Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• are very simple, several parameters can influence the resulting architecture of the designed material, such as the type of catalyst (i.e., acid or base), temperature conditions and atmosphere, reaction medium (i.e., either water or other non-aqueous solvents), and so on. For a detailed discussion

Hierarchical heterostructures of Bi₂MoO₆ microflowers decorated with Ag₂CO₃ nanoparticles for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic removal of toxic pollutants

• Shijie Li,
• Wei Jiang,
• Shiwei Hu,
• Yu Liu,
• Yanping Liu,
• Kaibing Xu and
• Jianshe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2297–2305, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.214

• (50 mg·L−1, 150 mL) solution with 300 mg of ACO/BMO-30 as the catalyst. XRD patterns of Ag2CO3/Bi2MoO6 heterojunctions, bare Bi2MoO6 and Ag2CO3. SEM images of (a, b) bare Bi2MoO6 and (c, d) ACO/BMO-30. (a–c) TEM images of ACO/BMO-30; (d) EDS pattern of ACO/BMO-30. UV–vis diffuse reflection spectra of

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

• produced by many different approaches. For example, by use of a molten-salt method, wet (or liquid) chemistry, nanocarving, self-catalyst growth, template-assisted (or sacrificial template) synthesis, chemical vapour deposition, thermal evaporation, spray pyrolysis or electrospinning [34][35][36]. Among

• NTs are synthesized using layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly of tungsten as well as catalyst precursor on PMMA electrospun nanofibers. Pristine WO3 NTs exhibit a high response (Rgas/Rair) of 63.59 to 5 ppm NO at 350 °C. On the other hand, a high response of 2.24 for the Pt-WO3 NTs and 2.35 for the Pd

• have also been sensitized by MOFs. A Zn-based zeolite imidazole framework (Pd@ZIF-8, ≈80 nm) embedded with Pd NPs (≈2 nm) was used as a catalyst-loading platform for the efficient functionalization of a PdO@ZnO complex catalyst onto SnO2 NTs. Dual sensitized PdO@ZnO hollow SnO2 NTs (PdO@ZnO–SnO2 NTs

Localized photodeposition of catalysts using nanophotonic resonances in silicon photocathodes

• Evgenia Kontoleta,
• Sven H. C. Askes,
• Lai-Hung Lai and
• Erik C. Garnett

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2097–2105, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.198

• -electrochemical system. The tapering angle of the silicon nanowires as well as the excitation wavelength are used to control the location of the hot spots together with the deposition sites of the platinum catalyst. A combination of finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations with scanning electron

• photogenerated charge carriers that can be used to drive solar fuel reactions [16][17][18][19]. Additionally, photochemical fuel generators require a catalyst, such as platinum, to lower the overpotential to drive the chemical reaction [2][7][20][21][22][23][24]. The catalyst would be ideally located at the

• semiconductor–solution interface, directly at the location of the hot spots. Placing the catalyst exclusively at the hot spots would reduce both the catalyst loading (lowering the cost) and the average time between charge generation and chemical reaction (increasing the efficiency). However, current catalysts

Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• absorption of H2 on the catalyst lowering the cell performance [6]. In parallel, the research on the catalytic activity of low-cost and metal-free catalysts has proceeded for decades. The discovery of catalytic properties of carbon alloys with nitrogen dates back to 1926 when Rideal and Wright reported their

• -free catalyst for the ORR had not been considered feasible [9][10] until two fundamental milestones had risen the interest on carbon as an effective replacement of Pt for catalysis. The first one was the prediction of the remarkable electrical conducting properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1993

• discovery of their catalytic performance in the ORR: beginning with nitrogen-doped carbon fibres (2006 [18]), followed by carbon nanotubes (2009 [19]) and finally graphene (2010 [20]). In 2006, Matter and Ozkan reported on a metal-free ORR catalyst containing nitrogen-doped carbon fibers. The authors

Synthesis of a MnO₂/Fe₃O₄/diatomite nanocomposite as an efficient heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for methylene blue degradation

• Zishun Li,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Kun Liu,
• Jing Huang,
• Yueyang Xu,
• Qian Peng and
• Minlin Ao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1940–1950, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.185

• nanocomposite is synthesized and then used as heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst to degrade the organic pollutant methylene blue (MB) with the activation of PMS. The characterization results show that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles and nanoflower-like MnO2 are evenly distributed layer-by-layer on the surface of

• diatomite, which can be readily magnetically separated from the solution. The as-prepared catalyst, compared with other Fenton-like catalysts, shows a superb MB degradation rate of nearly 100% in 45 min in the pH range of 4 to 8 and temperature range of 25 to 55 °C. Moreover, the nanocomposite shows a good

