The nanoscaled metal-organic framework ICR-2 as a carrier of porphyrins for photodynamic therapy

• Jan Hynek,
• Sebastian Jurík,
• Martina Koncošová,
• Jaroslav Zelenka,
• Ivana Křížová,
• Tomáš Ruml,
• Kaplan Kirakci,
• Ivo Jakubec,
• František Kovanda,
• Kamil Lang and
• Jan Demel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2960–2967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.275

• studies Dark toxicity of the porphyrin-modified nanoICR-2 was investigated on HeLa cells in EMEM without serum in the presence of 0.5–4 µM nanoparticles (with respect to porphyrin) for 4 h followed by incubation in full culture medium without phenol red for 24 h. At concentrations used for the experiments

• medium was less than 4 % v/v. After incubation, the medium was changed for full culture medium without phenol red and the cells were immediately irradiated by a 150 W halogen lamp (Thorlabs) with a water filter for 15 min (45 mW·cm−2). After another 24 h, a viability of the cells was assayed by the

• resazurin assay (Sigma-Aldrich). Dark toxicity experiments were performed in the same way in the dark. Confocal microscopy: HeLa cells were seeded onto dishes with a glass bottom (MatTek) in full culture medium. After 24 h, the cells received fresh medium without serum and phenol red, and were mixed with

Sheet-on-belt branched TiO₂(B)/rGO powders with enhanced photocatalytic activity

• Huan Xing,
• Wei Wen and
• Jin-Ming Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1550–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.146

• assist the photodegradation of phenol in water under UV light illumination. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the significantly increased surface area and enhanced charge separation. Keywords: branched nanostructure; photocatalysis; reduced graphene oxide; TiO2(B); Introduction

• Figure 2b). Photocatalytic activities of the pristine TiO2 nanobelt, TGN and TGN-branches were evaluated via photodegradation of phenol in water under UV light illumination. After stirring in the dark for 1 h, an adsorption–desorption equilibrium was established. About 5% phenol in water was adsorbed by

• . All TGN-branch powders exhibited higher efficiency than TGN. The highest efficiency was achieved for the TGN-branch 4 h and TGN-branch 6 h samples, which induced over 90% phenol degradation within 4 h; whilst only 76% of phenol was degraded by TGN. For a clear demonstration, Figure 7a shows the

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• ) and phenol occurs over CNT-modified TiO2.The high photoactivity of CNT–TiO2 may be attributed to the synergistic effect of adsorption and electron trap properties of the CNTs [140]. Photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) using carbon-dot-modified TiO2 Carbons dots (CDs) are now being widely investigated

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• photocatalysts by a two-step synthetic method. The improved photocatalytic degradation of phenol could be achieved under simulated solar light irradiation. Herein, we report a new, facile method to produce the ZnO/BiOI heterojunction by a solution method followed by calcination. Using a milder precipitant

A review of carbon-based and non-carbon-based catalyst supports for the selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide

• Shahreen Binti Izwan Anthonysamy,
• Syahidah Binti Afandi,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 740–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.68

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• also reported the use of Ag NPs to remove phenol and drive oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde under UV light. This verifies the role of the LSPR effect and interband transition of Ag NPs in activating organic molecules for oxidation under UV–vis irradiation [169]. Au NPs are more suitable for

Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning transmission microscopy (STEM) and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area method, whereas the photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of phenol in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation (λ > 420

• at the surface of the IL–TiO2 material under visible-light illumination, and is responsible for the effective phenol degradation. Keywords: heterogeneous photocatalysis; ionic liquids; TiO2; visible light catalysis; Introduction The development of heterogeneous photocatalysis to degrade organic

• the IL–TiO2 composites, for example, for photo-electrochemical water splitting [26][27], photo-oxidation of benzyl alcohol [12], phenol [28], degradation of chlorophenol [17][29], reduction of Cr6+ to Cr3+ [30] and the photocatalytic desulfurization of diesel oil [31]. Nevertheless, in most of these

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• synthesized samples was evaluated by the degradation of phenol in aqueous solution under irradiation with UV–vis (λ > 350 nm) and vis (λ > 420 nm) light, as well as by the degradation of gaseous toluene under irradiation with vis (λmax = 415 nm) light. It was found that Nd-modified TiO2 is an efficient

• photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol and toluene under visible light. XPS analysis revealed that the photocatalyst prepared via HT method contains a three-times higher amount of hydroxy groups at the surface layer and a two-times higher amount of surface defects than that obtained by the SHT method. The

