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Author Arteaga Cardona, F.; Jain, N.; Popescu, R.; Busko, D.; Madirov, E.; Arús, B.A.; Gerthsen, D.; De Backer, A.; Bals, S.; Bruns, O.T.; Chmyrov, A.; Van Aert, S.; Richards, B.S.; Hudry, D. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Preventing cation intermixing enables 50% quantum yield in sub-15 nm short-wave infrared-emitting rare-earth based core-shell nanocrystals Type A1 Journal Article
  Year (down) 2023 Publication Nature communications Abbreviated Journal Nat Commun  
  Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 4462  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract Short-wave infrared (SWIR) fluorescence could become the new gold standard in optical imaging for biomedical applications due to important advantages such as lack of autofluorescence, weak photon absorption by blood and tissues, and reduced photon scattering coefficient. Therefore, contrary to the visible and NIR regions, tissues become translucent in the SWIR region. Nevertheless, the lack of bright and biocompatible probes is a key challenge that must be overcome to unlock the full potential of SWIR fluorescence. Although rare-earth-based core-shell nanocrystals appeared as promising SWIR probes, they suffer from limited photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). The lack of control over the atomic scale organization of such complex materials is one of the main barriers limiting their optical performance. Here, the growth of either homogeneous (α-NaYF<sub>4</sub>) or heterogeneous (CaF<sub>2</sub>) shell domains on optically-active α-NaYF<sub>4</sub>:Yb:Er (with and without Ce<sup>3+</sup>co-doping) core nanocrystals is reported. The atomic scale organization can be controlled by preventing cation intermixing only in heterogeneous core-shell nanocrystals with a dramatic impact on the PLQY. The latter reached 50% at 60 mW/cm<sup>2</sup>; one of the highest reported PLQY values for sub-15 nm nanocrystals. The most efficient nanocrystals were utilized for in vivo imaging above 1450 nm.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 001037058500022 Publication Date 2023-07-25  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2041-1723 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 16.6 Times cited 1 Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes D.H. would like to thank Dominique Ectors (Bruker AXS GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany) for assistance and discussion on the PXRD data and TOPAS evaluations. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Helmholtz Association via: i) the Professorial Recruitment Initiative Funding (B.S.R.); ii) the Research Field Energy – Program Materials and Technologies for the Energy Transition – Topic 1 Photovoltaics (F.A.C., D.B., E.M., B.S.R., D.H.). This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 innovation programme under grant agreement 823717. This work was supported by the European Research Council (grant 770887-PICOMETRICS to S.V.A. and Grant 815128-REALNANO to S.B.). The authors acknowledge financial support from the ResearchFoundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium) through project fundings (G.0346.21 N to S.V.A. and S.B.) and a postdoctoral grant (A.D.B.). The authors (B.A.A., O.T.B. and A.C.) acknowledge funding from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the DFG-Emmy Noether program (BR 5355/2-1) and from the CZI Deep Tissue Imaging (DTI-0000000248). The authors (O.T.B. and D.H.) would like to thank the Helmholtz Imaging (ZT-I-PF-4-038-BENIGN). Approved Most recent IF: 16.6; 2023 IF: 12.124  
  Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:198158 Serial 8808  
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Author Ren, P.; Zhang, T.; Jain, N.; Ching, H.Y.V.; Jaworski, A.; Barcaro, G.; Monti, S.; Silvestre-Albero, J.; Celorrio, V.; Chouhan, L.; Rokicinska, A.; Debroye, E.; Kustrowski, P.; Van Doorslaer, S.; Van Aert, S.; Bals, S.; Das, S. pdf  doi
openurl 
  Title An atomically dispersed Mn-photocatalyst for generating hydrogen peroxide from seawater via the Water Oxidation Reaction (WOR) Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2023 Publication Journal of the American Chemical Society Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 145 Issue 30 Pages 16584-16596  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Organic synthesis (ORSY); Theory and Spectroscopy of Molecules and Materials (TSM²)  
  Abstract In this work, we have fabricatedan aryl amino-substitutedgraphiticcarbon nitride (g-C3N4) catalyst with atomicallydispersed Mn capable of generating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) directly from seawater. This new catalyst exhibitedexcellent reactivity, obtaining up to 2230 & mu;M H2O2 in 7 h from alkaline water and up to 1800 & mu;Mfrom seawater under identical conditions. More importantly, the catalystwas quickly recovered for subsequent reuse without appreciable lossin performance. Interestingly, unlike the usual two-electron oxygenreduction reaction pathway, the generation of H2O2 was through a less common two-electron water oxidation reaction(WOR) process in which both the direct and indirect WOR processesoccurred; namely, photoinduced h(+) directly oxidized H2O to H2O2 via a one-step 2e(-) WOR, and photoinduced h(+) first oxidized a hydroxide (OH-) ion to generate a hydroxy radical ((OH)-O-& BULL;), and H2O2 was formed indirectly by thecombination of two (OH)-O-& BULL;. We have characterized thematerial, at the catalytic sites, at the atomic level using electronparamagnetic resonance, X-ray absorption near edge structure, extendedX-ray absorption fine structure, high-resolution transmission electronmicroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, magic-angle spinningsolid-state NMR spectroscopy, and multiscale molecular modeling, combiningclassical reactive molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemistrycalculations.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 001034983300001 Publication Date 2023-07-24  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0002-7863 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 15 Times cited 21 Open Access Not_Open_Access  
