Browsing by Subject "Nanoparticle (NPs)"

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Open Access
Chiral ceramic nanoparticles and peptide catalysis
(American Chemical Society, 2017) Jiang S.; Chekini, M.; Qu, Z.-B.; Wang Y.; Yeltik A.; Liu, Y.; Kotlyar, A.; Zhang, T.; Li, B.; Demir, Hilmi Volkan; Kotov, N. A.
The chirality of nanoparticles (NPs) and their assemblies has been investigated predominantly for noble metals and II-VI semiconductors. However, ceramic NPs represent the majority of nanoscale materials in nature. The robustness and other innate properties of ceramics offer technological opportunities in catalysis, biomedical sciences, and optics. Here we report the preparation of chiral ceramic NPs, as represented by tungsten oxide hydrate, WO3-x·H2O, dispersed in ethanol. The chirality of the metal oxide core, with an average size of ca. 1.6 nm, is imparted by proline (Pro) and aspartic acid (Asp) ligands via bio-to-nano chirality transfer. The amino acids are attached to the NP surface through C-O-W linkages formed from dissociated carboxyl groups and through amino groups weakly coordinated to the NP surface. Surprisingly, the dominant circular dichroism bands for NPs coated by Pro and Asp are different despite the similarity in the geometry of the NPs; they are positioned at 400-700 nm and 500-1100 nm for Pro- and Asp-modified NPs, respectively. The differences in the spectral positions of the main chiroptical band for the two types of NPs are associated with the molecular binding of the two amino acids to the NP surface; Asp has one additional C-O-W linkage compared to Pro, resulting in stronger distortion of the inorganic crystal lattice and greater intensity of CD bands associated with the chirality of the inorganic core. The chirality of WO3-x·H2O atomic structure is confirmed by atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. The proximity of the amino acids to the mineral surface is associated with the catalytic abilities of WO3-x·H2O NPs. We found that NPs facilitate formation of peptide bonds, leading to Asp-Asp and Asp-Pro dipeptides. The chiroptical activity, chemical reactivity, and biocompatibility of tungsten oxide create a unique combination of properties relevant to chiral optics, chemical technologies, and biomedicine.
Open Access
Enhanced light scattering with energy downshifting using 16 nm indium nitride nanoparticles for improved thin-film a-Si N-i-P solar cells
(Electrochemical Society Inc., 2015-05) Chowdhury F.I.; İslam, K.; Alkış, Sabri; Ortaç, Bülend; Alevli, Mustafa; Dietz, N.; Okyay, Ali Kemal; Nayfeh, A.
In this work the effect of Indium nitride (InN) nanoparticles (NPs) on the performance of a-Si: H solar cells has been investigated. The average Jsc of InN NPs coated cells was found 6.76 mA/cm2 which is 16.69% higher than the average Jsc of the reference cell which was 5.79 mA/cm2. Average efficiency of InN NPs coated cells showed 14.16% increase from 3.32% to 3.79%. Peak EQE has increased from 44.8% at 500 nm to 51.67% at 510 nm and peak IQE has increased from 51.70% at 510 nm to 68.38% at 500 nm for InN NPs coated cell. Further study shows that EQE change is larger between 510 nm-700 nm compared to IQE change indicting a surface scattering mechanism that reduces the reflectivity. However, between 400 nm-510 nm IQE change is larger than EQE change which indicates that energy downshifting mechanism is dominating. So overall performance enhancement can be attributed to the scattering and photoluminescence properties of InN NPs that enhances absorption inside a-Si: H solar cells. © The Electrochemical Society.