Band gap engineering of Ce-doped anatase TiO2 through solid solubility mechanisms and new defect equilibria formalism

Sonocatalytic Optimization of Titanium-Based Therapeutic Nanomedicine

Recent considerable technological advances in ultrasound-based treatment modality provides a magnificent prospect for scientific communities to conquer the related diseases, which is featured with remarkable tissue penetration, non-invasive and non-thermal characteristics. As one of the critical elements that influences treatment outcomes, titanium (Ti)-based sonosensitizers with distinct physicochemical properties and exceptional sonodynamic efficiency have been applied extensively in the field of nanomedical applications. To date, a myriad of methodologies has been designed to manipulate the sonodynamic performance of titanium-involved nanomedicine and further enhance the productivity of reactive oxygen species for disease treatments. In this comprehensive review, the sonocatalytic optimization of diversified Ti-based nanoplatforms, including defect engineering, plasmon resonance modulation, heterojunction, modulating tumor microenvironment, as well as the development of synergistic therapeutic modalities is mainly focused. The state-of-the-art Ti-based nanoplatforms ranging from preparation process to the extensive medical applications are summarized and highlighted, with the goal of elaborating on future research prospects and providing a perspective on the bench-to-beside translation of these sonocatalytic optimization tactics. Furthermore, to spur further technological advancements in nanomedicine, the difficulties currently faced and the direction of sonocatalytic optimization of Ti-based therapeutic nanomedicine are proposed and outlooked.

Role of Oxygen Vacancy Ordering and Channel Formation in Tuning Intercalation Pseudocapacitance in Mo Single-Ion-Implanted CeO2-x Nanoflakes

Metal oxide pseudocapacitors are limited by low electrical and ionic conductivities. The present work integrates defect engineering and architectural design to exhibit, for the first time, intercalation pseudocapacitance in CeO_2-x. An engineered chronoamperometric electrochemical deposition is used to synthesize 2D CeO_2-x nanoflakes as thin as ∼12 nm. Through simultaneous regulation of intrinsic and extrinsic defect concentrations, charge transfer and charge-discharge kinetics with redox and intercalation capacitances together are optimized, where reduction increases the gravimetric capacitance by 77% to 583 F g^-1, exceeding the theoretical capacitance (562 F g^-1). Mo ion implantation and reduction processes increase the specific capacitance by 133%, while the capacitance retention increases from 89 to 95%. The role of ion-implanted Mo⁶⁺ is critical through its interstitial solid solubility, which is not to alter the energy band diagram but to facilitate the generation of electrons and to establish the midgap states for color centers, which facilitate electron transfer across the band gap, thus enhancing n-type semiconductivity. Critically, density functional theory simulations reveal, for the first time, that the reduction causes the formation of ordered oxygen vacancies that provide an atomic channel for ion intercalation. These channels enable intercalation pseudocapacitance but also increase electrical and ionic conductivities. In addition, the associated increased active site density enhances the redox such that the 10% of the Ce³⁺ available for redox (surface only) increases to 35% by oxygen vacancy channels. These findings are critical for any oxide system used for energy storage systems, as they offer both architectural design and structural engineering of materials to maximize the capacitance performance by achieving accumulative surface redox and intercalation-based redox reactions during the charge/discharge process.

Band-Gap Engineering: A New Tool for Tailoring the Activity of Semiconducting Oxide Catalysts for CO Oxidation

Cation or anion vacancies in semiconducting oxides usually benefit activity for CO oxidation. To study the nature of vacancy engineering for a thermocatalytic reaction, we adopted lattice doping of cations with varied valence states to construct anion and cation vacancies in n-type and p-type semiconducting CeO₂ and NiO, respectively. Doping cations can effectively regulate the number of the vacancies, thus tailoring the activity for CO oxidation. The strong correlation of activation energy and specific activity with a catalyst band gap verified that the nature of vacancy engineering for activity of CeO₂ and NiO for CO oxidation can be attributed to tailoring of the band gap. The larger the vacancy amount, the smaller the band gap, and the lower the activation energy, thus giving a higher specific activity. Band-gap engineering, widely used for photocatalytic processes, can be a new tool for tailoring the activity of semiconducting oxide catalysts for thermocatalytic reactions.

