Enhanced Performance and Stability for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production of Cubic CdS by Combining with MoS2 and g-C3N4

CdS and MoS2 are both promising photocatalytic materials for hydrogen production and lots of MoS2/CdS composites have been investigated. However, most of the previous work focused on relatively stable hexagonal CdS; researches on cubic CdS are still rare mainly due to its unstability. Then in this paper, a ternary composite MoS2/CN/CdS composed of cubic CdS, MoS2 and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4, abbreviated as CN) was prepared by simple in situ precipitation of cubic CdS on MoS2/CN at room temperature. Based on a series of characterizations, the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of MoS2/CN/CdS was studied. The results showed that when the amount of MoS2/CN was 10 wt.%, the activity reached 1253.2 [Formula: see text]mol h[Formula: see text], about 110 times that of pure CdS. Especially, its stability was investigated in detail by cyclic hydrogen production tests, which indicated that although the activity decreased after the first cycle, it was stable in the following three cycles mainly due to the existence of CN. Namely, a relatively stable and high performance cubic CdS-based ternary composite was achieved. This research can provide some new insights into the design of cubic CdS-based photocatalysts.

Efficient Detection of Gastric Cancer Marker miR-185 Using Graphene Oxide and Nuclease DSN

Since miR-185 has been identified as a prognostic biomarker to forecast the course of survival and relapse in gastric cancer (GC), quantitative detection of miR-185 features in developing personalized strategies for GC treatment. In this study, a highly sensitive method for miR-185 detection was rationally designed with the characteristic of fluorescent signal amplification and it was based on constructing graphene oxide sensor and utilizing duplex specific nuclease (DSN). In detail, the cleavage of many DNA signal probes was successfully triggered by the miR-185 target which contributed to the target-recycling mechanism. The protocol exhibited a prominent ability to analyze miR-185 in solution, and it can detect miR-185 at different concentrations as low as 476 pM with a linear range of 0–50 nM. Moreover, this method has gained its prominence in distinguishing the target miRNA from various sequences with one to three base mismatches or other miRNAs. Taken together, it presented the prominent potential to be a candidate tool in the field of clinical diagnosis considering its precise and efficient ability to detect miR-185.

Bacteria as an Efficient Bacteriosystem for the Synthesis of Nanoparticles: A Bibliometric Analysis

The growth trend of publications in the field of nanoparticles biosynthesis by bacteria was analyzed using bibliometric techniques to the identification of the areas with significant development and the orientations that have guided the research on bacteria. This study extracted data from the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus between 2000 and 2020 to compare results. The number of articles published annually, participating countries, resource growth rate, most used keywords and research collaborations were obtained from bibliometric analysis. The results showed that nanoparticle documents in materials science, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology have improved citation rates as the authors researched in multidisciplinary areas. Although these keywords have the most sites, they are not emerging keywords, and their most common use was in the years 2014–2018. The results showed the upward trend of articles published from 2000 to 2020, most of which were related to the last 10 years. The 5 countries that had the most articles published in this field were China, USA, India, Germany and Iran. The top sources that had the most published documents in this field had a similar scope to our research. The results of each section had a significant relationship with other sections of this study. VOS viewer program was used for quantitative analysis. It seems that bibliometric methods will complement meta-analysis and qualitative structured literature reviews as a method for reviewing and evaluating scientific literature. The advantage of the bibliographic analysis was the awareness of trends in a study area.

Efficient Reusable Gold-Mesoporous Silica Nanocatalysts for Aromatic Nitro Reduction: Role of Phenolic Chelating Ligands on Immobilizing Gold Nanoparticles and Catalytic Activity

Developing heterogeneous metal nanocatalysts is highly desirable since the catalyst can be easily separated and reused for several times. In this manuscript, we have immobilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the surface of mesoporous silica (SiO[Formula: see text] using simple amino acid-based phenolic chelating molecules and utilized as highly reusable catalyst for nitroarene reduction. The synthesized nanocomposites (Au@SiO2-1 and Au@SiO2-2) have been unambiguously confirmed using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Interestingly, Au@SiO2-1 exhibited highly enhanced 4-nitrophenol reduction that was studied using absorption spectroscopy. Further catalytic activity of Au@SiO2-1 was also explored for 2-nitroaninline and 4-nitroaniline. The reusable studies demonstrated that the catalyst did not show significant change in the activity up to ten cycles. After catalytic reactions studies confirmed the strong attachment of AuNPs on the SiO2 matrix.

A Stretchable Strain Sensor Based on CNTs/GR for Human Motion Monitoring

Flexible/stretchable strain sensors have attracted much attention due to their advantages for human-computer interaction, smart wearable and human monitoring. However, there are still great challenges on gaining super durability, quick response, and wide sensing range. This paper provides a simple process to obtain a sensor which is based on graphene (GR)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Ecoflex hybrid, which demonstrates superb endurance (over 1000 cycles at 100% strain), remarkable sensitivity (strain over 125% sensitivity up to 20) and wide sensing range (175%). All results indicate that it is capable for human movement monitoring, such as finger and knee bending and pulse beat. Most importantly, it can be used as a warning function for the night cyclist’s ride. This research provides the feasibility of using this sensor for practical applications.

