nature of F-actins is important for controlling the morphology and growth of actin architectures in cell.     

Supramolecular structures from self-assembled poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate)-polydimethylsiloxane-poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate) triblock copolypeptides in thin films

We describe the self-assembly of A-B-A triblock copolymers in thin films composed of a soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) central block (B) and two polypeptidic (A) blocks, poly(γ-benzyl)-l-glutamate (PBLG). The PBLG segment exhibits depending on the chain length two distinct secondary conformations either a β-sheet or a α-helical conformation. The direct relationship between the surface morphology and the secondary conformation of the polypeptide segment has been evidenced by atomic force microscopy. For chain lengths below 20 U the polypeptide segments adopt preferentially a β-sheet secondary structure and the triblock copolymer self-assembled in fibers. Moreover, the fiber diameters increased with the chain length of the triblock copolymer. For chain lengths above 20, the α-helical structure is stabilized and a lamellar morphology is formed driven by rod-rod interactions in spite of the very asymmetric composition of the triblock copolymer. However, decreasing the film thickness from 25 to 8 nm, i.e., below the L/2 and due to the preferential attraction of the polypeptide block for the hydrophilic substrate employed, instead of a lamellar morphology a rod-like morphology could be found. Thus, the use of hybrid block copolymer containing polypeptides with particular secondary structures offers novel alternatives to control the self-assembly in thin films compared to traditional amorphous block copolymers.