A facile spin-cast route for cation exchange of multilayer perpendicularly-aligned nanorod assemblies

A facile spin cast route was developed to convert perpendicularly aligned nanorod assemblies of cadmium chalcogenides into their silver and copper analogues. The assemblies are rapidly cation exchanged without affecting either the individual rod dimensions or collective superlattice order extending over several multilayers.

Formation and electrical interfacing of nanocrystal-molecule nanostructures

The objective of this thesis work is to develop methods for forming and interfacing nanocrystal-molecule nanostructures in order to explore their electrical transport properties in various controlled environments. This work demonstrates the potential of nanocrystal assemblies for laterally contacting molecules for electronic transport measurements. We first propose a phenomenological model based on rate equations for the formation of hybrid nanocrystal-molecule (respectively: 20 nm – 1.2 nm) nanostructures in solution. We then concentrate on nanocrystals (~ 60 nm) assembled between nano-gaps (~ 40 nm) as a contacting strategy for the measurement of electronic transport properties of thiophene-terminated conjugated molecules (1.5 nm long) in a two-terminal configuration, under vacuum conditions. Similar devices were also probed with a three-terminal configuration using thiophene-terminated oxidation-reduction active molecules (1.8 nm long) in liquid medium for the demonstration of the electrolytic gating technique. The experimental and modelling work presented in this thesis project brings into light physical and chemical processes taking place at the extremely narrow (~1 nm separation) and curved interface between two nanocrystals or one nanocrystal and a grain of a metallic electrode. The formation of molecular bridges at this kind of interface necessitates molecules to diffuse from a large liquid reservoir into the region in the first place. Molecular bonding must occur to the surface for both molecular ends: this is a low yield statistical process in itself as it depends on orientation of surfaces, on steric hindrance at the surface and on binding energies. On the other hand, the experimental work also touched the importance of the competition between potentially immiscible liquids in systems such that (organo-)metallic molecules solvated by organic solvent in water and organic solvent in contact with hydrated citrate stabilised nanocrystals dispersed in solutions or assembled between electrodes from both experimental and simulations point of view.

Accommodating curvature in a highly ordered functionalized metal oxide nanofiber: synthesis, characterization and multi-scale modeling of layered nanosheets

A key element in the rational design of hybrid organic-inorganic nanostructures, is control of surfactant packing and adsorption onto the inorganic phase in crystal growth and assembly. In layered single crystal nanofibers and bilayered 2D nanosheets of vanadium oxide, we show how the chemisorption of preferred densities of surfactant molecules can direct formation of ordered, curved layers. The atom-scale features of the structures are described using molecular dynamics simulations that quantify surfactant packing effects and confirm the preference for a density of 5 dodecanethiol molecules per 8 vanadium attachment sites in the synthesised structures. This assembly maintains a remarkably well ordered interlayer spacing, even when curved. The assemblies of interdigitated organic bilayers on V2O5 are shown to be sufficiently flexible to tolerate curvature while maintaining a constant interlayer distance without rupture, delamination or cleavage. The accommodation of curvature and invariant structural integrity points to a beneficial role for oxide-directed organic film packing effects in layered architectures such as stacked nanofibers and hybrid 2D nanosheet systems.

Modified cyclodextrins as novel non-viral vectors for neuronal siRNA delivery: focus on Huntington’s disease

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a rare autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by the expression of a mutant Huntingtin (muHTT) protein. Therefore, preventing the expression of muHTT by harnessing the specificity of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway is a key research avenue for developing novel therapies for HD. However, the biggest caveat in the RNAi approach is the delivery of short interfering RNA (siRNAs) to neurons, which are notoriously difficult to transfect. Indeed, despite the great advances in the field of nanotechnology, there remains a great need to develop more effective and less toxic carriers for siRNA delivery to the Central Nervous System (CNS). Thus, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the utility of modified amphiphilic β-cyclodextrins (CDs), oligosaccharide-based molecules, as non-viral vectors for siRNA delivery for HD. Modified CDs were able to bind and complex siRNAs forming nanoparticles capable of delivering siRNAs to ST14A-HTT120Q cells and to human HD fibroblasts, and reducing the expression of the HTT gene in these in vitro models of HD. Moreover, direct administration of CD.siRNA nanoparticles into the R6/2 mouse brain resulted in significant HTT gene expression knockdown and selective alleviation of rotarod motor deficits in this mouse model of HD. In contrast to widely used transfection reagents, CD.siRNA nanoparticles only induced limited cytotoxic and neuroinflammatory responses in multiple brain-derived cell-lines, and also in vivo after single direct injections into the mouse brain. Alternatively, we have also described a PEGylation-based formulation approach to further stabilise CD.siRNA nanoparticles and progress towards a systemic delivery nanosystem. Resulting PEGylated CD.siRNA nanoparticles showed increased stability in physiological saltconditions and, to some extent, reduced protein-induced aggregation. Taken together, the work outlined in this thesis identifies modified CDs as effective, safe and versatile siRNA delivery systems that hold great potential for the treatment of CNS disorders, such as HD.

