scholarly journals Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO2@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO2 core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 1834-1846
Author(s):  
Bridget K Mutuma ◽  
Xiluva Mathebula ◽  
Isaac Nongwe ◽  
Bonakele P Mtolo ◽  
Boitumelo J Matsoso ◽  
...  

Core–shell based nanostructures are attractive candidates for photocatalysis owing to their tunable physicochemical properties, their interfacial contact effects, and their efficacy in charge-carrier separation. This study reports, for the first time, on the synthesis of mesoporous silica@nickel phyllosilicate/titania (mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2) core–shell nanostructures. The TEM results showed that the mSiO2@NiPS composite has a core–shell nanostructure with a unique flake-like shell morphology. XPS analysis revealed the successful formation of 1:1 nickel phyllosilicate on the SiO2 surface. The addition of TiO2 to the mSiO2@NiPS yielded the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 composite. The bandgap energy of mSiO2@NiPS and of mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 were estimated to be 2.05 and 2.68 eV, respectively, indicating the role of titania in tuning the optoelectronic properties of the SiO2@nickel phyllosilicate. As a proof of concept, the core–shell nanostructures were used as photocatalysts for the degradation of methyl violet dye and the degradation efficiencies were found to be 72% and 99% for the mSiO2@NiPS and the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 nanostructures, respectively. Furthermore, a recyclability test revealed good stability and recyclability of the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 photocatalyst with a degradation efficacy of 93% after three cycles. The porous flake-like morphology of the nickel phyllosilicate acted as a suitable support for the TiO2 nanoparticles. Further, a coating of TiO2 on the mSiO2@NiPS surface greatly affected the surface features and optoelectronic properties of the core–shell nanostructure and yielded superior photocatalytic properties.

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Christian Zambrzycki ◽  
Runbang Shao ◽  
Archismita Misra ◽  
Carsten Streb ◽  
Ulrich Herr ◽  
...  

Core-shell materials are promising functional materials for fundamental research and industrial application, as their properties can be adapted for specific applications. In particular, particles featuring iron or iron oxide as core material are relevant since they combine magnetic and catalytic properties. The addition of an SiO2 shell around the core particles introduces additional design aspects, such as a pore structure and surface functionalization. Herein, we describe the synthesis and application of iron-based core-shell nanoparticles for two different fields of research that is heterogeneous catalysis and water purification. The iron-based core shell materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, as well as N2-physisorption, X-ray diffraction, and vibrating-sample magnetometer measurements in order to correlate their properties with the performance in the target applications. Investigations of these materials in CO2 hydrogenation and water purification show their versatility and applicability in different fields of research and application, after suitable individual functionalization of the core-shell precursor. For design and application of magnetically separable particles, the SiO2 shell is surface-functionalized with an ionic liquid in order to bind water pollutants selectively. The core requires no functionalization, as it provides suitable magnetic properties in the as-made state. For catalytic application in synthesis gas reactions, the SiO2-stabilized core nanoparticles are reductively functionalized to provide the catalytically active metallic iron sites. Therefore, Fe@SiO2 core-shell nanostructures are shown to provide platform materials for various fields of application, after a specific functionalization.


Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Xu ◽  
Danyang Li ◽  
Haijun Zhou ◽  
Biaoqi Chen ◽  
Junlei Wang ◽  
...  

We describe the synthesis of MnO2-coated porous Pt@CeO2 core–shell nanostructures (Pt@CeO2@MnO2) as a new theranostic nano-platform. The porous Pt cores endow the core–shell nanostructures with high photothermal conversion efficiency (80%)...


