Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Towards Plasmon Mapping Of Sers-Active Ag Dewetted Nanostructures Using Spels, Mohamed Beshr, E. Dexter, Paul E. Tierney, Aidan Meade, Shane Murphy, George Amarandei

Articles

Thermal dewetting of silver thin flm can lead to SERS-active Ag nanoparticles. Here, we report our progress towards using scanning probe energy loss spectroscopy (SPELS) to map the plasmonic behaviour of SERS-active Ag nanoparticles (NP) by investigating NPs produced through the dewetting study of Ag thin flms on SiO2/Si and Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. The nanoparticles size and spatial distribution were controlled by the deposition and thermal annealing parameters. The results of preliminary SPELS measurements of these structures, alongside SERS data show that there is a correlation between the Raman enhancement and the nanoparticle size and interparticle spacing.

Novel Microwave Assisted Synthesis Of Zns Nanomaterials, Suresh Pillai, Michael Seery, Damian Synnott, John Colreavy, Stephen Hinder

Articles

A novel ambient pressure microwave-assisted technique is developed in which silver and indium modified ZnS is synthesised. The as prepared ZnS is characterised by X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and luminescence spectroscopy. This procedure produced crystalline materials with particle sizes below 10 nm. The synthesis technique leads to defects in the crystal which induce mid energy levels in the band gap and lead to indoor light photocatalytic activity. Increasing the amount of silver causes a phase transition from cubic blende to hexagonal phase ZnS. In a comparative study, when the ZnS cubic blende is heated in a conventional …

Spectral Cross Correlation As A Supervised Approach For The Analysis Of Complex Raman Datasets: The Case Of Nanoparticles In Biological Cells, Mark Keating, Franck Bonnier, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Spectral Cross-correlation is introduced as a methodology to identify the presence and subcellular distribution of nanoparticles in cells. Raman microscopy is employed to spectroscopically image biological cells previously exposed to polystyrene nanoparticles, as a model for the study of nano-bio interactions. The limitations of previously deployed strategies of K-means clustering analysis and principal component analysis are discussed and a novel methodology of Spectral Cross Correlation Analysis is introduced and compared with the performance of Classical Least Squares Analysis, in both unsupervised and supervised modes. The previous study demonstrated the feasibility of using Raman spectroscopy to map cells and identify polystyrene …

Non Aggregated Colloidal Silver Nanoparticles For Surface Enhanced Resonance Raman Spectroscopy, Aoife Power, John Cassidy, Tony Betts

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Silver nanoparticles with a tuneable l max were produced as colloids by heterogeneous nucleation. The synthesis process is both fast and repeatable, producing stable PVA capped nanoparticles. The colloid’s effectiveness in the SERRS system was investigated using Rhodamine 6G, R6G, Crystal Violet, CV, and Malachite Green, MG, as probe molecules. A clear sensing trend was observed, where the Raman signal emitted was significantly enhanced by the addition of silver nanoparticles. A build up of signal intensity is observed until an optimum ratio is achieved, followed by a decline in signal intensity as the concentration of nanoparticles is further increased. The …

Mechanistic Studies Of In Vitro Cytotoxicity Of Poly(Amidoamine) Dendrimers In Mammalian Cells, Sourav Prasanna Mukherjee, Fiona Lyng, Amaya Garcia, Maria Davoren, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer nanoparticles have been demonstrated to elicit a well defined cytotoxicological response from mammalian cell lines, the response increasing systematically with dendrimer generation and number of surface amino groups. In this work, using generation G4, G5, and G6 dendrimers, this systematic response is furthermore demonstrated for the generation of reactive oxygen species, lysosomal activity, and the onset of apoptosis and levels of DNA damage. The results are consistent with a pathway of localisation of PAMAM dendrimers in the mitochondria leading to ROS production causing oxidative stress, apoptosis and DNA damage. ROS production is co-located in the mitochondria, and …

Corrosion Protection Of Aa 2024-T3 Aluminium Alloys Using 3, 4-Diaminobenzoic Acid Chelated Zirconium-Silane Hybrid Sol-Gels, P.C. Rajath Varma, John Colreavy, John Cassidy, Mohamed Oubaha, Colette Mcdonagh, Brendan Duffy

Articles

Organic-inorganic polymers formed by hydrolysis/condensation reactions of alkoxide precursors, such as organically modified silanes (Ormosils) have found applications as electronic, optical and protective coatings. Such coatings possess important characteristics such as chemical stability, physical strength and scratch resistance. Further performance improvement is achieved through the incorporation of zirconium and titanium based nanoparticles, also formed through the sol-gel process. However due to the inherent difference in the reactivity of the precursors, the hydrolysis of each precursor must be carried out separately before being combined for final condensation. Zirconium precursors are commonly chelated using acetic acid or acetyl acetonate prior to hydrolysis, …

Optical Properties Of Photopolymer Layers Doped With Aluminophosphate Nanocrystals, Elsa Leite, Tzvetanka Babeva, E Ng, Vincent Toal, Svetlana Mintova, Izabela Naydenova

