Small energy gap revealed in CrBr3 by scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

CrBr3 is a layered van der Waals material with magnetic ordering down to the 2D limit. For decades, based on optical measurements, it is believed that the energy gap of CrBr3 is in the range of 1.68-2.1 eV. However, controversial results have indicated that the band gap of CrBr3 is possibly smaller than that. An unambiguous determination of the energy gap is critical to the correct interpretations of the experimental results of CrBr3. Here, we present the scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/S) results of CrBr3 thin and thick flakes exfoliated onto highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to reveal the small energy gap (peak-to-peak energy gap to be 0.57 ± 0.04 eV; or the onset signal energy gap to be 0.29 ± 0.05 eV from dI/dV spectra). Atomic resolution topography images show the defect-free crystal structure and the dI/dV spectra exhibit multiple peak features measured at 77 K. The conduction band - valence band peak pairs in the multi-peak dI/dV spectrum agree very well with all reported optical transitions. STM topography images of mono- and bi-layer CrBr3 flakes exhibit edge degradation due to short air exposure (∼15 min) during sample transfer. The unambiguously determined small energy gap settles the controversy and is the key in better understanding CrBr3 and similar materials.

Biocompatible capped iron oxide nanoparticles for Vibrio cholerae detection.

We report the studies relating to fabrication of an efficient immunosensor for Vibrio cholerae detection. Magnetite (iron oxide (Fe(3)O(4))) nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by the co-precipitation method and capped by citric acid (CA). These NPs were electrophoretically deposited onto indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate and used for immobilization of monoclonal antibodies against Vibrio cholerae (Ab) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) for Vibrio cholerae detection using an electrochemical technique. The structural and morphological studies of Fe(3)O(4) and CA-Fe(3)O(4)/ITO were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques. The average crystalline size of Fe(3)O(4), CA-Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles obtained were about 29 ± 1 nm and 37 ± 1 nm, respectively. The hydrodynamic radius of the nanoparticles was found to be 77.35 nm (Fe(3)O(4)) and 189.51 nm (CA-Fe(3)O(4)) by DLS measurement. The results of electrochemical response studies of the fabricated BSA/Ab/CA-Fe(2)O(3)/ITO immunosensor exhibits a good detection range of 12.5-500 ng mL(-1) with a low detection limit of 0.32 ng mL(-1), sensitivity 0.03 Ω/ng ml(-1) cm(-2), and reproducibility more than 11 times.

Oxalic acid capped iron oxide nanorods as a sensing platform.

A label free impedimetric immunosensor has been fabricated using protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) and monoclonal antibodies against Vibrio cholerae (Ab) functionalized oxalic acid (OA) capped iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanorods for V. cholerae detection. The structural and morphological studies of Fe3O4 and OA-Fe3O4, were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques. The average crystalline size of Fe3O4, OA-Fe3O4 nanorods were obtained as about 29±1 and 39±1nm, respectively. The hydrodynamic radius of nanorods is found as 116nm (OA-Fe3O4) and 77nm (Fe3O4) by DLS measurement. Cytotoxicity of Fe3O4 and OA-Fe3O4 nanorods has been investigated in the presence of human epithelial kidney (HEK) cell line 293 using MTT assay. The cell viability and proliferation studies reveal that the OA-Fe3O4 nanorods facilitate cell growth. The results of electrochemical response studies of the fabricated BSA/Ab/OA-Fe2O3/ITO immunosensor exhibits good linearity in the range of 12.5-500ng mL(-1) with low detection limit of 0.5ng mL(-1), sensitivity 0.1Ωng(-1)ml(-1)cm(-2) and reproducibility more than 11 times.