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1280-1291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaka Panda ◽  
R. Govindaraj ◽  
R. Mythili ◽  
G. Amarendra

Bismuth and iron oxides subjected to ball milling followed by controlled annealing treatments showed the formation of core–shell nanostructures with Bi2Fe4O9 as the core and a shell of BiFeO3 and Bi25FeO40 phases as deduced based on the analysis of transmission electron microscopy results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dipti Rawat ◽  
P. B. Barman ◽  
Ragini Raj Singh

Abstract The selected and controlled preparation of core@shell nanostructures, which unite the multiple functions of ferromagnetic Ni-Zn ferrite core and CdS shell in a single material with tuneable fluorescence and magnetic properties, have been proposed by the seed mediated aqueous growth process. The shell particle thickness and core of nanostructures were precisely tuned. Current work exhibits the comparative study of core@shell multifunctional nanostructures where core being annealed at two different temperatures. The core@shell nanostructure formation was confirmed by complementary structural, elemental, optical, magnetic and IR measurements. Optical and magnetic characterizations were performed to study elaborative effects of different structural combinations of core@shell nanostructures to achieve best configuration with high-luminescence and magnetic outcomes. The interface of magnetic/nonmagnetic NiZnFe2O4/CdS nanostructures was inspected. Unexpectedly, in some of the core@shell nanostructures presence of substantial exchange-bias was observed in spite of the non-magnetic nature of CdS QDs which is clearly an “optically-active” and “magnetically-inactive” material. Presence of “exchange-bias” was confirmed by the change in “magnetic-anisotropy” as well as shift in susceptibility derivative. Finally, successful formulation of stable and efficient core@shell nanostructures achieved, which shows no exchange-bias and shift. Current findings suggest that these magneto-fluorescent nanostructures can be used in spintronics; and drug delivery-diagnosis-imaging applications in nanomedicine field.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adèle Renaud ◽  
Laurent Cario ◽  
Xavier Rocquefelte ◽  
Philippe Deniard ◽  
Eric Gautron ◽  
...  

Abstract Owing to its high technological importance for optoelectronics, zinc oxide received much attention. In particular, the role of defects on its physical properties has been extensively studied as well as their thermodynamical stability. In particular, a large concentration of Zn vacancies in ZnO bulk materials is so far considered highly unstable. Here we report that the thermal decomposition of zinc peroxide produces wurtzite-type ZnO nanoparticles with an extraordinary large amount of zinc vacancies (>15%). These Zn vacancies segregate at the surface of the nanoparticles, as confirmed by ab initio calculations, to form a pseudo core-shell structure made of a dense ZnO sphere coated by a Zn free oxo-hydroxide mono layer. In others terms, oxygen terminated surfaces are privileged over zinc-terminated surfaces for passivation reasons what accounts for the Zn off-stoichiometry observed in ultra-fine powdered samples. Such Zn-deficient Zn1-xO nanoparticles exhibit an unprecedented photoluminescence signature suggesting that the core-shell-like edifice drastically influences the electronic structure of ZnO. This nanostructuration could be at the origin of the recent stabilisation of p-type charge carriers in nitrogen-doped ZnO nanoparticles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1999
Author(s):  
Peter Kutzer ◽  
Claudia A. Szentiks ◽  
Sabine Bock ◽  
Guido Fritsch ◽  
Tibor Magyar ◽  
...  

Since 2010, outbreaks of haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS) caused by Pasteurella (P.) multocida capsular type B (PmB) emerged in Germany. In 2017, we noticed a close spatiotemporal relationship between HS outbreak sites and wolf (Canis lupus) territories. Thus, the main objectives of our study were to investigate the molecular epidemiology of German PmB-HS-isolates and to assess the role of wolves as putative vectors of this pathogen. We collected 83 PmB isolates from HS outbreaks that occurred between 2010 and 2019 and sampled 150 wolves, which were found dead in the years 2017 to 2019, revealing another three PmB isolates. A maximum-likelihood-based phylogeny of the core genomes of 65 PmB-HS-isolates and the three PmB-wolf-isolates showed high relatedness. Furthermore, all belonged to capsular:LPS:MLST genotype B:L2:ST122RIRDC and showed highly similar virulence gene profiles, but clustered separately from 35 global ST122RIRDC strains. Our data revealed that German HS outbreaks were caused by a distinct genomic lineage of PmB-ST122 strains, hinting towards an independent, ongoing epidemiologic event. We demonstrated for the first time, that carnivores, i.e., wolves, might harbour PmB as a part of their oropharyngeal microbiota. Furthermore, the results of our study imply that wolves can carry the pathogen over long distances, indicating a major role of that animal species in the ongoing epidemiological event of HS in Germany.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Zhiwen Zhao

