Nano

It is important to reduce costs and improve performance by microstructure-control of materials. The direct precipitation method and hydrothermal method were adopted to adjust the crystallinity of zinc tungstate (ZnWO₄) pigments. Correlation between the crystallinity of ZnWO₄ and its anti-corrosion performance is explored. The results confirm that ZnWO₄ crystals prepared by hydrothermal reaction for 12 h have high crystallinity, and the corrosion resistance is enhanced by 737.0% compared with blank coating in the epoxy resin system. The improvement in corrosion inhibition is due to the enhancement of the shielding effect of the multilayer passivation film and electronic suppression effect resulted from the high ZnWO₄ crystallinity. The low ZnWO₄ crystallinity can weaken the corrosion resistance because of the defect-enriched effect. Advancement in anticorrosive performance by crystallinity-control meets the reduction of costs and energy consumption in the coatings industry.

BiOBr-based photocatalysts have received extensive interest for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation due to their layered structure recently. In this study, BiOBr with enhanced photocatalytic nitrogen fixation performance was synthesized via a facile ozone modification method. Characterization results demonstrated that the ozone treated BiOBr photocatalysts have identical crystal structures, morphologies, and enhanced photocatalytic nitrogen fixation performance. In addition, due to the strong oxidation of ozone, more oxygen vacancies and active sites form on the BiOBr surface, which could improve the nitrogen fixation efficiency. Furthermore, a supposed photocatalytic nitrogen fixation mechanism of the ozone treated BiOBr is proposed.

Constructing heterojunction is one promising strategy to improve the transfer and separation of photoinduced charge carriers of graphitic carbon nitride (CN). Herein, nonmetal N, S-doped graphene quantum dots (N, S-GQDs)/g-C₃N₄ nanocomposite photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by calcining N, S-GQDs (NSGs) and melamine at elevated temperature. The optimal 06NSG-CN composite effectively reduced the concentration of Escherichia coli flora under visible light irradiation by superoxide and super hydroxyl radicals. Meanwhile, the optimum photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaches 50.9 $\mu$mol/h, about 16.9 times that of pure phase CN under visible light. Graphitic carbon nitride ($g$-C₃N₄) grafted with N, S-doped GQDs could increase the specific surface area, promote the absorption and utilization of visible light, and inhibited the recombination of photoinduced electron–hole pairs, resulting in excellent photocatalytic antibacterial activity.

In this study, eugenol-loaded mPEG-PCL nanoparticles were used to improve the anti-bacterial properties of eugenol in an attempt to eliminate the resistant bacteria. The mPEG-PCL copolymer was prepared by ring-opening polymerization of $\epsilon$-caprolactone monomer in the vicinity of a dry mPEG and a tin (II) octoate catalyst. Polymeric nanoparticles were prepared through the nanoprecipitation procedure. The particle size and zeta potential of mPEG-PCL/eugenol were found to be $157.23\pm 3.81$ nm and $-6.95\pm 0.19$ mV, respectively. The polymeric nanoparticle structure was identified by AFM, FT-IR, and DSC techniques. To evaluate and compare the antibacterial efficiency of mPEG-PCL/eugenol with that of free eugenol, a turbidity assay was used in association with gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. SEM images were taken from the bacteria before and after exposure to the mPEG-PCL/eugenol. The colony-forming unit per milliliter (CFU/mL) method was used to evaluate the performance of mPEG-PCL/eugenol on the growth rate of bacteria in hospital wastewater. The results showed that the mPEG-PCL/eugenol nanoparticles demonstrated an enormous antibacterial effect in connection with wild gram-negative bacteria strains at 40 $\mu$M concentration and 37^∘C. In the original hospital wastewater, mPEG-PCL/eugenol at the concentration of 0.125 $\mu$M at 25^∘C showed the largest decrease in the total microbial count.

The zinc oxide (ZnO)/ copper oxide (CuO) composite nanofiber materials are synthesized by a combination of electrospinning and oxidation methods. The results show that products obtained by oxidative calcination maintain the proportion of elements in the precursor and reproduce the original fiber and pore structure. According to different phase analyses, the composite process changes the energy band structure of the system and improve the separation of photogenerated electron hole pairs. In addition, oxidation temperature affects the morphology and properties of products. After illumination for 2.5 h, the degradation rate of humic acid of ZnO/ CuO composite nanofibers synthesized by oxidation at 550^∘C reaches 70%, which is higher than that of the materials and single component pure materials obtained at different oxidation temperatures.

The mechanical properties of nanometer-thick graphite film (NGF) and graphene were characterized using a bulge test. Young’s modulus, fracture stress, residual strain and stress of the NGF were measured. The NGF was synthesized on a Ni/SiO₂/Si substrate using a chemical vapor deposition system. Large-area freestanding NGF was prepared via camphor transfer. Young’s modulus, fracture stress and fracture strain of the NGF were 106 GPa, 462 MPa, and 0.3%, respectively, confirming that the bulge test is a very useful technique for evaluating the mechanical properties of NGF. A bulge test was performed to evaluate the mechanical properties of graphene with a free-standing poly (bisphenol A carbonate) (PC)/graphene layer. Large-area freestanding PC/2D material layers were prepared by peeling-off and stamping. The PC layer was used as the supporting layer in this study. Young’s modulus of graphene was calculated from Young’s modulus of the PC/2D material layers and PC layers using the rule of mixtures. Young’s modulus of the graphene was 260 GPa. The results of this study confirm the efficacy of the bulge test for determining the mechanical properties of nanometer-thick films and 2D materials, including graphene.

Through a green approach using water as a solvent, nanorods of Gd(OH)₃ in the diameter range of 15–50 nm and lengths varying from 40 nm to 290 nm were synthesized at low temperatures with high crystallinity. The as-prepared Gd(OH)₃ nanorods were characterized by various methods like XRD, TGA, TEM, etc. The effect of reaction time, base and surface directing agent on the crystallinity and morphology of Gd(OH)₃ powders were also investigated. Further, through a similar route Eu doped Gd(OH)₃ nanorods were also prepared (showing a similar morphology as undoped powders) that were annealed at modest temperatures to obtain Eu:Gd₂O₃ powders and their photoluminescence properties were analyzed.

The electrode materials for highly efficient glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) are vital for nonenzymatic glucose sensors (NEGS) and direct glucose fuel cells. The Pd-decorated NiCo₂O₄ nanotubes (Pd/NiCo₂O₄ NTs) were prepared through the template-free process. Pd/NiCo₂O₄ NTs presented highly improved electrocatalytic activity for glucose oxidation. When applied to glucose detection, Pd/NiCo₂O₄ NTs displayed superior sensing performance with a wide detection range of 5 $\mu$M–9 mM. The sensitivity and detection limit are 214.2 $\mu \mathrm{\text{A}}\cdot {\mathrm{\text{mM}}}^{-1}\cdot {\mathrm{\text{cm}}}^{-2}$ and 1.6 $\mu$M, respectively. Moreover, the Pd/NiCo₂O₄ NTs sensors also demonstrated excellent selectivity and feasibility for glucose detection for serum sample analysis.