Ultrathin Gold Nanowires Can Be Obtained by Reducing Polymeric Strands of Oleylamine−AuCl Complexes Formed via Aurophilic Interaction

Ultrathin single-crystal ZnO nanobelts: Ag-catalyzed growth and field emission property

We report the growth of ultrathin single-crystal ZnO nanobelts by using a Ag-catalyzed vapor transport method. Extensive transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements reveal that the thickness of the ultrathin ZnO nanobelts is approximately 2 nm. Scanning electron microscopy and post-growth annealing studies suggest a '1D branching and 2D filling' growth process. Our results demonstrate the critical role of catalyst in the deterministic synthesis of nanomaterials with the desired morphology. In addition, these ultrafine nanobelts exhibit stable field emission with unprecedented high emission current density of 40.17 mA cm(-2). These bottom-up building blocks of ultrathin ZnO nanobelts may facilitate the construction of advanced electronic and photonic nanodevices.

Bending nanowire growth in solution by mechanical disturbance

The effect of mechanical disturbance on one-dimensional nanocrystal growth in solution phase is investigated by controlled growth of Au nanowires with and without stirring. While a static growth leads to straight, single-crystal Au nanowires, the mechanic disturbance by stirring tends to bend the nanowire growth, yielding nanowire kinks abundant in various types of crystal defects including dislocations, twin boundaries, and grain boundaries. Mechanical modeling and analysis is introduced to elucidate the nanowire growth mechanisms in these two conditions. The provided fundamental understanding of crystal defect formation at nanoscale could be applied to guide the development of advanced nanomaterials with shape control and unique mechanical properties.

Microglial response to gold nanoparticles

Given the emergence of nanotherapeutics and nanodiagnostics as key tools in today's medicine, it has become of critical importance to define precisely the interactions of nanomaterials with biological systems and to characterize the resulting cellular response. We report here the interactions of microglia and neurons with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) of three morphologies, spheres, rods, and urchins, coated with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Microglia are the resident immune cells of the brain, primarily involved in surveillance, macrophagy, and production of cytokines and trophic factors. Analysis by dark-field microscopy and by two-photon-induced luminescence (TPL) indicates that the exposure of neural cells to GNPs resulted in (i) GNP internalization by both microglial cells and primary hippocampal neurons, as revealed by dark-field microscopy and by two-photon-induced luminescence (TPL), (ii) transient toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2) up-regulation in the olfactory bulb, after intranasal administration in transgenic mice, in vivo, in real time, and (iii) differential up-regulation in vitro of TLR-2 together with interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1alpha), granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and nitric oxide (NO) in microglia. The study demonstrates that GNP morphology and surface chemistry strongly influence the microglial activation status and suggests that interactions between GNPs and microglia can be differentially regulated by tuning GNP nanogeometry.

Controlled synthesis of dendritic gold nanostructures assisted by supramolecular complexes of surfactant with cyclodextrin

Controlled synthesis of well-defined planar Au nanodendrites with a symmetric single-crystalline structure consisting of trunks and side branches grown along the 211 directions was realized by reducing chloroauric acid in aqueous mixed solutions of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD). It has been revealed that the formation of the supramolecular complexes of DTAB with beta-CD due to host-guest interaction is indispensable for the fabrication of these unique planar Au nanodendrites, and a proper CD-to-DTAB molar ratio is essential to their exclusive formation. A variety of Au nanostructures, such as branched particles consisting of rodlike branches and flowerlike particles consisting of platelike petals, could be readily obtained by simply changing the CD-to-DTAB molar ratio. Moreover, the obtained Au nanodendrites exhibited both a good electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of methanol and a good surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensitivity for detecting p-aminothiophenol (PATP) molecules, indicating their potential applications including catalysis, biosensing, and nanodevices.

Three synthetic routes to single-crystalline PbS nanowires with controlled growth direction and their electrical transport properties

Single-crystalline rock-salt PbS nanowires (NWs) were synthesized using three different routes; the solvothermal, chemical vapor transport, and gas-phase substitution reaction of pregrown CdS NWs. They were uniformly grown with the [100] or [110], [112] direction in a controlled manner. In the solvothermal growth, the oriented attachment of the octylamine (OA) ligands enables the NWs to be produced with a controlled morphology and growth direction. As the concentration of OA increases, the growth direction evolves from the [100] to the higher surface-energy [110] and [112] directions under the more thermodynamically controlled growth conditions. In the synthesis involving chemical vapor transport and the substitution reaction, the use of a lower growth temperature causes the higher surface-energy growth direction to change from [100] to [110]. The high-resolution X-ray diffraction pattern and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results revealed that a thinner oxide-layer was produced on the surface of the PbS NWs by the substitution reaction. We fabricated field effect transistors using single PbS NW, which showed intrinsic p-type semiconductor characteristics for all three routes. For the PbS NW with a thinner oxide layer, the carrier mobility was measured to be as high as 10 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1).

