金微纳阵列表面等离激元中红外波段光谱特性

表面等离激元是金属表面自由电子在入射光激发下产生的电子集体振荡行为及其相应的电磁场分布。目前,金微纳颗粒表面等离激元除了在可见光波段内被大量研究和应用外,在中红外波段内也显示出独特的光谱特性,具备设计生产优良传感器的潜力,因而同样备受瞩目。研究表明,在中红外波段内设计表面等离激元传感器的关键问题在于如何有效地调节共振谱的共振波长、峰值吸收率以及半峰宽等主要特征参数。相比于单个微纳颗粒而言,阵列结构由于拥有良好的周期性,从而能够在上述参数的宽光谱调节方面具有独特的优势。基于此,提出一种基于金微纳颗粒组成的阵列结构,利用时域有限差分方法,在4～18μm波段范围内,通过分别改变该阵列的结构参数,包括颗粒半径、高度、间距及颗粒形状等,系统地研究了该微纳阵列结构在中红外波段对入射光的反射光谱、透射光谱和吸收光谱等特性的影响。研究发现,在8～10μm光谱内,入射光能够与其所激发的金微纳阵列表面等离激元产生共振效应,表现出明显的共振峰特性。可以通过分别改变上述结构参数来有效调节吸收率谱线共振峰的共振波长、峰值吸收率和半峰宽等主要特征参数。研究结果对中红外光谱内基于金微纳阵列结构传感器的科学研究和实际设计具有独特的理论应用价值。

Suppression of gold nanoparticle agglomeration and its separation via nylon membranes

Use of ultraporous nylon membrane is one of the most widely employed techniques for removal of hard and soft nanoparticles in the semiconductor industry, and the accurate determination of membrane pore size is necessary in order to avoid manufacturing defects caused by contamination. The gold nanoparticle has several benefits for the evaluation of polymeric membranes; however, the nanoparticles agglomerate easily on the nylon membrane and make it difficult to evaluate the membrane precisely. The properties of 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol(ADP) ligand in gold nanoparticle solution were systematically investigated, and ADP was utilized for improved evaluation of the nylon membranes. Nylon membrane used in this study was prepared by phase inversion techniques. Ultrathin dense layer on top of the membrane surface and Darcy structures in the microporous membrane support were observed. The gold particle rejection was carried out at various p H values from 4 to14 and higher rejection was observed at p H 4 and 8. The suppression of gold colloid agglomeration using ADP and monodispersity of gold colloids was also analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy(CLSM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). van der Waals interaction energy of the particles was reduced in the addition of ADP. The presence of ADP ligand in the gold solutions prevented the agglomeration of gold nanoparticles and reduced the adsorption of the particles on the nylon membrane surface,leading to precise evaluation of membrane pore sizes.

Antineoplastic activities of Gd@C_(82)(OH)_(22) nanoparticles: tumor microenvironment regulation

Malignant tumors are complex organs consisting of tumor cells and their microenvironment. Increasing evidence has shown that the tumor microenvironment is critical to the initiation and progression of tumors. Rational design of tumor therapies via targeting the tumor microenvironment to inhibit tumor growth is thus becoming a consensus strategy. Gd@C 82 (OH) 22 nanoparticles, as novel endohedral hydroxylated metallofullerenes, have been demonstrated to be a potent antitumor nanomedicine via targeting multiple factors in the tumor microenvironment. Gd@C 82 (OH) 22 nanoparticles possess excellent biocompatibility and remarkable antineoplastic activity, as a result not of direct tumor cytotoxicity but of their diverse biological effects, including antioxidation, immune activation, angiogenesis inhibition, imprisoning cancer cells, and reversal of drug-resistance. In this article, we summarize the unique nanoscale physiochemical properties and the antineoplastic activities of Gd@C 82 (OH) 22 nanoparticles, and focus on the mechanisms underlying their regulation of the tumor microenvironment.

A facile one-pot method to fabricate gold nanoparticle chains with dextran

A biocompatible water-soluble dextran has been used for controllable one-dimensional assembly of gold nanoparticles via a one-pot method. Long gold nanoparticle chains with good dispersion in water could be easily obtained after adding dextran in- to the mixture of HAuC14 and sodium citrate. The measurements of scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and dynamic light scattering （DLS） confirmed the formation of gold nanoparticle chains. The morphology and dispersion properties of gold na- noparticle chains could be tuned by adjustment of the reagent ratio, stirring speed, and reaction time.

Optical super-resolution microscopy and its applications in nano-catalysis

The resolution of conventional optical microscopy is only -200 nm, which is becoming less and less sufficient for a variety of applications. In order to surpass the diffraction limited resolution, super-resolution microscopy （SRM） has been developed to achieve a high resolution of one to tens of nanometers. The techniques involved in SRM can be assigned into two broad categories, namely ＂true＂ super-resolution techniques and ＂functional＂ super-resolution techniques. In ＂functional＂ super-resolution techniques, stochastic super-resolution microscopy （SSRM） is widely used due to its low expense, simple operation, and high resolution. The principle process in SSRM is to accumulate the coordinates of many diffraction-limited emitters （e.g., single fluorescent molecules） on the object by localizing the centroids of the point spread functions （PSF）, and then reconstruct the image of the object using these coordinates. When the diffraction-limited emitters take part in a catalytic reaction, the activity distribution and kinetic information about the catalysis by nanoparticles can be obtained by SSRM. SSRM has been applied and exhibited outstanding advantages in several fields of catalysis, such as metal nanoparticle catalysis, molecular sieve catalysis, and photocatalysis. Since SSRM is able to resolve the catalytic activity within one nanoparticle, it promises to accelerate the development and discovery of new and better catalysts. This review will present a brief introduction to SRM, and a detailed description of SSRM and its applications in nano-catalysis.

Effect of reduction-oxidation treatment on structure and catalytic properties of ordered mesoporous Cu-Mg-Al composite oxides

Ordered mesoporous Cu-Mg-A1 composite oxides were synthesized via the one-pot evaporation-in- duced self-assembly strategy. Using this method, copper was first homogeneously incorporated into the ordered mesoporous spinel matrix. After H2 reduction treatment, according to X-ray diffraction （XRD） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） results, copper existed as metallic nanoparticles with the size of 6-10 nm that well decorated the parent mesoporous skeleton. The metallic nanoparticles were then re-oxidized to copper oxide when exposed to air or during CO oxidation reaction at low temperatures. Thus, copper migrated from bulk spinel phase to the surface after the reduction-oxidation treat- ment. Moreover, the copper on the surface was re-incor- porated into the bulk spinel phase by further thermal treatment at much higher temperature in the presence of air. The correlation between the state of copper in the mesoporous composite oxides and the catalytic perfor- mance toward CO oxidation was studied. It was found that copper existed as oxide nanoparticles on the surface of mesoporous Mg-Al skeleton is much more active than that existed as lattice Cu ions in spinel phase.