Close‐Packed Two‐Dimensional Silver Nanoparticle Arrays: Quadrupolar and Dipolar Surface Plasmon Resonance Coupling

Silver nanoparticles (NPs) ranging in size from 40 to 100 nm were prepared in high yield by using an improved seed‐mediated method. The homogeneous Ag NPs were used as building blocks for 2D assembled Ag NP arrays by using an oil/water interface. A close‐packed 2D array of Ag NPs was fabricated by using packing molecules (3‐mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane) to control the interparticle spacing. The homogeneous 2D Ag NP array exhibited a strong quadrupolar cooperative plasmon mode resonance and a dipolar red‐shift relative to individual Ag NPs suspended in solution. A well‐arranged 2D Ag NP array was embedded in polydimethylsiloxane film and, with biaxial stretching to control the interparticle distance, concomitant variations of the quadrupolar and dipolar couplings were observed. As the interparticle distance increased, the intensity of the quadrupolar cooperative plasmon mode resonance decreased and dipolar coupling completely disappeared. The local electric field of the 2D Ag NP array was calculated by using finite difference time domain simulation and qualitatively showed agreement with the experimental measurements.     

Ratiometric Detection of microRNA Using Hybridization Chain Reaction and Fluorogenic Silver Nanoclusters

miRNA (miR)-155 is a potential biomarker for breast cancers. We aimed at developing a nanosensor for miR-155 detection by integrating hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and silver nanoclusters (AgNCs). HCR serves as an enzyme-free and isothermal amplification method, whereas AgNCs provide a built-in fluorogenic detection probe that could simplify the downstream analysis. The two components were integrated by adding a nucleation sequence of AgNCs to the hairpin of HCR. The working principle was based on the influence of microenvironment towards the hosted AgNCs, whereby unfolding of hairpin upon HCR has manipulated the distance between the hosted AgNCs and cytosine-rich toehold region of hairpin. As such, the dominant emission of AgNCs changed from red to yellow in the absence and presence of miR-155, enabling a ratiometric measurement of miR with high sensitivity. The limit of detection (LOD) of our HCR-AgNCs nanosensor is 1.13 fM in buffered solution. We have also tested the assay in diluted serum samples, with comparable LOD of 1.58 fM obtained. This shows the great promise of our HCR-AgNCs nanosensor for clinical application.     

Tips and Tricks for the Surface Engineering of Well-Ordered Morphologically Driven Silver-Based Nanomaterials

Particularly-shaped silver nanostructures are successfully applied in many scientific fields, such as nanotechnology, catalysis, (nano)engineering, optoelectronics, and sensing. In recent years, the production of shape-controlled silver-based nanostructures and the knowledge around this topic has grown significantly. Hence, on the basis of the most recent results reported in the literature, a critical analysis around the driving forces behind the synthesis of such nanostructures are proposed herein, pointing out the important role of surface-regulating agents in driving crystalline growth by favoring (or opposing) development along specific directions. Additionally, growth mechanisms of the different morphologies considered here are discussed in depth, and critical points highlighted.     

Functionalized Silver-Ion-Mediated α-dC/β-dC Hybrid Base Pairs with Exceptional Stability: α-d-5-Iodo-2′-Deoxycytidine and Its Octadiynyl Derivative in Metal DNA

Silver-mediated α-dC–Ag⁺–β-dC hybrid base pairs decorated with 5-iodo- or 5-octadiynyl residues are well accommodated in duplex DNA. A strong T_m increase and favorable thermodynamic data for duplex DNA were observed after addition of silver ions. The phenomenon is particularly obvious when both nucleobases of the base pairs are functionalized. Neither the position of the base pair, nor the type of 5-substituent had a negative influence. On the contrary, functionalization of conventional silver-mediated β-dC–Ag⁺–β-dC homo base pairs showed a negative impact induced by the bulky substituents. To this end, cytosine modified 12-mer oligodeoxynucleotides were prepared by solid-phase synthesis employing new α-anomeric 2′-deoxycytidine phosphoramidites. A multigram scale synthesis was developed for 5-iodo-α-d -2′-deoxycytidine ( 1 ) employing the direct glycosylation of cytosine with Hoffer's α-d -halogenose followed by separation of anomeric DMT nucleosides. Regarding base-pair stability and functionalization silver-mediated α/β-dC hybrid base pairs were found to be superior to β/β-dC homo pairs. According to their extraordinary properties, they might find applications in DNA diagnostics, material science, or nanotechnology.     