Articles

The optical properties of photopolymer layers consisting of an acrylamide–based matrix and microporous aluminophosphate nanocrystals of AEI- type are investigated. The compatibility of the photopolymer doped with the nanoparticles is studied. The surface and volume properties of the layers with different levels of doping with microporous nanocrystals are characterized. The effective refractive indices and absorption coefficients of the doped photopolymer layers are determined and used to calculate the refractive index and porosity of pure AEI nanoparticles used as dopants. Volume transmission gratings were recorded in the doped photopolymer layers at different spatial frequencies. By spatial monitoring of the characteristic Raman …

Swcnt Suppress Inflammatory Mediator Responses In Human Lung Epithelium In Vitro, Eva Herzog, Hugh Byrne, Maria Davoren, Anke-Gabriele Lenz, Albert Duschl, Gertie Janneke Oostingh

Articles

Single walled carbon nanotubes have gained enormous popularity due to a variety of potential applications which will ultimately lead to increased human and environmental exposure to these nanoparticles. This study was carried out in order to evaluate the inflammatory response of immortalised and primary human lung epithelial cells (A549 and NHBE) to single walled carbon nanotube samples (SWCNT). Special focus was placed on the mediating role of lung surfactant on particle toxicity. The toxicity of SWCNT dispersed in cell culture medium was compared to that of nanotubes dispersed in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC, the main component of lung lining fluid). Exposure was …

Effect Of Organic Chelates On The Performance Of Hybrid Sol–Gel Coated Aa2024-T3 Aluminium Alloys, Rajath Varma, John Colreavy, John Cassidy, Mohamed Oubaha, Colette Mcdonagh, Brendan Duffy

Articles

Sol–gels are organic–inorganic polymers formed by hydrolysis/condensation reactions of alkoxide precursors, primarily silanes, which have found applications as electronic, optical and protective coatings. These coatings possess important characteristics such as chemical stability, physical strength and scratch resistance. Further performance improvement is achieved through the incorporation of zirconium and titanium based nanoparticles, also formed through the sol–gel process. However due to the inherent difference in the reactivity of the precursors, the hydrolysis of each precursor must be carried out separately before being combined for final condensation. Zirconium precursors are commonly chelated using acetic acids, prior to hydrolysis, to lower the hydrolysis …

Working Report On The Status Quo Of Nanomaterials Impact On Health And Environment, Harald Krug, Margarita Apostolova, Marite Arija Bake, Gordon Chambers, Horia Chiriac, Eva Herzog, Victoria Hand, Jürgen Höck, Peter Hoet, Nicoleta Lupu, Declan Mccormack, Maja Remskar, George Robillard, Jamila Smisterova, Jan Stetkiewicz, Speranta Tanasescu, Aris Tsatsakis, David Vaughn, Peter Wick, Jörg Wörle-Knirsch

Articles

Nanotechnology is regarded as one of the key technologies of the future and associated with high expectations by politics, science and economy. Artificially produced nanosized particles and nanoscale system components have new properties which are of importance for the development of new products and applications. Such new properties of materials and substances result from the special properties of surfaces and interfaces and in part, from the geometric shape of the material. In theory nanoparticles (NPs) can be produced from nearly any chemical; however, most NPs that are currently in use today have been made from transition metals, silicon, carbon (single-walled …

A Novel Processing Route For The Production Of Nanoparticulate Zinc Oxide Using An Isophthalate Precursor, Grainne Duffy, Declan Mccormack, Suresh Pillai

Articles

Zinc oxide nanoparticles have been processed from a novel isophthalate precursor. In contrast to those processed from an oxalate precursor, this material exhibits three-dimensional, non-directional aggregation behaviour.

Such non-directional aggregation of uniaxial crystallites may allow for the production of structures with a higher proportion of catalytically active surfaces than can be prepared through conventional sol–gel methods. XRD,

FTIR, TEM and SEM were used to characterize the synthesized materials.

Zinc oxide particles synthesized by using isophthalic acid (C6H4-1,3-(COOH)2) are found to be slightly smaller than the previously reported materials prepared through chelation with oxalic acid (H2C2O2・2H2O).

Self-Assembled Arrays Of Zno Nanoparticles And Their Application As Varistor Materials, Suresh Pillai, Declan Mccormack, John Kelly, Raghavendra Ramesh

Articles

Linear arrays of ZnO nanoparticles have been successfully prepared by a simple sol–gel condensation reaction involving chemical modifiers, followed by drying (80oC) and calcination (500 oC). The calcined material (nanoarray ZnO) is composed of approximately spherical nanoparticles of average diameter 21+/-3 nm, selfassembled to form arrays extending in length to 2–4 mm. The morphology of the ZnO is found to depend sensitively on the amounts of chemical modifiers present. In their absence the ZnO produced (nano-ZnO) is an unstructured agglomerate of nanoparticles. The mechanism for formation of these linear arrays has been investigated by examining the intermediates formed at 80 …