The ability to reversibly assemble nanoparticles using light is both fundamentally interesting and important for applications ranging from reversible data storage to controlled drug delivery. Here, ...the diverse approaches that have so far been developed to control the self‐assembly of nanoparticles using light are reviewed and compared. These approaches include functionalizing nanoparticles with monolayers of photoresponsive molecules, placing them in photoresponsive media capable of reversibly protonating the particles under light, and decorating plasmonic nanoparticles with thermoresponsive polymers, to name just a few. The applicability of these methods to larger, micrometer‐sized particles is also discussed. Finally, several perspectives on further developments in the field are offered.
Recent progress in controlling the self‐assembly of nanoparticles using light is reviewed. The diverse examples reported so far are critically compared with one another and categorized into six distinct approaches.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Self‐assembly of nanoparticles can be mediated by polymers, but has so far led almost exclusively to nanoparticle aggregates that are amorphous. Here, we employed Coulombic interactions to generate a ...range of composite materials from mixtures of charged nanoparticles and oppositely charged polymers. The assembly behavior of these nanoparticle/polymer composites depends on their order of addition: polymers added to nanoparticles give rise to stable aggregates, but nanoparticles added to polymers disassemble the initially formed aggregates. The amorphous aggregates were transformed into crystalline ones by transiently increasing the ionic strength of the solution. The morphology of the resulting crystals depended on the length of the polymer: short polymer chains mediated the self‐assembly of nanoparticles into strongly faceted crystals, whereas long chains led to pseudospherical nanoparticle/polymer assemblies, within which the crystalline order of nanoparticles was retained.
Self‐assembly of nanoparticles can be mediated by polymers, but has so far led almost exclusively to nanoparticle aggregates that are amorphous. Here, we employed Coulombic interactions to generate aggregates from mixtures of charged nanoparticles and oppositely charged polymers. Initially unstructured, these aggregates could be converted into well‐defined colloidal crystals by rapidly increasing and then slowly decreasing the ionic strength of the solution.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Coulombic interactions can be used to assemble charged nanoparticles into higher-order structures, but the process requires oppositely charged partners that are similarly sized. The ability to ...mediate the assembly of such charged nanoparticles using structurally simple small molecules would greatly facilitate the fabrication of nanostructured materials and harnessing their applications in catalysis, sensing and photonics. Here we show that small molecules with as few as three electric charges can effectively induce attractive interactions between oppositely charged nanoparticles in water. These interactions can guide the assembly of charged nanoparticles into colloidal crystals of a quality previously only thought to result from their co-crystallization with oppositely charged nanoparticles of a similar size. Transient nanoparticle assemblies can be generated using positively charged nanoparticles and multiply charged anions that are enzymatically hydrolysed into mono- and/or dianions. Our findings demonstrate an approach for the facile fabrication, manipulation and further investigation of static and dynamic nanostructured materials in aqueous environments.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ
Nitrogen‐doped porous carbon nanosheets (N‐CNS) are synthesized by hydrothermal carbon coating of g‐C3N4 nanosheets followed by high‐temperature treatment in N2. g‐C3N4 serves as a template, nitrogen ...source, and porogen in the synthesis. This approach yields N‐CNS with a high nitrogen content and comparable oxygen reduction reaction catalytic activities to commercial Pt/C catalysts in alkaline media.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Ghost imaging using deep learning (GIDL) is a kind of computational quantum imaging method devised to improve the imaging efficiency. However, among most proposals of GIDL so far, the same set of ...random patterns were used in both the training and test set, leading to a decrease of the generalization ability of networks. Thus, the GIDL technique can only reconstruct the profile of the image of the object, losing most of the details. Here we optimize the simulation algorithm of ghost imaging (GI) by introducing the concept of "batch" into the pre-processing stage. It can significantly reduce the data acquisition time and create reliable simulation data. The generalization ability of GIDL has been appreciably enhanced. Furthermore, we develop a residual-based framework for the GI system, namely the double residual U-Net (DRU-Net). The imaging quality of GI has been tripled in the evaluation of the structural similarity index by our proposed DRU-Net.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
CdS nanoparticle‐decorated Cd nanosheets (CdS NP/Cd NSs) are successfully fabricated for the first time via a facile oxidation–sulfurization treatment of Cd nanosheets. Due to the high electrical ...conductivity and visible light reflectivity of Cd nanosheets, the obtained CdS NP/Cd NSs heterostructures show significantly enhanced activities for visible light‐driven photocatalytic H2 production compared to other reference CdS photocatalysts.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Three RNA helicases - DDX42, DDX46 and DHX15 - are found to be associated with human U2 snRNP, but their roles and mechanisms in U2 snRNP and spliceosome assembly are insufficiently understood. Here ...we report the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of the DDX42-SF3b complex and a putative assembly precursor of 17S U2 snRNP that contains DDX42 (DDX42-U2 complex). DDX42 is anchored on SF3B1 through N-terminal sequences, with its N-plug occupying the RNA path of SF3B1. The binding mode of DDX42 to SF3B1 is in striking analogy to that of DDX46. In the DDX42-U2 complex, the N-terminus of DDX42 remains anchored on SF3B1, but the helicase domain has been displaced by U2 snRNA and TAT-SF1. Through in vitro assays, we show DDX42 and DDX46 are mutually exclusive in terms of binding to SF3b. Cancer-driving mutations of SF3B1 target the residues in the RNA path that directly interact with DDX42 and DDX46. These findings reveal the distinct roles of DDX42 and DDX46 in assembly of 17S U2 snRNP and provide insights into the mechanisms of SF3B1 cancer mutations.
Ni(3+) doped NiTi layered double hydroxide (NiTi-LDH) monolayer nanosheets with a particle size of ∼ 20 nm and a thickness of ∼ 0.9 nm have been successfully prepared through a facile bottom-up ...approach. These NiTi-LDH monolayer nanosheets exhibit excellent supercapacitor performance, including a high specific pseudocapacitance (2310 F g(-1) at 1.5 A g(-1)) and long durability compared with bulk LDH, owing to highly exposed conductive Ni(3+) species (NiOOH) which lead to the increased mobility rate of surface charge and electrolyte-transfer. Therefore, this work is expected to take a significant step towards exploring novel 2D monolayer electrode materials with unique physical and chemical properties for applications in energy storage and conversion.