Insight into Multiphase Interlayer Molecular Packing and Stepwise Phase Transition in 4-(Phenylazo)benzoate Anion-Intercalated Layered Zinc Hydroxide.

The properties of layered intercalation hybrids are closely related to interlayer molecular packing. To develop functional intercalation hybrids, it is essential to gain deep insights into interlayer molecular packing. This work reports a new comprehensive insight into the controllable multiphase interlayer molecular packing in 4-(phenylazo)benzoate anion-intercalated layered zinc hydroxide (LZH-4-PAB intercalation hybrids). The new insight breaks up the general understanding that the interlayer molecular packing of anions is usually single-phase, lacking diversity and controllability. Furthermore, it uncovers an interesting stepwise rather than the generally expected continuous phase transition of the interlayer molecular packing. The intercalated 4-PAB anions initially organize into the horizontal monolayer packing (θ = 0°, Phase I), which stepwise transforms to the tilted interdigitated antiparallel bilayer packing (θ ≈ 50°, Phase II) along with an increased intercalation loading and eventually to the vertical interdigitated antiparallel bilayer packing (θ = 90°, Phase III). The LZH-4-PAB hybrids exhibited a greatly enhanced interlayer molecular packing-dependent UV-vis absorption. This study provides helpful guidance for developing property-tailored intercalation hybrids. It may attract new interest in more layered intercalation hybrids. New and rich intercalation chemistry might be discovered in more functional intercalation hybrids beyond the 4-PAB anion-intercalated layered zinc hydroxide.

Real-Time Monitoring of Surface Effects on the Oxygen Reduction Reaction Mechanism for Aprotic Na-O2 Batteries.

Discharging of aprotic sodium-oxygen (Na-O2) batteries is driven by the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction in the presence of sodium cations (Na+-ORR). However, the mechanism of aprotic Na+-ORR remains ambiguous and is system dependent. In-situ electrochemical Raman spectroscopy has been employed to study the aprotic Na+-ORR processes at three atomically ordered Au(hkl) single-crystal surfaces for the first time, and the structure-intermediates/mechanism relationship has been identified at a molecular level. Direct spectroscopic evidence of superoxide on Au(110) and peroxide on Au(100) and Au(111) as intermediates/products has been obtained. Combining these experimental results with theoretical simulation has revealed that the surface effect of Au(hkl) electrodes on aprotic Na+-ORR activity is mainly caused by the different adsorption of Na+ and O2. This work enhances our understanding of aprotic Na+-ORR on Au(hkl) surfaces and provides further guidance for the design of improved Na-O2 batteries.

Improving the sensitivity of immunoassay based on MBA-embedded Au@SiO2 nanoparticles and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Traditional "sandwich" structure immunoassay is mainly based on the self-assembly of "antibody on solid substrate-antigen-antibody with nanotags" architectures, and the sensitivity of this strategy is critically depended on the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activities and stability of nanotags. Therefore, the rational design and fabrication on the SERS nanotags attracts the common interests to the bio-related detecting and imaging. Herein, silica encapsulated Au with mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA) core-shell nanoparticles (Au-MBA@SiO2) are fabricated instead of the traditional naked Au or Ag nanoparticles for the SERS-based immunoassay on human and mouse IgG antigens. The MBA molecules facilitate the formation of continuous pinhole-free silica shell and are also used as SERS labels. The silica shell is employed to protect MBA labels and to isolate Au core from the ambient solution for blocking the aggregation. This shell also played the similar role to BSA in inhibiting the nonspecific bindings, which allowed the procedures for constructing "sandwich" structures to be simplified. All of these merits of the Au-MBA@SiO2 brought the high performance in the related immunoassay. Benefiting from the introduction of silica shell to encapsulate MBA labels, the detection sensitivity was improved by about 1-2 orders of magnitude by comparing with the traditional approach based on naked Au-MBA nanoparticles. This kind of label-embedded core-shell nanoparticles could be developed as the versatile nanotags for the bioanalysis and bioimaging.

Controlling dynamic SERS hot spots on a monolayer film of Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles by a magnetic field.

A large surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect is critically dependent on the gap distance of adjacent nanostructures, i.e., "hot spots". However, the fabrication of dynamically controllable hot spots still remains a remarkable challenge. In the present study, we employed an external magnetic field to dynamically control the interparticle spacing of a two-dimensional monolayer film of Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles at a hexane/water interface. SERS measurements were performed to monitor the expansion and shrinkage of the nanoparticles gaps, which produced an obvious effect on SERS activities. The balance between the electrostatic repulsive force, surface tension, and magnetic attractive force allowed observation of the magnetic-field-responsive SERS effect. Upon introduction of an external magnetic field, a very weak SERS signal appeared initially, indicating weak enhancement due to a monolayer film with large interparticle spacing. The SERS intensity reached maximum after 5s and thereafter remained almost unchanged. The results indicated that the observed variations in SERS intensities were fully reversible after removal of the external magnetic field. The reduction of interparticle spacing in response to a magnetic field resulted in about one order of magnitude of SERS enhancement. The combined use of the monolayer film and external magnetic field could be developed as a strategy to construct hot spots both for practical application of SERS and theoretical simulation of enhancement mechanisms.

