Heterometal nanoparticles from Ru-based molecular clusters covalently anchored onto functionalized carbon nanotubes and nanofibers

• Deborah Vidick,
• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Michel Devillers,
• Claude Poleunis,
• Arnaud Delcorte,
• Pietro Moggi,
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo and
• Sophie Hermans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1287–1297, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.133

• the presence of additives, binders, etc. Results and Discussion Cluster anchoring Phosphine-functionalized carbon nanofibers and nanotubes were prepared in several steps, as previously reported [38] and shown in Figure 1. We have also successfully applied this methodology to ordered mesoporous carbon

• described in the Experimental section and are identified by their infrared νCO bands (Table S1 in Supporting Information File 1). In our previous related publications [38][51], these clusters were reacted with the functionalized ordered mesoporous carbon but not nanotubes and nanofibers. In order to prove

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

Experimental determination of the light-trapping-induced absorption enhancement factor in DSSC photoanodes

• Serena Gagliardi and
• Mauro Falconieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 886–892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.91

• produced by the concurrent phenomena of light absorption by dye molecules and light trapping in the mesoporous, titania photoanode structure. The decoupling of these two phenomena is important for device characterization and the design of novel photoelectrode geometries with increased optical performance

• photoanode with the light absorbed by the dye without the mesoporous titania structure. In order to gain more insight from this result, the fraction of light absorbed in the photoanode (on the basis of the dye loading capacity of the titania nanospheres) was also calculated by an optical model for the two

• point to determine one of the key photovoltaic parameters of a device. In DSSCs, light harvesting occurs at the photoanode, which is comprised of a monolayer of dye adsorbed onto a mesoporous titania film deposited onto a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer. The absorption spectrum of the dye

Silica micro/nanospheres for theranostics: from bimodal MRI and fluorescent imaging probes to cancer therapy

• Shanka Walia and
• Amitabha Acharya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 546–558, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.57

• of dopant ions in a nanoparticle environment. Thus these new classes of materials can be used as potential fluorescent probes for biomedical imaging. Singh et al. [16] reported the synthesis of luminescent YVO4:Eu3+ NPs incorporated inside mesoporous silica NPs through a sol–gel process. The

• synthesis was enhanced by using Y(NO3)3·6H2O and Eu2O3 as reactants, CTAB as surfactant and TEOS as alkyl silicate. Finally, the anticancer drug doxyrubicin (DOX) was loaded into the prepared NPs. Characterization of mesoporous silica NPs (MSN), YVO4:Eu3+ NPs and YVO4-MSNs were done by XRD, FTIR, TEM and

• fluorescence spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR and SQUID magnetometry. The in vitro studies on bone-marrow-derived polymorphonuclear neutrophils (BM-PMNs) suggested that these nanoparticles exert toxic effects only at high concentrations. In a similar way, Chen et al. [25] synthesized FITC-conjugated mesoporous

Palladium nanoparticles anchored to anatase TiO₂ for enhanced surface plasmon resonance-stimulated, visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Hong Ye Chu,
• Shaliza Ibrahim and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 428–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.43

• Figure 5 and Figure S2 (Supporting Information File 1). As can be seen, all the samples possess a stepwise adsorption and desorption hysteresis, represented by type-IV isotherms, with the characteristics of a mesoporous material [53]. The variations in BET surface area, average pore size and pore volume

Comparative evaluation of the impact on endothelial cells induced by different nanoparticle structures and functionalization

• Lisa Landgraf,
• Ines Müller,
• Peter Ernst,
• Miriam Schäfer,
• Christina Rosman,
• Isabel Schick,
• Oskar Köhler,
• Hartmut Oehring,
• Vladimir V. Breus,
• Thomas Basché,
• Carsten Sönnichsen,
• Wolfgang Tremel and
• Ingrid Hilger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 300–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.28

• probably led to a higher uptake rate. Interestingly, Chen et al. observed a charge-dependent localization of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with positively charged particles in the cytosol and negatively charged ones in acidic endosomes [54]. Not only the surface coating but also the nanoparticle material

Tunable light filtering by a Bragg mirror/heavily doped semiconducting nanocrystal composite

• Ilka Kriegel and
• Francesco Scotognella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 193–200, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.18

