Sharif Digital Repository

The specific adsorption of citrate from perchloric acid electrolytes, has been investigated using in-situ FTIR spectroscopy at Au(1 1 1) electrodes. For comparison IR spectra for formate adsorption are also presented. Clear voltammetric peaks have been observed positive of the pzc and these are shown by FTIR spectroscopy to be associated with the adsorption of citrate. Models for the surface co-ordination of the citrate anion are discussed. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved  

With the spread of deadly diseases worldwide, the design of rapid tests to identify causative microorganisms is necessary. Due to the unique properties of gold nanoparticles, these nanoparticles are used in designing rapid diagnostic tests, such as strip tests. The current study aimed to investigate the ability of gold nanoparticles to bind to single-chain variable fragment antibodies. In this study, the biological and chemical methods included Escherichia coli TOP-10 and the Turkevich method to synthesize the gold nanoparticles, respectively. Then, the effect of synthetic nanoparticles on their capability of binding to recombinant antibodies was assessed by agarose gel and UV-vis... 

A seeding-growth approach was used to prepare Au@Ag@Au core double shell nanoparticles which were loaded on a rutile-nanorods/anatase-nanobranches thin film via the impregnation method. The thin film was synthesized on a fluorine-doped SnO 2 substrate via three stages of (i)TiCl 4 treatment, (ii)hydrothermal, and (iii)aqueous chemistry. The photocatalytic capability of the newly developed nanostructure was higher than P25 TiO 2 thin film by 40% under visible light and by 100% under UV light irradiation. Photogenerated charges separation at the junctions of rutile-nanorods and anatase-nanobranches along with localized surface plasmon resonance followed by the hot electron transfer from the... 

Carbon nanotube/nanoparticle hybrid materials have been proven to exhibit high electrocatalytic activity suggesting broad potential applications in the field of electroanalysis. For the first time, modification of Ta electrode with aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes/Au nanoparticles introduced for the sensitive determination of the antibiotic drug, cefazolin (CFZ). The electrochemical response characteristics of the modified electrode toward CFZ were investigated by means of cyclic and linear sweep voltammetry. The modified electrode showed an efficient catalytic activity for the reduction of CFZ, leading to a remarkable decrease in reduction overpotential and a significant increase of... 

We report the effect of gold nanoparticles on the sensitivity and selectivity of SnO2-based sensors for detection of CO in the presence of methane and C3H8, a model compound representing liquid petroleum gas (LPG). 1.0 wt% Au/SnO2 powder was prepared by a co-precipitation method. The powder formed was washed, dried at 150 °C, and calcined at 300 °C for 3 h. The BET surface area of SnO2 and Au/SnO2 was measured to be 210 and 110 m2/g, corresponding to 4 and 7.5 nm loose spherical particles, respectively. Responses of the Au/SnO2 and SnO2 sensors to 40-1000 ppm CO, 0.2-1.0% C3H8 and 1.0-3.0% CH4 were studied at 170-300 °C in an automated gas sensing system. In this temperature range, the... 

Eight eco-friendly, and magnetically-separable heterogeneous photocatalysts including five Au nanoparticles (NPs) modified magnetic TiO2@Fe3O4 NPs and three Ag-Au bi-plasmonic NPs-decorated TiO2@Fe3O4 NPs with enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light were synthesized and used for photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) as a model pollutant in textile wastewater samples. The photocatalytic activity was assessed using two radiation sources namely, an intense linear 532-nm laser and a continuous solar-simulated xenon lamp. Compared to the TiO2 alone, the prepared photocatalysts revealed efficient photocatalytic activity in visible region due to the presence of two localized... 

Gold (Au) nanoparticles are widely used in diagnosing cancer, imaging, and identification of therapeutic methods due to their particular quantum characteristics. This research presents different types of aqueous models and potentials used in TIP3P, to study the effect of the particle size and density of Au clusters in aquatic environments; so it can be useful to facilitate future investigation of the interaction of proteins with Au nanoparticles. The EAM potential is used to model the structure of gold clusters. It is observed that in the systems with identical gold/water density and different cluster radii, gold particles are distributed in aqueous environment almost identically. Thus, Au... 

After silica coating of the prepared nickel ferrite nanoparticles, a micrometric layer of zeolitic material (analcime) was grown on the surface. To make the composites good host, surface modification was done with [BMIM]PF6 ionic liquid. Finally, the samples became antibacterial agents via loading the Ag and Au nanoparticles and denoted as X@IL/A/S/NF (X = Ag or Au). All the samples were well characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET) analysis methods. Antibacterial activity of the prepared samples... 

Due to the high activity of Au nanoparticles (NPs) for various reactions, many researchers have tried to develop heterogeneous catalysts in order to prevent irreversible agglomeration of Au NPs. Herein, magnetic graphene oxide modified with polyaniline (PANI) was used as a support for Au NPs that brings together advantages including: uniform dispersal of the catalyst in water,alarge surface area related to the graphene oxide; easy electron transfer in chemical reactions and good attachment of Au NPs to the support associated with PANI; and finally facile recovery in the presence of a magnetic field. Catalytic reduction of different analytes (Congo red, methylene blue, rhodamine B and 4-nitro... 

A switchable dual light- and temperature-responsive drug carrier using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs)-grafted poly(dimethylacrylamide-co-acrylamide)/poly acrylic acid [P(DMA-co-AAm)/PAAc] hydrogel was prepared by free radical polymerization procedure using N,N-methylenebisacrylamide as cross-linker and ammonium persulfate as initiator. Initial P(DMA-co-AAm) hydrogel and uniformly-distributed stable Au NPs, prepared by reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaureate (III) hydrate in the presence of trisodium citrate, were synthesized separately. Then, the prepared P(DMA-co-AAm) and Au NPs were added to an acrylic acid solution along with the cross-linker and initiator to prepare PAAc hydrogel within... 