• photocatalytic efficiency of phenol and toluene degradation under vis irradiation in the presence of 0.25% Nd-TiO2(HT) reached 0.62 and 3.36 μmol·dm−1·min−1, respectively. Photocatalytic activity tests in the presence of Nd-TiO2 and scavenger confirm that superoxide radicals were responsible for the visible

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• correlates well with the lowest PL intensity, highest photocurrent and lowest particle size. Keywords: Congo red; electrochemical study; phenol; photocatalyst; rhodamine B (Rh B); ZnFe2O4; Introduction Photocatalysis is a “green” technology for the treatment of environmental pollutants with solar energy [1

• can be described by the following equations: Hence the net reaction is Rh B/CR + •OH + •O2− → decolourization. Degradation of phenol In order to show its versatility, the ZFO-500 photocatalyst was also tested in degradation of colourless organic pollutants. We have used phenol as a model pollutant

• . The photocatalytic degradation rate of 10 ppm phenol was found to be 60% after 60 min over ZFO-500. The degradation procedure of phenol is similar to the degradation of Rh B and Congo red [35]. Photodegradation of phenol was performed by using 20 mL of a 10 ppm phenol solution containing 0.02 g of

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

Fully scalable one-pot method for the production of phosphonic graphene derivatives

• Kamila Żelechowska,
• Marta Prześniak-Welenc,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Izabela Kondratowicz and
• Tadeusz Miruszewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1094–1103, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.111

• are conjugated with C=C or C=O bonds. Small bands at 1815 cm−1 and 1369 cm−1 are characteristic for C=O and C–O stretchings in lactones, respectively. Other bands at lower wavenumbers (1228–970 cm−1) can be ascribed to C-O vibrations in carboxyl, phenol and/or epoxide functionalities. Significant

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

• medium. The Co3O4–graphene hybrid possesses catalytic performance for heterogeneous activation of peroxymonosulfate for the decomposition of phenol [183]. Moreover, the performance of the zinc–air battery (ZAB), fabricated by using this hybrid as the cathode, is found to be closely matched with the

• for GO reduction [193]. This hybrid shows higher catalytic activity than Co(OH)2 for phenol degradation and it takes only 10 min for 100% phenol removal. Nickel oxide (NiO)–graphene hybrids NiO, a p-type wide band gap semiconductor is extensively used as catalyst, battery cathode, electrochemical

Selective photodissociation of tailored molecular tags as a tool for quantum optics

• Ugur Sezer,
• Philipp Geyer,
• Moritz Kriegleder,
• Maxime Debiossac,
• Armin Shayeghi,
• Markus Arndt,
• Lukas Felix and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 325–333, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.35

• further decorated with an ethynyl group in 5-position as a functional group that enables various coupling procedures and which can link the functional subunit to the structure of interest (e.g., R1 in Figure 1). We also add CF3 groups to the phenol subunit which shall be released upon photocleavage in

• latter decays over the cyclic isoxazol form to a 2-nitrosobenzaldehyde and a phenol subunit (red in Figure 1). Even though the reaction sequence is well understood in solution, it remains an open question if a similar cleavage occurs and which decay channels are accessible when the photoactive molecule

• yield after column chromatography (CC) as colourless solid. Applying Mitsunobu reaction conditions, the benzyl ether 3 was obtained from 2 and 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenol. The reagents were dissolved in 0 °C cold tetrahydrofuran (THF) while diisopropyl azodicarboxylate (DIAD) was added dropwise

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• phenol, hydroquinone and dopamine in aqueous solution under UV or visible-light irradiation. The best results were obtained for the films with TiO2/Fe2O3 or TiO2/SiO2/Fe2O3 NPs. The degradation of the mentioned model pollutants varied between 71% and 100% (after 250 min of irradiation) depending on the

• of the hybrid composites incorporating TiO2 NPs alone or together with other inorganic components (Si–O–Si sequences, γ-Fe2O3 NPs) was investigated following the degradation of three hydroxybenzenes, namely with one –OH group (phenol), with two –OH groups (hydroquinone), and with two –OH groups and

• photodecomposition process of an aqueous solution of phenol (1.06 × 10−3 M) in the presence of hybrid materials with TiO2 nanoparticles, pure or combined with SiO2 and/or Fe2O3, was investigated by monitoring the characteristic absorption band of phenol at λ = 270 nm. Figure 6a,b shows the UV–vis absorption spectra