• mineralization rate of about 60% in 60 min and great recyclability with a recycle efficiency of 86.78% after five runs for MB. The probable mechanism of this catalytic system is also proposed as a synergistic effect between MnO2 and Fe3O4. Keywords: diatomite; Fenton-like oxidation; hybrid catalyst; iron(II,III

Improving the catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution of monolayered SnSe_2(1−x)S_2x by mechanical strain

• Sha Dong and
• Zhiguo Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1820–1827, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.173

• ; however, the high cost and limited resources of these types of catalyst restrict their usage in the mass production of hydrogen [8][9][10]. Therefore, exploring non-noble and earth-abundant elements as catalysts for hydrogen production is one of the most promising pathways for the mass production of

• ], electronics [28], and catalysis [29], as well as in the fabrication of solar cells and film electrodes [30]. A good electro-catalyst for HER should have sufficient active sites for catalysis. Furthermore, because electrons participate in the HER process, an ideal catalyst for HER should have good electronic

• conductivity. Tuning the band structure of the catalyst is important for improving the HER efficiency. It was reported that the band structure and carrier mobility of monolayer MX2 can be tuned by substitution of M with M' atoms or X with X' atoms to form monolayer MxM'(1−x)X2 or MX2xX'2(1−x) alloys [31][32

SO₂ gas adsorption on carbon nanomaterials: a comparative study

• Deepu J. Babu,
• Divya Puthusseri,
• Frank G. Kühl,
• Sherif Okeil,
• Michael Bruns,
• Manfred Hampe and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1782–1792, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.169

• presence of few MWNTs and other catalyst impurities. The presence of these foreign particles might be one of the reasons for the observed low SO2 uptake in SWNTs. In Figure 5c, the SO2 adsorption at 3 bar is plotted as a function of the specific surface area of the adsorbent. At this pressure, CNHs, MWNTs

• vapor deposition [56][57]. The bimetallic catalyst system for the VACNT growth was prepared by depositing a thin layer of aluminum (13–15 nm) over the substrate through thermal evaporation in a vacuum of 10−6 mbar, followed by the sputter deposition of 1.2 nm of an iron catalyst layer. The synthesis was

Controllable one-pot synthesis of uniform colloidal TiO₂ particles in a mixed solvent solution for photocatalysis

• Jong Tae Moon,
• Seung Ki Lee and
• Ji Bong Joo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1715–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.163

• and the catalyst activity can be optimized for further enhanced activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is first report on the synthesis and systemic study of uniform colloidal TiO2 particles using sol–gel synthesis in mixed solvent conditions using ethanol–acetonitrile. Results and Discussion

• . Before UV-light irradiation, the reaction mixture containing the catalyst and RhB was stirred for 30 min to ensure saturation of the RhB adsorption on the surface of the TiO2 particles. All of the TiO2 catalysts showed a similar adsorption capacity in the range of ≈9% of C/C0. In the blank experiment

• (i.e., no catalyst), the C/C0 of RhB was decreased by only ≈2% after UV–vis irradiation for 60 min, while the degradation of RhB significantly improved when the TiO2 catalysts were used. The TiO2 sample calcined at 350 °C (TiO2-350) exhibited the lowest catalytic activity among all of the catalysts

Toward the use of CVD-grown MoS₂ nanosheets as field-emission source

• Geetanjali Deokar,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Junjie Li,
• Francis Leonard Deepak,
• Wei Ou-Yang,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jean-Francois Colomer and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1686–1694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.160

• active and are thus highly preferable as a catalyst surface over the relatively inert MoS2 basal plane [27]. Figure 4c shows the atomic structure of the MoS2 NSs with some edge dislocations (labelled as “T”) along the c-axis. Moreover, the interplanar distances are ca. 0.62 and ca. 0.30 nm, corresponding

Friction force microscopy of tribochemistry and interfacial ageing for the SiO_x/Si/Au system

• Christiane Petzold,
• Marcus Koch and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1647–1658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.157

• Cr that is used in Au-coated tips as thin adhesive layer could play a role in the chemical activation and act as a catalyst. Strong friction was observed as sign of reactive tip–sample interactions after removal of passivating layers. The further development of friction after tip activation depended

Sheet-on-belt branched TiO₂(B)/rGO powders with enhanced photocatalytic activity

• Huan Xing,
• Wei Wen and
• Jin-Ming Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1550–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.146

• under UV light illumination for up to 5 cycles. The slightly decreased efficiency can be attributed to the catalyst loss during the centrifugation process after each cycle. The reaction rate constants were normalized with the corresponding specific surface area of the photocatalysts to see whether or

