Unveiling size-fluorescence correlation of organic nanoparticles and its use in nanoparticle size determination

Quantitatively establishing the correlation between nanoparticle size and fluorescence is essential for understanding the behavior and functionality of fluorescent nanoparticles(FNPs).However,such exploration focusing on organic FNPs has not been achieved to date.Herein,we employ the use of supramolecular polymeric FNPs prepared from tetraphenylethylene-based bis-ureidopyrimidinone monomers(bis-UPys)to relate the size to the fluorescence of organic nanoparticles.At an equal concentration of bis-UPys,a logarithmic relationship between them is built with a correlation coefficient higher than 0.96.Theoretical calculations indicate that variations in fluorescence intensity among FNPs of different sizes are attributed to the distinct molecular packing environments at the surface and within the interior of the nanoparticles.This leads to different nonradiative decay rates of the embedded and exposed bis-UPys and thereby changes the overall fluorescence quantum yield of nanoparticles due to their different specific surface areas.The established fluorescence intensity-size correlation possesses fine universality and reliability,and it is successfully utilized to estimate the sizes of other nanoparticles,including those in highly diluted dispersions of FNPs.This work paves a new way for the simple and real-time determination of nanoparticle sizes and offers an attractive paradigm to optimize nanoparticle functionalities by the size effect.

Catalytic properties of Ru nanoparticles embedded on ordered mesoporous carbon with different pore size in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

A series of 3 wt% Ru embedded on ordered mesoporous carbon （OMC） catalysts with different pore sizes were prepared by autoreduction between ruthenium precursors and carbon sources at 1123 K. Ru nanoparticles were embedded on the carbon walls of OMC. Characterization technologies including power X-ray diffraction （XRD）, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction （H2-TPR） were used to scrutinize the catalysts. The catalyst activity for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis （FTS） was measured in a fixed bed reactor. It was revealed that 3 wt% Ru-OMC catalysts exhibited highly ordered mesoporous structure and large surface area. Compared with the catalysts with smaller pores, the catalysts with larger pores were inclined to form larger Ru particles. These 3 wt% Ru-OMC catalysts with different pore sizes were more stable than 3 wt% Ru/AC catalyst during the FTS reactions because Ru particles were embedded on the carbon walls, suppressing particles aggregation, movement and oxidation. The catalytic activity and C5＋ selectivity were found to increase with the increasing pore size, however, CH4 selectivity showed the opposite trend. These changes may be explained in terms of the special environment of the active Ru sites and the diffusion of products in the pores of the catalysts, suggesting that the activity and hydrocarbon selectivity are more dependent on the pore size of OMC than on the Ru particle size.

(Bi,Sb)_(2)Te_(3)/SiC nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric performance:Effect of SiC nanoparticle size and compositional modulation

Fabrication of nanoparticle-dispersed composites is an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of thermoelectric materials,and in particular SiC nanoparticles have been often used to create composites with Bi_(2)Te_(3)-based applied thermoelectric materials.However,the effect of particle size on the thermoelectric performance is unclear.This work systematically investigated the electrical and thermal properties of a series of(Bi,Sb)_(2)Te_(3)-based nanocomposites containing dispersed SiC nanoparticles of different sizes.It was found that particle size has a significant impact on the electrical properties with smaller SiC nanoparticles giving rise to higher electrical conductivity.Even though the dispersed SiC nanoparticles enhanced the Seebeck coefficient,no apparent dependence of the enhancement on the particle size was observed.It was also found that smaller SiC nanoparticles scatter phonons to some extent while the larger nanoparticles contribute to increased thermal conductivity.Eventually,the highest ZT value of 1.12 was obtained in 30 nm-SiC dispersed sample,corresponding to an increase by 18%from 0.95 for the matrix made from commercial scraps,and then the ZT was further boosted to 1.33 by optimizing the matrix composition and expelling excess Te during the optimized spark plasma sintering process.This work proves that the dispersion of smaller SiC nanoparticles in p-type(Bi,Sb)_(2)Te_(3) materials is more effective than the dispersion of larger nanoparticles.In addition,it is revealed that additional compositional and/or processing optimization is vital and effective for obtaining further performance enhancement for nanocomposites of SiC nanoparticles dispersed in(Bi,Sb)_(2)Te_(3).