均苯三甲酸铕及铕镧配合物的合成及荧光性质

以均苯三甲酸为配体,水热条件下合成了均苯三甲酸铕及铕镧系列发光配合物La_xEu_1-x(BTC)·nH₂O(x=0,0.1,0.3,0.5,0.7,0.9),通过元素分析及化学滴定法测定了配合物的组成。用红外光谱对其进行了表征,确定了该系列配合物的组成为La_xEu_1-x(BTC)·nH₂O。研究了系列配合物的荧光性质,荧光光谱表明:该类配合物均能发出强的铕离子的特征荧光,并且镧元素的掺入能增强铕配合物的发光强度,但发射峰的位置基本上没有变化;其中⁵D₀→⁷F₁和⁵D₀→⁷F₂的跃迁发射较强,且均劈裂为两个峰(587,593nm)和(611,618nm),这是由于铕离子所处的配位环境引起的。     

连续激光诱导Zn/InP掺杂过程中温度分布的解析计算

在实验的基础上，分析表面蒸发Zn的InP样品在连续激光诱导下掺杂Zn过程.在一维热传导问题的第三类边界条件下，给出激光辐照有限厚双层材料Zn/InP温度分布的一种直观简洁的解析形式. 关键词： 激光诱导掺杂 Zn/InP 温度分布     

Compositionally modulated Fermi surfaces, structured diffuse scattering and ternary derivatives of 1T-TaS2

Ternary derivatives of 1T-TaS₂ have been synthesized and the variation in the highly structured diffuse intensity distributions characteristic of such materials carefully monitored to investigate the effect that such substitution has upon the band structures and Fermi surfaces (FSs) of the materials. Removal of d electrons via the replacement of Ta ions with lower valent transition metal ions leads to a systematic increase in the radii of the characteristic structured diffuse intensity distribution. Extended Hückel tight binding calculations of the FSs of the doped samples are carried out and used to predict possible nesting wave-vectors. The results are in reasonably good agreement with the radii of the experimentally observed diffuse intensity distributions.     

Radioactive Tracer Study of the Displacement of Iodine Adatoms from Platinized Platinum Electrode by Carbon Monoxide

Radioactive tracer studies confirm the earlier electrochemical results that carbon monoxide can virtually completely displace iodine adatoms. For the first time, it is found that iodine adatoms are not displaced by carbon monoxide when iodide anions are adsorbed in the presence of an upd silver monolayer. The possible reasons for the effect observed are discussed.     

Quantitative Depth Profiling of K-Doped Fullerene Films Using XPS and SIMS

 Phenomena accompanying electrochemical doping of solid fullerene films with potassium were studied by sputter ion depth profiling (XPS and SIMS). The potassium distribution was determined, and artifacts associated with possible damage of the layer composition caused by ion impact were investigated and discussed. To compare the charge transfer while reductive doping is taking place at fullerene/solution interface with doping from gas phase, model layers were prepared and doped by potassium under UHV conditions. It was found that sputtering by Ar⁺ primary ions yields both accurate information on the alkaline metal distribution and on its concentration. Sputtering by O⁺ ions led to an enrichment of potassium, apparently due to the reactivity of oxygen with the fullerene matrix. It is shown that the reductive doping starts at the fullerene/solution interface. The concentration of potassium in the doped films was found to be lower than expected from the charge transferred during the electrochemical reduction. Other phase transformations such as hydrogenation are discussed. Received March 4, 2002; accepted July 26, 2002     

New Plasmon Waveguides Composed of Twin Metal Wedges with a Nano Gap

We have numerically shown the existence of coupled wedge plasmons (CWPs) which propagates along a nano gap of a twin metal wedge. The CWPs are formed by wedge plasmons which can interact with each other. The dispersion relations of the wavenumber, propagation distance, and beam area of CWPs, are described and show that the characteristics of CWPs are similar to those of wedge plasmons and of gap plasmons. We also propose a new plasmon waveguide composed of twin metal wedges with a nano gap.