Unlike other toxic substances, usually of a known chemical formula, air particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of solid and liquid particles. The most frequently used tests are in vitro in nature and examine ‘cell viability’ following 24-hour exposure to PM. In most cases, PM induces sub-toxic viability responses but other key cell functions are not detected. The aim of this study was to compare ...

The surface of spherical, nonporous silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NPs) was modified with gadolinium (Gd) complexes, fluorophores, and cell-penetrating peptides to achieve multifunctionality on a single particle. The Gd surface concentrations were 9-16 μmol/g resulting in nanomaterials with high local longitudinal and transversal relaxivities (~1×10(5) and ~5×10(5) /mm/s/NP, respectively). Rapid ce...

The optical properties of nanostructures are rather important for designing plasmonic devices. In this work, the Ag-coated spherical dielectric nanoparticles (NPs), namely, Ag-SiO2-NPs, Ag-ZnO-NPs, and Ag-TiO2-NPs, were studied using a method finite-difference time-domain calculations. It was found that NPs start to exhibit unique different from Ag-NPs as thickness Ag shells is reduced be less ...

In this study, Pt1Sn1 intermetallic nanoparticles (NPs) on SiO2/CeO2@SiO2 composites were located either SiO2 or CeO2@SiO2, thereby varying the average distance (intimacy) between metal sites and CeOx from “closest” to “nanoscale”. The catalytic performance of these catalysts was compared dual-bed mixtures Pt1Sn1@SiO2 CeO2@SiO2 powders, which provided a “milliscale” sites. Several beneficial ef...

This research aims to prepare a nano composite material of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVAc) copolymer reinforced with both silica and silver (Ag+) nanoparticles different weight percentage ( 0.25, 0.5 & 1) wt.%. Spin coating technique was used for the preparation films SiO2 nanoparticles. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measure roughness , in addition surface area ratio, valley fluid index bearing i...

A six-membered N-heterocyclic carbene fused with a spiro-scaffold is designed. The new NHC shows stronger σ-donation ability than typical 5-membered NHCs. This property leads to interesting reactivities of this spiro-fused six-membered NHC. For example, the NHC-BF3 Lewis pair complex can be readily prepared by using LiBF4 as the BF3 source, or through a direct bond-reconstruction of the tetrafl...

Large-area mildly reduced graphene oxide (MR-GO) monolayer films were self-assembled on SiO2/Si surfaces via an amidation reaction strategy. With the MR-GO as templates, MR-GO-Ag nanoparticle (MR-GO-Ag NP) hybrid films were synthesized by immersing the MR-GO monolayer into a silver salt solution with sodium citrate as a reducing agent under UV illumination. SEM image indicated that Ag NPs with ...

Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) have found extensive applications in industrial manufacturing, biomedical and biotechnological fields. Therefore, the increasing exposure to such ultrafine particles requires studies to characterize their potential cytotoxic effects in order to provide exhaustive information to assess the impact of nanomaterials on human health. The understanding of the biologi...

The catalytic properties of a supported system are strongly dependent on the types of metal and supporting material involved. Platinum nanoparticles (NPs) supported on ceria (CeO2) have shown higher catalytic activities for a wide variety of reactions, including water-gas shift, 6] CO oxidation, and hydrogenation when compared to those supported on other oxides. Therefore, CeO2 has been widely ...