Laser irradiation in water for the novel, scalable synthesis of black TiO_x photocatalyst for environmental remediation

• Massimo Zimbone,
• Giuseppe Cacciato,
• Mohamed Boutinguiza,
• Vittorio Privitera and
• Maria Grazia Grimaldi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 196–202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.21

• widely used for both water splitting and mineralization of organic contaminants in solution [2]. The applications range from third generation solar cells [3] to material for air or water purification [4] to antifogging and self-cleaning surfaces [5][6]. The main advantage of this material is its high

• inertness (even in a corrosive environment), stability, abundance and nontoxicity. Nevertheless, its exploitation in environmental remediation, and in particular in water purification, is relatively limited due to its wide band gap (≈3.2 eV). This means that only 5% of the incoming solar radiation can be

• melting and oxidation on the metallic titanium surface and, at the same time, the process is fast enough to allow the formation of substoichiometric oxides. We have demonstrated that the proposed methodology allows for the successful synthesis of a black TiOx material suitable for water purification

Nanostructured TiO₂-based gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity to reducing gases

• Wojciech Maziarz,
• Anna Kusior and
• Anita Trenczek-Zajac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1718–1726, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.164

• cells, photocatalytic water purification, and hydrogen generation by water splitting [3][4][5]. In sensor technology this n-type semiconductor is frequently considered as a promising material for gas detection applications [6]. It has excellent sensitivity and selectivity for many different gases such

Hydrophilic silver nanoparticles with tunable optical properties: application for the detection of heavy metals in water

• Paolo Prosposito,
• Federico Mochi,
• Erica Ciotta,
• Mauro Casalboni,
• Fabio De Matteis,
• Iole Venditti,
• Laura Fontana,
• Giovanna Testa and
• Ilaria Fratoddi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1654–1661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.157

• salt (C3H7S2O3Na, 3MPS, Sigma-Aldrich, 98%) were used as received. Deionized water (electrical conductivity less than 1 μΩ/cm at room temperature) was obtained from a Millipore Milli-Q water purification system. Synthesis a: silver NPs (AgNPs) were prepared at room temperature in a single phase system

Probing fibronectin–antibody interactions using AFM force spectroscopy and lateral force microscopy

• Andrzej J. Kulik,
• Małgorzata Lekka,
• Kyumin Lee,
• Grazyna Pyka-Fościak and
• Wieslaw Nowak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1164–1175, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.118

• ) was used for the silanization of the mica and cantilever surfaces; (c) 2.5% glutaraldehyde aqueous solution, prepared from a 25% solution of glutaraldehyde was purchased from Sigma. All solutions were prepared using deionized water (Cobrabid water purification system, 0.08 µS). Cantilevers

DFT study of binding and electron transfer from colorless aromatic pollutants to a TiO₂ nanocluster: Application to photocatalytic degradation under visible light irradiation

• Corneliu I. Oprea,
• Petre Panait and
• Mihai A. Gîrţu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1016–1030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.115

• ; density functional theory; photocatalytic degradation; titanium dioxide; visible light irradiation; Introduction Titania, TiO2, has been widely used as photocatalyst for environmental applications [1][2][3][4][5][6], particularly for waste water purification. Due to its large band gap TiO2 absorbs only

Effects of the preparation method on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag₂CrO₄

• Difa Xu,
• Shaowen Cao,
• Jinfeng Zhang,
• Bei Cheng and
• Jiaguo Yu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 658–666, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.77

• . Considering the universalities of microemulsion, precipitation, and hydrothermal methods, this work may also provide a prototype for the comparative study of semiconductor based photocatalysis for water purification and environmental remediation. Keywords: microemulsion method; nanoparticles; photocatalysis

Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of flower-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Neha Bhardwaj,
• Jaspal Singh,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.87

• these toxic chemicals. Photocatalytic degradation, in which the organic pollutants are degraded through photocatalytic oxidation and reduction reactions in the presence of a photocatalyst, is one of the most promising and clean processes used for water purification. Nanostructured semiconductor

Large-scale atomistic and quantum-mechanical simulations of a Nafion membrane: Morphology, proton solvation and charge transport

• Pavel V. Komarov,
• Pavel G. Khalatur and
• Alexei R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 567–587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.65

• the PEM while the hydrophobic domains maintain its mechanical stability [2]. Owing to this specific microphase separated morphology, Nafion and similar nanostructured materials are widely used not only in fuel cell manufacture but also in organic batteries, for water purification by reverse osmosis

Distribution of functional groups in periodic mesoporous organosilica materials studied by small-angle neutron scattering with in situ adsorption of nitrogen

• Monir Sharifi,
• Dirk Wallacher and
• Michael Wark

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 428–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.49

• -groups; such material shows a high proton conductivity [27] and has potential to create proton-conducting hybrid membranes for applications in fuel cells [28][29], electrodialysis for water purification [30], or photoelectrochemical cells for water splitting with solar light in order to separate the

Precursor concentration and temperature controlled formation of polyvinyl alcohol-capped CdSe-quantum dots

• Chetan P. Shah,
• Madhabchandra Rath,
• Manmohan Kumar and
• Parma N. Bajaj

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 119–127, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.14

• received. All the other chemicals used were of A.R. grade. Solutions were prepared, in water obtained from Millipore-Q water purification system (with conductivity of 0.6 µS cm−1 or lower). Sodium selenosulfate (Na2SeSO3) was prepared by the reported method, from Na2SO3 and Se powder [34]: Briefly, a

Sensing surface PEGylation with microcantilevers

• Natalija Backmann,
• Natascha Kappeler,
• Thomas Braun,
• François Huber,
• Hans-Peter Lang,
• Christoph Gerber and
• Roderick Y. H. Lim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 3–13, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.2

• highly effective at reducing protein adsorption from blood [3] thereby improving the biocompatibility of biomedical implants [4]. The protein-resistant properties of PEG have also been applied to reduce membrane fouling in ultrafiltration membranes for water purification [5]. It is important to develop a