Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• ]. Hence, in the recent decade, heterogeneous photocatalysis has been widely explored for the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy and for pollutant removal from water [11][12]. Up to now, various interesting semiconductors such as TiO2, ZnO, WO3, CdS, Bi2O3, Fe2O3, SnO2, BiVO4, etc. have been

• coupling with semiconductor materials such as TiO2 [73], ZnO [74], CdS [75], SnO2 [76], CeO2 [77], WO3 [78], Fe2O3 [79], Ag3PO4 [80], Ag3VO4 [81], ZnWO4 [82], SrTiO3 [83], BiVO4 [84], Bi2WO6 [85], BiOX [86][87], etc. These heterojunction formations have proved to be an effective method to improve the

• nanotubes (CNT) and g-C3N4 has been presented in Table 1. The role of graphene as a cocatalyst has been investigated by various research groups. Peng et al. [123] reported graphene oxide (GO)–CdS nanocomposites for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by using Na2S and Na2SO3 as sacrificial agents, where GO

Development of polycationic amphiphilic cyclodextrin nanoparticles for anticancer drug delivery

• Gamze Varan,
• Juan M. Benito,
• Carmen Ortiz Mellet and
• Erem Bilensoy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1457–1468, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.145

• , delivering the drug bound to the nanocarriers in a considerably lower dose to target tissue. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligosaccharides obtained through enzymatic degradation of starch. The most frequently used CDs in the pharmaceutical field are α-CD, β-CD and γ-CD having 6, 7 and 8 subunits

• , respectively [9]. These molecules have drawn attention as drug carrier systems for several years because of their unique molecular structures and supramolecular capabilities. CDs, although hydrophilic in the external surface, have hydrophobic cavity and this compartment allows them to form strong inclusion

• complexes with non-polar drugs or active molecules [10]. CDs are easily able to modulate physicochemical properties of guest molecules, including solubility and/or stability in biological medium. Despite all the advantages, CDs have some challenges. For instance, it is well known that β-CD has low

ZnO nanoparticles sensitized by CuInZn_xS_2+x quantum dots as highly efficient solar light driven photocatalysts

• Florian Donat,
• Serge Corbel,
• Halima Alem,
• Steve Pontvianne,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1080–1093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.110

• coupled to those of the QDs [10][11][12]. Heterostructured photocatalysts such as ZnO/CdS or TiO2/CdS or TiO2/PbS exhibit extended light absorption and improved photoreactivity due to the promoted separation of photo-induced charge carriers [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. However, QDs such as CdS or PbS

Association of aescin with β- and γ-cyclodextrins studied by DFT calculations and spectroscopic methods

• Ana I. Ramos,
• Pedro D. Vaz,
• Susana S. Braga and
• Artur M. S. Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 348–357, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.37

• (CDs) is a technical solution for its incorporation into the textile of stockings, but details of the physicochemistry of these host–guest systems are lacking. This work investigates the inclusion of aescin into the cavities of two native cyclodextrins, β-CD and γ-CD. Results: The continuous variation

• functional theory (DFT) calculations on the interaction of aescin Ib with CDs show that an inclusion can indeed occur and it is further demonstrated that the wider cavity of γ-CD is more adequate to accommodate this large guest. ROESY spectroscopy is consistent with the formation of a complex in which the

• triterpenic moiety of aescin is included into the cavity of γ-CD. The higher stability of this geometry was confirmed by DFT. Furthermore, DFT calculations were applied to determine the chemical shifts of the protons H3 and H5 of the CDs in the optimised structures of the inclusion complexes. The calculated

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• than the other catalysts studied in literature (ZnO, SnO2, WO3, CdS) because of their superior redox ability and photoelectric properties, the long-term stability, the nontoxicity, and the low cost [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Nevertheless, the practical applications of TiO2 have a major drawback, namely

Performance of colloidal CdS sensitized solar cells with ZnO nanorods/nanoparticles

• Anurag Roy,
• Partha Pratim Das,
• Mukta Tathavadekar,
• Sumita Das and
• Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 210–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.23

• Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411 008, India 10.3762/bjnano.8.23 Abstract As an alternative photosensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cells, bovine serum albumin (BSA) (a nonhazardous protein) was used in the synthesis of colloidal CdS nanoparticles (NPs). This system has been employed

• to replace the commonly used N719 dye molecule. Various nanostructured forms of ZnO, namely, nanorod and nanoparticle-based photoanodes, have been sensitized with colloidal CdS NPs to evaluate their effective performance towards quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). A polysulphide (Sx2−)-based

• electrons. Commonly used dye molecules are Ru-based N719 and N3. However, recently, chalcogenide semiconductors such as CdS, InP, CdSe, PbS, CdSe, Sb2S3 have been explored for replacing the sensitizers in DSSC [1][2][3][4]. Thus, there has been a renewed interest in the area of DSSC, resulting in the

