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Nano-biomaterial hybridization is a promising strategy to generate unique and advanced material properties that are not available with nano- or biomaterials alone. In particular, the surface stabil...

Here, the influence of Batchelor vortex flow on the cocrystallization of caffeine (CAF) and maleic acid (MA) is studied and compared with that of turbulent eddy flow. Batchelor flow, induced in a r...

To obtain high catalytic properties, finely modulating the electronic structure and active sites of catalysts is important. Herein, we report the design and economical synthesis of Pd@Pt core-shell nanoparticles for high productivity in the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. Pd@Pt core-shell nanoparticles with a partially covered Pt shell on a Pd cube were synthesized using a simple direct seed-mediated growth method. The synthesized Pd@Pt core-shell nanoparticles were composed of high index faceted Pt on the corners and edges, while the Pd-Pt alloy was located on the terrace area of the Pd cubes. Because of the high-indexed Pt and Pd-Pt alloy sites, the synthesized concave Pd@Pt7 nanoparticles exhibited both high H2 conversion and H2O2 selectivity compared with Pd cubes.

A simple aqueous-phase route to the synthesis of ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles with size in the sub-2-nm regime was prepared by reducing RuCl3 with NaBH4 as a reducing agent in the presence of 6-aminohexanoic acid (AHA) as a capping agent. We found that AHA plays a key role in the formation and distribution of ultrasmall Ru nanoparticles on inorganic supports, with its amine and carboxyl groups serving as a surface-capping agent for the Ru nanoparticles and an anchor to inorganic supports, respectively. The catalytic activity of the size-controlled Ru nanoparticles with sub-2-nm size on various supports, such as TiO2, CeO2, and Vulcan carbon, revealed that a strong metal–support interaction of Ru nanoparticles, especially on carbon support, is responsible for a higher CH4 selectivity during Fischer–Tropsch synthesis.

A systematic study was conducted on small Pd nanocrystals (5–6 nm) to understand the effects of catalyst structure and electrolyte on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and formic acid oxidation (FAO). The ORR activities of Pd catalysts strongly depended on their structure and the electrolyte used. It was found that Pd cubes were 10 times more active than Pd octahedra for ORR in an aqueous HClO4 solution due to higher onset potential of OHad formation on the cubic surface. In the case of a H2SO4 solution, the ORR activity of Pd cubes was 17 times higher than that of Pd octahedra due to the stronger adsorption of (bi)sulfate on the surface of octahedral nanocrystals in addition to OHad. In alkaline solutions, however, no structure dependence was observed for ORR due to the outer-sphere electron-transfer mechanism in the potential region for Pd oxide formation. For FAO, no advantage was observed on shape-controlled Pd nanocrystals in comparison to conventional Pd catalysts. The FAO current densities, both ...

Noble-metal nanocrystals with well-defined and controllable morphologies are of great importance to applications in catalysis, plasmonics, and surface-enhanced spectroscopy. Many synthetic approaches have been demonstrated for controlling the growth habit and thus morphology of metal nanocrystals, but most of them are based on a thermodynamic approach, including the use of a capping agent. While thermodynamic control has shown its power in generating nanocrystals with a myriad of different morphologies, it is ultimately limited by the obligation to minimize the surface energy of a system. As a result, it is impractical to use thermodynamic control to generate nanocrystals having high-energy facets and/or a negative curvature. Using rhodium as an example, here we demonstrate a general method based on kinetic control with a syringe pump that can be potentially extended to other noble metals and even other solid materials. For the first time, we were able to produce concave nanocubes with a large fraction of {110} facets and octapods with a cubic symmetry in high yields by simply controlling the injection rate at which the precursor was added into the reaction solution. The concave nanocubes with {110} facets and a unique cavity structure on the surface are important for a variety of applications.

