Transmetallation as an effective strategy for the preparation of bimetallic CoPd and CuPd nanoparticles.

The preparation of palladium alloy nanoparticles is of great interest for many applications, especially in catalysis. Starting from presynthesized nanoparticles of a less noble metal, a transmetallation reaction involving a redox process at the nanoparticle surface can be exploited to modify the nanoparticle composition and crystalline phase. As an example, monodispersed ε-cobalt and face-centered cubic copper nanoparticles were synthesized in organic solvents at high temperature and the as-formed nanoparticles were reacted with palladium(ii) hexafluoroacetylacetonate resulting in the formation of alloyed nanoparticles whose composition closely follows the reactant ratio. The oxidative state of the nanoparticle surface greatly affects the success of the transmetallation reaction and a reduction treatment was necessary to achieve the desired final product. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction showed that for cobalt a limiting palladium content for the ε-phase alloy is found, above which an fcc alloy nucleates, while for copper the fcc crystalline phase is preserved throughout the whole composition range.

Low-temperature processed Ga-doped ZnO coatings from colloidal inks.

We present a new colloidal synthesis of gallium-doped zinc oxide nanocrystals that are transparent in the visible and absorb in the near-infrared. Thermal decomposition of zinc stearate and gallium nitrate after hot injection of the precursors in a mixture of organic amines leads to nanocrystals with tunable properties according to gallium amount. Substitutional Ga(3+) ions trigger a plasmonic resonance in the infrared region resulting from an increase in the free electrons concentration. These nanocrystals can be deposited by spin coating, drop casting, and spray coating resulting in homogeneous and high-quality thin films. The optical transmission of the Ga-ZnO nanoparticle assemblies in the visible is greater than 90%, and at the same time, the near-infrared absorption of the nanocrystals is maintained in the films as well. Several strategies to improve the films electrical and optical properties have been presented, such as UV treatments to remove the organic compounds responsible for the observed interparticle resistance and reducing atmosphere treatments on both colloidal solutions and thin films to increase the free carriers concentration, enhancing electrical conductivity and infrared absorption. The electrical resistance of the nanoparticle assemblies is about 30 kΩ/sq for the as-deposited, UV-exposed films, and it drops down to 300 Ω/sq after annealing in forming gas at 450 °C, comparable with state of the art tin-doped indium oxide coatings deposited from nanocrystal inks.

Cooperative effect of Au and Pt inside TiO2 matrix for optical hydrogen detection at room temperature using surface plasmon spectroscopy.

Metal (Au, Pt, Au@Pt) and metal oxide (TiO(2)) nanoparticles are synthesized with colloidal techniques and subsequently used as nanocrystal inks for thin films deposition. The optical properties of Au colloids are strongly influenced by both Pt and TiO(2) interfaces: while platinum causes a damping and a blue-shift of the Au Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) peak as a consequence of the metal-metal interaction, the anatase matrix is responsible for the red shift of the plasmon frequency due to the increased refractive index. By a careful tailoring of the nanoparticles synthesis, high quality, scattering-free films composed of an anatase matrix embedding Au, Pt and Au@Pt colloids are deposited at room temperature and stabilized at 200 °C. Room temperature exposure of these films to hydrogen leads to optical changes. In the case of Au, there is a slow blue shift of the surface plasmon band, resulting in a wavelength dependent optical response. Much faster but smaller optical changes occur for titania films containing Pt. When both metals are present, the optical response of the gold is much faster. This is attributed to spillover of hydrogen atoms from platinum to gold. This synergy enables enhanced optical sensing of hydrogen at room temperature by combining the low temperature dissociation of H(2) on Pt with the intensive surface plasmon response of the gold nanocrystals.

Placement and orientation of individual DNA shapes on lithographically patterned surfaces.

Artificial DNA nanostructures show promise for the organization of functional materials to create nanoelectronic or nano-optical devices. DNA origami, in which a long single strand of DNA is folded into a shape using shorter 'staple strands', can display 6-nm-resolution patterns of binding sites, in principle allowing complex arrangements of carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, or quantum dots. However, DNA origami are synthesized in solution and uncontrolled deposition results in random arrangements; this makes it difficult to measure the properties of attached nanodevices or to integrate them with conventionally fabricated microcircuitry. Here we describe the use of electron-beam lithography and dry oxidative etching to create DNA origami-shaped binding sites on technologically useful materials, such as SiO(2) and diamond-like carbon. In buffer with approximately 100 mM MgCl(2), DNA origami bind with high selectivity and good orientation: 70-95% of sites have individual origami aligned with an angular dispersion (+/-1 s.d.) as low as +/-10 degrees (on diamond-like carbon) or +/-20 degrees (on SiO(2)).

Acid synthesis of luminescent amine-functionalized or erbium-doped silica spheres for biological applications.

In this work we discuss and investigate the morphological and optical properties of luminescent silica spheres which can have interesting applications in bioimaging and biosensing. The spheres are synthesized following an acid route by the hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethylortosilicate (TEOS) and can be functionalized by incorporation of aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTES) during the synthesis, inducing a significant luminescence that can be attributed to a recombination mechanism from localized organic defects related to -NH(2) groups. It is shown that the acid synthesis route produces very regular spherical particles, but their diameter vary in the range of 200-4,000 nm. The luminescence properties have been investigated and optimized by variation of the annealing temperature for the functionalized spheres, obtaining the most efficient PL emission after a thermal treatment of 1 h at 600 degrees C in air. Moreover, the possibility to introduce rare earths like erbium in the spheres was also studied and the corresponding Er(3) luminescence emission at 1.53 microm is reported in terms of intensity and lifetime, pointing out that erbium can be easily and efficiently incorporated during the acid synthesis giving high PL intensity with a good lifetime of 3.9 ms.