Oxidation of functioning copper has restricted its applicability as a catalyst for commercially important epoxidation of propylene to form propylene oxide. Here, we report that steady-state selectivity in propylene epoxidation on copper (Cu) nanoparticles increases sharply when the catalyst is illuminated with visible light. The selectivity increase is accompanied by light-induced reduction of ...

Metal nanoparticles have gained significant interest in the past decade because of their unique physio-chemical properties which has a potential to be used in a wide range of applications. Recent efforts have gained success in synthesising nanoparticles with excellent shape and size control; however they are largely restricted to chemical methods. There is an increasing focus on eco-friendly ‘g...

A new fluoro-chromogenic chemosensor based on BODIPY-functionalized gold nanoparticles 1 is prepared. Addition of Cu(2+) ions to aqueous solutions of 1 gave an instantaneous color change along with a blue-shift of the absorption band and quenching of the emission spectrum at room temperature. The chemosensor 1 exhibits a high affinity and selectivity for Cu(2+) over competing metal ions tested....

Monodisperse Cu nanoparticles (NPs) assembled on a pyridinic-N rich graphene (p-NG) support show a Cu NP massand size-dependent catalysis for the selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 to ethylene (C2H4). For the 7 nm Cu NPs assembled on the p-NG with the p-NG/Cu mass ratio of 1:1, the C2H4 formation Faradaic efficiency and hydrocarbon selectivity reach 19% and 79% respectively at -0.9 V (v...

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a sintering process that is capable of sintering hard worked powders in short times. This technique was used to fabricate bulk Cu and Cu-SiC nanocomposites. Pure Cu and mixed powders of Cu including 4 vol% of SiC nanoparticles were mechanically alloyed for 25 h and sintered at 750˚C under vacuum condition by SPS method. Microstructures of the materials were chara...

In order to investigate the suitability of random arrays of nanoparticles for plasmonic enhancement in the visible-near infrared range, we introduced three-dimensional scanning near-field optical microscopy (3D-SNOM) imaging as a useful technique to probe the intensity of near-field radiation scattered by random systems of nanoparticles at heights up to several hundred nm from their surface. We...

Zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles co-doped with Cu and Pt were applied as catalysts for carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation. These materials were prepared through solution combustion in order to obtain highly active and stable catalytic nanomaterials. This method allows Pt2+ and Cu2+ ions to dissolve into the ZrO2 lattice and thus creates oxygen vacancies due to lattice distortion and charge imbalance. ...

IT-101, a cyclodextrin polymer-based nanoparticle containing camptothecin, is in clinical development for the treatment of cancer. Multiorgan pharmacokinetics and accumulation in tumor tissue of IT-101 is investigated by using PET. IT-101 is modified through the attachment of a 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-Tris-acetic acid ligand to bind (64)Cu(2+). This modification does not affect the...

Pd-based nanoparticles are promising candidates for non-Pt catalysts of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Trends in ORR activity of Pd/Cu-alloy-core@Pd-shell nanoparticles are studied by calculating the oxygen binding energy on the Pd surface with different Cu compositions in the alloy core. Density functional theory calculations show that several properties of the nanoparticle surface, incl...

A novel, efficient and green MOFs-templated sulfidation route has been developed to synthesize Cu(1.96)S-C hybrid composites, in which ultrafine Cu(1.96)S nanoparticles are embedded uniformly within porous carbon octahedra. The as-synthesized composites exhibit high specific capacitance and good cycling performance in supercapacitors.