Layered composites of PEDOT/PSS/nanoparticles and PEDOT/PSS/phthalocyanines as electron mediators for sensors and biosensors

• Celia García-Hernández,
• Cristina García-Cabezón,
• Fernando Martín-Pedrosa,
• José Antonio De Saja and
• María Luz Rodríguez-Méndez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1948–1959, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.186

• character which is an intrinsic semiconductor) [9][16][17][18]. On the other hand, enzymatic electrochemical biosensors based on phenol oxidases are a good alternative to analyze phenols due to their high sensitivity and selectivity. Tyrosinase oxidizes monophenols and o-diphenols to the corresponding

• ][23][24][25][26]. Also, in the case of biosensors, an improvement of the electron mediator activity could be expected by using layered composites formed by two electron mediators. For this reason, the second objective of this work was to develop phenol biosensors containing Tyr or Lac using layered

• between the electrode and the phenol. The cathodic peak currents (Ic) varied linearly with the square root of the scan rate (ν1/2), demonstrating the diffusion-controlled nature of the electrode reaction (Figure 5b). The slopes and correlation coefficients for the measurement of all the sensors and

Facile fabrication of luminescent organic dots by thermolysis of citric acid in urea melt, and their use for cell staining and polyelectrolyte microcapsule labelling

• Nadezhda M. Zholobak,
• Anton L. Popov,
• Alexander B. Shcherbakov,
• Nelly R. Popova,
• Mykhailo M. Guzyk,
• Valeriy P. Antonovich,
• Alla V. Yegorova,
• Yuliya V. Scrypynets,
• Inna I. Leonenko,
• Alexander Ye. Baranchikov and
• Vladimir K. Ivanov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.182

• Information File 1, Figure S23). After exposure, the cells were washed twice with Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS without phenol red, Gibco, Invitrogen), stained with crystal violet (λ = 540 nm) or MTT (λ = 492 nm), and the optical density in the wells was determined using a 96-well plate reader (Thermo

• concentrations, (more than 50 times lower than the maximum tolerable concentration). Upon staining, the medium was removed and the cells were washed twice with Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS without phenol red, Gibco, Invitrogen). The coverslips with the cells were mounted in Attofluor cell chambers (Life

Mesoporous hollow carbon spheres for lithium–sulfur batteries: distribution of sulfur and electrochemical performance

• Anika C. Juhl,
• Artur Schneider,
• Boris Ufer,
• Torsten Brezesinski,
• Jürgen Janek and
• Michael Fröba

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1229–1240, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.114

• mg·cm−2 was investigated. Results and Discussion Silica template and hollow carbon spheres Hollow carbon spheres with a mesoporous shell were obtained by impregnation of silica spheres with a core–shell structure with phenol and formaldehyde (first step in Figure 1). Carbonization under inert atmosphere

• of hollow carbon spheres was carried out by a combination and modification of literature methods [45][46]. Phenol (3.52 g) was melted at 45 °C and 615 μL of a 20 wt % sodium hydroxide aqueous solution were added to the liquid phenol. The solution was stirred for 15 min (with a KPG stirrer). After

Manufacturing and investigation of physical properties of polyacrylonitrile nanofibre composites with SiO₂, TiO₂ and Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles

• Tomasz Tański,
• Wiktor Matysiak and
• Barbara Hajduk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1141–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.106

• batteries [21][22][23][24]. Studies on nanofibre composite mats of PAN/TiO2 have shown large photocatalytic efficiency under ultraviolet light and the potential use of these mats as catalyst in the decomposition of phenol, airborne aromatic compounds and methylene blue [25][26][27][28]. However, PAN/Bi2O3

Multiwalled carbon nanotube hybrids as MRI contrast agents

• Nikodem Kuźnik and
• Mateusz M. Tomczyk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1086–1103, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.102

• groups and opens up many possibilities for further functionalization, decoration, substitution or direct coordination of metals and their compounds. Carboxylic, hydroxyl (both phenol and alkyl alcohol) and carbonyl groups are formed on the surface and edges of the oxidized nanotubes oMWCNT. These

• contrast agent was obtained (Gd-DTPA-oMWCNT#Marangon). We utilized this approach to build a CNT-derivative of Fe3+ complexes with amino-phenol ligands, which showed promising results as T1 contrast agents [42]. An in situ generated acid chloride of oMWCNT was reacted with the ligand, resulting in an Fe3

