Stabilizer-free silver nanoparticles as efficient catalysts for electrochemical reduction of oxygen.

In this work we demonstrated the potential of the He+5% H+1% N plasma jet treatment for the synthesis of surfactant-free silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with narrow size distribution. The obtained colloidal solutions of electrostatically stabilized Ag NPs do not show any agglomeration for several months. Apart from an atomic thin oxide layer and the relatively weakly bound OH ions, the surface of Ag NPs can be considered as stabilizer-free.

Graphene-Enhanced Raman Scattering from the Adenine Molecules.

An enhanced Raman scattering from a thin layer of adenine molecules deposited on graphene substrate was detected. The value of enhancement depends on the photon energy of the exciting light. The benzene ring in the structure of adenine molecule suggests π-stacking of adenine molecule on top of graphene.

Modification of light absorption in thin CuInS2 films by sprayed Au nanoparticles.

The chemical spray pyrolysis method was used to deposit CuInS2 (CIS) thin films and Au nanoparticles (NPs) in two configurations: glass/Au-NP layer covered with CuInS2 film (Au-NP/CIS) and glass/CuInS2 films covered with Au-NP layer (CIS/Au-NP). According to X-ray diffraction (XRD), the spray of 2 mM HAuCl4 aqueous solution with a volume of 2.5 to 15 ml onto a glass substrate at 340°C results in metallic Au nanoparticles with a similar mean crystallite size in the range of 30 - 38 nm.

Angular shaping of fluorescence from synthetic opal-based photonic crystal.

Spectral, angular, and temporal distributions of fluorescence as well as specular reflection were investigated for silica-based artificial opals. Periodic arrangement of nanosized silica globules in the opal causes a specific dip in the defect-related fluorescence spectra and a peak in the reflectance spectrum. The spectral position of the dip coincides with the photonic stop band.

Low-cost plasmonic solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis.

Solar cells consisting of an extremely thin In2S3/CuInS2 buffer/absorber layer uniformly covering planar ZnO were prepared entirely by chemical spray pyrolysis. Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were formed via thermal decomposition of a gold(III) chloride trihydrate (HAuCl4·3H2O) precursor by spraying 2 mmol/L of the aqueous precursor solution onto a substrate held at 260 °C. Current-voltage scans and external quantum efficiency spectra were used to evaluate the solar cell performance.

An energy transfer kinetic probe for OH-quenchers in the Nd(3+):YPO4 nanocrystals suitable for imaging in the biological tissue transparency window.

Tetragonal xenotime-type yttrium orthophosphate (YPO4) Nd(3+) doped nanoparticles suitable for biomedical applications were prepared by microwave-hydrothermal treatment. We applied the energy transfer probing based on the analysis of kinetics of impurity quenching to determine the presence and spatial position of -OH fluorescence quenching acceptors in the impurity-containing nanoparticles. We show that the impurity quenching kinetics of the 0.

Gilded nanoparticles for plasmonically enhanced fluorescence in TiO2:Sm3+ sol-gel films.

Unlabelled: Silica-gold core-shell nanoparticles were used for plasmonic enhancement of rare earth fluorescence in sol-gel-derived TiO2:Sm3+ films. Local enhancement of Sm3+ fluorescence in the vicinity of separate gilded nanoparticles was revealed by a combination of dark field microscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. An intensity enhancement of Sm3+ fluorescence varies from 2.

Molecular-sized fluorescent nanodiamonds.

Doping of carbon nanoparticles with impurity atoms is central to their application. However, doping has proven elusive for very small carbon nanoparticles because of their limited availability and a lack of fundamental understanding of impurity stability in such nanostructures. Here, we show that isolated diamond nanoparticles as small as 1.

Nitrogen and luminescent nitrogen-vacancy defects in detonation nanodiamond.

An efficient method to investigate the microstructure and spatial distribution of nitrogen and nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) defects in detonation nanodiamond (DND) with primary particle sizes ranging from approximately 3 to 50 nm is presented. Detailed analysis reveals atomic nitrogen concentrations as high as 3 at% in 50% of diamond primary particles with sizes smaller than 6 nm. A non-uniform distribution of nitrogen within larger primary DND particles is also presented, indicating a preference for location within the defective central part or at twin boundaries.