Tag: journal

Hot off the press: accepted manuscript in Chem. Commun.

GA-silica-fe203-au

Today is the big day: second manuscript accepted!

The manuscript “A silica-based magnetic platform decorated with mixed ligand gold nanoparticles: A recyclable catalyst for esterification reactions” (Elif Ertem, Nerea Murillo-Cremaes, Randy Patrick Carney, Anna Laromaine, Emma-Rose Janeček, Anna Roig* and Francesco Stellaccia*; DOI: 10.1039/C6CC01146B) has been accepted in Chemical Communications

This paper describes a novel and convenient synthetic strategy for the preparation of magnetically responsive silica nanospheres decorated with mixed ligand protected gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles are attached to the silica surface via stable amide bond formation. The hierarchical nanospheres show promising results as a reusable and efficient catalyst for esterification reactions and they can be recovered through a simple magnetic separation.

Congratulations!

Figure: Schematic illustration of: (a) the partial ligand exchange of 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate (MPSA):1-octanethiol(OT) covered gold nanoparticles, (b) the synthesis of core-shell magnetic silica and (c) the synthesis of the magnetic silica decorated with gold nanoparticles hierarchical nanospheres.

New paper accepted in Microchimica Acta

The work has resulted from a collaboration between the ICMAB, the CNM and the company Dropsens.

screen-printed-electrodes

Screen-printed electrodes made of a bismuth nanoparticle porous carbon nanocomposite material applied to the detection of heavy metals (Pengfei Niu, César  Fernández-Sánchez,* Martí Gich,* Carla Navarro-Hernández, Pablo Fanjul-Bolado, and Anna Roig, Microchimica Acta, Volume 183, Issue 2, pp 617-623). 

This work reports on the simplified fabrication and on the characterization of bismuth-based screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) for use in heavy metal detection. 
A nanocomposite consisting of bismuth nanoparticles and amorphous carbon was synthesized by a combined one-step sol-gel and pyrolysis process and milled down to a specific particle size distribution as required for the preparation of an ink formulation to be used in screen printing. The resulting electrochemical devices were applied to the detection of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions in water samples.
T
he porous structure of carbon and the high surface area of the bismuth nanoparticles allow for the detection of Pb(II) and Cd(II) at concentration levels below 4 ppb. The application of the SPEs was demonstrated by quantifying these ions in tap drinking water and wastewater collected from an influent of an urban wastewater treatment plant.


Paper in collaboration with ICN2 in RSC Advances

Dual T1/T2 MRI contrast agent based on hybrid SPION@coordination polymer nanoparticles

The study GAby M. Borges, S. Yu, A. Laromaine, A. Roig, S. Súarez-García, J. Lorenzo,D. Ruiz-Molina and F. Novio* has just been published in RSC Advances 2015, 5, 86779–86783.

The paper reports a novel hybrid T1/T2 dual MRI contrast agent by the encapsulation of SPIONs (T2 contrast agent) into an iron-based coordination polymer with T1-weighted signal. This new hybrid material presents improved relaxometry and low cytotoxicity, which make it suitable for its use as contrast agent for MRI.

 

 

Paper Accepted in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering

Paper accepted in Chem. Eng. J.

We want to congratulate to Laura and Siming for the acceptance of the paper “Scale-up synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles by microwave-assisted thermal decomposition” in Chemical Engineering Journal by Laura González-Moragas, SiMing Yu (equal contributors), Nerea Murillo, Anna Laromaine, Anna Roig.

 

ACCEPTED REVIEW! C. elegans as a tool for in vivo nanoparticle assessment

C. elegans as a tool for in vivo nanoparticle assessment

Laura Gonzalez-MoragasAnna RoigAnna Laromaine*

Advances in Colloid and Interface Science

Available online 14 February 2015,doi:10.1016/j.cis.2015.02.001

Abstract, Characterization of the in vivo behavior of nanomaterials aims to optimize their design, to determine their biological effects, and to validate their application. The characteristics of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) advocate this 1 mm long nematode as an ideal living system for the primary screening of engineered nanoparticles in a standard synthetic laboratory. This review describes some practicalities and advantages of working with C. elegans that will be of interest for chemists and materials scientists who would like to enter the “worm” community, anticipates some drawbacks, and offers relevant examples of nanoparticle assessment by using C. elegans.

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Hot off the press! New publication in Faraday Discussions.

chiralChiral habit selection on nanostructured epitaxial quartz films
Adrián Carretero-Genevrier,* Martí Gich,* Laura Picas, Clément Sanchez, Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal,*

Faraday Discussions, DOI: 10.1039/C4FD00266K

Understanding the crystallization of enantiomorphically pure systems can be relevant to diverse fields such as the study of the origins of life or the purification of racemates. Here, we report on polycrystalline epitaxial thin films of quartz on Si substrates displaying two distinct types of chiral habits that never coexist in the same film. We combine Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analysis and computer-assisted crystallographic calculations to make a detailed study of these habits of quartz. By estimating the surface energies of the observed crystallites we argue that the films are enantiomorphically pure and we briefly outline a possible mechanism to explain the habit and chiral selection in this system.

Hot off the press! New publication in Chem. Commun.

Crystallization of hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Glenna L. Drisko, Adrian Carretero-Genevrier, Alexandre Perrot, Martí
Gich, Jaume Gàzquez, Juan Rodriguez-Carvajal, Luc Favre, David Grosso,
Cédric Boissière,  Clément Sanchez

ChemComm, DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x

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Complex 3D nacrostructured nanoparticles are  transformed from amorphous silica into pure polycrystalline α-quartz using catalytic quantities of  alkaline earths as devitrificants. Walls as thin as 10 nm could be crystallized without losing the architecture of the particles. The roles of cation size and the mol% of  incorporated devitrificant on crystallization behavior are studied, with Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+  allproducing pure α-quartz under certain conditions.