We have successfully developed a plasmon-induced artificial photosynthesis system that uses a gold nanoparticle-loaded oxide semiconductor electrode to produce useful chemical energy as hydrogen and ammonia. The most important feature of this system is that both sides of a strontium titanate single-crystal substrate are used without an electrochemical apparatus. Plasmon-induced water splitting ...

With an eye toward using surface morphology to enhance heterogeneous catalysis, Pt nanoparticles are grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on the surfaces of SrTiO(3) nanocubes. The size, dispersion, and chemical state of the Pt nanoparticles are controlled by the number of ALD growth cycles. The SrTiO(3) nanocubes average 60 nm on a side with {001} faces. The Pt loading increases linearly wit...

The growing use of nanoparticles in a wide range of products has resulted in their release into the aquatic environment; therefore, an understanding of the toxic effects of nanoparticles on aquatic organisms is of permanent importance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of silver and platinum nanoparticles toward the freshwater microalga, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. Algal g...

The slow, incomplete oxidation of methanol and ethanol on platinum-based anodes as well as the high price and limited reserves of Pt has hampered the practical application of direct alcohol fuel cells. We describe the electrocatalysts consisting of one Pt monolayer (one atom thick layer) placed on extended or nanoparticle surfaces having the activity and selectivity for the oxidation of alcohol...

One-phase synthesis of gold and platinum nanoparticles using new thiol-functionalized ionic liquids (TFILs) is described for the first time. TFILs as stabilizing agents for gold and platinum nanoparticles were designed to have thiol groups on either the cation or anion and symmetrical or unsymmetrical positions only in the cation. Transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and NMR ...

Porous silicon nanowires are synthesized through metal assisted wet-chemical etch of highly-doped silicon wafer. The resulted porous silicon nanowires exhibit a large surface area of 337 m(2)·g(-1) and a wide spectrum absorption across the entire ultraviolet, visible and near infrared regime. We further demonstrate that platinum nanoparticles can be loaded onto the surface of the porous silicon...

Understanding the size- and shape-dependent properties of platinum nanoparticles is critical for enabling design nanoparticle-based applications with optimal potentially tunable functionality. Toward this goal, we evaluated nine different empirical potentials purpose accurately modeling faceted using molecular dynamics simulation. First, were by computing bulk surface properties—surface energy,...

Two types of platinum nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with ethynylferrocene were prepared. The subnanometer-sized NPs (Pt10eFc) showed semiconductor-like characteristics with a bandgap of about 1.0 eV, and the other was metal-like with a core size of about 2 nm (Pt314eFc) and no significant bandgap. IR spectroscopic measurements showed a clear red-shift of the C≡C and ferrocenyl ring =C-H vi...

Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) represent an emerging class of nanoparticle-based therapeutics. SNAs consist of densely functionalized and highly oriented oligonucleotides on the surface of a nanoparticle which can either be inorganic (such as gold or platinum) or hollow (such as liposomal or silica-based). The spherical architecture of the oligonucleotide shell confers unique advantages over tr...

................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures........................................................................................................... 10 List of Tables....................