In this work, Al-B₄C nanocomposites were produced by microwave sintering and followed by hot extrusion processes. The influence of ceramic reinforcement (B₄C) nanoparticles on the physical, microstructural, mechanical, and thermal characteristics of the extruded Al-B₄C nanocomposites was investigated. It was observed that the density decreased and porosity increased with an increase in B₄C cont...

In recent years, improving the mechanical properties of metals has become the main challenge in the modern materials and metallurgical industry. An alloying process is usually used to achieve advanced performance of metals. This paper, however, describes an alternative approach. Modification with ceramic nanoparticles, gas-dynamic treatment (GDT) and a combined treatment were investigated on a ...

Hydrogels mimic native tissue microenvironment due to their porous and hydrated molecular structure. An emerging approach to reinforce polymeric hydrogels and to include multiple functionalities focuses on incorporating nanoparticles within the hydrogel network. A wide range of nanoparticles, such as carbon-based, polymeric, ceramic, and metallic nanomaterials can be integrated within the hydro...

Homogenous cesium tungsten tri-oxide (CsAW1O3) and powder was prepared by solvothermal reaction using (NH4)10H2(W2O7)6 and Cs2CO3 aqueous solution followed by annealing. The cesium doped tungsten tri-oxide (CsAW1O3) nanocomposite films was deposited by the sol-gel bar-coating method onto PET-film (polyethylene terephthalate film, thickness 186 μm) substrate. The structure and sizes of ceramic p...

A specific colorimetric DNA detection method based on oligonucleotide functionalized gold-silver-alloy nanoparticles (AuAg-alloy-nanoprobes) is presented. The AuAg-alloy-nanoprobes were then used for the specific detection of a DNA sequence from TP53-a gene involved in cancer development. The AuAg-alloy-nanoprobes were then used in combination with Au-nanoprobes for a one-pot dual-colour detect...

Amorphous Si (a-Si) films with metal silicide are expected to enhance the absorption ability of pure a-Si films. In this present study, NiSi (20 nm)/Si (40 nm) and AlSi (20 nm)/Si (40 nm) bilayer thin films are deposited through radio frequency (RF) sputtering at room temperature. The influence of the film's composition and the annealing temperature on the film's optical absorption is investiga...

Hollow alloyed nanoparticles (NPs) represent one kind of promising fuel cell electrocatalyst. However, the formation of single-cavity hollow structures by a dealloying process is quite challenging owing to the random leaching/dissolution of transition metals, surface passivation and the limited diffusion distance of the noble metals. Here we present a facile method to prepare hollow PtPdCu NPs ...

We present a dispersion theory of the surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) in random metal-dielectric nanocomposite (MDN) consisting of bulk metal embedded with dielectric inclusions. We demonstrate that embedding of dielectric nanoparticles in metal results in the formation of the plasmonic bandgap due to strong coupling of the SPP at the metal-vacuum interface and surface plasmons localized at th...

The synthesis of polymer-stabilized nanoparticles (PSNPs) can be successfully carried out using intermatrix synthesis (IMS) technique, which consists in sequential loading of the functional groups of a polymer with the desired metal ions followed by nanoparticles (NPs) formation stage. After each metal-loading-NPs-formation cycle, the functional groups of the polymer appear to be regenerated. T...

Twenty years after layer-type metal halide perovskites were successfully developed, 3D metal halide perovskites (shortly, perovskites) were recently rediscovered and are attracting multidisciplinary interest from physicists, chemists, and material engineers. Perovskites have a crystal structure composed of five atoms per unit cell (ABX3) with cation A positioned at a corner, metal cation B at t...