Fabrication of gold-coated PDMS surfaces with arrayed triangular micro/nanopyramids for use as SERS substrates

• Jingran Zhang,
• Yongda Yan,
• Peng Miao and
• Jianxiong Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2271–2282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.227

• rhodamine 6G (R6G) were detected as test analytes [17]. The micro/nanostructures of a blue butterfly wing were used as a template, and a SERS substrate was produced and utilized to detect rhodamine dye for the elimination of organic pollutants [19]. Additionally, pyramidal array structures on conventional

Functional materials for environmental sensors and energy systems

• Michele Penza,
• Anita Lloyd Spetz,
• Albert Romano-Rodriguez and
• Meyya Meyyappan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2015–2016, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.201

• sensing and energy applications, carbon-based materials for chemical sensing and energy applications, piezoelectric and thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting applications, new nanotechnology-based sensors for monitoring gaseous and liquid pollutants, surface-sensitive spectroscopy for studying

Fabrication of carbon nanospheres by the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile–poly(methyl methacrylate) core–shell composite nanoparticles

• Dafu Wei,
• Youwei Zhang and
• Jinping Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.190

• /g were obtained from the PAN–PMMA nanoparticles synthesized at an FVR of 1.6. The carbon nanospheres exhibited a large adsorption capacity of 190.0 mg/g for methylene blue, thus making them excellent adsorbents for the removal of organic pollutants from water. Keywords: carbon nanospheres; core

• exhibit a high BET specific surface area of 612.8 m2/g and a large adsorption capacity of 190.0 mg/g for methylene blue, thus making them excellent adsorbents for the removal of organic pollutants from water. Experimental Materials Acrylonitrile (AN) was distilled before use to remove the inhibitor

• as a model for organic pollutants) from water. The absorption of MB on CP6 was very fast; the adsorption capacity and the removal efficiency of MB after 2 h of adsorption reached 190.0 mg/g and 96.1%, respectively. The MB adsorption capacity of CP6 is higher than most of those reported carbon

Methionine-mediated synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and functionalization with gold quantum dots for theranostic applications

• Arūnas Jagminas,
• Agnė Mikalauskaitė,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas and
• Jūrate Vaičiūnienė

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1734–1741, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.174

• application of Fe3O4@Met NPs for the adsorption of water pollutants. In this study, we report a novel synthesis protocol for superparamagnetic cobalt ferrite NPs capped with a biocompatible methionine shell (CoFe2O4@Met), which in turn is capable to reduce and attach the gold species. In this way, hybrid

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

• clean water sources all over the world. This demand has been continuously increasing due to the inevitable discharge of pollutants into the natural water cycle from various pharmaceutical and food industries [3]. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop green (ecologically-friendly), sustainable and

• technologically promising approaches to generate clean energy as well as to completely degrade pollutants into CO2 and H2O. Hydrogen seems to be a promising solution as a sustainable, clean and renewable energy source to overcome this energy crisis [4]. Hydrogen is mainly present in fossil fuels, such as natural

• oxidizing agent and can degrade organic pollutants [12]. Moreover, the pollutants may also be directly oxidized by the holes (h+) due to their oxidizing nature, but the detailed reaction mechanism is still under debate. In addition, photoexcited electrons in the CB of a semiconductor can reduce H+ ions in

Nanostructures for sensors, electronics, energy and environment III

• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1530–1531, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.154

• ., silicene, phosphorene, transition metal dichalcogenides, MXenes), which now number more than 6,000. The topic of nanoparticles is the focus of this Thematic Series, the use of which spans from biosensing to gas detection and from removing pollutants from water to new generations of solar cells. The

Enhanced catalytic activity without the use of an external light source using microwave-synthesized CuO nanopetals

• Govinda Lakhotiya,
• Sonal Bajaj,
• Arpan Kumar Nayak,
• Debabrata Pradhan,
• Pradip Tekade and
• Abhimanyu Rana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1167–1173, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.118

• conditions is also illustrated. Keywords: CuO nanopetals; dark catalytic activity; fast degradation of dyes; microwave synthesis; Introduction Controlling air quality and water pollutants is a big challenge for environmental research [1]. Particularly, efforts have been taken to control these pollutants

• with the development of cost effective and ecologically friendly methods [2]. Metal oxides have attracted significant attention as a photocatalyst for the degradation of these pollutants [3][4][5][6]. Copper oxide (CuO) is one of the most efficient materials for the oxidation of the air pollutant

