Ga and Ge-doped graphene structures: A DFT study of sensor applications for methanol

Solution studies, synthesis and antibacterial activity of Ga(III) complexes with bis-kojate derivatives

Given the recognized major problem of microbial drug resistance for human health, new metal-based drugs have been currently explored for their antimicrobial properties, including gallium-based compounds as potential metallophores that could perturb Fe's interactions with proteins. Herein we have designed and synthesized two bis-kojate ligands (named L4 and L6) and studied their Ga(III) complexes for their physico-chemical and biological properties. In particular a detailed study of their complexation properties in aqueous solution, showed equilibrium models with formation of quite stable dinuclear 2:3 metal:ligand complexes, though with different stability. Solid state complexes were also prepared and characterized and complementary DFT studies indicated that [Ga2(L4)3] complex, with higher stability, seems to adopt a three-ligand bridging conformation, while that for L6 adopt a one ligand bridging conformation. Preliminary investigation of the antibacterial activity of these gallium complexes showed antipseudomonal activity, which appeared higher for the complex with L4, a feature of potential interest for the scientific community.

Ge-Doped Boron Nitride Nanoclusters Functionalized with Amino Acids for Enhanced Binding of Bisphenols A and Z: A Density Functional Theory Study

This study uses density functional theory to investigate boron nitride nanoclusters functionalized with amino acids for enhanced binding of bisphenols A (BPA) and Z (BPZ) to mimic the estrogen-related receptor gamma. Three categories of nanoclusters were examined: pristine B12N12, and those which were germanium-doped for boron or nitrogen. The study reveals that hydrogen bonding patterns and molecular stability are significantly influenced by the type of functional group and the specific amino acids involved. Ge-doping generally enhances the binding stability and spontaneity of the nanocluster-amino acid-bisphenol complexes, with Glu 275 emerging as the most stable binding site. The analysis of electronic properties such as energy gap, ionization potential, electron affinity, and chemical hardness before and after bisphenol binding indicates a general trend of increased reactivity, particularly in Ge-doped nanoclusters. The findings highlight the potential of these nanocluster composites in applications requiring high reactivity and electron mobility, such as pollutant removal and drug delivery.

Characteristics and performance of layered two-dimensional materials under doping engineering

In recent years, doping engineering, which is widely studied in theoretical and experimental research, is an effective means to regulate the crystal structure and physical properties of two-dimensional materials and expand their application potential. Based on different types of element dopings, different 2D materials show different properties and applications. In this paper, the characteristics and performance of rich layered 2D materials under different types of doped elements are comprehensively reviewed. Firstly, 2D materials are classified according to their crystal structures. Secondly, conventional experimental methods of charge doping and heterogeneous atom substitution doping are summarized. Finally, on the basis of various theoretical research results, the properties of several typical 2D material representatives under charge doping and different kinds of atom substitution doping as well as the inspiration and expansion of doping systems for the development of related fields are discussed. Through this review, researchers can fully understand and grasp the regulation rules of different doping engineering on the properties of layered 2D materials with different crystal structures. It provides theoretical guidance for further improving and optimizing the physical properties of 2D materials, improving and enriching the relevant experimental research and device application development.

BTEX sensing potential of elemental-doped graphene: a DFT study

Elementally-doped graphene demonstrates remarkable gas sensing capabilities as a novel 2D sensor material. In this study, we employed density functional theory calculations, we investigated the impact of various dopants on the BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) sensing performance of graphene. Through the systematic analysis of electronic structures and sensitivity, we observed that both the doping method and dopant type significantly influence the interactions between graphene and BTEX molecules. Out of the 22 different elemental doped graphenes studied, N-, O-, and Pd-doped graphenes emerged as promising candidates for BTEX sensor materials. Graphene with N-doping exhibited relatively higher sensitivity towards toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene compared to O- and Pd-doped graphenes. However, it demonstrated low sensitivity towards benzene. On the other hand, O-doped graphene displayed excellent selectivity for ethylbenzene over the other three gas molecules (benzene, toluene, and xylene). Similarly, Pd-doped graphene also exhibited significant selectivity for ethylbenzene and possessed higher sensitivity than the O-doped graphene. Their distinct characteristics and sensitivities make them potential candidates for future applications in gas sensing technology.

Molecular modeling study on the water-electrode surface interaction in hydrovoltaic energy

The global energy problem caused by the decrease in fossil fuel sources, which have negative effects on human health and the environment, has made it necessary to research alternative energy sources. Renewable energy sources are more advantageous than fossil fuels because they are unlimited in quantity, do not cause great harm to the environment, are safe, and create economic value by reducing foreign dependency because they are obtained from natural resources. With nanotechnology, which enables the development of different technologies to meet energy needs, low-cost and environmentally friendly systems with high energy conversion efficiency are developed. Renewable energy production studies have focused on the development of hydrovoltaic technologies, in which electrical energy is produced by making use of the evaporation of natural water, which is the most abundant in the world. By using nanomaterials such as graphene, carbon nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and conductive polymers, hydrovoltaic technology provides systems with high energy conversion performance and low cost, which can directly convert the thermal energy resulting from the evaporation of water into electrical energy. The effect of the presence of water on the generation of energy via the interactions between the ion(s) and the liquid-solid surface can be enlightened by the mechanism of the hydovoltaic effect. Here, we simply try to get some tricky information underlying the hydrovoltaic effect by using DFT/B3LYP/6-311G(d, p) computations. Namely, the physicochemical and electronic properties of the graphene surface with a water molecule were investigated, and how/how much these quantities (or parameters) changed in case of the water molecule contained an equal number of charges were analyzed. In these computations, an excess of both positive charge and negative charge, and also a neutral environment was considered by using the Na+, Cl-, and NaCl salt, respectively.