• , the use of tunable filters would be a great advantage. A very efficient class of filters are Bragg mirrors, also called one-dimensional photonic crystals [4][5][6]. Bragg mirrors can be made of dense materials [7], but also with mesoporous materials or nanoparticles [8][9][10]. Their use has been

Caveolin-1 and CDC42 mediated endocytosis of silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles in HeLa cells

• Nils Bohmer and
• Andreas Jordan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 167–176, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.16

• [37] and mesoporous silica particles [40] exclusively through Clathrin mediated endocytosis and/or macropinocytosis. This discrepancy can be explained by the different physicochemical properties of the particles used. Especially in the field of iron-oxide nanoparticles more studies concerning the

Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes and their applications

• Saban Kalay,
• Zehra Yilmaz,
• Ozlem Sen,
• Melis Emanet,
• Emine Kazanc and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 84–102, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.9

• ]. The BNNT–mesoporous silica (BNNT–MS) hybrids were reported for their use in drug delivery [85]. In this study, a negatively and positively charged BNNT–mesoporous silica, BNNT–MS and BNNT–MS–NH2, respectively, were produced. These structures were loaded with dox. The loading efficiency was found to be

Manganese oxide phases and morphologies: A study on calcination temperature and atmospheric dependence

• Matthias Augustin,
• Daniela Fenske,
• Ingo Bardenhagen,
• Anne Westphal,
• Martin Knipper,
• Thorsten Plaggenborg,
• Joanna Kolny-Olesiak and
• Jürgen Parisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 47–59, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.6

• such as particle size, surface area and Mnx+ oxidation state is required. Here, Mn3O4 and Mn5O8 nanoparticles as well as mesoporous α-Mn2O3 particles were synthesized by calcination of Mn(II) glycolate nanoparticles obtained through an economical route based on a polyol synthesis. The preparation of

• performance for the mesoporous α-Mn2O3 species. Keywords: electrocatalytic activity; in situ X-ray diffraction; manganese glycolate; manganese oxide nanoparticles; mesoporous α-Mn2O3; Introduction Manganese oxides are a class of inexpensive compounds with a high potential for nanostructuring, which makes

• oxides can be enhanced by nanostructuring of the different species, which was recently shown by Zhang et al. [17]. In their report, better cyclability of Li-ion cells was obtained with anodes consisting of mesoporous Mn2O3 particles compared to Mn2O3 bulk powder electrodes [17]. Several nanoscale

Low-cost plasmonic solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Valdek Mikli,
• Arvo Mere,
• Ilmo Sildos and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2398–2402, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.249

• the smaller absorbing volume. The use of mesoporous TiO2 or ZnO nanorods provides increased surface area of the absorber, while the introduction of metal nanoparticles allows photons to be captured via plasmonic effects [1][2][3][4]. This work attempts to utilize the advantages of the plasmon effect

The surface properties of nanoparticles determine the agglomeration state and the size of the particles under physiological conditions

• Christoph Bantz,
• Olga Koshkina,
• Thomas Lang,
• Hans-Joachim Galla,
• C. James Kirkpatrick,
• Roland H. Stauber and
• Michael Maskos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1774–1786, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.188

• -labelled particles, or of particles with defined surface functionalities [61][62][63][64]. Furthermore, the reaction principle of the Stöber synthesis is also applied for the preparation of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) [65]. With respect to particle size distributions, silica sols and Stöber

Nanoporous composites prepared by a combination of SBA-15 with Mg–Al mixed oxides. Water vapor sorption properties

• Amaury Pérez-Verdejo,
• Alvaro Sampieri,
• Heriberto Pfeiffer,
• Mayra Ruiz-Reyes,
• Juana-Deisy Santamaría and
• Geolar Fetter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1226–1234, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.136

• nanostructured mesoporous composites by interconnecting and combining SBA-15 with mixed oxides derived from a calcined Mg–Al hydrotalcite. Two different Mg–Al hydrotalcite addition procedures were implemented, either after or during the SBA-15 synthesis (in situ method). The first procedure, i.e., the post

• porous composite, which displays a cauliflower morphology. This is an important microporosity contribution and micro and mesoporous surfaces coexist in almost the same proportion. Furthermore, the nanostructured mesoporous composites present an extraordinary water vapor sorption capacity. Such composites

