Engineered Electronic Contacts for Composite Electrodes in Li Batteries Using Thiophene-Based Molecular Junctions

Chemistry of Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01049

Ali Yassin, Pablo Jimenez, Bernard Lestriez, Philippe Moreau, Philippe Leriche, Jean Roncali, Philippe Blanchard, Hélène Terrisse, Dominique Guyomard and Joël Gaubicher
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Controllable Tuning Plasmonic Coupling with Nanoscale Oxidation

ACS Nano

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b01283

Tao Ding, Daniel Sigle, Liwu Zhang, Jan Mertens, Bart de Nijs and Jeremy Baumberg
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Self-Assembly of Protein Nanofibrils Orchestrates Calcite Step Movement through Selective Nonchiral Interactions

ACS Nano

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b01870

Christopher R. So, Jinny Liu, Kenan P. Fears, Dagmar H. Leary, Joel P. Golden and Kathryn J. Wahl
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Al- and Ga-Doped TiO2, ZrO2, and HfO2: The Nature of O 2p Trapped Holes from a Combined Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) Study

Chemistry of Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b00800

Chiara Gionco, Stefano Livraghi, Sara Maurelli, Elio Giamello, Sergio Tosoni, Cristiana Di Valentin and Gianfranco Pacchioni
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Basal-Plane Functionalization of Chemically Exfoliated Molybdenum Disulfide by Diazonium Salts

ACS Nano

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b00965

Kathrin C. Knirsch, Nina C. Berner, Hannah C. Nerl, Clotilde S. Cucinotta, Zahra Gholamvand, Niall McEvoy, Zhenxing Wang, Irena Abramovic, Philipp Vecera, Marcus Halik, Stefano Sanvito, Georg S. Duesberg, Valeria Nicolosi, Frank Hauke, Andreas Hirsch, Jonathan N. Coleman and Claudia Backes
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Radical–Radical Recognition: Switchable Magnetic Properties and Re-entrant Behavior

Chemistry of Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b00967

Elisabeth M. Fatila, R. Alex Mayo, Mathieu Rouzières, Michael C. Jennings, Pierre Dechambenoit, Dmitriy V. Soldatov, Corine Mathonière, Rodolphe Clérac, Claude Coulon and Kathryn E. Preuss
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Intrinsic Conductivity in Sodium–Air Battery Discharge Phases: Sodium Superoxide vs Sodium Peroxide

Chemistry of Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b00285

Sheng Yang and Donald J. Siegel
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Exploring the Magnetic Properties of Cobalt-Ferrite Nanoparticles for the Development of a Rare-Earth-Free Permanent Magnet

Chemistry of Materials

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01034

Alberto López-Ortega, Elisabetta Lottini, César de Julián Fernández and Claudio Sangregorio
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Protection and Delivery of Anthelmintic Protein Cry5B to Nematodes Using Mesoporous Silicon Particles

ACS Nano

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b01426

Chia-Chen Wu, Yan Hu, Melanie Miller, Raffi V. Aroian and Michael J. Sailor
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Shape control in wafer-based aperiodic 3D nanostructures

Controlled local fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures is important to explore and enhance the function of single nanodevices, but is experimentally challenging. We present a scheme based on e-beam lithography (EBL) written seeds, and glancing angle deposition (GLAD) grown structures to create nanoscale objects with defined shapes but in aperiodic arrangements. By using a continuous sacrificial corral surrounding the features of interest we grow isolated 3D nanostructures that have complex cross-sections and sidewall morphology that are surrounded by zones of clean substrate.

Hyeon-Ho Jeong, Andrew G Mark, John G Gibbs, Thomas Reindl, Ulrike Waizmann, Jürgen Weis and Peer Fischer

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Plasmon resonance tuning in metal nanostars for surface enhanced Raman scattering

We report the fabrication of Au nanostar arrays by means of electron beam lithography, in which the plasmon resonance energy can be tuned via the nanostar size from the visible into the near-infrared region. The spectral response of the nanostar arrays was investigated by optical extinction (transmittance) experiments, and their surface enhanced Raman scattering performance has been tested at two different excitation wavelengths, 633 nm and 830 nm, using chemisorbed Cresyl violet molecules as analyte. The experimental results are supported by numerical simulations of the spatial and spectral electric field enhancement.

