One-step synthesis of a suspended ultrathin graphene oxide film: application in transmission electron microscopy.

Ultrathin graphene films find their use as advantageous support for nano- and biomaterials investigations. Thin film causes a very slight deterioration to measured signals, thus providing more details of the object's structure at nanoscale. The ultimate thinness of graphene works in the best way for this purpose. However, obtaining suspended thin film of a large-area, which is convenient for applications, is often a relatively complicated and time-consuming task. Here we present a one-step 1-min technique for synthesis of an extremely thin (about 1-2 nm) continuous film suspended over cells of a conventional copper grid (50-400 µm mesh). This technique enables us to acquire a large-area film which is water-resistant, stable in organic solvents and can act as a support when studying nanoparticles or biomaterials. Moreover, the very mechanism of the film formation can be interesting from the point of view of other applications of ultrathin graphene oxide papers.

A look inside epitaxial cobalt-on-fluorite nanoparticles with three-dimensional reciprocal space mapping using GIXD, RHEED and GISAXS.

In this work epitaxial growth of cobalt on CaF2(111), (110) and (001) surfaces has been extensively studied. It has been shown by atomic force microscopy that at selected growth conditions stand-alone faceted Co nanoparticles are formed on a fluorite surface. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) studies have revealed that the particles crystallize in the face-centered cubic lattice structure otherwise non-achievable in bulk cobalt under normal conditions. The particles were found to inherit lattice orientation from the underlying CaF2 layer. Three-dimensional reciprocal space mapping carried out using X-ray and electron diffraction has revealed that there exist long bright 〈111〉 streaks passing through the cobalt Bragg reflections. These streaks are attributed to stacking faults formed in the crystal lattice of larger islands upon coalescence of independently nucleated smaller islands. Distinguished from the stacking fault streaks, crystal truncation rods perpendicular to the {111} and {001} particle facets have been observed. Finally, grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) has been applied to decouple the shape-related scattering from that induced by the crystal lattice defects. Particle faceting has been verified by modeling the GISAXS patterns. The work demonstrates the importance of three-dimensional reciprocal space mapping in the study of epitaxial nanoparticles.

Adlayers of palladium particles and their aggregates on porous polypropylene hollow fiber membranes as hydrogenization contractors/reactors.

Principal approaches for the preparation of catalytic membrane reactors based on polymer membranes containing palladium nanoparticles and for the description of their characteristics are presented. The method for the development of adlayers composed of palladium nanoparticles and their aggregates on the surface of hydrophobic polypropylene porous hollow fiber membranes is proposed, and their comprehensive study is performed. Various regimes of the deposition of palladium on individual fibers and on membrane surface inside membrane modulus are considered. The sizes of primary Pd particles range from 10 to 500 nm, and dimensions of their aggregates vary from 200 nm to tens of microns. The sizes of primary particles in a free state and in their aggregates are estimated by the methods of X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The proposed approach is used for the preparation of catalytic membrane contactors/reactors for the removal of dissolved oxygen from water. In the systems under study, the limiting stage of dissolved oxygen removal is concerned with diffusion-controlled delivery of oxygen to the surface of catalytic particles.