Determination of Particle Sizes and Crystalline Phases on Colloidal Silicon Nanoparticle Suspensions

Particle size and crystallinity of silicon nanoparticles were determined by analyzing the optical extinction spectra of colloidal suspensions. Experimental results from these colloids were anaiyzed using Mie theory in connection with effective medium theory, in order to determine particle sizes and their internal structure with the simple technique of optical transmission spectroscopy. By modeling an effective refractive index for the particles, the crystalline volume fraction can be extracted from extinction spectra in addition to information about the size. The crystalline volume fraction determined in this way were used to calibrate the ratio of the Raman cross sections for nanocrystalline and amorphous silicon, which was found to be σc./σa = 0.66

Target-oriented confinement of Ru-Co nanoparticles inside N-doped carbon spheres via a benzoic acid guided process for high-efficient low-temperature ammonia synthesis

Ru-based heterogeneous catalysts have been used in a wide range of important reactions.However,due to the sintering of Ru nanoparticles their practical applications are somewhat restricted.Herein,for the first time we report a new and facile strategy to confine Ru and/or Co nanoparticles(NPs) in the channels of N-doped carbon using benzoic acid to guide the deposition location of Ru.The developed catalyst with confined RuCo alloy particles exhibits high resistance against Ru sintering and displays excellent activity and long term stability for NH3 synthesis,achieving an NH3 synthesis rate of up to 18.9 mmol NH_(3) gcat^(-1)h^(-1)at 400℃,which is ca.2.25 times that of the catalyst prepared without confinement(with metal deposited on the support surface).In the latter case,there is an increase of nanoparticle size from 2.52 to 4.25 nm together with ca.48% decrease of NH_(3) synthesis rate after 68 h at 400℃.This study provides a new avenue for simple fabrication of precious-metal-based catalysts that are highly resistant against sintering,specifically suitable for low-temperature synthesis of ammonia with outstanding efficiency.

Green-synthesized gold nanoparticles from Plumeria alba flower extract to augment catalytic degradation of organic dyes and inhibit bacterial growth

Bio-inspired eco-friendly gold nanoparticles were synthesized by a green method using aqueous Plume- ria alba flower extract （PAFE）. The use of 1% and 5% concentrations of PAFE resulted in two different sizes of P. alba gold nanoparticles, PAGNPsl and PAGNPs2, with surface plasmon resonance （SPR） peaks at 552 and 536 nm, respectively. Size-controlled formation of gold nanoparticles was indicated by the SPR shift observed with increasing concentration of PAFE. The accurate size and morphology of PAGNPs I and PAGNPs2 were determined by transmission electron microscope （TEM） analysis is found to be 28 ＋ 5.6 and 15.6 4-3.4 nm, respectively, and those are spherical in shape. The antibacterial activity of PAGNPsl and PAGNPs2 was tested against Escherichia coil; the small-sized PAGNPs2 exhibited better antibacterial activity with a 16-mm zone of inhibition at a concentration of 400 txg/mL. Furthermore, the catalytic activity of PAGNPsl and PAGNPs2 was analyzed on six hazardous dyes; PAGNPs2 exhibited more pro- nounced catalytic activity than PAGNPsl. Among all of the dyes, 4-nitrophenol was most rapidly degraded to 4-aminophenol by PAGNPs2 within 5 min. The mechanism of catalysis in the presence of PAGNPsl and PAGNPs2 can be described as an electron transfer process from donor NaBH4 to an acceptor. The facile green synthesis of such eco-friendly nanoparticles in bulk suggests this method has potential industrial applications.

Influence of rare-earth ions on structural and magnetic properties of CdFe_2O_4 ferrites

Nano-sized powders of rare-earth ions added CdFe2O4 ferrites were synthesized by oxalate co-precipitation method.The influence of R ions（R = Sm3＋, Y3＋, and La3＋） on the microstructure and magnetic properties of CdFe2O4 ferrites was studied.XRD, SEM, FTIR, and magnetic hysteresis loops were used for analyzing the samples.The addition of R ions alters the structure of the powders and decreases the crystalline size, lattice constant, and grain size.The magnetic properties such as saturation magnetization, remanent magnetization, and magnetic moment increased due to addition of rare-earth ions in CdFe2O4 ferrite.The formation of secondary phase on the grain boundaries supports the abnormal growth.FTIR spectra show two absorption bands.Results suggest that the magnetic properties depend on the particular method of preparation and additives.