We report a novel and facile method for the synthesis of manganese oxide (Mn3O4) nanocrystals with various sizes and shapes. Mn3O4 nanocrystals were synthesized via a reaction of manganese(II) acetate with water in xylene in the presence of surfactants at the temperature of as low as 90 °C in air atmosphere. Structural characterizations revealed that the synthesized nanocrystals were tetragonal Mn3O4 structure and that they were highly crystalline in spite of the low reaction temperature. The size and shape of the nanocrystals were readily controlled by varying the experimental conditions such as precursors, surfactants, and injection temperature of water. Nanoplates with a thickness of 5 nm and side dimensions of 9, 15, and 22 nm were synthesized using oleylamine as the surfactant. When carboxylic acid was used as the cosurfactant along with oleylamine, spherical nanocrystals were obtained with sizes of 5.5, 6.2, 7.2, 8.5, and 15 nm. Interesting anisotropic nanostructures including nanowires and nanokite...

A simple method of synthesizing a large quantity of TiO(2) nanorods was developed. A nonhydrolytic sol-gel reaction between titanium(IV) isopropoxide and oleic acid at 270 degrees C generated 3.4 nm (diameter) x 38 nm (length) sized TiO(2) nanocrystals. The transmission electron microscopic image showed that the particles have a uniform diameter distribution. X-ray diffraction and selected-area electron diffraction patterns combined with high-resolution transmission electron microscopic image showed that the TiO(2) nanorods are highly crystalline anatase crystal structure grown along the [001] direction. The diameters of the TiO(2) nanorods were controlled by adding 1-hexadecylamine to the reaction mixture as a cosurfactant. TiO(2) nanorods with average sizes of 2.7 nm x 28 nm, 2.2 nm x 32 nm, and 2.0 nm x 39 nm were obtained using 1, 5, and 10 mmol of 1-hexadecylamine, respectively. The optical absorption spectrum of the TiO(2) nanorods exhibited that the band gap of the nanorods was 3.33 eV at room temperature, which is 130 meV larger than that of bulk anatase (3.2 eV), demonstrating the quantum confinement effect. Oleic acid coordinated on the nanorod surface was removed by the reduction of the carboxyl group of oleic acid, and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of the resulting naked TiO(2) nanorods was 198 m(2)/g. The naked TiO(2) nanorods exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than the P-25 photocatalyst for the photocatalytic inactivation of E. coli.

We report on the synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals of PbS, ZnS, CdS, and MnS through a facile and inexpensive synthetic process. Metal-oleylamine complexes, which were obtained from the reaction of metal chloride and oleylamine, were mixed with sulfur. The reaction mixture was heated under appropriate experimental conditions to produce metal sulfide nanocrystals. Uniform cube-shaped PbS nanocrystals with particle sizes of 6, 8, 9, and 13 nm were synthesized. The particle size was controlled by changing the relative amount of PbCl(2) and sulfur. Uniform 11 nm sized spherical ZnS nanocrystals were synthesized from the reaction of zinc chloride and sulfur, followed by one cycle of size-selective precipitation. CdS nanocrystals that consist of rods, bipods, and tripods were synthesized from a reaction mixture containing a 1:6 molar ratio of cadmium to sulfur. Spherical CdS nanocrystals (5.1 nm sized) were obtained from a reaction mixture with a cadmium to sulfur molar ratio of 2:1. MnS nanocrystals with various sizes and shapes were synthesized from the reaction of MnCl(2) and sulfur in oleylamine. Rod-shaped MnS nanocrystals with an average size of 20 nm (thickness) x 37 nm (length) were synthesized from a 1:1 molar ratio of MnCl(2) and sulfur at 240 degrees C. Novel bullet-shaped MnS nanocrystals with an average size of 17 nm (thickness) x 44 nm (length) were synthesized from the reaction of 4 mmol of MnCl(2) and 2 mmol of sulfur at 280 degrees C for 2 h. Shorter bullet-shaped MnS nanocrystals were synthesized from a 3:1 molar ratio of MnCl(2) and sulfur. Hexagon-shaped MnS nanocrystals were also obtained. All of the synthesized nanocrystals were highly crystalline.

Uniform goethite nanotubes were synthesized from the reaction of hydrazine with Fe(III)-oleate complex immobilized in reverse micelles. The nanotubes have interesting parallelogram cross section with uniform edge dimension of as small as 7 nm. The edge dimensions and lengths of the nanotubes were easily controlled by varying the reaction conditions.