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“Hierarchical zeolites containing embedded Cd0.2Zn0.8S as a photocatalyst for hydrogen production from seawater”. Yuan Y, Wu F-J, Xiao S-T, Wang Y-T, Yin Z-W, Van Tendeloo G, Chang G-G, Tian G, Hu Z-Y, Wu S-M, Yang X-Y, Chemical communications 59, 7275 (2023). http://doi.org/10.1039/D3CC01409F
Abstract: Uncovering an efficient and stable photocatalytic system for seawater splitting is a highly desirable but challenging goal. Herein, Cd0.2Zn0.8S@Silicalite-1 (CZS@S-1) composites, in which CZS is embedded in the hierarchical zeolite S-1, were prepared and show remarkably high activity, stability and salt resistance in seawater.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 4.9
DOI: 10.1039/D3CC01409F
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“Unconventional superconducting diode effects via antisymmetry and antisymmetry breaking”. Li C, Lyu Y-Y, Yue W-C, Huang P, Li H, Li T, Wang C-G, Yuan Z, Dong Y, Ma X, Tu X, Tao T, Dong S, He L, Jia X, Sun G, Kang L, Wang H, Peeters FM, Milošević, MV, Wu P, Wang Y-L, Nano letters 24, 4108 (2024). http://doi.org/10.1021/ACS.NANOLETT.3C05008
Abstract: Symmetry breaking plays a pivotal role in unlocking intriguing properties and functionalities in material systems. For example, the breaking of spatial and temporal symmetries leads to a fascinating phenomenon: the superconducting diode effect. However, generating and precisely controlling the superconducting diode effect pose significant challenges. Here, we take a novel route with the deliberate manipulation of magnetic charge potentials to realize unconventional superconducting flux-quantum diode effects. We achieve this through suitably tailored nanoengineered arrays of nanobar magnets on top of a superconducting thin film. We demonstrate the vital roles of inversion antisymmetry and its breaking in evoking unconventional superconducting effects, namely a magnetically symmetric diode effect and an odd-parity magnetotransport effect. These effects are nonvolatilely controllable through in situ magnetization switching of the nanobar magnets. Our findings promote the use of antisymmetry (breaking) for initiating unconventional superconducting properties, paving the way for exciting prospects and innovative functionalities in superconducting electronics.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Condensed Matter Theory (CMT)
Impact Factor: 10.8
DOI: 10.1021/ACS.NANOLETT.3C05008
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“Engineering Structural Diversity in Gold Nanocrystals by Ligand-Mediated Interface Control”. Wang Y, Sentosun K, Li A, Coronado-Puchau M, Sánchez-Iglesias A, Li S, Su X, Bals S, Liz-Marzán LM, Chemistry of materials 27, 8032 (2015). http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b03600
Abstract: Surface and interface control is fundamentally important for crystal growth engineering, catalysis, surface enhanced spectroscopies, and self-assembly, among other processes and applications. Understanding the role of ligands in regulating surface properties of plasmonic metal nanocrystals during growth has received considerable attention. However, the underlying mechanisms and the diverse functionalities of ligands are yet to be fully addressed. In this contribution,
we report a systematic study of ligand-mediated interface control in seeded growth of gold nanocrystals, leading to diverse and exotic nanostructures with an improved surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. Three dimensional transmission electron microscopy (3D TEM) revealed an intriguing gold shell growth process mediated by the bifunctional ligand 1,4-benzenedithiol (BDT), which leads to a unique crystal growth mechanism as compared to other ligands, and subsequently to the concept of interfacial energy control mechanism. Volmer-Weber growth mode was proposed to be responsible for BDT-mediated seeded growth, favoring the strongest interfacial energy and generating an asymmetric island growth pathway with internal crevices/gaps. This additionally favors incorporation of BDT at the plasmonic nanogaps, thereby generating strong SERS activity with a maximum efficiency for a core-semishell configuration obtained along seeded growth. Numerical modeling was used to explain this observation. Interestingly, the same strategy can be used to engineer the structural diversity of this system, by using gold nanoparticle seeds with various sizes and shapes, and varying the [Au3+]/[Au0] ratio. This rendered a series of diverse and exotic plasmonic nanohybrids such as semishell-coated gold nanorods, with embedded Raman-active tags and Janus surface with distinct surface functionalities.