• enhance the photoconductive and photochemical properties in various energy applications [7]. Being inexpensive, nontoxic, and readily available, CuO has attracted particular attention. However, in the degradation of water pollutants (e.g., industrial dyes) as a photocatalytic oxidative species, CuO is

ZnO nanoparticles sensitized by CuInZn_xS_2+x quantum dots as highly efficient solar light driven photocatalysts

• Florian Donat,
• Serge Corbel,
• Halima Alem,
• Steve Pontvianne,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1080–1093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.110

• composites prepared for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants require a relatively large quantity of CIS nanocrystals to be complete (20 wt % CIS QDs relative to ZnO) [34][37]. When the ZCIS/ZnO weight ratio was decreased to ≈7%, the photodegradation never exceeded 80% even using a light source

• pollutants, for example, for the production of new energy sources. (a) TEM image of ZCIS QDs and (b) the corresponding size distribution. TEM and HR-TEM images of (c) ZnO nanoparticles and (d,e) the ZnO/ZCIS composite. (f) XRD patterns of ZCIS QDs, ZnO nanoparticles and of the ZnO/ZCIS composite. (a) SEM

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications

• Chiara Schiattarella,
• Sten Vollebregt,
• Tiziana Polichetti,
• Brigida Alfano,
• Ettore Massera,
• Maria Lucia Miglietta,
• Girolamo Di Francia and
• Pasqualina Maria Sarro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1015–1022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.102

• techniques, following a completely Si-technology-compatible approach. Chemiresistive devices have been realized by shaping the sensing layer in form of rectangular strips. In order to probe the gas-sensing capabilities of the fabricated devices, three standard pollutants have been chosen, namely NO2, NH3 and

High photocatalytic activity of Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ nanocomposites prepared by photodeposition for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

• Shu Chin Lee,
• Hendrik O. Lintang and
• Leny Yuliati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 915–926, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.93

• have been widely suggested for environmental remediation under mild conditions. In the presence of only a photocatalyst and a light source of appropriate energy, the process can mineralize organic pollutants to harmless products such as carbon dioxide and water. Among the semiconductor photocatalysts

• , titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been the foremost established material for degradation of organic pollutants [1][2]. In addition to its nontoxicity, abundance and relatively low cost, TiO2 also shows excellent photocatalytic activity in many degradation reactions. Unfortunately, the photocatalytic performance

• (III) oxide (Fe2O3), which is nontoxic, stable, cost effective and found abundantly in the earth. It has been reported that Fe2O3 can be used to increase the photocatalytic activity or selectivity of semiconductor photocatalysts for degradation of organic pollutants [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14

Modeling adsorption of brominated, chlorinated and mixed bromo/chloro-dibenzo-p-dioxins on C₆₀ fullerene using Nano-QSPR

• Piotr Urbaszek,
• Agnieszka Gajewicz,
• Celina Sikorska,
• Maciej Haranczyk and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 752–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.78

• present and dangerous Studies on chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) as representatives of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) [1] are an important area of the environmental sciences and scientific research [2][3][4][5]. PCDDs are usually represented by 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD

• complex formation can be dangerous because of the ability of nanoparticles like fullerenes to penetrate biological barriers and act as a vector, transferring dioxins or other pollutants inside the cells [22]. The potential applications of C60 as smoke filters or air-cleaning agents are examples where it

• ) with a modeled property (energy of the PXDD@C60 complex). It is a computational technique that, to the best of our knowledge, is the first published example of the use of Nano-QSPR to predict interactions between fullerenes and numerous organic pollutants. Results Nano-QSPR model Based on the

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

• ), sensors, photocatalysts, removal of organic pollutants, etc. Recent studies have shown that a single graphene sheet (GS) has extraordinary electronic transport properties. One possible route to connecting those properties for application in electronics would be to prepare graphene-wrapped TMO NPs. In this

Investigation of the photocatalytic efficiency of tantalum alkoxy carboxylate-derived Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles in rhodamine B removal

• Subia Ambreen,
• Mohammad Danish,
• Narendra D. Pandey and
• Ashutosh Pandey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 604–613, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.65

• and CeO2, serve as potential photocatalysts [1][2][3][4]. The properties of the metal oxide nanoparticles (surface area, band gap, porosity) determine its photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic pollutants from water. Because of properties such as high refractive index and large band

Gas sensing properties of MWCNT layers electrochemically decorated with Au and Pd nanoparticles