Defect engineering of oxide perovskites for catalysis and energy storage: synthesis of chemistry and materials science

Oxide perovskites have emerged as an important class of materials with important applications in many technological areas, particularly thermocatalysis, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and energy storage. However, their implementation faces numerous challenges that are familiar to the chemist and materials scientist. The present work surveys the state-of-the-art by integrating these two viewpoints, focusing on the critical role that defect engineering plays in the design, fabrication, modification, and application of these materials. An extensive review of experimental and simulation studies of the synthesis and performance of oxide perovskites and devices containing these materials is coupled with exposition of the fundamental and applied aspects of defect equilibria. The aim of this approach is to elucidate how these issues can be integrated in order to shed light on the interpretation of the data and what trajectories are suggested by them. This critical examination has revealed a number of areas in which the review can provide a greater understanding. These include considerations of (1) the nature and formation of solid solutions, (2) site filling and stoichiometry, (3) the rationale for the design of defective oxide perovskites, and (4) the complex mechanisms of charge compensation and charge transfer. The review concludes with some proposed strategies to address the challenges in the future development of oxide perovskites and their applications.

Photodegradation of organic water pollutants under visible light using anatase F, N co-doped TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite: Semi-pilot plant experiment and density functional theory calculations

Visible-light driven photocatalysts are of great importance in wastewater treatment. In this work, fluorine and nitrogen co-doped titanium dioxide/silica nanocomposite (F-N-TiO₂/SiO₂) was synthetized using a sol-gel approach. The as-developed nanocomposite was well characterized using different techniques. In particular, an anatase structure with high surface area (345.69 m²/g) and a band gap of 2.97 eV were observed for the as-synthesized nanocomposite, which makes it a potential candidate for photocatalytic applications under visible light. A systematic density functional theory calculation was performed to get more insight into the effect of dopant atoms on the band gap of TiO₂ nanoparticles. To enhance the reusability of the photocatalyst in semi-pilot scale, the as-developed nanocomposite was immobilized onto the glass beads by coupling dip-coating and heat attachment methods. A semi-pilot scale custom-designed fixed-bed photoreactor was used to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the as-developed nanocomposite under both visible and solar irradiations. A mixture of three azo dyes (i.e., basic red 29, basic blue 41 and basic yellow 51) was used as the model industrial wastewater. The analysis of the wastewater showed that the complete removal of the pollutants under visible light and sunlight can occurred at pH of 3 and flow rate of 280 mL/min. The durability results demonstrated the successful degradation of the pollutants for five cycles. The results of this study show how careful controlling the operational parameters as well as using a highly photocatalytic nanomaterial can lead to successful decontamination of organic water pollutants. This approach might open up new windows to the future applications of photocatalytic nanomaterials for wastewater treatment.

Ce-Doped PANI/Fe3O4 Nanocomposites: Electrode Materials for Supercapattery

In this study, we report on a combined approach to preparing an active electrode material for supercapattery application by making nanocomposites of Polyaniline/Cerium (PANI/Ce) with different weight percentages of magnetite (Fe3O4). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses supported the interaction of PANI with Ce and the formation of the successful nanocomposite with magnetite nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses showed the uniform and porous morphology of the composites. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD) were used to test the supercapattery behavior of the nanocomposite electrodes in 1.0 M H2SO4. It was found that the supercapattery electrode of PANI/Ce+7 wt.% Fe3O4 exhibited a specific capacity of 171 mAhg−1 in the potential range of −0.2 to 1.0 V at the current density of 2.5 Ag−1. Moreover, PANI/Ce+7 wt.% Fe3O4 revealed a power density of 376.6 Wkg−1 along with a maximum energy density of 25.4 Whkg−1 at 2.5 Ag−1. Further, the cyclic stability of PANI/Ce+7 wt.% Fe3O4 was found to be 96.0% after 5,000 cycles. The obtained results suggested that the PANI/Ce+Fe3O4 nanocomposite could be a promising electrode material candidate for high-performance supercapattery applications.