Density functional theory study of Mobius boron-carbon-nitride as potential CH4, H2S, NH3, COCl2 and CH3OH gas sensor

The interesting properties of Mobius structure and boron-carbon-nitride (BCN) inspired this research to study different characteristics of Mobius BCN (MBCN) nanoribbon. The structural stability and vibrational, electrical and optical properties are analysed using the density functional theory. The gas-sensing ability of the modelled MBCN structure was also studied for methane, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, phosgene and methanol gases. The negative adsorption energy and alteration of electronic bandgap verified that MBCN is very sensitive toward the selected gases. The complex structures showed a high absorption coefficient with strong chemical potential and 7 ps-0.3 ms recovery time. The negative change in entropy signifies that all the complex structures were thermodynamically stable. Among the selected gases, the MBCN showed the strongest interaction with methanol gas.

High gas sensing performance of inorganic and organic molecule sensing devices based on the BC3N2 monolayer

Recently, a novel two-dimensional (2D) BC₃N₂ monolayer has gained a lot of attention due to its graphene-like structure, and it was first reported by using the particle swarm optimization algorithm and ab initio calculations. Combining density functional theory with the non-equilibrium Green's function method, a 2D BC₃N₂-based nanodevice has been theoretically constructed and the gas sensing performance of the BC₃N₂ monolayer for inorganic and organic molecules has been extensively investigated. The results revealed that the BC₃N₂ monolayer remains metallic with thermodynamic stability. Meanwhile, the results of sensing performance analysis show that the inorganic molecules CO, NO, and NO₂ and organic molecules C₂H₂ and HCHO have strong chemical interactions with BC₃N₂ and were chemically adsorbed onto BC₃N₂. In contrast, the interactions between NH₃, SO₂, CH₄, C₂H₄ and CH₃OH and BC₃N₂ are very weak and these molecules adopt physical adsorption. In the case of chemisorption, the electronic transport behaviors of the 2D BC₃N₂ devices are sensitive to molecules, and the gas sensitivity of BC₃N₂ is strongly anisotropic, especially for organic C₂H₂ with the gas sensing ratios from 7.30 to 10.43 (from 2.51 to 2.79) under different bias voltages along the zigzag (armchair) direction. For inorganic molecules, the gas sensing device is not particularly sensitive, and the maximum gas sensing ratio is only 1.36 for CO. Meanwhile, the large anisotropic gas sensitivity can reach up to 2.66/6.22 for electron transport along the armchair and zigzag directions for CO/C₂H₂ in the BC₃N₂-based sensing devices. Accordingly, the high gas sensitivity can be disclosed by displaying the scattering state around the Fermi level at different bias voltages during the transport process. As a result, BC₃N₂ could be used in 2D gas sensing devices, especially for sensing organic molecule C₂H₂.

Theoretical Study of CO Adsorption Interactions with Cr-Doped Tungsten Oxide/Graphene Composites for Gas Sensor Application

The present study explores the CO adsorption properties with graphene, tungsten oxide/graphene composite, and Cr-doped tungsten oxide/graphene composite using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results of the study reveal the Cr-doped tungsten oxide/graphene composites, g-CrW n-1O3n (n = 2 to 4), to have a lowered highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) energy gap, high surface reactivity, and a strong cluster-graphene binding energy, hence exhibiting a strong adsorption interaction with CO. The CO adsorption interaction shows physisorption properties by having a greater tendency for Mulliken and natural bond orbital (NBO) charge transfer supported by a strong physisorption interaction toward the g-CrW n-1O3n (n = 2 to 4) composite with HOMO-LUMO energy gaps of -0.638, -0.486, and -0.327 eV, respectively. The calculated photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and infrared spectra combined with the visualized electrostatic potential and contour line confirm the population density of the physisorption interaction. The calculated results show that the g-CrW n-1O3n composite achieves a greater sensing ability by possessing the highest sensitivity, adsorption, and desorption characteristics for n = 2 (g-CrWO6 composite). In conclusion, Cr-doped tungsten oxide/graphene has high sensitivity toward CO gas.