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• overlap of the TiO2 band with that of Fe3O4 and (iii) efficient separation and recyclability of the catalyst under application of an external magnetic field because of the presence of magnetic Fe3O4. Therefore, the composite photocatalysts exhibited a higher rate of photoreduction of Cr(VI) as compared to

• %. Photocatalytic reduction of chromate ions under sunlight over CuBi2O4/TiO2 has also been reported by Lahamar et al. A remarkable performance of 98% reduction is obtained in less than 4 h for a Cr(VI) concentration of 30 mg L−1 at pH ≈4 by using 1 g L−1 catalyst. The kinetics of chromate photoreduction is well

Ag₂WO₄ nanorods decorated with AgI nanoparticles: Novel and efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts for the degradation of water pollutants

• Shijie Li,
• Shiwei Hu,
• Wei Jiang,
• Yanping Liu,
• Yu Liu,
• Yingtang Zhou,
• Liuye Mo and
• Jianshe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1308–1316, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.123

• , and UV–vis DRS were used to investigate the morphology and optical properties of the as-prepared AgI/Ag2WO4 catalyst. With AgI acting as the cocatalyst, the resulting AgI/Ag2WO4 heterostructure shows excellent performance in degrading toxic, stable pollutants such as rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange

• cycling photocatalytic degradation of RhB was performed. As shown in Figure 8a, no apparent activity decrease was observed after five successive runs, demonstrating the good stability of the catalyst. Furthermore, the XRD pattern of the used 0.3AgI/Ag2WO4 is similar to that of the fresh one (Figure 8b

• exhibiting remarkable photocatalytic performance has been prepared via a facile method. This resulting AgI/Ag2WO4 catalyst exhibits exceptionally high and stable photocatalytic activity for the degradation of RhB, MO and 4-CP due to its extended light absorption range and the formation of a heterojunction

Understanding the performance and mechanism of Mg-containing oxides as support catalysts in the thermal dry reforming of methane

• Nor Fazila Khairudin,
• Mohd Farid Fahmi Sukri,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1162–1183, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.108

• (synthetic gas) production and co-utilization of methane and carbon dioxide, which are the main greenhouse gases. Magnesium is commonly applied in a Ni-based catalyst in DRM to improve catalyst performance and inhibit carbon deposition. The aim of this review is to gain better insight into recent

• catalyst surface, which consequently facilitates high catalytic activity and low catalyst deactivation. The mechanism of DRM and carbon formation and reduction are reviewed. This work further explores how different constraints, such as the synthesis method, metal loading, pretreatment, and operating

• conditions, influence the dry reforming reactions and product yields. In this review, different strategies for enhancing catalytic activity and the effect of metal dispersion on Mg-containing oxide catalysts are highlighted. Keywords: carbon formation; catalyst development; dry reforming of methane

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticle-filled carbon nanotubes: synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

• Rasha Ghunaim,
• Maik Scholz,
• Christine Damm,
• Bernd Rellinghaus,
• Rüdiger Klingeler,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Michael Mertig and
• Silke Hampel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1024–1034, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.95

• nanotubes are heat treated to 3000 °C. This process reduces the iron content (i.e., the catalyst) to a very low level (<100 ppm) [41][42][43]. The material Fe50Co50@CNT has been prepared by the following two filling approaches. The first approach is an extension of a reported solution filling approach for

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• unsatisfactory, while no concentration difference is visible without the catalyst, demonstrating the self-degradation of RhB is negligible. All of the ZnO–BiOI heterostructured nanocomposites exhibit remarkably improved photocatalytic activity in terms of both the efficiency and the degradation degree for 100

• shows the physical color of the samples. (b) The plot of (αhν)2 vs photon energy (hν). Photocatalytic activity under visible light illumination. (a) The rhodamine B (RhB) solution degradation of the as-prepared samples with sample with no catalyst and P25 as comparison. (b) The linear fitting of the

A review of carbon-based and non-carbon-based catalyst supports for the selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide

• Shahreen Binti Izwan Anthonysamy,
• Syahidah Binti Afandi,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 740–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.68

• catalyst supports for nitric oxide (NO) removal through selective catalytic reduction (SCR) with ammonia are examined in this review. A number of carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), activated carbon (AC), and graphene (GR) and non-carbon-based materials, such as Zeolite Socony Mobil–5

• (ZSM-5), TiO2, and Al2O3 supported materials, were identified as the most up-to-date and recently used catalysts for the removal of NO gas. The main focus of this review is the study of catalyst preparation methods, as this is highly correlated to the behaviour of NO removal. The general mechanisms

