First principles study of thermoelectric performance in pristine and binary alloyed monolayers of noble metals

In search of novel thermoelectric materials, we have investigated the thermoelectric performance of freestanding pristine and binary alloyed monolayers of noble metals (viz. Au, Ag, Cu, Pt) in honeycomb morphology using first principles methods based on density functional theory (DFT) and the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) approach. The requisite electron transmission function is calculated using the TranSIESTA code - a module of the SIESTA package, while its phonon counterpart is obtained using the Phonons module of the python package along with the NEGF utility - PHtrans. Transport is explored along both the armchair (ac) and zigzag (zz) directions. Due to greater transverse length of the unit cell, electron and phonon transport is found to be more in the zz-direction. Among the pristine monolayers, Pt is found to exhibit ferromagnetism as well as the highest thermoelectric efficiency ZT ∼ 8 with an external bias of μ = 0.795 eV. However, alloying brings in a characteristic energy gap in the phononic transmission function, which diminishes the (room-temperature) relative phononic conductance to less than 5% in Pt-containing alloys. Also, monolayers of AuAg and AuCu turn semiconducting, with the former yielding a high Seebeck coefficient of 1264.96 μV K^-1 at μ ∼ -0.055 eV. Moreover, they exhibit an enhanced ZT near the edges of the band gap, with ZT_max as high as 3.74 and 3.05, respectively. Interestingly, the Pt-containing alloyed monolayers also show a ferromagnetic character and hence, a spin-dependent Seebeck effect. In the CuPt monolayer, the bias μ can be tuned to attain an appreciable charge figure of merit Z_cT = 4.80 at μ = 0.58 eV, while a decent spin figure of merit Z_sT = 1.43 at μ = 0.56 eV. Instead, the pristine Pt monolayer shows a much better Z_sT = 5.45 for a bias of μ = 0.785 eV. Nevertheless, the predicted ZT remains smaller than the corresponding alloyed atomic chains in double zigzag topology.

Ionic liquids for nano- and microstructures preparation. Part 1: Properties and multifunctional role

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a broad group of organic salts of varying structure and properties, used in energy conversion and storage, chemical analysis, separation processes, as well as in the preparation of particles in nano- and microscale. In material engineering, ionic liquids are applied to synthesize mainly metal nanoparticles and 3D semiconductor microparticles. They could generally serve as a structuring agent or as a reaction medium (solvent). This review deals with the resent progress in general understanding of the ILs role in particle growth and stabilization and the application of ionic liquids for nano- and microparticles synthesis. The first part of the paper is focused on the interactions between ionic liquids and growing particles. The stabilization of growing particles by steric hindrance, electrostatic interaction, solvation forces, viscous stabilization, and ability of ILs to serve as a soft template is detailed discussed. For the first time, the miscellaneous role of the ILs in nano- and microparticle preparation composed of metals as well as semiconductors is collected, and the formation mechanisms are graphically presented and discussed based on their structure and selected properties. The second part of the paper gives a comprehensive overview of recent experimental studies dealing with the applications of ionic liquids for preparation of metal and semiconductor-based nano- and microparticles. A wide spectrum of preparation routes using ionic liquids are presented, including precipitation, sol-gel technique, hydrothermal method, nanocasting, and microwave or ultrasound-mediated methods.

Ionic liquids for nano- and microstructures preparation. Part 2: Application in synthesis

Ionic liquids (ILs) are widely applied to prepare metal nanoparticles and 3D semiconductor microparticles. Generally, they serve as a structuring agent or reaction medium (solvent), however it was also demonstrated that ILs can play a role of a co-solvent, metal precursor, reducing as well as surface modifying agent. The crucial role and possible types of interactions between ILs and growing particles have been presented in the Part 1 of this review paper. Part 2 of the paper gives a comprehensive overview of recent experimental studies dealing with application of ionic liquids for preparation of metal and semiconductor based nano- and microparticles. A wide spectrum of preparation routes using ionic liquids is presented, including precipitation, sol-gel technique, hydrothermal method, nanocasting and ray-mediated methods (microwave, ultrasound, UV-radiation and γ-radiation). It was found that ionic liquids formed of a 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium [BMIM] combined with tetrafluoroborate [BF4], hexafluorophosphate [PF6], and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [Tf2N] are the most often used ILs in the synthesis of nano- and microparticles, due to their low melting temperature, low viscosity and good transportation properties. Nevertheless, examples of other IL classes with intrinsic nanoparticles stabilizing abilities such as phosphonium and ammonium derivatives are also presented. Experimental data revealed that structure of ILs (both anion and cation type) affects the size and shape of formed metal particles, and in some cases may even determine possibility of particles formation. The nature of the metal precursor determines its affinity to polar or nonpolar domains of ionic liquid, and therefore, the size of the nanoparticles depends on the size of these regions. Ability of ionic liquids to form varied extended interactions with particle precursor as well as other compounds presented in the reaction media (water, organic solvents etc.) provides nano- and microstructures with different morphologies (0D nanoparticles, 1D nanowires, rods, 2D layers, sheets, and 3D features of molecules). ILs interact efficiently with microwave irradiation, thus even small amount of IL can be employed to increase the dielectric constant of nonpolar solvents used in the synthesis. Thus, combining the advantages of ionic liquids and ray-mediated methods resulted in the development of new ionic liquid-assisted synthesis routes. One of the recently proposed approaches of semiconductor particles preparation is based on the adsorption of semiconductor precursor molecules at the surface of micelles built of ionic liquid molecules playing a role of a soft template for growing microparticles.

Controlled Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles UsingAspergillus terreusIF0 and Its Antibacterial Potential against Gram Negative Pathogenic Bacteria

Biosynthesis of monodispersed nanoparticles, along with determination of potential responsible biomolecules, is the major bottleneck in the area of bionanotechnology research. The present study focuses on an ecofriendly, ambient temperature protocol for size controlled synthesis of gold nanoparticles, using the fungusAspergillus terreusIF0. Gold nanoparticles were formed immediately, with the addition of chloroauric acid to the aqueous fungal extract. Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM-EDX, and XRD analysis. Particle diameter and dispersity of nanoparticles were controlled by varying the pH of the fungal extract. At pH 10, the average size of the synthesized particles was in the range of 10–19 nm. Dialysis to obtain high and low molecular weight fraction followed by FTIR analysis revealed that biomolecules larger than 12 kDa and having –CH, –NH, and –SH functional groups were responsible for bioreduction and stabilization. In addition, the synthesized gold nanoparticles were found to be selectively bactericidal against the pathogenic gram negative bacteria,Escherichia coli.