Palladium-Functionalized Graphene for Hydrogen Sensing Performance: Theoretical Studies

The adsorption characteristics of H2 molecules on the surface of Pd-doped and Pd-decorated graphene (G) have been investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations to explore the sensing capabilities of Pd-doped/decorated graphene. In this analysis, electrostatic potential, atomic charge distribution, 2D and 3D electron density contouring, and electron localization function projection, were investigated. Studies have demonstrated the sensing potential of both Pd-doped and Pd-decorated graphene to H2 molecules and have found that the gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), i.e., the HOMO-LUMO gap (HLG), decreases to 0.488 eV and 0.477eV for Pd-doped and Pd-decorated graphene, respectively. When H2 is adsorbed on these structures, electrical conductivity increases for both conditions. Furthermore, chemical activity and electrical conductivity are higher for Pd-decorated G than Pd-doped G, whereas the charge transfer of Pd-doped graphene is far better than that of Pd-decorated graphene. Also, studies have shown that the adsorption energy of Pd-doped graphene (−4.3 eV) is lower than that of Pd-decorated graphene (−0.44 eV); a finding attributable to the fact that the recovery time for Pd-decorated graphene is lower compared to Pd-doped graphene. Therefore, the present analysis confirms that Pd-decorated graphene has a better H2 gas sensing platform than Pd-doped graphene and, as such, may assist the development of nanosensors in the future.

Tailoring the Structural and Electronic Properties of Graphene through Ion Implantation

Ion implantation is a superior post-synthesis doping technique to tailor the structural properties of materials. Via density functional theory (DFT) calculation and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD) based on stochastic boundary conditions, we systematically investigate the implantation of low energy elements Ga/Ge/As into graphene as well as the electronic, optoelectronic and transport properties. It is found that a single incident Ga, Ge or As atom can substitute a carbon atom of graphene lattice due to the head-on collision as their initial kinetic energies lie in the ranges of 25–26 eV/atom, 22–33 eV/atom and 19–42 eV/atom, respectively. Owing to the different chemical interactions between incident atom and graphene lattice, Ge and As atoms have a wide kinetic energy window for implantation, while Ga is not. Moreover, implantation of Ga/Ge/As into graphene opens up a concentration-dependent bandgap from ~0.1 to ~0.6 eV, enhancing the green and blue light adsorption through optical analysis. Furthermore, the carrier mobility of ion-implanted graphene is lower than pristine graphene; however, it is still almost one order of magnitude higher than silicon semiconductors. These results provide useful guidance for the fabrication of electronic and optoelectronic devices of single-atom-thick two-dimensional materials through the ion implantation technique.

Graphene-based materials: A new tool to fight against breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors among women population on a global scale, with a huge number of new cases and deaths each year. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of literatures on the discovery and development of novel anti-breast cancer drugs and materials, aiming to increase the survival rate of breast cancer patients. One of the newest tools used for the therapy of breast cancer is graphene-based materials, which have ultra-high surface area as well as unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties. It is reported that graphene-based materials could induce apoptosis in cancer cells while showing low toxicity due to their carbon structure. Therefore, they can be used as nano-drugs or biological carriers to introduce small molecules such as nucleic acids, drugs, or photosensitizers into the human body to achieve treatment goals. This article introduces the synthetic methods for graphene-based materials, as well as the current status and the future prospects of graphene-based materials' application in the treatment of breast cancer.

The Adsorption of H2 and C2H2 on Ge-Doped and Cr-Doped Graphene Structures: A DFT Study

In order to find an excellent sensing material for dissolved gases in transformer oil, the adsorption structures of intrinsic graphene (IG), Ge-doped graphene (GeG), and Cr-doped graphene (CrG) to H₂ and C₂H₂ gas molecules were built. It was found that the doping site right above C atom (T) was the most stable structure by studying three potential doping positions of the Ge and Cr atom on the graphene surface. Then, the structural parameters, density of states, and difference state density of these adsorption systems were calculated and analyzed based on the density functional calculations. The results show that the adsorption properties of GeG and CrG systems for H₂ and C₂H₂ are obviously better than the IG system. Furthermore, by comparing the two doping systems, CrG system exhibits more outstanding adsorption performances to H₂ and C₂H₂, especially for C₂H₂ gas. Finally, the highest adsorption energy (-1.436 eV) and the shortest adsorption distance (1.981 Å) indicate that Cr-doped graphene is promising in the field of C₂H₂ gas-sensing detection.

Density functional study of gallium clusters on graphene: electronic doping and diffusion

Motivated by experimental results on transport properties of graphene covered by gallium atoms, the density functional theory study of clustering of gallium atoms on graphene (up to a size of 8 atoms) is presented. The paper explains a rapid initial increase of graphene electron doping by individual Ga atoms with Ga coverage, which is continually reduced to zero, when bigger multiple-atom clusters have been formed. According to density functional theory calculations with and without the van der Waals correction, gallium atoms start to form a three-dimensional cluster from five and three atoms, respectively. The results also explain an easy diffusion of Ga atoms while forming clusters caused by a small diffusion barrier of 0.11 eV. Moreover, the calculations show this barrier can be additionally reduced by the application of an external electric field, which was simulated by the ionization of graphene. This effect offers a unique possibility to control the cluster size in experiments only by applying a gate-voltage to the graphene in a field-effect transistor geometry and thereby without growth temperature assistance.