Search results for "nanostructure"
showing 10 items of 792 documents
Asymmetric tungsten oxide nanobrushes via oriented attachment and Ostwald ripening
2011
Tungsten oxide nanobrushes were synthesized using a solvothermal approach that lead to self-branching in the presence of citric acid and hexadecylamine as surfactants. Our synthetic approach yielded branched nanorods of tungsten oxide in a single synthetic step. Based on our results, we propose a phenomenological pathway for the formation, branching, and assembly of these tungsten oxide brushes. The formation of tungsten oxide brushes proceeds by thermal decomposition of ammonium tungstate in the presence of citric acid and hexadecylamine. The pale blue powder obtained after solvothermal reaction was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolu…
Structural and electrochemical investigation on re-cast Nafion membranes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) application
2006
Abstract Starting from a 5 wt% ion power Nafion® solution and dissolving the dry residue in a suitable solvent (10 wt% solution in dimethylacetammide), re-cast Nafion films were developed for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) application. The used Doctor-Blade casting technique allowed to prepare scaled-up membranes comparable to the commercial Nafion ones with good mechanical resistance, thickness homogeneity and an excellent reproducibility. The differences between the re-cast membrane nanostructure and that of the commercial Nafion were investigated by synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering. The obtained re-cast membrane shows at ambient conditions a semi-crystalline structure wit…
Experimental quantification of useful and parasitic absorption of light in plasmon-enhanced thin silicon films for solar cells application
2016
AbstractA combination of photocurrent and photothermal spectroscopic techniques is applied to experimentally quantify the useful and parasitic absorption of light in thin hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films incorporating optimized metal nanoparticle arrays, located at the rear surface, for improved light trapping via resonant plasmonic scattering. The photothermal technique accounts for the total absorptance and the photocurrent signal accounts only for the photons absorbed in the μc-Si:H layer (useful absorptance); therefore, the method allows for independent quantification of the useful and parasitic absorptance of the plasmonic (or any other) light trapping structure. W…
Formation and evolution of self-organized Au nanorings on indium-tin-oxide surface
2011
This work reports on the formation of Au nanoclusters and on their evolution in nanoring structures on indium-tin-oxide surface by sputtering deposition and annealing processes. The quantification of the characteristics of the nanorings (surface density, depth, height, and width) is performed by atomic force microscopy. The possibility to control these characteristics by tuning annealing temperature and time is demonstrated establishing relations which allow to set the process parameters to obtain nanostructures of desired morphological properties for various technological applications. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.
Full inhibition of enzymatic browning in the presence of thiol-functionalised silica nanomaterial
2018
[EN] Darkening processed fruits and vegetables is caused mainly by enzymatic browning through polyphenol oxidase (PPO) action. Accordingly, we explored the potential of four silica-based materials (MCM-41 nanometric size, MCM-41 micrometric size, UVM-7 and aerosil), non-functionalised and functionalised with thiol groups, to inhibit PPO activity in the model system and apple juice. All materials showed relevant performance when immobilising and inhibiting PPO in model systems, and support topology is a main factor for enzyme immobilisation and inhibition. Thiol-containing silica UVM7-SH showed the greatest inactivation, and similar browning values to those obtained by acidification. The enz…
Influence of the functionalisation of mesoporous silica material UVM-7 on polyphenol oxidase enzyme capture and enzymatic browning
2020
Polyphenol oxidase (PPO), also known as tyrosinase and catechol oxidase, is the enzyme responsible for enzymatic browning in foods. It causes undesirable organoleptic, nutritional and colour changes. Here, we report the preparation of five nanomaterials and a study of their ability to modulate PPO enzyme activity. The materials consist of UVM-7 supports (a mesoporous silica material) modified with diverse functional groups (i.e. amine, carboxylic acid, isocyanate, alkane and pyridine). We also studied the PPO immobilisation capability of the materials. All the materials, except the carboxylic acid functionalised one, offer high PPO loading capabilities and the immobilisation speed increases…
Insights into the Maya Blue technology: greenish pellets from the ancient city of La Blanca.
2011
Financial support is gratefully acknowledged from the MEC Projects CTQ2011-28079-CO3-01 and 02 which are also supported with ERDF funds. Research was conducted within the "Grupo de anlisis cientifico de bienes culturales y patrimoniales y estudios de ciencia de la conservacion" Microcluster of the University of Valencia Excellence Campus. The authors would like to thank Dr. Isabel Solana (SCSIE, UV), Dr. Jose Luis Moya Lopez, and Manuel Planes Insausti (Microscopy Service UPV) for their technical support.
From Maya Blue to “Maya Yellow”: A Connection between Ancient Nanostructured Materials from the Voltammetry of Microparticles
2011
The yellow hue of a series of samples from wall paintings in several Mayan archaeological sites can be attributed to the presence of indigoid compounds, including isatin and dehydroindigo, attached to palygorskite, a local phyllosilicate clay. SEM/EDX, TEM, UV/Vis spectroscopy, and voltammetry of microparticles show that the ancient Mayas could prepare indigo, Maya Blue, and "Maya Yellow" during successive stages. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Optically assisted trapping with high-permittivity dielectric rings: Towards optical aerosol filtration
2016
Controlling the transport, trapping, and filtering of nanoparticles is important for many applications. By virtue of their weak response to gravity and their thermal motion, various physical mechanisms can be exploited for such operations on nanoparticles. However, the manipulation based on optical forces is potentially most appealing since it constitutes a highly deterministic approach. Plasmonic nanostructures have been suggested for this purpose, but they possess the disadvantages of locally generating heat and trapping the nanoparticles directly on surface. Here, we propose the use of dielectric rings made of high permittivity materials for trapping nanoparticles. Thanks to their abilit…
Negative pressures in CaWO4 nanocrystals
2009
Tetragonal scheelite-type CaWO4 nanocrystals recently prepared by a hydrothermal method show an enhancement of its structural symmetry with the decrease in nanocrystal size. The analysis of the volume dependence of the structural parameters in CaWO4 nanocrystals with the help of ab initio total-energy calculations shows that the enhancement of the symmetry in the scheelite-type nanocrystals is a consequence of the negative pressure exerted on the nanocrystals; i.e., the nanocrystals are under tension. Besides, the behavior of the structural parameters in CaWO4 nanocrystals for sizes below 10 nm suggests an onset of a scheelite-to-zircon phase transformation in good agreement with the predic…