Facet-dependent antibacterial activity of Au nanocrystals

Engineered nanomaterials have attracted significantly attention as one of the most promising antimicrobial agents for against multidrug resistant infections. The toxicological responses of nanomaterials are closely related to their physicochemical properties, and establishment of a structure-activity relationship for nanomaterials at the nano-bio interface is of great significance for deep understanding antibacterial toxicity mechanisms of nanomaterials and designing safer antibacterial nanomaterials. In this study, the antibacterial behaviors of well-defined crystallographic facets of a series of Au nanocrystals, including {100}-facet cubes, {110}-facet rhombic dodecahedra, {111}-facet octahedra, {221}-facet trisoctahedra and {720}-facet concave cubes, was investigated, using the model bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. We find that Au nanocrystals display substantial facet-dependent antibacterial activities. The low-index facets of cubes, octahedra, and rhombic dodecahedra show considerable antibacterial activity, whereas the high-index facets of trisoctahedra and concave cubes remained inert under biological conditions. This result is in stark contrast to the previous paradigm that the high-index facets were considered to have higher bioactivity as compared with low-index facets. The antibacterial mechanism studies have shown that the facet-dependent antibacterial behaviors of Au nanocrystals are mainly caused by differential bacterial membrane damage as well as inhibition of cellular enzymatic activity and energy metabolism. The faceted Au nanocrystals are unique in that they do not induce generation of reactive oxygen species, as validated for most antibiotics and antimicrobial nanostructures. Our findings may provide a deeper understanding of facet-dependent toxicological responses and suggest the complexities of the nanomaterial-cell interactions, shedding some light on the development of high performance Au nanomaterials-based antibacterial therapeutics.     

Ag+掺杂的立方相Y2O3:Eu纳米晶体粉末发光强度研究

采用化学自燃烧法制备了不同Ag⁺掺杂浓度的Y₂O₃:Eu纳米晶体粉末样品(［Y³⁺］∶［Eu³⁺］∶［Ag⁺］=99∶1∶X，X=0—3.5×10^-2)，以及通过退火处理得到了相应的体材料.根据X射线衍射谱确定所得纳米和体材料样品均为纯立方相.实验表明在纳米尺寸样品中随着Ag离子浓度的增加，荧光发射强度随之增加，当X=2×10^-2时达到最大值，其发光强度比X=0时提高了近50%.当Ag离子浓度继续增加，样品发光强度保持不变.在相应的体材料样品中则没有观察到此现象.通过对各样品的发射光谱，激发光谱，X射线衍射图谱，透射电镜(TEM)照片和荧光衰减曲线的研究，分析了引起纳米样品荧光强度变化的原因是由于Ag离子与表面悬键氧结合，从而使这一无辐射通道阻断，使发光中心Eu³⁺的量子效率提高；Ag⁺的引入所带来的另一个效应是使激发更为有效.这两方面原因使发光效率得到了提高.     

Structures and stability of Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">7</Emphasis></Subscript>C and Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">7</Emphasis></Subscript>N clusters

We report results of the atomic and electronic structures of Al₇C cluster using ab initio molecular dynamics with ultrasoft pseudopotentials and generalized gradient approximation. The lowest energy structure is found to be the one in which carbon atom occupies an interstitial position in Al₇ cluster. The electronic structure shows that the recent observation [Chem. Phys. Lett. 316, 31 (2000)] of magic behavior of Al₇C^- cluster is due to a large highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) gap which makes Al₇C^- chemically inert. These results have further led us to the finding of a new neutral magic cluster Al₇N which has the same number of valence electrons as in Al₇C^- and a large HOMO-LUMO gap of 1.99 eV. Further, calculations have been carried out on (Al₇N)₂ to study interaction between magic clusters. Received 28 July 2001     

锐钛矿二氧化钛超细纳米晶的三声子互作用

本文通过对粒径为2.2-25.5nm的锐钛矿二氧化钛超细纳米晶在83-293 K温度范围内的变温拉曼光谱的研究,得到了三声子互作用对拉曼频率和线宽的贡献随粒径的变化关系。结果表明锐钛矿二氧化钛超细纳米晶的三声子相互作用随粒径减小而加强。     

