Various morphologies of silica nanoparticles were synthesized by a microwave-assisted Pechini method. Silica nanostructures were synthesized via a fast reaction between tetra ethyl ortho silicate and ammonia at presence citric acid and other effective agents in Pechini procedure. Then for preparation of polymer-matrix nanocomposites, SiO2 nanoparticles were added to poly carbonate (PC) and poly...

Cation exchange reaction is a strong tool for the synthesis of new ionic nanomaterials. Most of them are isolated nanoparticles with simple geometric features, such as nanodots, nanorods and nanospheres. In this work, we demonstrated that ordered mesoporous CdS with a complex cubic Ia3d gyroidal 3D bicontinuous porous structure and large particle size can be successfully converted to crystallin...

Merging nanoparticles with different functions into a single microsphere can exhibit profound impact on various applications. However, retaining the unique properties of each component after integration has proven to be a significant challenge. Our previous research demonstrated a facile method to incorporate magnetic nanoparticles into porous silica microspheres. Here, we report the fabricatio...

Coral Pt islands films are deposited via electrochemical reduction on silica-coated nanostructured Ag electrodes. From these devices surface-enhanced (resonance) Raman [SE(R)R] signals of molecules exclusively attached to Pt are obtained with intensity up to 50% of the value determined for Ag. SE(R)R spectroscopic investigations are carried out with different probe molecules, silica-coating thi...

We describe an experimental method to recover a single, deterministically fabricated nanostructure in various experimental instruments without the use of artificially fabricated markers, with the aim to study photonic structures. Therefore, a detailed map of the spatial surroundings of the nanostructure is made during the fabrication of the structure. These maps are made using a series of micro...

This research investigates changes in the nanostructure and the nanoscale local mechanical properties of cement paste with microand nano-modifiers. Silica fume and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used as microand nano-modifiers. An effective method of dispersing CNTs in cement matrix was developed. A detailed study on the effects of CNTs concentration and aspect ratio on the fracture p...

Here we report the influence of the polyimide precursor type on the surface morphology and properties of poly(p-phenylene biphenyltetracarboximide) (BPDA-PDA PI)/silica hybrid composite films. Two types of precursor polymer were employed: poly(p-phenylene biphenyltetracarboxamic acid) (BPDA-PDA PAA) and poly(p-phenylene biphenyltetracarboxamic diethyl ester) (BPDA-PDA PES). These precursor poly...

Here, we introduce a highly porous functional mesoscopically silica-polymer composite based on silica monolith-conjugated thiourea/formaldehyde copolymer. The developed nanostructure enables selective and fast removal of the radioactive pollutants strontium (Sr[II]) cesium (Cs[I]) ions from contaminated seawater. silica/polymer was synthesized by introducing solution into tetramethoxy orthosili...

Diatoms are single-celled algaes that make photonic-crystal-like silica shells or frustules with hierarchical micro& nano-scale features consisting of two-dimensional periodic pores. In this paper, we present an innovative label-free optical sensor based on a biological-plasmonic hybrid nanostructure by self-assembling silver (Ag) nanoparticles into diatom frustules. The photonic-crystal-like d...

A self-assembly process for the preparation of functional mesoscopically ordered semiconducting polymer–silica nanocomposite thin films is reported. The nanocomposites are prepared by introducing pre-synthesized semiconducting polymers into a tetrahydrofuran (THF)–water homogeneous sol solution containing silica precursor species and a surface-active agent. Depending on the concentration of the...