Role of RGO support and irradiation source on the photocatalytic activity of CdS–ZnO semiconductor nanostructures

• Suneel Kumar,
• Rahul Sharma,
• Vipul Sharma,
• Gurunarayanan Harith,
• Vaidyanathan Sivakumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1684–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.161

• the photocatalysts. In this work, we have investigated the role of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) support and the irradiation source on mixed metal chalcogenide semiconductor (CdS–ZnO) nanostructures. The photocatalyst material was synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method and thoroughly

• characterized using different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by studying the degradation of a model dye (methyl orange, MO) under visible light (only) irradiation and under natural sunlight. The results reveal that the RGO-supported CdS–ZnO photocatalyst

• performs considerably better than the unsupported CdS–ZnO nanostructures. In addition, both the catalysts perform significantly better under natural sunlight than under visible light (only) irradiation. In essence, this work paves way for tailoring the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor

The influence of phthalocyanine aggregation in complexes with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on the photophysical properties of the complexes

• Irina V. Martynenko,
• Anna O. Orlova,
• Vladimir G. Maslov,
• Anatoly V. Fedorov,
• Kevin Berwick and
• Alexander V. Baranov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1018–1027, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.94

• ][21]. This statement was recently supported by the Nyokong group [22] where FRET efficiencies up to 93% were predicted in nanocomposites based on glutathione-capped CdTe/CdS/ZnS QDs covalently linked with aluminium sulfonated phthalocyanine. However, analysis of donor PL quenching and acceptor PL

Selective photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to methanol in CuO-loaded NaTaO₃ nanocubes in isopropanol

• Tianyu Xiang,
• Feng Xin,
• Jingshuai Chen,
• Yuwen Wang,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Xiao Shao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 776–783, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.69

• can be solved simultaneously [3][4][5][6][7]. For this purpose, the photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to fuel is particularly emphasized. In 1979, Inoue et al. [8] first reported the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in aqueous solution using several semiconductor materials (WO3, TiO2, ZnO, CdS, GaP and

Sonochemical co-deposition of antibacterial nanoparticles and dyes on textiles

• Ilana Perelshtein,
• Anat Lipovsky,
• Nina Perkas,
• Tzanko Tzanov and
• Aharon Gedanken

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1–8, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.1

• solution containing precursors. Colored antibacterial textile/NPs composites were generated. The production of textiles on which dyes and antibacterial NPs are co-deposited is normally achieved in a two-stage process. For example, Tabatabee et al. reported on the sonochemical synthesis of CdS and

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering by colloidal CdSe nanocrystal submonolayers fabricated by the Langmuir–Blodgett technique

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Volodymyr M. Dzhagan,
• Ovidiu D. Gordan,
• Sergey L. Veber,
• Cameliu Himcinschi,
• Alexander V. Latyshev and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2388–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.245

• CdS [17][18], CdTe [19], CdSe [20][21][22][23][24], ZnO [25][26][27][28], GaN [26], and CuxS [29][30], reveal the SERS effect by optical phonons when placed in close proximity of Au or Ag nanoclusters. Among those, CdSe NCs have attracted much attention for SERS experiments for at least two reasons

Surfactant-controlled composition and crystal structure of manganese(II) sulfide nanocrystals prepared by solvothermal synthesis

• Elena Capetti,
• Anna M. Ferretti,
• Vladimiro Dal Santo and
• Alessandro Ponti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2319–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.238

• mono- and dioleate precursors. It was previously shown that at 180 °C elemental sulfur, which is present as cyclo-, catena- and polymeric species [33], reacts with 1-octadecene to produce more reactive H2S (yield ≈2/3), which reacts with cadmium oleate to give CdS NCs [34]. It is reasonable to think

• that H2S is the actual sulfur source in the present case, too. Whereas in the case of CdS it was established that the carboxylic acid did not react with H2S, in our case, the decreased sulfur availability at increased surfactant concentration suggests that reaction between RCOOH and H2S occurs. A

• slowly and/or to a lesser extent than manganese(II) oleates so that more H2S is available for the formation of MnS NCs. One may wonder why the reaction of H2S with the carboxylic acid was not observed in the synthesis of CdS NCs. Our synthesis was carried out at a higher temperature (320 °C) and reagent

Influence of wide band gap oxide substrates on the photoelectrochemical properties and structural disorder of CdS nanoparticles grown by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

• Mikalai V. Malashchonak,
• Alexander V. Mazanik,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Еugene А. Streltsov and
• Anatoly I. Kulak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2252–2262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.231

• General and Inorganic Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Surganov St. 9/1, 220072 Minsk, Belarus 10.3762/bjnano.6.231 Abstract The photoelectrochemical properties of nanoheterostructures based on the wide band gap oxide substrates (ZnO, TiO2, In2O3) and CdS nanoparticles deposited by the

• successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method have been studied as a function of the CdS deposition cycle number (N). The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) passes through a maximum with the increase of N, which is ascribed to the competition between the increase in

• optical absorption and photocarrier recombination. The maximal IPCE values for the In2O3/CdS and ZnO/CdS heterostructures are attained at N ≈ 20, whereas for TiO2/CdS, the appropriate N value is an order of magnitude higher. The photocurrent and Raman spectroscopy studies of CdS nanoparticles revealed the

A facile method for the preparation of bifunctional Mn:ZnS/ZnS/Fe₃O₄ magnetic and fluorescent nanocrystals

• Houcine Labiadh,
• Tahar Ben Chaabane,
• Romain Sibille,
• Lavinia Balan and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1743–1751, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.178

• shell (CdSe or CdS) of thickness between 2–7 nm resulting in either spherical core/shell nanoparticles or heterodimers [20][21][22]. The PL QY of the resulting bifunctional nanoparticles is generally low (typically <5%) due to the quenching effect of the magnetic domain [20][21]. Herein, we describe a

Peptide-equipped tobacco mosaic virus templates for selective and controllable biomineral deposition

• Klara Altintoprak,
• Axel Seidenstücker,
• Alexander Welle,
• Sabine Eiben,
• Petia Atanasova,
• Nina Stitz,
• Alfred Plettl,
• Joachim Bill,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Holger Jeske,
• Dirk Rothenstein,
• Fania Geiger and
• Christina Wege

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1399–1412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.145

• virus (TMV) were used as templates for coating with inorganic materials including Pt, Au [28], Ag [29][30], Pd [31][32], TiO2 [33], SiO2 [34], NiO [35], CdS [21], CoPt, FePt, ZnS [27][36] and ZnO [37][38][39]. Among the virus-based templates, plant viruses are especially suitable nanostructured

The Kirkendall effect and nanoscience: hollow nanospheres and nanotubes

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Ryusuke Nakamura and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1348–1361, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.139

• an off-centered single void forms during the conversion process (Figure 6) [27], the spherical CdS shell grows isotropically resulting in the formation of hollow CdS nanospheres with a uniform shell thickness [27]. This puts in doubt the conclusions making a direct link between the formation of

• can be extended to the fabrication of nanotubes. CdS nanotubes were synthesized by high temperature sulfidation of Cd nanowires prepared by electrochemical step-edge decoration on graphite electrode surfaces. Since the as-grown nanowires were in contact with the surface of the graphite substrate, the

• diffusion of S was partially hindered, resulting in the formation of hemicylindrical CdS nanotubes instead of cylindrical ones. In 2006, Fan et al. [62] also showed that the Kirkendall effect can be used to synthesize monocrystalline spinel ZnAl2O4 nanotubes. In this case, the conversion method was based on

Electronic interaction in composites of a conjugated polymer and carbon nanotubes: first-principles calculation and photophysical approaches

• Florian Massuyeau,
• Jany Wéry,
• Jean-Luc Duvail,
• Serge Lefrant,
• Abu Yaya,
• Chris Ewels and
• Eric Faulques

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1138–1144, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.115

• photoconductivity and PL behavior can be attributed to the dissociation of excitons and migration of charges onto the SWNTs. Other composite nanomaterials such as MEH-PPV/CdS, CdSe, MEH-PPV/silica, and PPV/TiO2 show a similar PL quenching when the mass percentage of nanomaterials introduced into the conjugated

Combination of surface- and interference-enhanced Raman scattering by CuS nanocrystals on nanopatterned Au structures

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Nikolay A. Yeryukov,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Victor A. Gridchin,
• Evgeniya S. Sheremet and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.77

• sensitivity as shown for several semiconductor NC types [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The SERS effect by longitudinal optical (LO) phonons of CdS in Ag–CdS composite nanoparticles in solution and on a solid substrate was demonstrated [1][2]. Resonant SERS enhancement by LO phonons of CdSe was

• optical (SO) and LO phonon modes in a CdSe core and the transverse optical (TO) phonon mode in a ZnS shell of core–shell CdSe/ZnS NCs attached to the surface of a Au nanowire. The spectrum of optical and interface phonons was obtained from the analysis of SERS spectra of pure CdSe NCs, core–shell CdSe/CdS

Overview of nanoscale NEXAFS performed with soft X-ray microscopes

• Peter Guttmann and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 595–604, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.61

• NEXAFS-TXM. As a result of this investigation it was found that neither Cd nor S diffuse into the CuO phase after the deposition of CdS on the CuO nanowires [60][61]. The possibility to study the oxidation state of Mn dopants in titanate nanostructures was reported in [62]. Additionally, using the