M. M. de Almeida J, Pastoriza-Santos I, C. C. Coelho L. Advances in Plasmonic Sensing at the NIR-A Review

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) are among the most common and powerful label-free refractive index-based biosensing techniques available nowadays. Focusing on LSPR sensors, their performance is highly dependent on the size, shape, and nature of the nanomaterial employed. Indeed, the tailoring of those parameters allows the development of LSPR sensors with a tunable wavelength range between the ultra-violet (UV) and near infra-red (NIR). Furthermore, dealing with LSPR along optical fiber technology, with their low attenuation coefficients at NIR, allow for the possibility to create ultra-sensitive and long-range sensing networks to be deployed in a variety of both biological and chemical sensors. This work provides a detailed review of the key science underpinning such systems as well as recent progress in the development of several LSPR-based biosensors in the NIR wavelengths, including an overview of the LSPR phenomena along recent developments in the field of nanomaterials and nanostructure development towards NIR sensing. The review ends with a consideration of key advances in terms of nanostructure characteristics for LSPR sensing and prospects for future research and advances in this field.

Controllable design of defect-rich hybrid iron oxide nanostructures on mesoporous carbon-based scaffold for pseudocapacitive applications

The controllable design of functional nanostructures for energy and environmental applications represents a critical yet challenging technology. The existing fabrication strategies focus mainly on increasing the number of accessible active sites. However, these techniques generally necessitate complex chemical agents and suffer from limited experimental conditions delivering high costs, low yields, and poor reproducibility. The present work reports a new strategy for controllable synthesis of a hybrid system including mixed iron oxide nanostructures enriched with non-stoichiometric Fe21.34O32 and Fe3+[Fe5/33+□1/32+]O4 phases, which possess a high concentration of oxygen and Fe2+ vacancies, and a mesoporous carbon-based scaffold (MCS), which was dervied from coffee residues, with graphitic surface and perforated architecture. The nanoperforates acted as trapping sites to localise the FexOy nanoparticles, thereby boosting the density of accessible active sites. Additionally, at the interfacial regions between the FexOy crystallites, a high density of oxygen vacancies with an oriented pattern was shown to create superlattice structures. The energy storage functionality of the defect-rich MCS/FexOy nanostructure with nanoperforated architecture was investigated, where the results exhibited a high gravimetric capacitance of 540 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 with outstanding capacitance retention of 73.6% after 14 000 cycles.

Liposome encapsulated electron donor strategy for signal-on CYFRA 21-1 photoelectrochemical analysis

A novel electron donor controlled-release system is proposed based on liposome encapsulated L-cysteine for the sensitive determination of cytokeratin 19 fragment 21-1 (CYFRA 21-1). On the one hand, a defective TiO₂ modified with methylene blue was employed as a photoactive platform which exhibited a high photoelectrochemical (PEC) response owing to the introduction of oxygen vacancies and the high  photosensitivity of the dye. On the other hand, L-cysteine as the sacrificial electron donor was encapsulated in the vesicles of liposomes, and this composite was used as the signal amplification factor, which is labeled on the secondary antibody of CYFRA 21-1 to further improve the photocurrent sensitivity. The excellent electron transfer path in photoactive materials coupled with the skilful electron donor controlled-release system, contributed to the sensitive  PEC analysis of CYFRA 21-1 underoptimum conditions. The PEC immunoassay showed a linear current response in the range 0.0001-100 ng/mL with a detection limitof 37 fg/mL. Enhanced stability and satisfactory reproducibility were also achieved. The proposed concept  provides a novel signal-on strategy for the sensitive detection of other cancer markers in the electrochemical sensing field.