Ultralong Pt-on-Pd bimetallic nanowires with nanoporous surface: nanodendritic structure for enhanced electrocatalytic activity

We for the first time report a facile, wet-chemical strategy for the high-yield (∼100%) synthesis of ultralong Pt-on-Pd bimetallic nanowires (NWs) with the cores being Pd NWs and the shells being made of dendritic Pt, which exhibit high surface area and enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation reaction.

Transparent metal nanowire thin films prepared in mesostructured templates

The preparation of conductive and transparent gold/silver nanowire mesh films is reported. The nanowires formed after the reduction of the metal ions was triggered and a thin growth solution film was spread on a substrate. Metal reduction progressed within a template of a highly concentrated surfactant liquid crystalline mesostructure formed on the substrate during film drying to form ordered bundles of ultrathin nanowires. The films exhibited metallic conductivity over large areas, high transparency, and flexibility.

Gold nanoparticles with externally controlled, reversible shifts of local surface plasmon resonance bands

We have achieved reversible tunability of local surface plasmon resonance in conjugated polymer functionalized gold nanoparticles. This property was facilitated by the preparation of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) containing polynorbornene brushes on gold nanoparticles via surface-initiated ring-opening metathesis polymerization. Reversible tuning of the surface plasmon band was achieved by electrochemically switching the EDOT polymer between its reduced and oxidized states.

N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized gold nanoparticles and their assembly into 3D superlattices

The facile one-phase synthesis of N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized gold nanoparticles (NHC-AuNP) by reduction of NHC-gold(I) complexes and their self-assembly into 3D superlattices is presented.

Facile synthesis of ultrathin and single-crystalline Au nanowires

Au nanowires have attracted significant interest in nanomaterials research owing to their chemical stability and high conductivity for potential nanoelectronic applications. However, previous syntheses yielded only polycrystalline Au nanowires with diameters larger than 10 nm. Very recent advances in solution-phase synthesis have led to the formation of ultrathin single-crystalline Au nanowires with diameters of less than 10 nm. This Focus Review summarizes the synthesis, characterization, and transport studies of these ultrathin single-crystalline Au nanowires for potential electronic device applications.

Plasmonic fluorescent quantum dots

Combining multiple discrete components into a single multifunctional nanoparticle could be useful in a variety of applications. Retaining the unique optical and electrical properties of each component after nanoscale integration is, however, a long-standing problem. It is particularly difficult when trying to combine fluorophores such as semiconductor quantum dots with plasmonic materials such as gold, because gold and other metals can quench the fluorescence. So far, the combination of quantum dot fluorescence with plasmonically active gold has only been demonstrated on flat surfaces. Here, we combine fluorescent and plasmonic activities in a single nanoparticle by controlling the spacing between a quantum dot core and an ultrathin gold shell with nanometre precision through layer-by-layer assembly. Our wet-chemistry approach provides a general route for the deposition of ultrathin gold layers onto virtually any discrete nanostructure or continuous surface, and should prove useful for multimodal bioimaging, interfacing with biological systems, reducing nanotoxicity, modulating electromagnetic fields and contacting nanostructures.

Thiolated gold nanowires: metallic versus semiconducting

Tremendous research efforts have been spent on thiolated gold nanoparticles and self-assembled monolayers of thiolate (RS-) on gold, but thiolated gold nanowires have received almost no attention. Here we computationally design two such one-dimensional nanosystems by creating a linear chain of Au icosahedra, fused together by either vertex sharing or face sharing. Then neighboring Au icosahedra are bridged by five thiolate groups for the vertex-sharing model and three RS-Au-SR motifs for the face-sharing model. We show that the vertex-sharing thiolated gold nanowire can be made either semiconducting or metallic by tuning the charge, while the face-sharing one is always metallic. We explain this difference between the two nanowires by examining their band structures and invoking a previously proposed electron-count rule. Implications of our findings for previous experimentation of gold nanowires are discussed, and a potential way to make thiolated gold nanowires is proposed.