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In the perfect conductivity problem arising from composites, the electric field may become arbitrarily large as <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ \varepsilon $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, the distance between the inclusions and the matrix boundary, tends to zero. In this paper, by making clear the singular role of the blow-up factor <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ Q[\varphi] $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> introduced in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b27">27</xref>] for some special boundary data of even function type with <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ k $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>-order growth, we prove the optimality of the blow-up rate in the presence of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M4">\begin{document}$ m $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>-convex inclusions close to touching the matrix boundary in all dimensions. Finally, we give closer analysis in terms of the singular behavior of the concentrated field for eccentric and concentric core-shell geometries with circular and spherical boundaries from the practical application angle.</p>


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3390
Author(s):  
Di Wu ◽  
Jun Guo ◽  
Zhen-Hua Ge ◽  
Jing Feng

Varying structure Bi2Te3-based nanocomposite powders including pure Bi2Te3, Bi2Te3/Bi core−shell, and Bi2Te3/AgBiTe2 heterostructure were synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis using Bi2S3 as the template and hydrazine as the reductant. Successful realization of Bi2Te3-based nanostructures were concluded from XRD, FESEM, and TEM. In this work, the improvement in the performance of the rhodamine B (RhB) decomposition efficiency under visible light was discussed. The Bi2Te3/AgBiTe2 heterostructures revealed propitious photocatalytic performance ca. 90% after 60 min. The performance was over Bi2Te3/Bi core-shell nanostructures (ca. 40%) and more, exceeding pure Bi2Te3 (ca. 5%). The reason could be scrutinized in terms of the heterojunction structure, improving the interfacial contact between Bi2Te3 and AgBiTe2 and enabling retardation in the recombination rate of the photogenerated charge carriers. A credible mechanism of the charge transfer process in the Bi2Te3/AgBiTe2 heterostructures for the decomposition of an aqueous solution of RhB was also explicated. In addition, this work also investigated the stability and recyclability of a Bi2Te3/AgBiTe2 heterojunction nanostructure photocatalyst. In addition, this paper anticipates that the results possess broad potential in the photocatalysis field for the design of a visible light functional and reusable heterojunction nanostructure photocatalyst.


Micromachines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Chunpei Yu ◽  
Wei Ren ◽  
Ganggang Wu ◽  
Wenchao Zhang ◽  
Bin Hu ◽  
...  

In this study, CoFe2O4 is selected for the first time to synthesize CoFe2O4/Al nanothermite films via an integration of nano-Al with CoFe2O4 nanowires (NWs), which can be prepared through a facile hydrothermal-annealing route. The resulting nanothermite film demonstrates a homogeneous structure and an intense contact between the Al and CoFe2O4 NWs at the nanoscale. In addition, both thermal analysis and laser ignition test reveal the superb energetic performances of the prepared CoFe2O4/Al NWs nanothermite film. Within different thicknesses of nano-Al for the CoFe2O4/Al NWs nanothermite films investigated here, the maximum heat output has reached as great as 2100 J·g−1 at the optimal thickness of 400 nm for deposited Al. Moreover, the fabrication strategy for CoFe2O4/Al NWs is also easy and suitable for diverse thermite systems based upon other composite metal oxides, such as MnCo2O4 and NiCo2O4. Importantly, this method has the featured advantages of simple operation and compatibility with microsystems, both of which may further facilitate potential applications for functional energetic chips.


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