Visible-Light-Active Black TiO2 Nanoparticles with Efficient Photocatalytic Performance for Degradation of Pharmaceuticals.

Special attention has recently been paid to surface-defective titanium dioxide and black TiO2 with advanced optical, electrical, and photocatalytic properties. Synthesis of these materials for photodegradation and mineralization of persistent organic pollutants in water, especially under visible radiation, presents interest from scientific and application points of view. Chemical reduction by heating a TiO2 and NaBH4 mixture at 350 °C successfully introduced Ti3+ defects and oxygen vacancies at the surface of TiO2, with an increase in the photocatalytic degradation of amoxicillin-an antibiotic that is present in wastewater due to its intense use in human and animal medicine. Three TiO2 samples were prepared at different annealing temperatures to control the ratio between anatase and rutile and were subjected to chemical reduction. Electron paramagnetic resonance investigations showed that the formation of surface Ti3+ defects in a high concentration occurred mainly in the anatase sample annealed at 400 °C, contributing to the bandgap reduction from 3.32 eV to 2.92 eV. The reduced band gap enhances visible light absorption and the efficiency of photocatalysis. The nanoparticles of ~90 m2/g specific surface area and 12 nm average size exhibit ~100% efficiency in the degradation of amoxicillin under simulated solar irradiation compared with pristine TiO2. Mineralization of amoxicillin and by-products was over 75% after 48 h irradiation for the anatase sample, where the Ti3+ defects were present in a higher concentration at the catalyst's surface.

Electro-active properties of nanostructured films of cytosine and guanine nucleobases.

The discovery of multifunctional properties related to electro-activity of organic systems of biomolecules is important for a variety of applications, especially for devices in the realm of biocompatible sensors and/or bioactuators. A further step towards such applications is to prepare thin films with the required properties. Here, the investigation is focused on the characterization of films of guanine and cytosine nucleobases, prepared by thermal evaporation-an industrial accessible deposition technique. The cytosine films have an orthorhombic non-centrosymmetric structure and grow in two interconnected nanostructured fractal patterns, of nearly equal proportion. Piezoresponse force microscopy images acquired at room temperature on the cytosine films display large zones with antiparallel alignment of the vertical components of the polarization vector. Guanine films have a dense nano-grained morphology. Our studies reveal electrical polarization switching effects which can be related to ferroelectricity in the films of guanine molecules. Characteristic ferroelectric polarization-electric-field hysteresis loops showing large electrical polarization are observed at low temperatures up to 200 K. Above this temperature, the guanine films have a preponderant paraelectric phase containing residual or locally induced nano-scopic ferroelectric domains, as observed by piezoresponse force microscopy at room temperature.

X-ray absorption fine structure combined with x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Part 15. Monitoring of vanadium site transformations on titania and in mesoporous titania by selective detection of the vanadium K alpha1 fluorescence.

X-ray absorption fine structure combined with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was applied to various V+TiO2 hybrid samples. Emitted V K alpha1 fluorescence from the sample was selectively counted by using a high-energy-resolution (0.4 eV) spectrometer equipped with a Ge(331) crystal. Two advantages of this method, extremely high signal/background ratio and the compatibility of measurements in the atmosphere of reaction gas (in situ study in relation to heterogeneous catalysis), were effective at the V K-edge. Structure transformation of the V sites was spectroscopically followed for the V/TiO2 catalyst. The monooxo tetrahedral vanadate site was demonstrated to exist at 473 K. It transformed into dispersed species of 5-fold coordination in ambient air and further into polymeric VO(x) species in 0.85 kPa of water at 290 K. In the presence of 3.2 kPa of 2-propanol, dissociative adsorption of 2-propanol on the dispersed V species was strongly suggested at 290-473 K. In situ structure changes of V sites on TiO2 were reported by means of XAFS for the first time. The V(V) sites for the V/TiO2 catalysts were essentially identical with those for V supported on mesoporous (high-surface-area) TiO2 and V-TiO2 sample prepared by the sol-gel method. However, predominant V(IV) sites were found for mesoporous V-TiO2. The V(IV) sites substituted on the Ti sites of TiO2. When the molar ratio of V/Ti increased from 1/100 to 1/5.0, major octahedral V sites in the TiO2 matrix looked to transform into tetrahedral ones.

Non-existence of positive glitches in spectra using the YB(66) double-crystal monochromator of BL15XU at Spring-8.

YB(66) is suitable for dispersing synchrotron radiation in the 1-2 keV energy range with a 2d lattice spacing of 1.17 nm. When used with an undulator there are no positive glitches at 1385.6 and 1438 eV in spectra dispersed by a YB(66) 400 double-crystal monochromator as observed using bending-magnet or wiggler beamlines. The transmission function of a YB(66) double-crystal monochromator has been measured by means of a Si PIN photodetector, and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) of Mg, Al and Si were measured at high resolution. From all of these experiments it has been clarified that a YB(66) double-crystal monochromator is well suited for soft X-ray beamlines on third-generation light sources.