These would greatly enrich the plasmonic nanostructure toolbox for various studies and applications such as anisotropic nanocrystal engineering, SERS, and high-resolution Raman bioimaging or nanoantenna devices.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 9.466
Times cited: 18
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b03600
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“Stabilization and encapsulation of gold nanostars mediated by dithiols”. Wang Y, Belén Serrano A, Sentosun K, Bals S, Liz-Marzán LM, Small 11, 4314 (2015). http://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201500703
Abstract: Surface chemistry plays a pivotal role in regulating the morphology of nanoparticles, maintaining colloidal stability, and mediating the interaction with target analytes toward practical applications such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based sensing and imaging. The use of a binary ligand mixture composed of 1,4-benzenedithiol (BDT) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) to provide gold nanostars with long-term stability is reported. This is despite BDT being a bifunctional ligand, which usually leads to bridging and loss of colloidal stability. It is found however that neither BDT nor CTAC alone are able to provide sufficient colloidal and chemical stability. BDT-coated Au nanostars are additionally used as seeds to direct the encapsulation with a gold outer shell, leading to the formation of unusual nanostructures including semishell-coated gold nanostars, which are characterized by high-resolution electron microscopy and electron tomography. Finally, BDT is exploited as a probe to reveal the enhanced local electric fields in the different nanostructures, showing that the semishell configuration provides significantly high SERS signals as compared to other coreshell configurations obtained during seeded growth, including full shells.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 8.643
Times cited: 36
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201500703
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“Positive and negative streamer propagation in volume dielectric barrier discharges with planar and porous electrodes”. Zhang Q‐Z, Zhang L, Yang D‐Z, Schulze J, Wang Y‐N, Bogaerts A, Plasma Processes And Polymers 18, 2000234 (2021). http://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.202000234
Abstract: The spatiotemporal dynamics of volume and surface positive and negative streamers in a pintoplate volume dielectric barrier discharge is investigated in this study. The discharge characteristics are found to be completely different for positive and negative streamers. First, the spatial propagation of a positive streamer is found to rely on electron avalanches caused by photo-electrons in front of the streamer head, whereas this is not the case for negative streamers. Second, our simulations reveal an interesting phenomenon of floating positive surface discharges, which develop when a positive streamer reaches a dielectric wall and which explain the experimentally observed branching characteristics. Third, we report for the first time, the interactions between a positive streamer and dielectric pores, in which both the pore diameter and depth affect the evolution of a positive streamer.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Impact Factor: 2.846
DOI: 10.1002/ppap.202000234
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“State of the art and prospects for Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals”. Dey A, Ye J, De A, Debroye E, Ha SK, Bladt E, Kshirsagar AS, Wang Z, Yin J, Wang Y, Quan LN, Yan F, Gao M, Li X, Shamsi J, Debnath T, Cao M, Scheel MA, Kumar S, Steele JA, Gerhard M, Chouhan L, Xu K, Wu X-gang, Li Y, Zhang Y, Dutta A, Han C, Vincon I, Rogach AL, Nag A, Samanta A, Korgel BA, Shih C-J, Gamelin DR, Son DH, Zeng H, Zhong H, Sun H, Demir HV, Scheblykin IG, Mora-Sero I, Stolarczyk JK, Zhang JZ, Feldmann J, Hofkens J, Luther JM, Perez-Prieto J, Li L, Manna L, Bodnarchuk M I, Kovalenko M V, Roeffaers MBJ, Pradhan N, Mohammed OF, Bakr OM, Yang P, Muller-Buschbaum P, Kamat P V, Bao Q, Zhang Q, Krahne R, Galian RE, Stranks SD, Bals S, Biju V, Tisdale WA, Yan Y, Hoye RLZ, Polavarapu L, Acs Nano 15, 10775 (2021). http://doi.org/10.1021/ACSNANO.0C08903
Abstract: Metal-halide perovskites have rapidly emerged as one of the most promising materials of the 21st century, with many exciting properties and great potential for a broad range of applications, from photovoltaics to optoelectronics and photocatalysis. The ease with which metal-halide perovskites can be synthesized in the form of brightly luminescent colloidal nanocrystals, as well as their tunable and intriguing optical and electronic properties, has attracted researchers from different disciplines of science and technology. In the last few years, there has been a significant progress in the shape-controlled synthesis of perovskite nanocrystals and understanding of their properties and applications. In this comprehensive review, researchers having expertise in different fields (chemistry, physics, and device engineering) of metal-halide perovskite nanocrystals have joined together to provide a state of the art overview and future prospects of metal-halide perovskite nanocrystal research.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Impact Factor: 13.942
Times cited: 538
DOI: 10.1021/ACSNANO.0C08903
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“Catalyst-free single-step plasma reforming of CH4 and CO2 to higher value oxygenates under ambient conditions”. Wang Y, Chen Y, Harding J, He H, Bogaerts A, Tu X, Chemical Engineering Journal 450, 137860 (2022). http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.137860
Abstract: Direct conversion of CH4 and CO2 to liquid fuels and chemicals under mild conditions is appealing for biogas conversion and utilization but challenging due to the inert nature of both gases. Herein, we report a promising plasma process for the catalyst-free single-step conversion of CH4 and CO2 into higher value oxygenates (i.e., methanol, acetic acid, ethanol, and acetone) at ambient pressure and room temperature using a water-cooled dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor, with methanol being the main liquid product. The distribution of liquid products could be tailored by tuning the discharge power, reaction temperature and residence time. Lower discharge powers (10–15 W) and reaction temperatures (5–20 ◦ C) were favourable for the production of liquid products, achieving the highest methanol selectivity of 43% at 5 ◦ C and 15 W. A higher discharge power and reaction temperature, on the other hand, produced more gaseous products, particularly H2 (up to 26% selectivity) and CO (up to 33% selectivity). In addition, varying these process parameters (discharge power, reaction temperature and residence time) resulted in a simultaneous change in key discharge properties, such as mean electron energy (Ee), electron density (ne) and specific energy input (SEI), all of which are essential determiners of plasma chemical reactions. According to the results of artificial neural network (ANN) models, the relative importance of these process parameters and key discharge indicators on reaction performance follows the order: discharge power > reaction temperature > residence time, and SEI > ne > Ee, respectively. This work provides new insights into the contributions and tuning mechanism of multiple parameters for optimizing the reaction performance (e.g., liquid production) in the plasma gas conversion process.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)
Impact Factor: 15.1
DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.137860
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