Search results for "nanostructure"

Review on the Processing and Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites and Nanocoatings and Their Applications in the Packaging, Automotive and Solar Ener…

2017

For the last decades, nanocomposites materials have been widely studied in the scientific literature as they provide substantial properties enhancements, even at low nanoparticles content. Their performance depends on a number of parameters but the nanoparticles dispersion and distribution state remains the key challenge in order to obtain the full nanocomposites’ potential in terms of, e.g., flame retardance, mechanical, barrier and thermal properties, etc., that would allow extending their use in the industry. While the amount of existing research and indeed review papers regarding the formulation of nanocomposites is already significant, after listing the most common applications, this r…

Alcohol-Selective Oxidation in Water under Mild Conditions via a Novel Approach to Hybrid Composite Photocatalysts

2015

Abstract The oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds in a clean fashion (i.e., with water as a solvent or under solvent‐free conditions, and using O2 or H2O2 as the primary oxidant) is the subject of considerable research efforts. A new approach for the selective oxidation of soluble aromatic alcohols in water under mild conditions via a novel composite photocatalyst has been developed. The catalyst is synthesized by grafting 4‐(4‐(4‐hydroxyphenylimino)cyclohexa‐2,5dienylideneamino)phenol and silver nanoparticles onto the surface of moderately crystalline titanium dioxide. The titanium dioxide‐based composite was first extensively characterized and then employed in the catalytic oxidati…

Strong field phenomena: Atoms, Molecules, Nanostructures.

Programmable surface-architectures derived from hybrid polyoxometalate-based clusters

2011

The exploration of the self-organization of a range of the polyoxometalate-based molecular structures reveals a diverse range of surface patterns and morphologies on solid substrates of technological interest, including methylated and hydroxylated silicon surfaces (namely, SiCH3 and SiOH). By exploiting the interplay between the intrinsic molecular properties and the surface chemistry as well as dynamic spatiotemporal phenomena (e.g., dewetting), we show that these systems can yield 0D, 2D, and 3D architectures via solution deposition at the solid surface, including nanodots, discs, lamellas, porous networks, and layer-by-layer assemblies. In general, we observed that layer-by-layer growth …

Gelled electrolyte for nanostructured lead-acid battery

2019

In recent years, the storage of energy produced by renewable sources has become a topic of great interest. Lead-acid batteries are widely used in this field, in particular those based on VRLA (Valve-Regulated-Lead Acid) technology, in which the electrolyte is immobilized inside the battery. In this paper, the use of a hydrogel as an electrolyte was considered. Hydrogel can be described as a three-dimensional network of a hydrophilic polymer that can absorb large amounts of water (or aqueous solutions) without dissolving. Pb and PbO2 nanostructured electrodes were used in the battery that used hydrogel as an electrolyte. Two different types of hydrogels were synthesised, both based on PVA th…

Nanostructured Gels for the Conservation of a Slate Painted Work of Art

2009

Surface modification of poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) with amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles

2011

In this work we studied the possibility to achieve a hybrid-surface through the modification, via a facile wet chemical process, of the surface of films of poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) (EAA) with amino-modified silica nanoparticles. Films of EAA were preliminarily activated by the introduction of -COCl groups on their surface. Silica nanoparticles were thereafter covalently bound on the polymeric surface as confirmed by FTIR, ATR-FTIR, XPS, NMR and SEM determinations. The nanoparticles formed a multilayer on the film surface and covered almost uniformly the whole film surface. Direct measurements of superficial amino groups by titration allowed us to detect a concentration of about 18 nmo…

Nanohybrid surface based on covalent linkage of amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles on EAA polymeric substrate

2011

Periodically nanostructured hydrogels for ethanol vapors sensing

2013

Chemical sensing using optics has been under extensive research all over the world during last decades and many optical chemical sensors are nowadays finding increasing applications in industry, environmental monitoring, medicine, biomedicine and chemical analysis. These optical sensors can be based on various optical principles, such as absorbance, reflectance or transmittance, luminescence and fluorescence, covering different regions of the spectrum (UV, visible, IR, NIR). Optical chemical sensors have several advantages over conventional electricity-based sensors, in terms of selectivity, immunity to electromagnetic interference, higher sensitivity, and they are also relatively inexpensi…

Biocompatible Lipid Nanoparticles as Carriers to Improve Curcumin Efficacy in Ovarian Cancer Treatment

2017

Curcumin is a natural molecule with proved anticancer efficacy on several human cancer cell lines. However, its clinical application has been limited due to its poor bioavailability. Nanocarrier-based drug delivery approaches could make curcumin dispersible in aqueous media, thus overtaking the limits of its low solubility. The aim of this study was to increase the bioavailability and the antitumoral activity of curcumin, by entrapping it into nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs). For this purpose here we describe the preparation and characterization of three kinds of curcumin-loaded NLCs. The nanosystems allowed the achievement of a controlled release of curcumin, the amounts of curcumin r…