A microscopic study of structural and electronic properties of functionalized silicon surfaces based on first-principles

Surface modification of silicon with organic monolayers tethered to the surface by different linkers is an important process in realizing future (opto-)electronic devices. Understanding the role played by the nature of the linking group and the chain length on the adsorption structures and electronic properties of these assemblies is vital to advance this technology. This Thesis is a study of such properties and contributes in particular to a microscopic understanding of induced changes in the work function of experimentally studied functionalized silicon surfaces. Using first-principles density functional theory (DFT), at the first step, we provide predictions for chemical trends in the work function of hydrogenated silicon (111) surfaces modified with various terminations. For nonpolar terminating atomic species such as F, Cl, Br, and I, the change in the work function is directly proportional to the amount of charge transferred from the surface, thus relating to the difference in electronegativity of the adsorbate and silicon atoms. The change is a monotonic function of coverage in this case, and the work function increases with increasing electronegativity. Polar species such as −TeH, −SeH, −SH, −OH, −NH2, −CH3, and −BH2 do not follow this trend due to the interaction of their dipole with the induced electric field at the surface. In this case, the magnitude and sign of the surface dipole moment need to be considered in addition to the bond dipole to generally describe the change in work function. Compared to hydrogenated surfaces, there is slight increase in the work function of H:Si(111)-XH, where X = Te, Se, and S, whereas reduction is observed for surfaces covered with −OH, −CH3, and −NH2. Next, we study the hydrogen passivated Si(111) surface modified with alkyl chains of the general formula H:Si–(CH2)n–CH2 and H:Si–X–(CH2)n–CH3, where X = NH, O, S and n = (0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11), at half coverage. For (X)–Hexyl and (X)–Dodecyl functionalization, we also examined various coverages up to full monolayer grafting in order to validate the result of half covered surface and the linker effect on the coverage. We find that it is necessary to take into account the van der Waals interaction between the alkyl chains. The strongest binding is for the oxygen linker, followed by S, N, and C, irrespective of chain length. The result revealed that the sequence of the stability is independent of coverage; however, linkers other than carbon can shift the optimum coverage considerably and allow further packing density. For all linkers apart from sulfur, structural properties, in particular, surface-linker-chain angles, saturate to a single value once n > 3. For sulfur, we identify three regimes, namely, n = 0–3, n = 5–7, and n = 9–11, each with its own characteristic adsorption structures. Where possible, our computational results are shown to be consistent with the available experimental data and show how the fundamental structural properties of modified Si surfaces can be controlled by the choice of linking group and chain length. Later we continue by examining the work function tuning of H:Si(111) over a range of 1.73 eV through adsorption of alkyl monolayers with general formula -[Xhead-group]-(CnH2n)-[Xtail-group], X = O(H), S(H), NH(2). The work function is practically converged at 4 carbons (8 for oxygen), for head-group functionalization. For tail-group functionalization and with both head- and tail-groups, there is an odd-even effect in the behavior of the work function, with peak-to-peak amplitudes of up to 1.7 eV in the oscillations. This behavior is explained through the orientation of the terminal-group's dipole. The shift in the work function is largest for NH2-linked and smallest for SH-linked chains and is rationalized in terms of interface dipoles. Our study reveals that the choice of the head- and/or tail-groups effectively changes the impact of the alkyl chain length on the work function tuning using self-assembled monolayers and this is an important advance in utilizing hybrid functionalized Si surfaces. Bringing together the understanding gained from studying single type functionalization of H:Si(111) with different alkyl chains and bearing in mind how to utilize head-group, tail-group or both as well as monolayer coverage, in the final part of this Thesis we study functionalized H:Si(111) with binary SAMs. Aiming at enhancing work function adjustment together with SAM stability and coverage we choose a range of terminations and linker-chains denoted as –X–(Alkyl) with X = CH3, O(H), S(H), NH(2) and investigate the stability and work function of various binary components grafted onto H:Si(111) surface. Using binary functionalization with -[NH(2)/O(H)/S(H)]-[Hexyl/Dodecyl] we show that work function can be tuned within the interval of 3.65-4.94 eV and furthermore, enhance the SAM’s stability. Although direct Si-C grafted SAMs are less favourable compared to their counterparts with O, N or S linkage, regardless of the ratio, binary functionalized alkyl monolayers with X-alkyl (X = NH, O) is always more stable than single type alkyl functionalization with the same coverage. Our results indicate that it is possible to go beyond the optimum coverage of pure alkyl functionalized SAMs (50%) by adding a linker with the correct choice of the linker. This is very important since dense packed monolayers have fewer defects and deliver higher efficiency. Our results indicate that binary anchoring can modify the charge injection and therefore bond stability while preserving the interface electronic structure.

Plasmonic gold nanostructures: optical properties and application in mercury detection

This thesis investigates the application of plasmonic gold nanostructures for mercury detection. Various gold and silver single nanostructures and gold nanostructure assemblies were characterised in detail by correlated single nanostructure spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Several routes for mercury detection were explored: plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET) upon Hg2+ binding to immobilised gold nanoparticle-organic ligand hybrid structures and amalgamation of single immobilised gold nanorods upon chemical and upon electrochemical reduction of Hg2+ ions. The amalgamation approach showed large potential with extraordinary shifts of the nanorods’ scattering spectra upon exposure to reduced mercury; a result of compositional and morphological change induced in the nanorod by amalgamation with mercury. A shift of 5 nm could be recorded for a concentration as low 10 nM Hg2+. Through detailed time-dependent experiments insights into the amalgamation mechanism were gained and a model comprising 5 steps was developed. Finally, spectroelectrochemistry proved to be an excellent way to study in real time in-situ the amalgamation of mercury with gold nanorods paving the way for future work in this field.