Simultaneous size characterization and mass quantification of the in vivo core-biocorona structure and dissolved species of silver nanoparticles

Size characterization of silver nanoparticles with biomolecule corona（AgNP@BCs） and mass quantification of various silver species in organisms are essential for understanding the in vivo transformation of Ag NPs. Herein, we report a versatile method that allows simultaneous determination of the size of AgNP@BCs and mass concentration of various silver species in rat liver. Both particulate and ionic silver were extracted in their original forms from the organs by alkaline digestion, and analyzed by size exclusion chromatography combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry（SEC-ICP-MS）. While the silver mass concentrations were quantified by ICP-MS with a detection limit of 0.1 μg/g, the effective diameter of AgNP@BCs was determined based on the retention time in SEC separation with size discrimination of 0.6-3.3 nm. More importantly, we found that the BC thickness of AgNP@BCs is core size independent, and a linear correlation was found between the effective diameter and core diameter of AgNP@BCs in extracted tissues, which was used to calibrate the core diameter with standard deviations in the range of 0.2-1.1 nm. The utility of this strategy was demonstrated through application to rat livers in vivo. Our method is powerful for investigating the transformation mechanism of Ag NPs in vivo.

Size effects on electrical properties of sol–gel grown chromium doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

In this communication, we report the results of the studies on electrical properties of Zn0.95Cr0.05O nanoparticles synthesized using sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction （XRD） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） measurements were performed for the structural and microstructural behaviors of the nanoparticles. Rietveld analysis was carried out to confirm the single phasic nature. High resolution TEM （HRTEM） confirms the nanoscale nature and polycrystalline orientations in the samples. Dielectric response has been understood in the context of universal dielectric response （UDR） model along with the Koop＇s theory and Maxwell - Wagner （M-W） mechanism. Variation in ac conductivity with frequency has been discussed in detail in terms of power law fits. Results of the impedance measurements have been explained on the basis of crystal cores and crystal boundary density. Cole - cole behavior has been studied for the impedance data. For potential application of nanoparticles, average normalized change （ANC） in impedance has been estimated and discussed in the light of size effects and oxygen vacancies.

LSM particle size effect on the overall performance of IT-SOFC

In this paper, we reported the fuel cell performance with La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 （LSM）/Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 （SDC） composite cathode prepared from LSM powders of different particle sizes via the silk-printing technique. It was found that the change in particle size ofLSM nanoparticle from 40 to 90 nm resulted in an increase in the maximum power density from 132 to 228 mW/cm2 at 650 ℃ with H2 as fuel and O2 as oxidant. And the polarization resistance of the electrode decreased from 2.547 to 1.034 Ω.cm2. Concerning the particle size of electrode materials, a higher activity was anticipated with smaller particles because a large number of TPB or electrode surface sites along with a higher porosity could be developed. However, this study showed that the electrode prepared with particles of larger diameter had fine and uniform microstructure resulting in higher power density and lower overpotential, where homogeneous distribution of particles and pores was beneficial for increasing the electrochemical active area and the electronic conductivity of the electrodes as well as the gas diffusion for the reactants.

The effect of nanosilica sizes in the presence of nonionic TX100 surfactant on CO_(2)foam flooding

The aim of this research is to study the effect of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles,sizes as CO_(2) foam stabilizer in the presence of nonionic TX100 surfactant.Two nanosilica sizes,15 and 70 nm,have been examined thoroughly.Physisorption of TX100 on silica nanoparticles(nanosilica)was characterized by adsorption isotherm and surface tension measurement,while CO_(2) foams stability was quantified based on their foamability,foam stability,particle partitioning in the foams,and bubble sizes.Results show that direct contact of TX100 with nanosilica does altered the wettability of hydrophilic nanosilica surface,enable them to lengthen CO_(2) foams life at certain surfactant and nanoparticles concentrations.For 15 nm nanosilica,CO_(2) foam stability shows excellent performance at 0.1 and 0.5 wt%TX100 concentrations.As for 70 nm nanosilica,CO_(2) foam demonstrates longer lifetime at much lower TX100 concentration,0.01 wt%.Without the presence of TX100,CO_(2) foams exhibit undesirable lifetime performances for both nanosilica sizes.Nanosilica partitioning in CO_(2) foams structures demonstrate consistent relation with contact angle measurement.Estimated bubble sizes shows insignificant effect on CO_(2) foams life.With the assists of nanosilica and TX100,enhanced oil recovery via CO_(2) foam injection succeeds in increasing oil production by 13e22%of original oil-in-place(OOIP).