Au@TiO2-Graphene (GR) nanocomposite was prepared using photocatalytic reduction method. TiO2-GR nanocomposite was synthesized under UV irradiation of deaerated ethanolic suspension of TiO2. The nanocomposite was calcined at 400∘C followed by loading of highly dispersed Au nanoparticles throughout the deposition-precipitation method. The Au@TiO2/GR was characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope and the BET surface area measurements. It was found that Au-TiO2-GR and TiO2-GR nanoparticles have smaller crystalline size and higher surface area than pure TiO2. Presence of highly dispersed Au nanoparticles... 

In this study, UV‐Vis-NIR photodetectors based on decorated ZnO nanofibers (NFs) with optimized coverage of Au nanoparticles (NPs) fabricated via combined simple electrospinning and sputtering techniques are introduced. The effect of different coverages of Au NPs resulted from different Au nominal layer thicknesses on the morphology and optical properties of the ZnO fibers are investigated through various characterization methods. It is discovered that 4 nm Au nominal thickness provides the highest UV on/off ratio (~460), responsivity (~332 A/W), detectivity (~2.93×10 11 Jones) as well as faster rise and decay times as compared to pure ZnO nanofibers. A broad spectral response from UV to NIR... 

The potential of hydrogen (pH) is a basic and critical parameter representing the function of numerous chemicals/biomolecules. Due to the widespread applications of pH in diverse fields, the development of rapid and simple yet reliable probes for the determination of pH has attracted significant interest. In this paper, by using AuNRs, silver ions, and ascorbic acid as colorimetric pH sensor, a multicolorimetric nanosensor is described for pH measurement. The reduction of silver ions by ascorbic acid which is strongly influenced by pH, results in silver nanoshell deposition on the surface of AuNRs. Consequently, the formation of Au@Ag core-shell NRs causes a series of blue shifts in the... 

A novel approach for highly sensitive detection of captopril was developed based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), in which FITC acts as the donor and Au NPs as the acceptor. The fluorescence intensity of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was strictly quenched as a result of noncovalently adsorbed on Au NPs. Upon the addition of captopril, the fluorescence intensity of FITC turn-on due to the competition between captopril and FITC towards the surface of Au NPs. Under the optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensity of the released FITC displays a linear relationship in the range of 20 μg L-1 to... 

Pursuing a sensing structure with a large effective surface area, partial ordered arrays of ZnO nanorods with flower-like structures are introduced for gas sensing applications. Room temperature H2S response of the grown structure shows significant enhancement after modification with Au nanoparticles. High response (about 1270 at 6 ppm H2S gas) and selectivity were achieved by depositing an Au layer with nominal thickness ∼6 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was utilized to describe the H2S sensing mechanism  

TiO2 nanoparticles were physically attached to chemically synthesized single-layer graphene oxide nanosheets deposited between Au electrodes in order to investigate the electrical, chemical, and structural properties of the TiO2/graphene oxide composition exposed to UV irradiation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that after effective photocatalytic reduction of the graphene oxide sheets by the TiO2 nanoparticles in ethanol, the carbon content of the reduced graphene oxides gradually decreased by increasing the irradiation time, while no considerable variation was detected in the reduction level of the reduced sheets. Raman spectroscopy indicated that, at first, the photocatalytic... 

Based on the fact that the manipulation of fine nanoclusters calls for more precise modelling, the aim of this paper is to conduct an atomistic investigation for interaction analysis of particle-substrate system for pushing and positioning purposes. In the present research, 2D molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate such behaviours. Performing the planar simulations can provide a fairly acceptable qualitative tool for our purpose while the computation time is reduced extremely in comparison to 3D simulations. To perform this study, Nose-Hoover dynamics and Sutton-Chen interatomic potential will be used to investigate the behaviour of the aforementioned system. Pushing of... 

In this work the plasmonic photocatalytic activity of ZnO/noble metals nanocomposites has been investigated. Ag nanowires and Au nanospheres were prepared and mixed with ZnO in order to prepare the nanocomposites. It was demonstrated that the composites containing the plasmonic Ag nanowires and ZnO nanoparticles showed a significant photocatalytic activity enhancement compared to the pure ZnO in decomposition of methylene blue (MB). By investigation of mechanisms governing the performance of plasmonic photocatalysts, it was found that the photocatalytic activity enhancement can be attributed to the energy transfer from Ag nanowires to the ZnO nanoparticles induced by the surface plasmonic... 

Nowadays, achievement to easy, fast, reliable and cost-effective techniques and tools is one of the most important challenges in detection of microorganisms. Salmonella typhimurium is one of the most important pathogenic bacteria that affect the human health and environmental infections. In this work we report a new, stable, biocompatible and cost-effective platform for construction of an aptasensor based on nanoporous gold (NPG) for detection of S. typhimurium. Nanoporous gold is electrochemically synthesized using Au-Cu alloy at the surface of Au/GCE. Thiol functionalized aptamer is used for effective linking to the surface of NPG/Au/GCE via self-assemble monolayers (SAMs) formation.... 

The ZnO nanowires have been synthesized using vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process on Au catalyst thin film deposited on different substrates including Si(1 0 0), epi-Si(1 0 0), quartz and alumina. The influence of surface roughness of different substrates and two different environments (Ar + H2 and N2) on formation of ZnO nanostructures was investigated. According to AFM observations, the degree of surface roughness of the different substrates is an important factor to form Au islands for growing ZnO nanostructures (nanowires and nanobelts) with different diameters and lengths. Si substrate (without epi-taxy layer) was found that is the best substrate among Si (with epi-taxy layer), alumina and...