Surface plasmon resonance and electrochemistry characterization of layer-by-layer self-assembled DNA and Zr4+ thin films, and their interaction with cytochrome c

Through electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly, negatively charged calf thymus double stranded DNA (CTds-DNA), and positively charged Zr4+ ions were alternately deposited on gold substrate modified with chemisorbed cysteamine. Thus-prepared three-dimensional DNA networks were characterized by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IR-RAS). SPR spectroscopy indicates that the effective thickness of DNA monolayer in the (DNA/Zr4+), bilayer was 1.5 +/- 0.1 nm, which corresponds to the surface coverage of 79% of its full packed monolayer. At the same time, a linear increase of film thickness with increasing number of layers was also confirmed by SPR characterizations. The data of XPS and IR-RAS show that Zr4+ ions interact with both the phosphate groups and nitrogenous bases of DNA and load into the framework of DNA. Furthermore, the interactions between this composite film and heme protein cytochrome c (Cyt c) were investigated by SPR spectroscopy and electrochemistry. Compared with the adsorption of Cyt c on DNA monolayer, this composite multilayer film can obviously enhance the amount of immobilized Cyt c confirmed by SPR reflectivity-incident angle (R-theta) curves.

EDTA-controlled one-pot preparation of novel shaped gold microcrystals and their application in surface-enhanced Raman scattering

We report a one-pot preparation method for a series of novel shaped gold microcrystals by simply mixing HAuCl4 with disodium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Na(2)EDTA). Under the different reaction temperatures, spinous structures, multipod microspheres, and rough surfaced microspheres were obtained. These microcrystals exhibit high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity.

Preparation and luminescent properties of rare earth ions in M2B5O9Cl : Re(M = Ca, Sr, Ba; Re=Eu, Tb)

M2B5O9X: Re(M = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = Cl, Br; Re = Eu, Th) phosphors were synthesized via solid state method. The products were characterized with X-ray powder diffraction and luminescence spectrometer. The luminescent properties as well. as the influences of the matrix composition and other doping ions on the luminescence of the rare earth ions of the co-doped phosphors were investigated. The coexistence of Eu3+, Eu2+ and Th3+ were observed in these matrices. The phenomenon may be explained by the electron transfer theory. The sensitization of Ce3+ ion improves the intensity of emission of Eu2+, and Tb3+. The competition between electron transfer among conjugate rare earth ions and energy migration might be the reasons for the observation. We predict a novel trichromatic phosphor co-doped with Eu3+ Tb3+ in M2B5O9X.

Nonvolatile memory devices based on gold nanoparticle and poly (N-Vinylcarbazole) composite

A rewritable polymer memory device based on gold nanoparticle doped poly (N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), which can be easily fabricated by simple spin coating, has been described. An electrical bistable phenomenon is observed in the current-voltage characteristics of this device, and it is found that the electrical bistability is repeatable by proper writing voltage and erasing voltage. The unique behavior of the devices provides an interesting approach such that doping nanoparticles in polymer can be used to realize high performance nanovolatile polymer memory devices.

Application of room temperature ionic liquid-based extraction for metal ions

As a kind of novel green solvent, Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTILs) have been paid ever-increasing attentions in RTIL-based extraction for metal separation, since they have many unique proper-ties, such as non-volatile and non-flammable. The progress of that is mainly composed of the partition properties, mechanisms, defects, overcome methods and forecasts of the processes on the environmental analytical chemistry, has been reviewed.