Nanoscale Advances最新文献

{"title":"Different morphologies of super-balls obtained to form photonic crystals of cholesteryl benzoate liquid crystals","authors":"Edina Rusen, Alexandra Mocanu, Adrian Dinescu, Adina Boldeiu, Cosmin Romanitan, Sergiu Iordanescu, Martino Aldrigo, Raluca Somoghi, Raul Mitran and Adi Ghebaur","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00431K","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00431K","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The current study highlights the synthesis and characterization of some nanocomposite materials formed by polymer particles and liquid crystals. The liquid crystals used were cholesteryl benzoate (CLB), and the particles were synthesized by emulsion polymerization in the absence of the emulsifier. Through SEM and DLS analysis, the synthesis of particles of the same size was emphasized, and the amount of CLB showed no influence on these parameters. The lack of signal for CLB in the case of DSC and XRD analyses for the sample with the smallest amount of liquid crystal is attributed to the detection limits of the devices. To complete the surface characterization of the particles, XPS analysis was performed. Through XPS it was underlined that in the case of the smallest amount and the largest amount of CLB, respectively, it is encapsulated in the polymer particles, unlike the case of the average amount used, in which core–shell type morphologies have been obtained. For the electrical characterization of the samples, a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) connected to two rectangular X-band (<em>i.e.</em>, 8.2–12.4 GHz) waveguides through coaxial cables was used.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/na/d4na00431k?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142175697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Harnessing sustainable nanoclusters for sensitive optical detection of tetracyclines and the underlying mechanism†","authors":"Miguel Justo-Tirado, Irene Pérez-Herráez, Jorge Escorihuela, Raúl Arenal, Elena Zaballos-García and Julia Pérez-Prieto","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00637B","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00637B","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Simple and rapid sensing methods for the detection of antibiotics in drinks and foods are highly desirable due to the presence of these drugs in food products, as a consequence of extensive abuse of antibiotics in livestock production. In this study, we report a facile synthesis strategy of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) passivated with <em>N</em>-acetyl-<small>L</small>-cysteine (AuNC@NAC). This nanocluster exhibits a fluorescence emission peak at 700 nm, which gradually decreases at increasing concentrations of antibiotics, such as tetracyclines. The limit of detection (LOD) was determined to be 0.8 ppm with a linear range of 0.1–140 μM (0.04–62 ppm). This method showcased exceptional selectivity in the detection of tetracyclines compared to anions, metallic cations and amino acids. The underlying mechanism has been elucidated, and the fluorescence quenching was found to be a combination of dynamic and static quenching mechanisms, with photoinduced electron transfer (PET) identified as the primary process for dynamic quenching.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/na/d4na00637b?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142175698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Customizable ligand exchange on the surface of gold nanotriangles enables their application in LSPR-based sensing†","authors":"Ekaterina Podlesnaia, Sarmiza Elena Stanca, Buşra Çinçin, Gabriel Zieger, Andrea Csáki and Wolfgang Fritzsche","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00352G","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00352G","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Nanomaterials made of noble metals have been actively utilized in sensorics and bioanalytics. Nanoparticles of anisotropic shapes are promising for increasing sensitivity due to the generated hotspots of electron density. Such structures can be effectively manufactured by a relatively accessible colloidal synthesis. However, the shape control requires the attachment of a surfactant on specific crystal facets during their growth. Commonly used cetrimonium halides form a closely packed bilayer, lowering the surface accessibility for subsequent (bio)functionalization steps. While there are numerous studies on functionalizing gold nanospheres, novel materials, such as nanotriangles (AuNTs), often require thorough studies to adapt the existing procedures. This is mainly caused by the incomplete characterization of initial nanoparticle colloids in empirically developed protocols. Herein, we report a rational approach utilizing the surface area of AuNTs as a function of both their dimensions and concentration, determined with an express UV–VIS analysis. We demonstrate its efficiency for the exchange of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) with polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) and with biocompatible citrate using direct and indirect methods, respectively. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy unequivocally proves the ligand exchange. Such functionalization allows evaluating the bulk refractive index sensitivity of AuNTs as a measure of their potential in LSPR-based sensing.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11375502/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142154618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of synthesis methods on the functionality of antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles for targeted therapy†","authors":"Adi Anaki, Chen Tzror-Azankot, Menachem Motiei, Tamar Sadan and Rachela Popovtzer","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00134F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00134F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are emerging as promising modular platforms for antibody-based cancer therapeutics. Their unique physiochemical properties enable efficient binding of multiple antibodies upon a single particle, thereby enhancing therapeutic potential. However, the effect of widely used synthesis techniques on the characteristics and functionality of antibody-GNP platforms has yet to be fully understood. Here, we investigated the effect of key synthesis approaches, namely, covalent binding and physical adsorption, on the properties and anti-cancer functionality of antibody-coated GNPs. By carefully manipulating synthesis variables, including antibody mass in reaction and