Ordered gold nanocrystal/silica particles were synthesized through self-assembly of nanocrystal micelles and silicate. Depending on the use of surfactants, and the kinetic conditions of silica hydrolysis and condensation, well-shaped and irregularly-shaped silica particles were formed, inside which the nanocrystals self-organized in a face-centered cubic mesostructure.

We have demonstrated directional photoinduced electron transfer in paraquat silicate thin films containing entrapped ruthenium(II)-tris(bathophenanthroline-disulfonate (RuBPS). The films were made by electrochemically-induced hydrolysis of a silane analogue of paraquat with ruthenium(II)-tris(bathophenanthroline-disulfonate as its ion pair.

Core-shell particles were formed by deposition of primary silica particles synthesized from sodium silicate solution on functionalized silica core particles (having size of ~0.5 μm) prepared by hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethylortosilicate. The obtained mesoporous shell has thickness of about 60 nm and consists of primary silica particles with average size of ~21 nm. Scanning electron m...

An all-aqueous sol-gel method for encapsulation of bacterial cells in porous silicate matrices towards the development of a biosensor is described. The sol-gel encapsulation of cells is achieved at room temperature and neutral pH. Furthermore, use of sodium silicate as precursor avoids generation of alcohol that can be detrimental to cells in contrast to the traditional alkoxide sol-gel encapsu...

This work is a systematic attempt to determine the possibilities and the limitations of the (43)Ca high field solid state NMR in the study of cement-based materials. The low natural abundance (0.135%) and small gyromagnetic ratio of (43)Ca present a serious challenge even in a high magnetic field. The NMR spectra of a number of cement compounds of known structure and composition are examined. T...

The influence of aqueous silica on gallium(III) hydrolysis in dilute (2 10 4 mGa 5 10 ) and moderately concentrated (0.02 mGa 0.3) aqueous solutions was studied at ambient temperature, using high resolution X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies, respectively. Results show that, in Si-free acidic solutions (pH 3), Ga is hexa-coordinated with o...

Highly effective mixing in microchannels is important for most chemical reactions conducted in microfluidic chips. To obtain a rigid and chemically resistant micromixer system at low cost, we fabricated a Y-shaped microchannel with built-in mixer structures by static liquid photolithography (SLP) from methacrylated polyvinylsilazane (MPVSZ) as an inorganic polymer photoresist which was then con...

Anionic detergents have been shown to lower markedly the differential-pulse voltammetric peak currents obtained for 12-molybdophosphate and 12molybdosilicate in aqueous solutions, but when ethanol water or acetone water (1 + 1 V / V ) solutions are used there is no interference. Static differential-pulse voltammetric and flow injection voltammetric procedures have been developed for the determi...

This paper highlights the use of two-dimensional (2D) solid-state NMR correlation techniques to probe the chemical homogeneity of organically modified silicate networks. Specifically, 29Si{1H} heteronuclear correlation (HETCOR) NMR experiments have revealed the spatial proximity of the two types of Si units present in a gel obtained from co-hydrolysis of methyldiethoxysilane and triethoxysilane...