• Elena Dilonardo,
• Michele Penza,
• Marco Alvisi,
• Riccardo Rossi,
• Gennaro Cassano,
• Cinzia Di Franco,
• Francesco Palmisano,
• Luisa Torsi and
• Nicola Cioffi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 592–603, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.64

• (MWCNT)-based chemiresistors were electrochemically decorated with Au and Pd nanoparticles (NPs), resulting in an improvement in the detection of gaseous pollutants as compared to sensors based on pristine MWCNTs. Electrophoresis was used to decorate MWCNTs with preformed Au or Pd NPs, thus preserving

• their nanometer-sized dimensions and allowing the metal content to be tuned by simply varying the deposition time. The sensing response of unmodified and metal-decorated MWCNTs was evaluated towards different gaseous pollutants (e.g., NO2, H2S, NH3 and C4H10) at a wide range of concentrations in the

• of emissions of toxic, pollutant gases (e.g., NO2, H2S, NH3, C4H10) and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere [1]. The effect of high concentration levels of these gaseous pollutants causes both environmental problems and health consequences for humans (e.g., respiratory and cardiovascular illness

Performance of natural-dye-sensitized solar cells by ZnO nanorod and nanowall enhanced photoelectrodes

• Saif Saadaoui,
• Mohamed Aziz Ben Youssef,
• Moufida Ben Karoui,
• Rached Gharbi,
• Emanuele Smecca,
• Vincenzina Strano,
• Salvo Mirabella,
• Alessandra Alberti and
• Rosaria A. Puglisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 287–295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.31

• complete the reaction [2][10]. Different high-raked commercial dyes, such as N719 or N3, have been widely studied in the literature and their performance has been proven. Because these organometallic dyes contain environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals [6], recent studies have focused on finding a

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

• degrading hydroxybenzene derivatives under UV and visible light, was investigated using hybrid films in aqueous solutions. The motivation for this selection is that the phenolic compounds play a major role among the various organic pollutants that cause environmental hazard, being a part of the widely used

• drugs, pesticides, dyes, and plastics. On the basis of this information, we tried to prepare stable photocatalytic materials with good activity against phenolic pollutants under UV–visible light starting from TiO2 NPs with and without Si–O–Si sequences and/or Fe2O3 NPs immobilized in a polymer network

Microfluidic setup for on-line SERS monitoring using laser induced nanoparticle spots as SERS active substrate

• Oana-M. Buja,
• Ovidiu D. Gordan,
• Nicolae Leopold,
• Andreas Morschhauser,
• Jörg Nestler and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 237–243, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.26

• (SERS) has been proven to be a suitable tool for rapid detection of pollutants [3][5][6][7][8], based on their specific molecular fingerprint spectra [9]. The high sensitivity of this spectroscopic technique originates from the pronounced enhancement of the inelastic scattering when the molecule is

• detection and on-line monitoring of pollutants in water, based on this straightforward and effective microfluidic SERS setup. Experimental A schematic representation of the SERS microfluidic setup is shown in Figure 5. The experiments were carried out in a square glass capillary with 200 μm inner dimension

Laser irradiation in water for the novel, scalable synthesis of black TiO_x photocatalyst for environmental remediation

• Massimo Zimbone,
• Giuseppe Cacciato,
• Mohamed Boutinguiza,
• Vittorio Privitera and
• Maria Grazia Grimaldi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 196–202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.21

• applications. The morphological, structural and optical properties of the film surface were investigated. Moreover, we fabricated a photochemical diode with remarkable activity for the degradation of pollutants in water. The device is created by depositing a layer of Pt nanoparticles (PtNps) on the rear side

• extremely high absorbance in the IR, visible and UV spectral range. Although it is composed of amorphous titanium oxide, it is able to degrade pollutants (methylene blue) dissolved in solution at a high rate (QE = 0.041%). This high activity is ascribed to the presence of trap states for holes in the

Sensitive detection of hydrocarbon gases using electrochemically Pd-modified ZnO chemiresistors

• Elena Dilonardo,
• Michele Penza,
• Marco Alvisi,
• Gennaro Cassano,
• Cinzia Di Franco,
• Francesco Palmisano,
• Luisa Torsi and
• Nicola Cioffi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 82–90, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.9

• interfering gaseous pollutants (e.g., NO2) revealed that the presence of Pd NPs on the surface of ZnO improves the selectivity in the detection of specific gaseous molecules. Specifically Pd@ZnO chemiresistors showed a high selectivity towards HCs compared to the pristine ZnO-based gas sensors. On the

