the use of quantum dots (qdots) as bright and photostable probes for long-term fluorescence imaging is gaining more interest. thus far, (pre)clinical use of qdots remains limited, which is primarily caused by the potential toxicity of qdots. most qdots consist of cd2+ ions, which are known to cause high levels of toxicity. therefore, the cytotoxic effects of cdse quantum dots on embryonic devel...

Because of Klein tunneling, electrostatic potentials are unable to confine Dirac electrons. We show that it is possible to confine massless Dirac fermions in a monolayer graphene sheet by inhomogeneous magnetic fields. This allows one to design mesoscopic structures in graphene by magnetic barriers, e.g., quantum dots or quantum point contacts.

Nitrogen-doped graphene decorated by iron-nickel alloy is introduced as a promising electrode material for supercapacitors. Compared to pristine and Ni-decorated graphene, in acid media, the introduced electrode revealed excellent specific capacitance as the corresponding specific capacitance was multiplied around ten times with capacity retention maintained at 94.9% for 1,000 cycles. Briefly, ...

We examined the toxicity of four carbon-based nanomaterials (unmodified) by using carbon quantum dots (CQDs), graphene quantum dots (GQDs), graphene oxide (GO), and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) to cultivate bean sprout. Results showed that the toxicity of these four carbon nanomaterials increases with the increasing of concentration and cultivating time. In addition, pH test was appl...

The electron spin is a very promising candidate for a solid-state qubit [1]. Major experimental breakthroughs have been achieved in recent years using quantum dots formed in semiconductor heterostructures based on GaAs technology [2, 3, 4, 5]. In such devices, the major sources of spin decoherence have been identified as the spin-orbit interaction, coupling the spin to lattice vibrations [6, 7,...

Here, a novel N,B-doped graphene aerogel, abbreviated as N,B-GA, was obtained via a two-step approach and served as a metal-free catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This two-step method involved a hydrothermal reaction and a pyrolysis procedure, guaranteeing the efficient insertion of the heteroatoms. The resulting three-dimensional (3D) N,B-GA obtained at pyrolysis temperature of...

Nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) materials have been proposed as next-generation oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts to significantly improve scalability and reduce costs, but these alternatives usually exhibit low activity and/or gradual deactivation during use. Here, we develop new 2D sandwich-like zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) derived graphene-based nitrogen-doped porous carbon sheets...

Few-layer nitrogen doped graphene was synthesized originating from graphene oxide functionalized by selective oxygenic functional groups (hydroxyl, carbonyl, carboxyl etc.) under hydrothermal conditions, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) observation evidenced few-layer feature of the graphene oxide. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirmed p...