Crystal and electronic facet analysis of ultrafine Ni2P particles by solid-state NMR nanocrystallography.

Structural and morphological control of crystalline nanoparticles is crucial in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and the development of "reaction specific" catalysts. To achieve this, colloidal chemistry methods are combined with ab initio calculations in order to define the reaction parameters, which drive chemical reactions to the desired crystal nucleation and growth path. Key in this procedure is the experimental verification of the predicted crystal facets and their corresponding electronic structure, which in case of nanostructured materials becomes extremely difficult. Here, by employing 31P solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance aided by advanced density functional theory calculations to obtain and assign the Knight shifts, we succeed in determining the crystal and electronic structure of the terminating surfaces of ultrafine Ni2P nanoparticles at atomic scale resolution. Our work highlights the potential of ssNMR nanocrystallography as a unique tool in the emerging field of facet-engineered nanocatalysts.

Synthesis of 2D Germanane (GeH): a New, Fast, and Facile Approach.

Germanane (GeH), a germanium analogue of graphane, has recently attracted considerable interest because its remarkable combination of properties makes it an extremely suitable candidate to be used as 2D material for field effect devices, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis. Up to now, the synthesis of GeH has been conducted by substituting Ca by H in a ß-CaGe2 layered Zintl phase through topochemical deintercalation in aqueous HCl. This reaction is generally slow and takes place over 6 to 14 days. The new and facile protocol presented here allows to synthesize GeH at room temperature in a significantly shorter time (a few minutes), which renders this method highly attractive for technological applications. The GeH produced with this method is highly pure and has a band gap (Eg ) close to 1.4 eV, a lower value than that reported for germanane synthesized using HCl, which is promising for incorporation of GeH in solar cells.

Resolving Dirac electrons with broadband high-resolution NMR.

Detecting the metallic Dirac electronic states on the surface of Topological Insulators (TIs) is critical for the study of important surface quantum properties (SQPs), such as Majorana zero modes, where simultaneous probing of the bulk and edge electron states is required. However, there is a particular shortage of experimental methods, showing at atomic resolution how Dirac electrons extend and interact with the bulk interior of nanoscaled TI systems. Herein, by applying advanced broadband solid-state 125Te nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods on Bi2Te3 nanoplatelets, we succeeded in uncovering the hitherto invisible NMR signals with magnetic shielding that is influenced by the Dirac electrons, and we subsequently showed how the Dirac electrons spread inside the nanoplatelets. In this way, the spin and orbital magnetic susceptibilities induced by the bulk and edge electron states were simultaneously measured at atomic scale resolution, providing a pertinent experimental approach in the study of SQPs.

NMR and EPR Structural Analysis and Stability Study of Inverse Vulcanized Sulfur Copolymers.

Sulfur copolymers with high sulfur content find a broad range of applications from Li-S batteries to catalytic processes, self-healing materials, and the synthesis of nanoparticles. Synthesis of sulfur-containing polymers via the inverse vulcanization technique gained a lot of attention due to the feasibility of the reaction to produce copolymers with high sulfur content (up to 90 wt %). However, the interplay between the cross-linker and the structure of the copolymers has not yet been fully explored. In the present work, the effect of the amount of 1,3-diisopropenyl benzene (DIB) cross-linker on the structural stability of the copolymer was thoroughly investigated. Combining X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry, we demonstrated the partial depolymerization of sulfur in the copolymer containing low amount of cross-linker (<30 wt % DIB). On the other hand, by applying NMR and electron paramagnetic resonance techniques, we have shown that increasing the cross-linker content above 50 wt % leads to the formation of radicals, which may severely degrade the structural stability of the copolymer. Thus, an optimum amount of cross-linker is essential to obtain a stable copolymer. Moreover, we were able to detect the release of H2S gas during the cross-linking reaction as predicted based on the abstraction of hydrogen by the sulfur radicals and therefore we emphasize the need to take appropriate precautions while implementing the inverse vulcanization reaction.

Iron-substituted cubic silsesquioxane pillared clays: Synthesis, characterization and acid catalytic activity.

Novel pillared structures were developed from the intercalation of iron-substituted cubic silsesquioxanes in a sodium and an acid-activated montmorillonite nanoclay and evaluated as acid catalysts. Octameric cubic oligosiloxanes were formed upon controlled hydrolytic polycondensation of the corresponding monomer (a diamino-alkoxysilane) and reacted with iron cations to form complexes that were intercalated within the layered nanoclay matrices. Upon calcination iron oxide nanoparticles are formed which are located on the silica cubes (pillars) and on the surfaces of the clay platelets. Acid activation of the nanoclay was performed in order to increase the number of acid active sites in the pristine clay and thus increase its catalytic activity. A plethora of analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses, Fourier transform infrared, electron paramagnetic resonance, Raman, Mössbauer and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies and porosimetry measurements were used in order to follow the synthesis steps and to fully characterize the final catalysts. The resulting pillared clays exhibit a high specific area and show significant acid catalytic activity that was verified using the catalytic dehydration of isopropanol asa probe reaction.

Attachment of Pseudomonas putida onto differently structured kaolinite minerals: a combined ATR-FTIR and 1H NMR study.

The attachment of Pseudomonas (P.) putida onto well (KGa-1) and poorly (KGa-2) crystallized kaolinite was investigated in this study. Batch experiments were carried out to determine the attachment isotherms of P. putida onto both types of kaolinite particles. The attachment process of P. putida onto KGa-1 and KGa-2 was adequately described by a Langmuir isotherm. Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance were employed to study the attachment mechanisms of P. putida. Experimental results indicated that KGa-2 presented higher affinity and attachment capacity than KGa-1. It was shown that electrostatic interactions and clay mineral structural disorders can influence the attachment capacity of clay mineral particles.

Rapid magnetic heating treatment by highly charged maghemite nanoparticles on Wistar rats exocranial glioma tumors at microliter volume.

One of the most significant challenges implementing colloidal magnetic nanoparticles in medicine is the efficient heating of microliter quantities by applying a low frequency alternating magnetic field. The ultimate goal is to accomplish nonsurgically the treatment of millimeter size tumors. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis, characterization, and the in vitro as well as in vivo efficiency of a dextran coated maghemite (gamma-Fe(2)O(3)) ferrofluid with an exceptional response to magnetic heating. The difference to previous synthetic attempts is the high charge of the dextran coating, which according to our study maintains the colloidal stability and good dispersion of the ferrofluid during the magnetic heating stage. Specifically, in vitro 2 mul of the ferrofluid gives an outstanding temperature rise of 33 degrees C within 10 min, while in vivo treatment, by infusing 150 mul of the ferrofluid in animal model (rat) glioma tumors, causes an impressive cancer tissue dissolution.

Electron spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation study of a trinuclear iron(III) complex and its relevance in quantum computing.

Electron spins of molecular magnets are promising candidates for large scale quantum information processing because they exhibit a large number of low-lying excited states. In this paper X-band pulse electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy is used to determine the intrinsic relaxation times T1 and T2 of a molecular magnet with an S = 1/2 ground state, namely the neutral trinuclear oxo-centered iron (III) complex, [Fe3(micro3-O)(O2CPh)5(salox)(EtOH)(EtOH)(H2O)]. The temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation time T1 between 4.5 and 11 K shows that the Orbach relaxation process is dominant with the first excited state lying 57 cm(-1) above the ground state, whereas the phase memory time T(M) is of the order of 2.6 micros and exhibits a modest temperature dependence. These results together with previous magnetic measurements give further insight into the magnetic properties of the complex. The coherent manipulation of the electron spins is also examined by means of transient nutation experiments.