Raman properties embeddedof GaSb nanoparticlesin SiO2 films

The Raman shifts of nanocrystalline GaSb excited by an Ar^ ion laser at wavelengths 514.5, 496.5, 488.0, 476.5,and 457.9nm are studied by an SPEX-1403 laser Raman spectrometer respectively, and they are explained by phonon confinement, tensile stress, resonant Raman scattering and quantum size effects. The Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman spectra of GaSb nanocrystals strongly support the Raman feature of GaSb nanocrystals. The calculated optical spectra compare well with experimental data on Raman scattering GaSb nanocrystals.     

Small and high-density GeSiC dots stacked on buried Ge hut-clusters in Si

Self-assembled GeSiC dots stacked on a Ge hut-cluster layer buried in Si have been investigated. The critical thickness for formation of GeSiC dots is reduced owing to the strain fields from the buried hut-clusters. By utilizing the stacked structure, the dot size is decreased and the uniformity is improved. The highest density of the GeSiC dots with stacked structures is 7.4×10¹⁰ cm⁻², which is six times larger than that of single GeSiC dots. The formation of the self-assembled GeSiC dots is strongly influenced by being stacked with buried Ge dots as well as C incorporation.     

19.6nm波长类氖锗X光激光光源理论模拟

 波长19.6nm的类氖锗X光激光适合作为诊断激光等离子体界面不稳定性的光源。用经过实验检验的系列程序对预-主短脉冲驱动类氖锗进行了系统的优化设计和理论分析。采用2%~3%的预脉冲强度，6~8ns的预-主脉冲时间间隔，在4×10¹³W/cm²功率密度驱动下, 波长19.6nm增益区的宽度可以超过60μm，增益区的维持时间可以达到90ps。对于16mm长的平板靶，增益系数可达11.8/cm；弯曲靶增益系数可达13.3/cm；单靶小增益长度积可达21.3，单靶就可以获得饱和增益。采用双靶对接，其小讯号增益可达38.4，可以获得深度饱和增益，能满足应用演示所需的X光激光光源。     

Complex impedance spectra of chip inductor using Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite

A multi-layer chip inductor (MCI) was fabricated using polycrystalline Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite and the green-sheet technique, and its complex impedance spectrum was evaluated with the help of numerical calculations. The complex impedance spectra of the MCI component using Ni–Zn–Cu ferrite, which have been widely used for this application, were very sensitive to the residual stress and deviated much from the calculated values; however, it was found that the complex impedance spectrum of the MCI component using Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite is quite well reproduced by calculation, where the complex permittivity and permeability of the polycrystalline ferrite as well as the MCI dimensions, were used. It implied that the magneto-striction effect was negligible in case of MCI using Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite, and that the difference was related to magneto-strictive coefficient of the polycrystalline ferrite. Consequently, utilization of Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite enabled us to easily design the complex impedance of MCI component.     

Synthesis, structure and optical properties of Eu/TiO2 nanocrystals at room temperature

The nanocrystal samples of titanium dioxide doped with europium ion (Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystal) are synthesized by the sol-gel method with hydrothermal treatment. The Eu³⁺ contents (molar ratio) in the samples are 0, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%. The X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy data and scanning electron microscope image show that crystallite size is reduced by the doping of Eu³⁺ into TiO₂. Comparing the Raman spectra of TiO₂ with Eu³⁺/TiO₂ (molar ratio Eu³⁺/TiO₂=1%, 2% and 4%) nanocrystals at different annealing temperatures indicates that the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation temperatures of Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystals are higher than that of TiO₂. This is due to the formation of Eu-O-Ti bonds on the surface of the TiO₂ crystallite, as characterized by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The photoluminescence spectra of TiO₂ in Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystals are interpreted by the surface self-trapped and defect-trapped exciton relaxation. The photoluminescence of Eu³⁺ in Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystals has the strongest emission intensity at 2% of Eu³⁺ concentration.