• distributions. Still, it is necessary to improve the preparation methods to obtain micro and mesoporous nanostructured composites more easily, with short preparation times, lower overall costs, better textural properties, and highly dispersed active metals. Anionic clays, or simply hydrotalcites, are good

Template-directed synthesis and characterization of microstructured ceramic Ce/ZrO₂@SiO₂ composite tubes

• Jörg J. Schneider and
• Meike Naumann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1152–1159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.126

• well as redox properties [5][6][7][8]. The transformation into ordered crystalline mesoporous structures of composition CexZr1−xO2 (x = 0.4–0.8) has also been shown [9]. In these solid solutions ultrafine zirconia allows for a better mechanical behavior, which facilitates enhanced fracture toughness

Photocatalysis

• Rong Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1071–1072, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.119

• bismuth vanadium oxide cluster exemplifies these characteristics. Besides solar fuel production, photocatalysis has a long history in water treatment. In this Thematic Series, there is also a report on the latest development in the utilization of mesoporous cerium oxide for visible light-driven dye

Functionalized nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic performance under solar light

• Liejin Guo,
• Dengwei Jing,
• Maochang Liu,
• Yubin Chen,
• Shaohua Shen,
• Jinwen Shi and
• Kai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 994–1004, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.113

• first reports on mesoporous silica MCM-41 [9], inorganic oxides with controlled porosity have been extensively investigated. It is known that mesoporous photocatalysts usually exhibit high specific surface areas that can provide more surface reactive sites. The nanoscale channel walls of mesoporous

• semiconductor nanocrystals are dispersed in the mesoporous substrate, greatly enhanced photocatalytic properties can also be achieved. For example, dispersing TiO2 nanoclusters in MCM-41 [13] and MCM-48 [14] resulted in much higher photocatalytic activities than that of bulk TiO2 under UV light irradiation. Our

• work was carried out on Ni modified mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts [15]. It was found that Ni ions were highly dispersed in the framework of mesoporous TiO2 resulting in enhanced hydrogen production in methanol aqueous solution compared to Ni-doped particulate TiO2. The photocatalytic activity was

Optical modeling-assisted characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells using TiO₂ nanotube arrays as photoanodes

• Jung-Ho Yun,
• Il Ku Kim,
• Yun Hau Ng,
• Lianzhou Wang and
• Rose Amal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 895–902, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.102

• structures and morphologies such as mesoporous TiO2, nanorods, nanotubes, nanosheets and hollow spheres have, therefore, been investigated to improve the performance of DSSCs by using various synthetic and modification methods [4][5][6][10][11]. Compared to the conventional DSSCs, which employ mesoporous

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• water splitting in order to produce hydrogen [35][38][39][41][45] and the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 were reported [51]. In addition to the applications in photocatalysis, quantum dots are often used as photosensitizer to sensitize the mesoporous TiO2 photoelectrode as the photoanode in quantum

Artificial sunlight and ultraviolet light induced photo-epoxidation of propylene over V-Ti/MCM-41 photocatalyst

• Van-Huy Nguyen,
• Shawn D. Lin,
• Jeffrey Chi-Sheng Wu and
• Hsunling Bai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 566–576, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.67

• photocatalyst. The XRD pattern indicates a mesoporous hexagonal lattice with a clear feature of (100). The (110) and (200) peaks are not well-separated, maybe due to the high calcination temperature of 823 K [33]. The HRTEM image of V-Ti/MCM-41 in Figure 3 reveals a uniform hexagonal structure, which is a

Mesoporous cerium oxide nanospheres for the visible-light driven photocatalytic degradation of dyes

• Subas K. Muduli,
• Songling Wang,
• Shi Chen,
• Chin Fan Ng,
• Cheng Hon Alfred Huan,
• Tze Chien Sum and
• Han Sen Soo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 517–523, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.60

• , Singapore 138632 Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N), 1 CleanTech Loop, Singapore 637141 Singapore-Berkeley Research Initiative for Sustainable Energy (SinBeRISE), 1 Create Way, Singapore 138602 10.3762/bjnano.5.60 Abstract A facile, solvothermal synthesis of mesoporous cerium oxide nanospheres is