Impact of morphology and collagen-functionalization on the redox equilibria of nanoceria for cancer therapies

The application of nanoparticulate therapies for cancer depends largely on the uptake and redox activity of the particles. The present work reports the fabrication of different morphologies of nanoceria (CeO_2-x) as nanooctahedra (NO), nanorods (NR), and nanocubes (NC) by hydrothermal synthesis at different temperatures (100 °C, 180 °C) of solutions of 0.05 M Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O and different concentrations of NaOH (0.01 M, 6.00 M). The characteristics of these nanomorphologies are compared in terms of the crystallinity (XRD), grain size (TEM), surface area (BET), tendency to agglomerate, and the oxygen vacancy concentration ([V_O^••]) as reflected by the [Ce³⁺]/[Ce⁴⁺] ratio (XPS). The effects of these parameters on the potential cellular uptake are canvassed, suggesting that the nonpolarity of the {111} planes of NO and NR facilitate the preferential uptake of these nanomorphologies. These experimental variables then were normalized through the use of NC as a model substrate for the functionalization using gum arabic (GA) and collagen in order to assess their roles in enhancing redox activity. Both the unfunctionalized and functionalized NC were noncytotoxic in in vitro tests with Kuramochi ovarian cancer cells. However, the antioxidant behavior of the collagen-functionalized NC was superior to that of the unfunctionalized NC, which was superior to that of the controls. These results demonstrate that, while the intrinsic V_O^•• of CeO_2-x enhance the destruction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), functionalization by gum arabic and collagen crosslinking as extrinsic additions to the system enhances ROS destruction to an even greater extent. The antioxidant behavior and potential to neutralize superoxide and hydroxyl radicals of these materials offers new potential for the improvement of nanoparticulate cancer therapies.

Design strategies for ceria nanomaterials: untangling key mechanistic concepts

The morphologies of ceria nanocrystals play an essential role in determining their redox and catalytic performances in many applications, yet the effects of synthesis variables on the formation of ceria nanoparticles of different morphologies and their related growth mechanisms have not been systematised. The design of these morphologies is underpinned by a range of fundamental parameters, including crystallography, optical mineralogy, the stabilities of exposed crystallographic planes, CeO_2-x stoichiometry, phase equilibria, thermodynamics, defect equilibria, and the crystal growth mechanisms. These features are formalised and the key analytical methods used for analysing defects, particularly the critical oxygen vacancies, are surveyed, with the aim of providing a source of design parameters for the synthesis of nanocrystals, specifically CeO_2-x. However, the most important aspect in the design of CeO_2-x nanocrystals is an understanding of the roles of the main variables used for synthesis. While there is a substantial body of data on CeO_2-x morphologies fabricated using low cerium concentrations ([Ce]) under different experimental conditions, the present work fully maps the effects of the relevant variables on the resultant CeO_2-x morphologies in terms of the commonly used raw materials [Ce] (and [NO₃^-] in Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O) as feedstock, [NaOH] as precipitating agent, temperature, and time (as well as the complementary vapour pressure). Through the combination of consideration of the published literature and the generation of key experimental data to fill in the gaps, a complete mechanistic description of the development of the main CeO_2-x morphologies is illustrated. Further, the mechanisms of the conversion of nanochains into the two variants of nanorods, square and hexagonal, have been elucidated through crystallographic reasoning. Other key conclusions for the crystal growth process are the critical roles of (1) the formation of Ce(OH)₄ crystallite nanochains as the precursors of nanorods and (2) the disassembly of the nanorods into Ce(OH)₄ crystallites and NO₃^--assisted reassembly into nanocubes (and nanospheres) as an unrecognised intermediate stage of crystal growth.

Ce ion surface-modified TiO2 aerogel powders: a comprehensive study of their excellent photocatalytic efficiency in organic pollutant removal

The surface modification of TiO₂ aerogel powders by cerium ions has led to enhanced photoinduced properties.