linker compositions, we revealed a direct impact of these synthesis methods on antibody binding efficiency and anti-cancer functionality. We found that covalent binding of antibodies to GNPs generated a platform with increased cancer cell killing functionality as compared to the adsorption approach. Additionally, a higher antibody mass in the synthesis reaction and a higher polyethylene glycol linker ratio upon covalently bound antibody-GNPs led to increased cell death. Our findings emphasize the critical role of synthesis strategies in determining the functionality of targeted GNPs for effective cancer therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11372556/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142154624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synthesis and bioactivity of a novel surfactin-based lipopeptide for mRNA delivery†","authors":"Mohammed S. Alqahtani, Rabbani Syed, Ali S. Alqahtani, Omer M. Almarfadi, Monzurul A. Roni and Satya S. Sadhu","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00404C","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00404C","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The effective delivery of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) to specific cell types and target tissues poses a significant challenge in nonviral therapeutic strategies. Lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) have emerged as a leading carrier system for delivering mRNA, particularly for infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. This study aimed to describe the synthesis of a novel lipopeptide based on surfactin, a naturally occurring surfactant. Additionally, a series of novel LNPs were rationally designed, based on the modified surfactin, OleSurf, and were formulated and optimized. The physicochemical properties, morphologies, and stabilities of the particles were evaluated. All formulations containing OleSurf produced particles with a diameter &lt;80 nm and an encapsulation efficiency &gt;95%. OleSurf LNPs demonstrated excellent transfection efficiency and luciferase expression with no cytotoxicity, compared to lipofectamine 2000, a known transfection reagent, and were comparable to the DLin-MC3-DMA lipid. OleSurf-based LNPs behaved as efficient mRNA carriers and showed enhanced mRNA-binding capabilities, associated with facilitated intracellular release, endosomal escape, and protection from endonuclease degradation. In addition, OleSurf-LNPs showed a higher mRNA delivery efficiency, a more advantageous biodistribution pattern, and an improved safety profile <em>in vivo</em>. Overall, the novel OleSurf LNPs presented an optimal delivery platform for mRNA therapeutics.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11376094/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142154627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Growth mechanism of 2D heterostructures of polypyrrole grown on TiO2 nanoribbons for high-performance supercapacitors†","authors":"Abeer Enaiet Allah and Fatma Mohamed","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00121D","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00121D","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The patterning of functional structures is crucial in the field of materials science. Despite the enticing nature of two-dimensional surfaces, the task of directly modeling them with regular structures remains a significant challenge. Here we present a novel method to pattern a two-dimensional polymer in a controlled way assisted by chemical polymerization, which is confirmed through discernible observation. The fabrication process involves <em>in situ</em> polymerization to create 2D layers of polypyrrole (PPy) on extended 2D TiO<small>₂</small> nanoribbons, resulting in oriented arrays known as 2D PPy/TiO<small>₂</small>. These arrays exhibit enhanced electrochemical performance, making them ideal for supercapacitor applications. The skeleton structure of this material is distinctive, characterized by a homogeneous distribution of layers containing various elements. Additionally, it possesses a large contact surface, which effectively reduces the distance for ion transport and electron transfer. The 2D PPy/TiO<small>₂</small> electrode has a maximum specific capacitance of 280 F g<small>⁻¹</small> at an applied current density of 0.5 A g<small>⁻¹</small>. Moreover, it demonstrates excellent rate capability and cycling stability. Therefore, this approach will open an avenue for improving polymerization-based patterning toward recommended applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11376071/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142154621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tunable insulator–metal transition in epitaxial VO2 thin films via strain and defect engineering†","authors":"Aditya Kamat, Gurukrishna K., Rishow Kumar, Abhishek Mishra, Amit Kumar Verma, Shivam Tripathi, Ashish Garg and Shikhar Misra","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00682H","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00682H","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The Metal to Insulator Transition (MIT) in materials, particularly vanadium dioxide (VO<small>₂</small>), has garnered significant research interest due to its potential applications in smart windows, memristors, transistors, sensors, and optical switches. The transition from an insulating, monoclinic phase to a conducting, tetragonal phase involves changes in optical and electrical properties, opening avenues in adaptive radiative coolers, optical memories, photodetectors, and optical switches. VO<small>₂</small> exhibits MIT close to 68 °C, thereby requiring tuneable transition temperatures (<em>T</em><small>_c</small>) in VO<small>₂</small> thin films for practical device applications. In this work, we explore the role of strain and defect engineering in tuning the MIT temperature in epitaxial VO<small>₂</small> thin films deposited on <em>c</em>-cut sapphire using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The study involves tuning the metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) by varying growth parameters, mainly temperature and oxygen partial pressure. Strain engineering along the <em>b</em>-axis helped tune the transition temperature from 65 °C to 82 °C with the out-of-plane <em>b</em>-strain varying from −0.71% to −0.44%. Comprehensive structural and property analyses, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Reciprocal Space Mapping (RSM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and resistivity–temperature (<em>R</em>–<em>T</em>) measurements, were performed to correlate structural properties with <em>T</em><small>_c</small>. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed using Quantum Espresso within the generalized gradient approximation of the revised Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBEsol) functional to provide theoretical validity to the experimentally obtained results. Our study provides critical insights into the interplay between strain and oxygen vacancies and their effect on the physical properties of VO<small>₂</small> thin films with DFT calculations supporting the experimental findings.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/na/d4na00682h?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142175699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of polymorphism vs. shape of titania nanocrystals on the hydrogen evolution reaction†","authors":"Ankur Yadav, Vivek Kumar Agrahari, Yuriy Pihosh, Mamiko Nakabayashi, Wojciech Nogala, Balendu Sekhar Giri, Kazunari Domen, Daya Shankar Pandey, Bhavana Gupta and Subha Sadhu","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00479E","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00479E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Herein, we investigated the impact of polymorphism <em>vs.</em> dimension control of titania nanocrystals towards hydrogen generation. Two different forms of titania nanoparticles have been synthesized following the solvothermal method, leading to the formation of two distinct physicochemical features. Detailed structural, morphological, and optical studies revealed that the formation of titania nanorods correspond to rutile while granular particles correspond to the anatase phase. Among various titania polymorphs, anatase is well known for its superior photocatalytic activity; however, to our surprise, the as-synthesized rutile nanorods exhibited higher catalytic activity in comparison to anatase spheres, and hydrogen evolution was considerably enhanced after the addition of a minute amount of Pt as the co-catalyst. Thus, despite the higher catalytic activity of anatase, the enhanced hydrogen evolution of rutile nanorods may be related to the creation of a 1D structure. Our study highlights the importance of considering not only TiO<small>₂</small> polymorphism but also shape and dimension in optimizing photocatalytic H<small>₂</small> production.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/na/d4na00479e?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142175700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synergistic atom co-sharing and S-scheme heterojunction: constructing Cu/CuO/Cu2O with ultrathin graphene-like carbon derived from basil seeds for enhanced photo-oxidation of benzyl alcohols to aldehydes","authors":"Zahra Kohansal Nalkyashree, Nadiya Koukabi, Kheibar Dashtian and Farzad Seidi","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00283K","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00283K","url":null,"abstract":"<p >This study is centered on the oxidative transformation of alcohols into their respective aldehyde compounds, employing an S-scheme heterostructure featuring CuO/Cu<small>₂</small>O on graphene-like carbon (GLC) derived from a basil seed hydrogel. Experimental characterization and theoretical calculations highlight that the implementation of S-scheme heterostructures achieves not only enhanced charge-separation efficiency, facilitated by the interfacial built-in electric field, Cu co-sharing at the CuO/Cu<small>₂</small>O interface, and electron carrier activity of the GLC support, but also maintains a strong driving force for photocatalytic organic conversion. The resulting nanocomposites play a crucial role in transferring and reducing the recombination of photoexcited charge carriers, preserving the oxidizability of CuO holes and the reducibility of Cu<small>₂</small>O electrons. Through meticulous adjustment of precursor amounts, the CuO–Cu<small>₂</small>O/GLC heterojunction exhibited the highest photocurrent at 6.83 mA cm<small>⁻²</small>, demonstrating optimal performance in the photocatalytic selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol with an average conversion rate of 95.0%. Furthermore, the stability of CuO–Cu<small>₂</small>O/GLC was thoroughly investigated, revealing sustained high conversion even after five repeated experiments, underscoring its potential for practical applications. The study also proposes a plausible mechanism for the transformation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde through capture experiments of active species. Importantly, this research introduces a straightforward <em>in situ</em> hydrothermal growth protocol for efficiently constructing metal oxide heterostructures wrapped in an rGO support. It provides valuable insights into designing new synthetic strategies for preparing efficient photocatalysts and hints at the development of novel, efficient, and practical photocatalytic systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11376140/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142154626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Atomic diffraction by nanoholes in hexagonal boron nitride†","authors":"Eivind Kristen Osestad, Ekaterina Zossimova, Michael Walter, Bodil Holst and Johannes Fiedler","doi":"10.1039/D4NA00322E","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D4NA00322E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Fabricating patterned nanostructures with matter waves can help to realise new nanophotonic devices. However, due to dispersion effects, designing patterns with nanoscale features is challenging. Here, we consider the propagation of a helium matter wave through different holes in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as a case study for the weakest dispersion interaction and the matter wave's diffraction as it passes through the holes. We use a quantum-mechanical model to calculate the polarisability of edge atoms around the holes, where we observe polarisation ripples of enhanced and reduced polarisabilities around the holes. We use these values to calculate van der Waals dispersion coefficients for the scattered helium atoms. We find that the resulting diffraction patterns are affected by the shape and size of the holes, where the smallest holes have a radius of just 6 Å. These results can be used to predict the resolution limits of nano-hole patterns on nanophotonic materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":18806,"journal":{"name":"Nanoscale Advances","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11367323/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142133247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}