Rational fabrication of graphene nanoribbons using a nanowire etch mask

We report a rational approach to fabricate graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with sub-10 nm width by employing chemically synthesized nanowires as the physical protection mask in oxygen plasma etch. Atomic force microscopy study shows that the patterns of the resulted nanoribbons replicate exactly those of mask nanowires so that ribbons or branched or crossed graphene nanostructures can be produced. Our study shows a linear scaling relation between the resulted GNR widths and mask nanowire diameters with variable slopes for different etching times. GNRs with controllable widths down to 6 nm have been demonstrated. We have fabricated GNR field effect transistors (FETs) with nanoribbons directly connected to bulk graphene electrodes. Electrical measurements on an 8 nm GNR-FET show room temperature transistor behavior with an on/off ratio around 160, indicating appreciable band gaps arise due to lateral confinement. We find the on/off ratio in the log scale inversely scales with ribbon width. This approach opens a new avenue to graphene nanoribbons and other graphene nanostructures in the deep nanometer regime without sophisticated lithography. It thus opens exciting new opportunities for graphene nanodevice engineering.

Shape-controlled synthesis of metal nanocrystals: simple chemistry meets complex physics?

Nanocrystals are fundamental to modern science and technology. Mastery over the shape of a nanocrystal enables control of its properties and enhancement of its usefulness for a given application. Our aim is to present a comprehensive review of current research activities that center on the shape-controlled synthesis of metal nanocrystals. We begin with a brief introduction to nucleation and growth within the context of metal nanocrystal synthesis, followed by a discussion of the possible shapes that a metal nanocrystal might take under different conditions. We then focus on a variety of experimental parameters that have been explored to manipulate the nucleation and growth of metal nanocrystals in solution-phase syntheses in an effort to generate specific shapes. We then elaborate on these approaches by selecting examples in which there is already reasonable understanding for the observed shape control or at least the protocols have proven to be reproducible and controllable. Finally, we highlight a number of applications that have been enabled and/or enhanced by the shape-controlled synthesis of metal nanocrystals. We conclude this article with personal perspectives on the directions toward which future research in this field might take.

Simple and generalized synthesis of oxide-metal heterostructured nanoparticles and their applications in multimodal biomedical probes

Heterostructured nanoparticles composed of metals and Fe3O4 or MnO were synthesized by thermal decomposition of mixtures of metal-oleate complexes (for the oxide component) and metal-oleylamine complexes (for the metal component). The products included flowerlike-shaped nanoparticles of Pt-Fe3O4 and Ni-Fe3O4 and snowmanlike-shaped nanoparticles of Ag-MnO and Au-MnO. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns showed that these nanoparticles were composed of face-centered cubic (fcc)-structured Fe3O4 or MnO and fcc-structured metals. The relaxivity values of the Au-MnO and Au-Fe3O4 nanoparticles were similar to those of the MnO and Fe3O4 nanoparticles, respectively. Au-Fe3O4 heterostructured nanoparticles conjugated with two kinds of 12-base oligonucleotide sequences were able to sense a complementary 24-mer sequence, causing nanoparticle aggregation. This hybridization-mediated aggregation was detected by the overall size increase indicated by dynamic light scattering data, the red shift of the surface plasmon band of the Au component, and the enhancement of the signal intensity of the Fe3O4 component in T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Facile synthesis of ultrathin Au nanorods by aging the AuCl(oleylamine) complex with amorphous Fe nanoparticles in chloroform

Despite plenty of reports on the preparation of Au nanorods, it remains challenging to grow uniform Au nanorods with diameters below 5 nm. In this communication, we demonstrate the facile synthesis of ultrathin Au nanorods with a uniform diameter of 2 nm and an average aspect ratio of 30. The synthesis involves the room-temperature aging of a mixture of the [AuCl(oleylamine)] complex with amorphous Fe nanoparticles in chloroform. Analysis of the growth mechanism indicates that Au nanoparticles with a high density of defects were formed at early stages, followed by etching and redeposition process that gradually led to the growth of ultrathin Au nanorods along the 111 direction. This growth mechanism is different from the mechanism recently reported for ultrathin Au nanowires (ref ), where the [AuCl(oleylamine)] complex is assembled into polymer chains followed by reduction to form wires, although the template effect of oleylamine for the formation of ultrathin Au nanorods cannot be completely ruled out.