Manohar Chirumamilla, Anisha Gopalakrishnan, Andrea Toma, Remo Proietti Zaccaria and Roman Krahne

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Corrigendum: Graphene nanoribbon–PVA composite as EMI shielding material in the X band (2013 Nanotechnology 24 455705)

The full text of this article is available in the PDF provided.

Anupama Joshi, Anil Bajaj, Rajvinder Singh, P S Alegaonkar, K Balasubramanian and Suwarna Datar

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Study of mechanical resonances of Sb 2 O 3 micro- and nanorods

Sb 2 O 3 microrods with orthorhombic phase were grown by an evaporation-deposition method from a pure antimony source and substrate. The incorporation of Cr into the substrate has been found to enhance the growth of thinner rods with high crystalline quality, as is revealed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Electric field–induced mechanical resonances of Sb 2 O 3 nanorods were studied by in situ measurements in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Young’s modulus of rods with different lengths and cross-sectional dimensions was calculated from the resonance frequency. The E values for the different rods were in the range of 16–48 GPa. For comparison, Young’s moduli of several rods were also measured from the force-displacement curve recorded in an atomic force microscope (AFM). The slight difference between the E values obtained by the resonance and by the AFM techniques is within the accepted experimental e...

T Cebriano, Y Ortega, P Hidalgo, D Maestre, B Méndez and J Piqueras

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‘One-pot’ synthesis of multifunctional GSH–CdTe quantum dots for targeted drug delivery

A novel quantum dots-based multifunctional nanovehicle (DOX-QD-PEG-FA) was designed for targeted drug delivery, fluorescent imaging, tracking, and cancer therapy, in which the GSH–CdTe quantum dots play a key role in imaging and drug delivery. To exert curative effects, the antineoplastic drug doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) was loaded on the GSH–CdTe quantum dots through a condensation reaction. Meanwhile, a polyethylene glycol (PEG) shell was introduced to wrap the DOX-QD, thus stabilizing the structure and preventing clearance and drug release during systemic circulation. To actively target cancer cells and prevent the nanovehicles from being absorbed by normal cells, the nanoparticles were further decorated with folic acid (FA), allowing them to target HeLa cells that express the FA receptor. The multifunctional DOX-QD-PEG-FA conjugates were simply prepared using the ‘one pot’ method. In vitro study demonstrated that this simple, multifunctional nanovehicle can deliver...

Xiaoqin Chen, Yajun Tang, Bing Cai and Hongsong Fan

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Ag films annealed in a nanoscale limited area for surface-enhanced Raman scattering detection

By constructing a limited two-dimensional (2D) area to regulate the coalescence of deposited Ag nanoparticles and to change the degree of aggregation of nanoparticles under annealing, a configuration of particles on pillar (POP) was fabricated successfully and high SERS enhancement similar to ‘hot spots’ was generated on the POP. With the assistance of nanosphere lithography (NSL), we constructed a silicon pillar array with a column diameter of 200 nm and a height of 155 nm. A thin layer of Ag film with a several nanometer thickness was deposited on the top of the silicon pillar array and then was annealed under 200 °C. Differing from the annealed Ag on a flat surface, the aggregation of Ag on the top of a pillar was predominated by the limited area, forming more Ag nanoaggregates. The SERS spectra demonstrated that the POP contributed to higher SERS enhancement than the silicon slide modified by the some thickness annealed Ag film. As a consequence, by means of POP configuration...

Dan Jiang, Shuping Xu, Hailong Wang, Ming Cong, Yuyang Wang and Weiqing Xu

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Three-dimensional multichannel aerogel of carbon quantum dots for high-performance supercapacitors

A three-dimensional (3D) carbon quantum dot (CQD) aerogel has been prepared by in situ assembling CQDs in the sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) and subsequently pyrolyzing the formed CQD gel. Compared to the supercapacitor based on the CQD - free aerogel, the supercapacitor fabricated with the CQD aerogel showed 20-fold higher specific capacitance (294.7 F g −1 at the current density of 0.5 A g −1 ) and an excellent stability over 1000 consecutive charge-discharge cycles.