Nano-Sized Effect on Liquid Phase and Their Energy

Regardless of the state of matter, such as solids, liquids, and gases, the smaller the matter size from bulk to nano-scale, especially in the quantum region, the more rapid is the energy increase. To this end, this study introduces the concept of a group system, in which atoms behave as one, and this system is reinterpreted as that comprising temperature–entropy (TS) energy in thermodynamic data. Based on this concept, water was passed through various mesh-like dissolved tubes, where the size and energy of the water group system were observed to change. Thereafter, as the scale and number of the meshes increased, the ozone, chlorine, and oxygen constituents, which are closely related to sterilization and washing, are generated, changing the basic water composition. Thus, this nano-size impact is not limited to solids and could facilitate in revolutionizing the future applications in fluids.

Surface Plasmonic Lasing in Micro-Nanostructures of Silicon Excited by using Pulsed Infrared Lasers

Surface plasmon is a possible candidate to break the diffraction limit and open the door for developing nanolasers on silicon chips. A new step in this development involves the choice of the structures and compositions for better surface plasmonic emission. The micro-nanostructures were fabricated by using a nanosecond pulsed laser on silicon surface, in which the surface plasmonic emission is stronger. The group of emission peaks with multiple-longitudinal-mode occurs in the optical gain curve. Interestingly, the quantum energy of surface plasmon with 140[Formula: see text]meV has been measured at first, which is related to the peak interval (about 62[Formula: see text]nm) of longitudinal modes in the surface plasmonic lasing spectra. The surface plasmonic lasing near 865[Formula: see text]nm was observed in the Purcell cavity with Si–Cr–Si layers excited by using pulsed lasers at 1064[Formula: see text]nm. Surface plasmonic structure induced with photons was observed by using the reflection Talbot effect image, in which the mechanism of the surface plasmonic lasing can be explored. The physical model of the surface plasmonic laser has been built on the energy levels of the micro-nanostructures of Si.

Highly Improved Photocatalytic Activity of Magnetically Separable Ferroferric Oxide@Zinc Oxide/Carbon Nitride Nanocomposites and Interface Mechanism

To develop an efficient and recyclable photocatalyst, ternary magnetic Fe3O4@ZnO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites were synthesized for the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB). The microstructures, magnetic response and photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared nanocomposites were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms and spectrophotometer. All results indicate that ZnO nanoparticles anchor on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and Fe3O4@ZnO exists on the surface of g-C3N4 to form Fe3O4@ZnO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites. The photocatalytic activity to MB of Fe3O4@ZnO/g-C3N4 nanocomposites is significantly higher than those of pristine g-C3N4 and Fe3O4@ZnO. Owing to the heterojunctions between the interface of g-C3N4 and ZnO, the high separation efficiency of the photogenerated electrons and holes increases the radicals [Formula: see text]OH and [Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] to photodegrade MB. Fe3O4@ZnO/g-C3N4 (20%) presents the highest MB removal of 93.74% and could be easily separated from solution with magnetic separation method.

New Optical Method for the Sucrose Solution Measurement Based on Fano Resonance

We propose a new method to determine the concentration of a sucrose solution based on Fano resonance, demonstrate that the [Formula: see text]-shaped resonator and rectangular resonator structures can realize the Fano resonance, observe higher sensitivity up to 2142 nm/RIU, and use the structure to measure the concentration of a sucrose solution. This work shows that the Fano resonance wavelength removed to longer wavelengths as the concentration of the solution increased, and the resolution of solution concentration is [Formula: see text], which can be used for measuring the concentration of solutions other than sucrose. This research is an important first step towards creating the industrial application of photon properties to extend photon polariton applications throughout the infrared.

Synthesis and Near-Field Enhancement of Composite Nanoarrays Based on Electrodeposition and in Situ Reaction

Since the morphology and element composition of metal nanostructures strongly affect the surface plasma oscillation characteristics, it has been widely concerned in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Herein, we proposed a novel route to fabricate composite Au/Ag nanoparticle arrays with synergistic effect for electromagnetic enhancement. Ag nanoparticles were electrodeposited onto a home-made template with highly ordered bowl-like pits. After a novel method of “confined annealing”, we further achieved well-regulated spherical Ag NP arrays, and the composite Au/Ag nanoparticle arrays were finally obtained via in situ replacement. The fabricated composite nanostructures showed stable and sensitive surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance mainly due to the synergistic effect and abundant “hot spots”, with the enhancement factor (EF) of [Formula: see text] for crystal violet (CV) molecules. In addition, this simple and effective preparation process greatly improved the uniformity of three-dimensional nanostructures, providing a new idea for further improving the stability of SERS signals.