• involved in the system, the Langmuir–Hinshelwood or Eley–Riedeal mechanism, are also discussed. Characterisation analysis affecting the surface and chemical structure of the catalyst is also detailed in this work. Finally, a few major conclusions are drawn and future directions for work on the advancement

Cyclodextrin-assisted synthesis of tailored mesoporous silica nanoparticles

• Fuat Topuz and
• Tamer Uyar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 693–703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.64

• structures were produced using a combination of CTAB surfactant, ethylene glycol solvent and NH4OH as the catalyst. MSNs were also reported in branched forms using organosilane precursors in a one-pot, CTAB-directed sol–gel synthesis [17]. For such a system, increasing the ethyl acetate concentration led to

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• the UV–vis spectrophotometer. The photocatalytic degradation percentage (%) of the catalyst was calculated from the following relation [41][42]: Degradation (%) = (1 − C/C0) – 100, where C0 refers to the absorbance of RhB after adsorption equilibrium, achieved prior to the light irradiation, and C is

• quantify the amount of dye degraded. The time-dependent absorption spectra of RhB solutions degraded by the CTCN heterojunction photocatalyst under different light sources are depicted in Figure 9a–c and those for bare g-C3N4 and CT, including the control experiments performed without catalyst, are

• the chromophore of RHB during the degradation process. Control experiments for the degradation of RhB without any catalyst reflect its high stability under different light irradiation conditions, as no significant decrease in the absorption was observed. Figure 9d–f represents the degradation

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• the LSPR feature in the Cu7S4@Pd catalyst. They found that Pd NPs showed weak LSPR absorption at 808, 980 and 1500 nm, while Cu7S4 exhibited obvious electrical field enhancement at these wavelengths; thus Cu7S4 was found to be the dominant contributor to the LSPR feature [111]. Using a similar

• drops of catalyst (ammonium dimolybdate) for the oxidation of I− by H2O2. Thus, I3− was obtained in the solution and was measured at 360 nm. Alternatively, when Ti4+ ions were used as indicators, yellow-coloured metal complexes with H2O2 were formed and examined at 410 nm. [118]. The DPD method is based

• - acetic acid mediated with horseradish peroxidase as a catalyst. The complete reaction scheme is explained in Figure 13a [115]. The intensity of the generated fluorescence is analysed using a fluorescence spectrophotometer with an emission wavelength of 408.5 nm excited at 316.5 nm. The concentration of

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• step, the adsorption ability of the catalyst was studied under dark conditions for 30 min. It was confirmed that the adsorption effect of the catalyst is negligible regarding the decolourization of a Congo red solution. Then 0.02 g of photocatalyst was used to decolourize 20 mL of 10 ppm of Congo red

• molecules in the solution (•O2−, •HO2, H2O2). TA readily reacts with •OH and forms 2-hydroxyterephthalic acid (HTA) via the reaction shown in Scheme 1. In a typical procedure, 5 mM of TA was mixed with the required amount of catalyst and an equimolar ratio of NaOH, as TA is not soluble in acidic or neutral

• −5 M solution of nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) was taken as molecular probe. 0.01 g of ZFO was dispersed in 10 mL of the prepared NBT solution and irradiated under solar light for 1 h. After reaction, the catalyst was separated and the solution analysed in an UV spectrophotometer. Figure 11c shows the

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

• Razieh Beigmoradi,
• Abdolreza Samimi and
• Davod Mohebbi-Kalhori

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 415–435, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.41

• of CNT nanocomposites could be fulfilled [14][27][28][29][30]. In terms of processing techniques, the arrangement and alignment of CNTs in a matrix of composite materials are divided in two categories. In the first category alignment is arranged during growth, where the regular placement of catalyst

• of a wide range of materials, spraying can be combined with other methods to fabricate composite materials. In this method, a sheet of CNTs is produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on a SiO2/Si substrate that is coated with a very thin layer of iron as a catalyst. The CNT rows have been grown

• may reduce the required magnetic field [108][109][110]. Aleman et al. have recently reported the ferromagnetism of residual catalysts in CVD growth of CNTs. This work shows that adjustment of the size and shape of the catalyst nanoparticle can control the CNT ferromagnetism behavior. This phenomenon

Photocatalytic and adsorption properties of TiO₂-pillared montmorillonite obtained by hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes

• Mikhail F. Butman,
• Nikolay L. Ovchinnikov,
• Nikita S. Karasev,
• Nataliya E. Kochkina,
• Alexander V. Agafonov and
• Alexandr V. Vinogradov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 364–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.36

• the performance of the catalyst [53]. In addition, anatase and rutile phase ratio can play an important role, which, as noted in [54], can significantly affect the rate of photocatalytic decomposition. While interpreting the photocatalytic activity of TiO2-pillared clays one should keep in mind the