Inhibiting plasmon catalyzed conversion of para-nitrothiophenol on monolayer film of Au nanoparticles probed by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

The plasmon catalyzed surface reaction has been attracted considerable attention due to its promising application in heterogeneous catalysis. This kind of plasmon catalysis played bilateral roles in driving the unconventional reactions or destructing the surface molecule layer. The acceleration or inhibition on this catalysis is still remained significant challenge. In this paper, monolayer film of Au nanoparticles was fabricated at air/water interface as substrates both for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and plasmon catalyzed surface reaction. The influence from several issues, involving surfactants, coadsorption species, the solvent and water, were systemically investigated to probe the acceleration and inhibition on the plasmon catalysis reaction. The concentration and molecular weight of surfactant polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) exhibited significant influence in the reactive activity for the plasmon catalyzed dimerization of para-nitrothiophenol (PNTP) to p,p'-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB). A suitable molecular weight of 10,000 and concentration of 10mg/mL were beneficial for improving the conversion efficiency of PNTP to DMAB. The higher molar ratio of coadsorbed 1-octanethiol and the aprotic solvents resulted in the inhibition of dimerization because 1-octanethiol occupied the surface sites to isolate the adsorbed PNTP molecules with a larger distance and lack of proton source. The plasmon catalysis occurred in ionic liquids suggested that water was essential for the dimerization of PNTP, in which it was used to accelerate the reaction rate and severed as the hydrogen source.

Magnetic separation of heavy metal ions and evaluation based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: copper(II) ions as a case study.

A new approach was developed for the magnetic separation of copper(II) ions with easy operation and high efficiency. p-Mercaptobenzoic acid served as the modified tag of Fe2O3@Au nanoparticles both for the chelation ligand and Raman reporter. Through the chelation between the copper(II) ions and carboxyl groups on the gold shell, the Fe2O3@Au nanoparticles aggregated to form networks that were enriched and separated from the solution by a magnet. A significant decrease in the concentration of copper(II) ions in the supernatant solution was observed. An extremely sensitive method based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was employed to detect free copper(II) ions that remained after the magnetic separation, and thus to evaluate the separation efficiency. The results indicated the intensities of the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy bands from p-mercaptobenzoic acid were dependent on the concentration of copper(II) ions, and the concentration was decreased by several orders of magnitude after the magnetic separation. The present protocol effectively decreased the total amount of heavy metal ions in the solution. This approach opens a potential application in the magnetic separation and highly sensitive detection of heavy metal ions.

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic studies on magnetic Fe3O4@AuAg alloy core-shell nanoparticles.

A facile approach has been developed to fabricate multifunctional Fe3O4@AuAg alloy core-shell nanoparticles, owning the magnetism of the core and the surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) activities of the alloy shell. By changing the amount of HAuCl4 and AgNO3, Fe3O4@AuAg alloy nanoparticles with different component ratios of Au and Ag were successfully prepared. The surface plasmon resonance of the composition was linearly tuned in a wide range by varying the molar fraction of Ag and Au, suggesting the formation of AuAg alloy shell. SERS and magnetic enrichment effects were investigated by using thiophenol (TP) as the probe molecule. The SERS intensity was strongly dependent on the molar ratios of Au and Ag and the excitation line. Enrichment for the molecules with low concentration and on line SERS monitoring experiments were performed through combining the magnetism of the core and the SERS effect of the alloy shell. The results revealed that the magnetic enrichment efficiency was dramatically increased due to the strong magnetism of Fe3O4 core. In addition, the Fe3O4@AuAg nanoparticles were also used in the microfluidic chip to continuously detect different flowing solution in the channel. The detection time and amount of analyte were successfully decreased.

The effect of triphenylphosphane on corrosion inhibition of benzotriazole at Ag electrode monitored by SERS in nonaqueous solution.