  Notes S.D. thanks the IOF grant and Francqui start up grant from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, for the financial support. P.R. thanks CSC and T.Z. thanks FWO for their financial assistance to finish this work. E.D. would like to thank the KU Leuven Research Fund for financial support through STG/21/010. J.S.A. acknowledges financial support from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and EU NextGeneration/PRTR (Project PCI2020-111968/3D-Photocat) and Diamond Synchrotron (rapid access proposal SP32609). This work was supported by the European Research Council (grant 770887-PICOMETRICS to S.V.A. and Grant 815128-REALNANO to S.B.). S.B. and S.V.A. acknowledge financial support from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium, project G.0346.21 N). We also thank Mr. Jian Zhu and Mr. Shahid Ullah Khan from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, for helpful discussions. Approved Most recent IF: 15; 2023 IF: 13.858  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:198426 Serial 8831  
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Author Jain, N.; Hao, Y.; Parekh, U.; Kaltenegger, M.; Pedrazo-Tardajos, A.; Lazzaroni, R.; Resel, R.; Geerts, Y.H.; Bals, S.; Van Aert, S. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Exploring the effects of graphene and temperature in reducing electron beam damage: A TEM and electron diffraction-based quantitative study on Lead Phthalocyanine (PbPc) crystals Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2023 Publication Micron Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 169 Issue Pages 103444  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of organic crystals, such as Lead Phthalocyanine (PbPc), is very challenging since these materials are prone to electron beam damage leading to the breakdown of the crystal structure during investigation. Quantification of the damage is imperative to enable high-resolution imaging of PbPc crystals with minimum structural changes. In this work, we performed a detailed electron diffraction study to quantitatively measure degradation of PbPc crystals upon electron beam irradiation. Our study is based on the quantification of the fading intensity of the spots in the electron diffraction patterns. At various incident dose rates (e/Å2/s) and acceleration voltages, we experimentally extracted the decay rate (1/s), which directly correlates with the rate of beam damage. In this manner, a value for the critical dose (e/Å2) could be determined, which can be used as a measure to quantify beam damage. Using the same methodology, we explored the influence of cryogenic temperatures, graphene TEM substrates, and graphene encapsulation in prolonging the lifetime of the PbPc crystal structure during TEM investigation. The knowledge obtained by diffraction experiments is then translated to real space high-resolution TEM imaging of PbPc.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000965998800001 Publication Date 2023-03-21  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0968-4328 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 2.4 Times cited 1 Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes This work is supported by FWO and FNRS within the 2Dto3D network of the EOS (Excellence of Science) program (grant number 30489208) and ERC-CoGREALNANO-815128 (to Prof. Dr. Sara Bals). N.J. would like to thank Dr. Kunal S. Mali and Dr. Da Wang for useful and interesting discussions on sample preparation procedures. Approved Most recent IF: 2.4; 2023 IF: 1.98  
  Call Number EMAT @ emat @c:irua:196069 Serial 7379  
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Author Windels, S.; Diefenhardt, T.; Jain, N.; Marquez, C.; Bals, S.; Schlummer, M.; De Vos, D.E. pdf  doi
openurl 
  Title Catalytic upcycling of PVC waste-derived phthalate esters into safe, hydrogenated plasticizers Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2022 Publication Green chemistry : cutting-edge research for a greener sustainable future Abbreviated Journal Green Chem  
  Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 754-766  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract Recycling of end-of-life polyvinyl chloride (PVC) calls for solutions to deal with the vast amounts of harmful phthalate plasticizers that have historically been incorporated in PVC. Here, we report on the upcycling of such waste-extracted phthalate esters into analogues of the much safer diisononyl 1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylate plasticizer (DINCH), via a catalytic one-pot (trans)esterification-hydrogenation process. For most of the virgin phthalates, Ru/Al2O3 is a highly effective hydrogenation catalyst, yielding >99% ring-hydrogenated products under mild reaction conditions (0.1 mol% Ru, 80 degrees C, 50 bar H-2). However, applying this reaction to PVC-extracted phthalates proved problematic, (1) as benzyl phthalates are hydrogenolyzed to benzoic acids that inhibit the Ru-catalyst, and (2) because impurities in the plasticizer extract (PVC, sulfur) further retard the hydrogenation. These complications were solved by coupling the hydrogenation to an in situ (trans)esterification with a higher alcohol, and by pretreating the extract with an activated carbon adsorbent. In this way, a real phthalate extract obtained from post-consumer PVC waste was eventually completely (>99%) hydrogenated to phthalate-free, cycloaliphatic plasticizers.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000726865200001 Publication Date 2021-11-30  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1463-9262; 1463-9270 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 9.8 Times cited 8 Open Access Not_Open_Access  
  Notes This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 821366 (programma acronym: Circular Flooring). D. E. D. V. thanks FWO for project funding (SBO project S001819N Triple Cycle); N. J. and S. B. acknowledge the financial support from FWO and FNRS (EOS 30489208). Finally, the authors also thank S. Smolders for assistance with the TGA-MS experiments and D. Paredaens for his experimental contribution Approved Most recent IF: 9.8  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:184746 Serial 6958  
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