Nanostructured materials (NSMs) have increasingly been used as a substitute for antibiotics and additives in various products to impart microbicidal effect. In particular, use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has garnered huge researchers' attention as potent bactericidal agent due to the inherent antimicrobial property of the silver metal. Moreover, other nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, fuller...

Two types of nanoscale catalysts were created to explore NMR signal enhancement via reversible exchange (SABRE) at the interface between heterogeneous and homogeneous conditions. Nanoparticle and polymer comb variants were synthesized by covalently tethering Ir-based organometallic catalysts to support materials comprised of TiO2/PMAA (poly methacrylic acid) and PVP (polyvinyl pyridine), respec...

A simple, robust and versatile hydrothermal synthesis route to in situ functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles was developed using titanium(IV) isopropoxide as Ti-precursor and selected silane coupling agents (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), 3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyldimethoxymethylsilane (AEAPS), and n-decyltriethoxysilane (DTES)). Spherical nanoparticles (ca. 9 nm) with narrow size distribut...

Biomedical implants made of titanium-based materials are expected to have certain essential features including high bone-to-implant contact and optimum osteointegration, which are often influenced by the surface topography and physicochemical properties of titanium surfaces. The surface structure in the nanoscale regime is presumed to alter/facilitate the protein binding, cell adhesion and prol...

Synthetic analogs of naturally occurring nanoparticles have been studied by a range of x-ray techniques to determine their structure and chemistry, and relate these to their novel chemical properties and physical behavior. ZnS nanoparticles, formed in large concentrations naturally by microbial action, have an interesting core-shell structure with a highly distorted and strained outer layer. Th...

Studies on the kinetics of adsorption methylene blue dye (MB) from an aqueous solution a DDT photocatalyst (nanoscale titanium dioxide in anatase phase deposited diatomite) and its components – diatomite D TiO2 are presented. The effect initial concentration pH MB process rate is investigated. kinetic data were processed using two simplified models pseudo-first pseudo-second order. A model intr...

TiO2 composites with zeolite templated carbon (TiO2-ZTC) and activated carbon (TiO2-AC) were prepared and used as the photocatalysts for comparative studies with pure TiO2. TiO2-ZTC exhibited the highest rate of methylene blue degradation with a rate approximately 4 and 400 times higher than those of TiO2-AC and pure TiO2, respectively. Moreover, the highest catalytic performance of TiO2-ZTC in...

Sand, a cheap and naturally abundant particulate material, was modified with photocatalytic hydrophobic coatings to reduce evaporation loss facilitate the purification of water. The first-level (TiO2 or ZnO nanocrystals) rendered nanoscale roughness on surface sand. additional second-level coating self-assembled monolayer octyltrimethoxysilane (OTS) made sand particles superhydrophobic because ...