Lingxiao Lv, Yueqiong Fan, Qing Chen, Yang Zhao, Yue Hu, Zhipan Zhang, Nan Chen and Liangti Qu

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Fullerene-porphyrin supramolecular nanocables

Novel fullerene-porphyrin supramolecular nanocables were designed and their electronic properties were studied using computational modeling and first-principles density functional theory. It is demonstrated that two well-defined fullerene-porphyrin nanocables have clear channels for charge transport by electrons and holes. These two interesting nanocables have zigzag or helical chains of ##IMG## [http://ift.tt/1kpbPKT] {${{{\rm{C}}}_{60}}$} molecules around a π -stacked porphyrin core. They also have frontier electronic states which are spatially extended along the axes of the nanocables. Ballistic electronic transport is possible for ultrafast transfer of electrons along ##IMG## [http://ift.tt/1lQCVcd] {${{{\rm{C}}}_{60}}$} chains. We believe these supramolecular nanocables can play important roles in molecular electronics, optoelectronics...

A Buldum and D H Reneker

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Chain-network anatase/TiO 2 (B) thin film with improved photocatalytic efficiency

A 3-dimensional chain-network anatase/TiO 2 (B) was obtained via the basic hydrothermal treatment of a sandwich Ti/TiO 2 /Ti film on a glass substrate that was prepared from 16 nm anatase TiO 2 nanoparticles. The Ti film was converted to the TiO 2 (B) phase in a Teflon vessel containing a 10 M NaOH aqueous solution that was encapsulated in a stainless-steel autoclave and heated at 130 °C for 2 h. The TiO 2 (B) then served as a binder layer that enabled the formation of pearl-necklace chains made of anatase TiO 2 nanoparticles, and these chain-like structures thoroughly interpenetrated into the textured layer. Decomposition tests using methylene blue indicated that the chain-network anatase/TiO 2 (B) mixed-phase film had a photocatalytic half-life that was 0.84 and 0.69 times shorter than those of as-prepared anatase TiO 2 and P25, respectively. In addition, the intensity of the room temperature photolu...

Yin-Cheng Yen, Jing-Zhi Chen, Yu-Jung Lu, Shangjr Gwo and Kuan-Jiuh Lin

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Role of anion polarizability in fluorescence sensitization of DNA-templated silver nanoclusters

Fluorescent silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) as novel fluorophores have received much attention because of their high brightness, good photostability and widely tunable emissions from the visible to the near-infrared range as a result of their size and existing environment. However, efforts are still needed to find the factors that tune the emission of Ag NCs. In this work, Ag NCs that were size-selectively grown on DNA were used to investigate the effect of the electronic properties of coordinating ligands. Halogen anions were used as the paradigm because of their periodicity in element properties. We found that addition of halogen anions did not alter the emission wavelength of Ag NCs, but the fluorescence intensity showed an initial increase at low concentrations of Cl – , Br – and I – followed by a gradual decrease at high concentrations. No increase in fluorescence was observed for F – at either low or high concentration. Such specific halo...

Jian Peng, Yong Shao, Lingling Liu, Lihua Zhang, Wensheng Fu and Hua Liu

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Fabrication of birefringent nanocylinders for single-molecule force and torque measurement

Optically anisotropic subwavelength scale dielectric particles have been shown to enable studies of the mechanical properties of bio-molecules via optical trapping and manipulation. However, techniques emphasized to date for fabrication of such particles generally suffer from limited uniformity and control over particle dimensions, or low throughput and high cost. Here, an approach for rapid, low-cost, fabrication of large quantities of birefringent quartz nanocylinders with dimensions optimized for optical torque wrench experiments is described. For a typical process, 10 8 or more quartz cylinders with diameters of 500 nm and heights of 800 nm, with uniformity of ±5% in each dimension, can be fabricated over ∼10 cm 2 areas, for binding to a single bio-molecule, and harvested for use in optical trapping experiments. Use of these structures to measure extensional and torsional dynamics of single DNA molecules is demonstrated with measured forces and torques sho...

Ping-Chun Li, Jen-Chien Chang, Arthur La Porta and Edward T Yu

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