• photoelectron and UV–vis spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Together with N2 sorption experiments, the data confirms that the new cerium oxide material is mesoporous and absorbs visible light. The photocatalytic degradation of rhodamin B is investigated with a series of radical scavengers

• , suggesting that the mechanism of photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation involves predominantly hydroxyl radicals as the active species. Keywords: cerium oxide; dye degradation; mesoporous; photocatalysis; visible light; Introduction The degradation of organic pollutants by affordable and

A catechol biosensor based on electrospun carbon nanofibers

• Dawei Li,
• Zengyuan Pang,
• Xiaodong Chen,
• Lei Luo,
• Yibing Cai and
• Qufu Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 346–354, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.39

• water samples. Keywords: biosensor; carbon nanofibers; catechol; electrospinning; laccase; Introduction Nowadays, carbon nanomaterials attract a great deal of attention due to their high surface area, excellent electronic conduction and biocompatibility. Among these, mesoporous carbon [1][2][3][4][5

Thermal stability and reduction of iron oxide nanowires at moderate temperatures

• Annalisa Paolone,
• Marco Angelucci,
• Stefania Panero,
• Maria Grazia Betti and
• Carlo Mariani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 323–328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.36

• mesoporous silica (SBA-15) synthesized through the sol–gel method. In order to embed the iron oxide nanowires, 0.01 M Fe(NO3)3·9H2O was dissolved in 50 mL of ethanol and added to 1 g of SBA-15. This solution was mixed at room temperature, dried at 310 K for 1 week, and the resulting powder was sintered at

Modeling and optimization of atomic layer deposition processes on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Nuri Yazdani,
• Vipin Chawla,
• Eve Edwards,
• Vanessa Wood,
• Hyung Gyu Park and
• Ivo Utke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 234–244, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.25

• guidelines; titania, TiO2; Introduction Recent advances in the synthesis and processing of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have enabled the prospect of their integration into existing technologies that exploit the high surface area of mesoporous ceramic films [1]. Over the last 10 years, ceramic coated CNTs have

Study of mesoporous CdS-quantum-dot-sensitized TiO₂ films by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and AFM

• Mohamed N. Ghazzal,
• Robert Wojcieszak,
• Gijo Raj and
• Eric M. Gaigneaux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 68–76, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.6

• Bruxelles 61 - 5000 Namur, Belgique Institute of Chemistry, University of Sao Paulo, USP, São Paulo, 05508-000, SP, Brazil 10.3762/bjnano.5.6 Abstract CdS quantum dots were grown on mesoporous TiO2 films by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction processes in order to obtain CdS particles of various

• effects [9][11][12][13]. In this study, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, to estimate the particle size of QDs-CdS grown on a mesoporous TiO2 film. The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction processes, which are defined as deposition

• preparation Mesoporous TiO2 films were prepared following the procedure reported elsewhere [14]. An adequate amount of titanium(IV) tetraethoxide (TEOT, Ti(OC2H5)4, 95% Aldrich) was dissolved under vigourous stirring (20 min) in concentrated hydrochloric acid (37%) at room temperature. In parallel, the hybrid

Design criteria for stable Pt/C fuel cell catalysts

• Josef C. Meier,
• Carolina Galeano,
• Ioannis Katsounaros,
• Jonathon Witte,
• Hans J. Bongard,
• Angel A. Topalov,
• Claudio Baldizzone,
• Stefano Mezzavilla,
• Ferdi Schüth and
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 44–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.5

• ], nanohorns [29], ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) [30][31], carbon aerogels [32], carbon shells [33][34][35][36], colloid-imprinted carbon supports (CIC) [37] and even boron-doped diamond structures [38][39]. Alternatively, certain non-carbon materials (e.g., oxides, carbides and nitrides of metals such as

• and support structure on the underlying degradation mechanisms. The hollow graphitic spheres (HGS) provide a mesoporous, three-dimensional interconnected support structure with a high degree of graphitization and a high BET surface area (ca. 1200 m2·g−1) at the same time. The synthesis was described

• 360 nm with an average shell thickness of approximately 50 nm. The mesoporous network is intended to provide a good separation and encapsulation of the particles without losing accessibility to the Pt particles. The access is also facilitated by the short diffusion pathways through the shell, which