Facile synthesis of water-soluble carbon nano-onions under alkaline conditions

• Gaber Hashem Gaber Ahmed,
• Rosana Badía Laíño,
• Josefa Angela García Calzón and
• Marta Elena Díaz García

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 758–766, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.67

• vibrations (carboxylic acid) can be observed in both types of nanoparticles. The medium-intensity band at 1342 cm−1 observed in C-onions, but not in C-dots, was ascribed to δS C–O–H absorption [28][29]. The peak at 1570 cm−1 observed for C-onions can be ascribed to the phenol C=C phenol ring stretching. The

Surface coating affects behavior of metallic nanoparticles in a biological environment

• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ćurlin,
• Ivona Capjak,
• Tea Crnković,
• Marija Lovrić,
• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Ivana Vinković Vrček and
• Srećko Gajović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 246–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.23

• significant agglomeration of CITAgNPs in phenol red-free DMEM (product number 12-709, Lonza, Verviers, Belgium) and in RPMI-1640 medium (product number R5886, Sigma-Aldrich, Munich, Germany) [50]. Both of these formulations contained HEPES as the buffering agent, while the media used in the recent work, where

Conformational switching of ethano-bridged Cu,H₂-bis-porphyrin induced by aromatic amines

• Simona Bettini,
• Emanuela Maglie,
• Rosanna Pagano,
• Victor Borovkov,
• Yoshihisa Inoue,
• Ludovico Valli and
• Gabriele Giancane

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2154–2160, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.221

• variations in the absorption spectra, suggesting that the aromatic group of the analyte is crucial for the conformational switching in the bis-porphyrin derivative. Therefore, these results prompted us to test a phenol solution as a subphase for the Cu,H2-Por2 floating film. As highlighted by the invariant

• reflection spectrum (Figure 4b), the phenol guest does not induce a conformational change. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the simultaneous presence of an amino group and aromatic ring is necessary to induce the syn-to-anti conformational change in Cu,H2-Por2. As a further confirmation of such

• . However, the injection of phenol solutions (up to 0.01 M) did not induce any detectable shift in the plasmon peak of the SPR sample. Conclusion In this study, an ethano-bridged bis-porphyrin with a free-base ring and a copper metallated ring was dissolved in a chloroform solution and spread at the air

Controlled switching of single-molecule junctions by mechanical motion of a phenyl ring

• Yuya Kitaguchi,
• Satoru Habuka,
• Hiroshi Okuyama,
• Shinichiro Hatta,
• Tetsuya Aruga,
• Thomas Frederiksen,
• Magnus Paulsson and
• Hiromu Ueba

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2088–2095, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.213

• . The Cu(110) surface was cleaned by repeated cycles of argon ion sputtering and annealing. PhO and thiophenoxy (C6H5S, PhS) were prepared on Cu(110) as reported previously [13]. Methyl-substituted phenol compounds (meta-cresol and 3,5-xylenol) were exposed to the surface at 300 K, which caused partial

• dehydrogenation as in the case of phenol. An electrochemically etched tungsten tip was used as an STM probe. The tips were repeatedly and gently touched to the Cu surface to coat them with copper, resulting in Cu-terminated tips for reliable switching [14]. We observed that sharp tips give high-contrast images

Optimized design of a nanostructured SPCE-based multipurpose biosensing platform formed by ferrocene-tethered electrochemically-deposited cauliflower-shaped gold nanoparticles

• Wicem Argoubi,
• Maroua Saadaoui,
• Sami Ben Aoun and
• Noureddine Raouafi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1840–1852, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.187

• oxidoreductase family of enzymes is an important class of enzymes that catalyze redox reactions. They are well-adapted for the construction of electrochemical enzyme-based biosensors for many applications such as blood sugar level measurement, phenol oxidation, and the detection of pesticides and herbicides [36

High photocatalytic activity of V-doped SrTiO₃ porous nanofibers produced from a combined electrospinning and thermal diffusion process

• Panpan Jing,
• Wei Lan,
• Qing Su and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1281–1286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.132

• , chemical fertilizers and phenol [4]. Fortunately, a new and eco-friendly photocatalysis technique has drawn much attention. Photocatalysts are capable of accelerating the oxidation and mineralization of such organic substances with a fast removal rate [5][6] by producing strongly reactive and nonselective