The corrosion inhibition behavior of benzotriazole (BTAH) on Ag electrodes and the influence of triphenylphosphane (pph(3)) were investigated by electrochemical method, in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and direct electrochemical synthesis of surface complexes in nonaqueous solution. The results indicated that the BTA(-) ion was coordinated to the Ag surface to form a highly cross-linked surface polymer complex of [Ag(BTA)](n), which suppressed the dissolution and oxidation of Ag effectively. The introduction of a neutral ligand of pph(3) blocked the surface coordination processes of BTAH with the Ag electrode. It resulted in a decrease of inhibition efficiency to Ag surface. The ligand of pph(3) played a negative role on the corrosion inhibition of BTAH to the Ag electrode. The SERS results were well consistent with the cyclic voltammetry and polarization curves measurements. For modeling, two different surface complexes were prepared in acetonitrile with and without pph(3) by direct electrochemical synthesis. A polymer-like complex of [Ag(BTA)](n) attached to the Ag surface was obtained in the absence of pph(3), which suppressed the dissolution and oxidation of Ag effectively. A new binuclear compound, Ag(2)(BTA)(2)(pph(3))(4), was produced in acetonitrile with pph(3) and the final coordination process occurred in solution leading to difficulties in forming a compact surface film, thus decreasing the corrosion inhibition efficiency of BTAH. The role of pph(3) and the mechanism were proposed.

Tunable fabrication on iron oxide/Au/Ag nanostructures for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and magnetic enrichment.

A facile approach was developed to prepare novel multifunctional Fe(2)O(3)/Au/Ag nanostructures integrated with isolated functions involving magnetic and optical properties. The Fe(2)O(3)/Au/Ag hybrid nanoparticles with different thicknesses of Ag shell were prepared by adjusting the amount of the AgNO(3). Surface structures were varied from the rough with pinhole to smooth and pinhole free surfaces with increasing amounts of AgNO(3). The surface plasmon resonance was tuned in a very wide region from that of Au to Ag. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects were also investigated, employing thiophenol (TP) and aminothiophenol (PATP) as probe molecules. It was revealed that the SERS intensity was strongly depended on the molar ratio of Ag and Au. With an increase in the Ag molar fractions, SERS signals were enhanced to the maximum due to the surface plasmon resonance of the pinhole structure. The magnetic enrichment for on line SERS monitoring the molecules with low concentration was performed based on the magnetic core and the SERS activity of the bimetallic shells. This enrichment procedure improved efficiently the limits of the SERS detection. It was shown that the multicomponent nanoparticles have potential applications in the fields of optical devices and magnetic separation.

[Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic studies on the coadsorption of N-methylimidazole and 2,2'-bipyridine at Cu electrode].

The adsorption behavior and coadsorption of N-methylimidazole (NMIM) and 2,2'-bipyridine(2,2'-bipy) at copper electrode were investigated by in situ electrochemical surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in the acetonitrile solution. In situ SERS studies revealed that NMIM can adsorb stably onto Cu electrode in a quite different potential range, but the potential range for adsorbing 2,2'-bipy is narrow. With the introduction of 2,2'-bipy into the solution, the SERS could be divided into three parts: (a) under -0.8 V, NMIM molecule adsorption, (b) near the open potential, 2,2'-bipy molecule adsorption with cis-conformation, (c) at positive potential region, both NMIM and 2,2'-bipy were coadsorbed at Cu surface, and the SERS data also suggested that the NMIM bound to copper surface with a tilted orientation, while the 2,2'-bipy was adsorbed through cis-conformation to the surface.

[Surface coordination chemistry of benzotriazole probed by electrochemical Raman spectroscopy].

The surface coordination chemistry of benzotriazole (BTAH) at silver electrode was investigated by in situ electrochemical surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and electrochemical synthesis in the acetonitrile solution. In situ SERS studies revealed that BTAH underwent three processes of chemical adsorption of BTAH, formation of compact layer of (AgBTA)n and the loss of SERS activity due to the oxidation of silver. The surface coordination processes of BTAH with Cu, Ag, Zn, Ni and Fe were investigated and the surface complexes prepared by direct electrochemical synthesis method were characterized by microanalysis and Raman spectroscopy. The influence of the neutral ligand of triphenylphosphine (pph3) on the coordination process was deduced. The introduction of pph3 was found to affect the surface processes of BTAH with Cu and Ag, and appeared in the final complex, while it had no influence on the coordination of BTAH with Zn, Ni and Fe.

[IR and Raman spectroscopic studies on the complexes of ytterbium with pyran derivatives].

The complexes of ytterbium(Yb) with 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-gamma-pyrone(HL) and 3-hydroxyflavone(HL') have been prepared respectively in the non-aqueous solution by direct electrochemical oxidation of sacrificial metal anodes, and their IR and Raman spectra have been measured. They provided the complemental information for deducing their structure. By comparing the spectra of the ligands and their complexes, the stretching vibrational band of -OH disappeared in the complexes, and the frequency shifts of some relevant bands of the ligands were observed, particularly for the stretching vibration of C=O. In the low frequency region, new bands at 300-500 cm(-1) were detected in YbL3 and YbL'3 respectively, which could be assigned to the stretching vibrational mode of Yb-O. All the obvious change in the IR and Raman spectra revealed that C=O and -OH were coordinated with Yb center through oxygen atoms. Based on the IR and Raman results, the structures of the two complexes were proposed.