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• water solution was tested using methylene blue and ibuprofen compounds, respectively, as model of pollutants. Keywords: delamination; montmorillonite; organoclays; photocatalysis; porous clay heterostructures; sepiolite; ZnO nanoparticles; Introduction In the last decades, great effort has been

• devoted to study ZnO as a very promising catalyst in the photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants. This is because of its elevated activity, its low cost and, in particular, its environmentally friendly behavior [1][2]. It has been confirmed that ZnO compared to TiO2 exhibits better efficiency in the

• photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants [3][4][5][6]. It should be remembered that nanoparticulated zinc oxide is a wide-band gap II–VI semiconductor with a band-gap energy of around 3.4 eV, which is of great interest for photocatalytic applications [7]. ZnO nanoparticles (NP) have been assembled to

Prediction of the mechanical properties of zeolite pellets for aerospace molecular decontamination applications

• Guillaume Rioland,
• Patrick Dutournié,
• Delphine Faye,
• T. Jean Daou and
• Joël Patarin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1761–1771, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.169

• pollutants without being damaged by impact or vibrations. Experimental Materials Two hydrophilic and two hydrophobic zeolites have been chosen to make zeolite pellets: - FAU 13X powder with a crystal size of 3–5 µm and a Si/Al molar ratio of 1.2 was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. - Na-LTA powder with a

Role of RGO support and irradiation source on the photocatalytic activity of CdS–ZnO semiconductor nanostructures

• Suneel Kumar,
• Rahul Sharma,
• Vipul Sharma,
• Gurunarayanan Harith,
• Vaidyanathan Sivakumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1684–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.161

• nanostructures. Keywords: catalytic properties; chemical synthesis; nanostructures; semiconductors; transmission electron microscopy (TEM); Introduction In the past decade, there has been an increased interest in the photocatalytic degradation of various kinds of organic pollutants in water and soil [1]. Many

• of these pollutants, particularly dyes, are carcinogenic and mutagenic [2]. Thus, there is an urgent need for removal of these pollutants as these are harmful to both human and environment [3]. Previous studies have extensively explored the role of semiconductor oxides mainly ZnO, TiO2 in the

• photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants [4][5][6][7][8]. These semiconductor photocatalysts not only degrade the contaminants, but also cause their complete mineralization into CO2, H2O and mineral acids [9][10]. Thus, it is advantageous over physico-chemical methods such as flocculation–coagulation

Development of adsorptive membranes by confinement of activated biochar into electrospun nanofibers

• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Mitra Naghdi,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• Emile Knystautas,
• Mausam Verma,
• Rao. Y. Surampalli and
• Jose. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1556–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.149

• , there is no report on the fabrication of NFM containing carbonaceous adsorbents for the removal of pollutants from aqueous media. In recent years, emerging contaminants such as pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) and endocrine disrupters have been the focus of attention due to their long term

An efficient recyclable magnetic material for the selective removal of organic pollutants

• Clément Monteil,
• Nathalie Bar,
• Agnès Bee and
• Didier Villemin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1447–1453, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.136

• Wastewater cleaning strategies based on the adsorption of materials are being increasingly considered, but the wide variety of organic pollutants at low concentrations still makes their removal a challenge. The hybrid material proposed here consists of a zwitterionic polyethylenimine polymer coating a

• introduced on the polymer. After recovering the nanoparticles with a magnet, pollutants are quantitatively released by repeated washing with low amounts of pH-adjusted water. The material can be reused many times without noticeable loss of efficiency and is designed to resist high temperatures, oxidation and

• harsh conditions. Keywords: adsorption; magnetic nanoparticles; organic pollutants; phosphonated polyethylenimine; Introduction During the last decades, an increased emphasis was placed on the issue of diffuse contamination of water. Toxic metals and organic pollutants are significant sources of

A composite structure based on reduced graphene oxide and metal oxide nanomaterials for chemical sensors

• Vardan Galstyan,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Iskandar Kholmanov,
• Andrea Ponzoni,
• Veronica Sberveglieri,
• Nicola Poli,
• Guido Faglia and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1421–1427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.133

• monitoring of environmental pollutants and for the application of breath tests in assessment of exposure to volatile organic compounds. Keywords: chemical sensors; reduced graphene oxide (RGO); volatile organic compounds; zinc oxide (ZnO); Introduction Hazard analysis of critical control point (HACCP