Tailoring the ligand shell for the control of cellular uptake and optical properties of nanocrystals

• Johannes Ostermann,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Christopher Wolter,
• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Hauke Kloust and
• Horst Weller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 232–242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.22

• has shown to drastically enhance the fluorescence properties, namely the fluorescence quantum efficiency, of encapsulated CdSe/CdS/ZnS and CdSe/CdxZn(1-x)S/ZnS core–shell–shell quantum dots (QDs). This enhancement can be explained to a certain extent by the cross-linking of the micelles but further

The distribution and degradation of radiolabeled superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and quantum dots in mice

• Denise Bargheer,
• Artur Giemsa,
• Barbara Freund,
• Markus Heine,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Gordon M. Stachowski,
• Stephen G. Hickey,
• Alexander Eychmüller,
• Jörg Heeren and
• Peter Nielsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 111–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.11

• , Germany Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Technical University of Dresden, Bergstr. 66b, 01069 Dresden, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.11 Abstract 51Cr-labeled, superparamagnetic, iron oxide nanoparticles (51Cr-SPIOs) and 65Zn-labeled CdSe/CdS/ZnS-quantum dots (65Zn-Qdots) were prepared

• /CdS/ZnS-Qdots in the liver. Keywords: biodistribution; chromium(III); 51Cr; quantum dots; SPIOs; zinc metabolism; 65Zn; Introduction Quantum dots (Qdots) are semiconductor nanocrystals (2–100 nm in diameter) that combine a strong, size-tunable photoluminescence with robust photostability, which

• the iron oxide core of SPIOs under similar experimental conditions was unsuccessful. However, a distinct incorporation of 65ZnCl2 occurred when CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell quantum dots were synthesized (Figure 1). Both hydrophobic nanoparticle cores were encapsulated using the same polymer to render

Synthesis of radioactively labelled CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots for in vivo experiments

• Gordon M. Stachowski,
• Christoph Bauer,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Denise Bargheer,
• Peter Nielsen,
• Jörg Heeren,
• Stephen G. Hickey and
• Alexander Eychmüller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2383–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.247

• quantification of the excretion of nanoparticles, and the study of the biological response to the QDs themselves are areas which to date have not been fully investigated. In order to aid in addressing those issues, CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs were radioactively labelled, which allows quantification of the QD concentration

• of CdSe/CdS QDs with a radioactive 65ZnS shell using a modified, operator-safe, SILAR procedure is presented. Under UV illumination, no difference in the photoluminescence of the radioactive and non-radioactive CdSe/CdS/ZnS colloidal solutions was observed. Furthermore, a down-scaled synthesis for

• phase transfer of the QDs. Keywords: biomarker; CdSe/CdS/ZnS; quantum dots; radioactive labelling; 65Zn; Introduction Two decades of research and investigation in the field of luminescent semiconductor nanoparticles, also known as quantum dots (QDs), have now passed since the fundamental work of

Inorganic Janus particles for biomedical applications

• Isabel Schick,
• Steffen Lorenz,
• Dominik Gehrig,
• Stefan Tenzer,
• Wiebke Storck,
• Karl Fischer,
• Dennis Strand,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Wolfgang Tremel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2346–2362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.244

• properties [16][17]. Since the 1980s [16][18][19], there has been a huge research effort in optimizing the characteristics of hetero-structured semiconductors with extraordinary optical properties. Xie et al. [13] demonstrated the design of CdSe quantum dots covered by a multishell structure from CdS and ZnS

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques II

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2326–2327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.241

• batteries for a comparison of their nanoscale electrical, electrochemical, and morphological properties [6] or the analysis of CdS quantum dots on TiO2 by a combination of AFM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy [7]. The folding and rupture of graphene on SiC analyzed by non-contact AFM and Kelvin probe

Biopolymer colloids for controlling and templating inorganic synthesis

• Laura C. Preiss,
• Katharina Landfester and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2129–2138, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.222

• metal chalcogenides, including metallic silver [46], Pt [47], Fe2O3 [48], and CdS [49][50][51][52]. Pu et al. [52] reported the deposition of DNA chains on silica particles. After mineralization of the DNA to CdS as shell and subsequent removal of the silica core by dissolution with HF, hollow inorganic

• , ranging from the monomer (Glu) to the eicosamer (Glu20). COD: calcium oxalate dihydrate; COT: calcium oxalate trihydrate. Reprinted with permission from [38]. Copyright 2010 American Chemical Society. DNA-templated preparation of porous CdS shells on the surface of silica beads: (a) surface modification

• with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS), (b) DNA deposition on the cationic particle surface, (c) CdS precipitation, and (d) dissolution of the SiO2 core to form hollow structures. Reprinted with permission from [52]. Copyright 2011 American Chemical Society. Siloxan polymerization on chitosan