Giant Rheological Effect of Shear Thickening Suspension Comprising Silica Nanoparticles with No Aggregation

The spherical silica particles in narrow size distribution with different diameters of 90 nm, 200 nm, 320 nm and 400 nm were prepared by the modified St？ber method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission electron microscopy（TEM） and dynamic light scattering（DLS）. The phase composition of particles was characterized by X-ray diffraction. The results indicated that each of the silica particle samples was in amorphous state. The shear thickening fluids（STFs） comprising 53 vol.%of silica particles and 47 vol.% of polyethylene glycol with molecular weight of 200 g mol^（-1）（PEG200） were prepared and evaluated. The influence of size and size distribution on the critical shear rate and the intensity of shear thickening were analyzed. The STFs prepared by silica nanoparticles with a diameter of90 nm showed the giant rheological effect with the critical shear rate of 2.51 s^（-1）, the largest viscosity of45,500 Pa·s and the yield stress of 181 kPa. The experiments and the analysis results demonstrated that the suspensions prepared by nanoparticles have high intensity of shear thickening.

Coulometric sizing of nanoparticles： Cathodic and anodic impact experiments open two independent routes to electrochemical sizing of Fez04 nanoparticles

Anodic particle coulometry （APC） is a recently established method of sizing individual metal nanoparticles by oxidising them during their impact on a micro electrode. Here it is demonstrated that the application of APC can be extended to sizing of metal oxide nanoparticles, such as Fe304 magnetite nanoparticles. Additionally, a new route to electrochemical nanoparticle sizing is introduced-- cathodic particle coulometry （CPC）. This method uses the reduction of impacting nanoparticles, e.g., metal oxide nanoparticles, and is demonstrated to yield correct size information for Fe304 nanoparticles. The combination of these two independent electrochemical methods of nanoparticle sizing, allows for purely electrochemical sizing of single nanoparticles and simultaneous verification of the obtained results.

Fast nanoparticle sizing by image dynamic light scattering

In this paper, an image dynamic light scattering method for nanoparticle sizing is introduced. The spatial distribution of the scattered lights from nanoparticles undergoing Brownian motion was captured at a high frame rate by a digital camera within one second, which is considerably faster than the conven- tional photon correlation spectroscopy method. The captured series of photographs were meshed into thousands of small units for calculating the intensity autocorrelation functions in parallel. Experimental results from the measurements of three reference nanoparticle samples （27, 80, and 352 nm in diameters） demonstrated the feasibility of this method.

The in vitro and in vivo toxicity of gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles,owing to their unique physicochemical and optical properties,well-established synthetic methods and easy modifications,have been widely used in biomedical science.Therefore,for their safe and efficient applications,much attention has been given to the toxicological evaluations of gold nanoparticles in biological systems.A large number of studies focusing on this problem have been carried out during the past years.However,the researches on gold nanoparticles toxicity still remain fragmentary and even contradictory with each other.This may be caused by the variety in experimental conditions.In this review,we aim to provide a better understanding about the in vitro and in vivo toxicity of gold nanoparticles by reviewing and describing the up to date literatures related to this problem and we mainly focused on these properties such as the particle size and shape,the surface charge and modification.Besides,we also summarized the adverse effect of gold nanoparticles on immune systems and analyzed the origin of the toxicity.

From micro-to nanosized particles:Selected characterization methods and measurable parameters

Airborne micro- and nanoparticles-aerosols - play an important role in many natural phenomena and in a variety of industrial processes, as well as the public health issue. They may be of natural or anthropogenic origin; their presence in an environment might be intentional or due to undesirable release. In any case, merely the particle detection and characterization, ideally in real-time, provide an insight into the potential burden allowing also controlling and abatement measures. Due to the broad size range it is not possible to characterize the entire particle spectrum with only one method. This contribution discusses selected optical techniques based on elastic light scattering, which are suitable for characterization of micrometer sized particles and particular electrical techniques allowing measurement of nanoparticles. It is shown that combination of instruments measuring different properties of the same nanoparticles offers derivative parameters contributing to more complete characterization of aerosols

Biopolymer-assisted synthesis of yttrium oxide nanoparticles

Yttrium oxide nanopowder was prepared by a novel technique using an alginate biopolymer as a precursor. The technique is based on thermal decomposition of an yttrium alginate gel, which is produced in the form of beads by ionic gelation between the yttrium solution and sodium alginate. The effect of post-annealing temperature on the particle size of the nanocrystals was investigated at various tempera- tures. The products were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The size of the nanocrystalline Y2O3 particles varied from 22.7 to 38.7 nm, depending on the annealing temperature and time. The grain size distribution （GSD） was also determined. The GSD became more non-symmetrical as the annealing temperature increased, and the width of the distributions for the powders produced using the alginate method was less affected by heat treatment. This alginate method was compared with the conventional glycine combustion method, on the basis of particle size. The particles obtained using the proposed technique were smaller than those obtained using the combustion method. Alginate-assisted thermal decomposition is therefore an easy and cost-effective method for preparing nanosized Y2O3 crystals.