ABSTRACT
Electronic metal-support interactions (EMSIs) comprise an area of intense study, the manipulation of which is of paramount importance in the improvement of heterogeneous metal nanoparticle (NP) supported catalysts. EMSI is the transfer of charge from the support to NP, enabling more effective adsorption and interaction of reactants during catalysis. Ru NPs on CuO supports show different levels of EMSI (via charge transfer) depending on their crystal structure, with multiple twinned NPs showing greater potential for EMSI. We use magnetron-assisted gas phase aggregation for the synthesis of batches of Ru NPs with different populations of single crystal and multiple twinned nanoparticles, which were deposited on CuO nanowires (NWs). The surface charging of the Ru-CuO catalysts was investigated by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). By doubling the population of multiple twinned NPs, the surface potential of the Ru-CuO catalysts increases roughly 4 times, coinciding with a similar increase in the amount of Ru4+. Therefore, tuning the amount of EMSI in a catalyst is possible through changing the population of multiple twinned Ru NPs in the catalyst. Increasing the amount of multiple twin NPs resulted in improved activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (a roughly 2.5 times decrease in the overpotentials when the population of multiple twinned NPs is increased) and better catalyst stability. This improvement is attributed to the fact that the multiple twin NPs maintained a metallic character under oxidation conditions (unlike single crystal NPs) due to the EMSI between the NP and support.
ABSTRACT
Tuning the metal support interaction (MSI) in heterogeneous catalysts is of utmost importance for various applications in different catalysis reactions. Pt-TiN systems are strong contenders for commercial catalysts, although the charge screening of Pt and non-involvement of N reduces their effective MSI and limits it to the Pt-Ti interface. Here, the bias driven landing of gas phase synthesized Pt nanoparticles (NPs) is used to change the nature of the MSI and enhance the charge transfer phenomenon. Bias driven landing of the Pt NPs translates their impact energies to the TiN surface, resulting in a weakening of the Ti-N bonds. This facilitates a new interaction between the Pt and N atoms, resulting in an electronic equilibration in the N-Pt-Ti triumvirate, nullifying the charge screening of Pt. This change in the nature of the MSI enables long range charge transfer throughout the catalyst surface and an increase in the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of the Pt-TiN system.
ABSTRACT
Field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors based on low-dimensional materials are capable of highly sensitive and specific label-free detection of various analytes. In this work, a FET biosensor based on graphene decorated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) was fabricated for lactose detection in a liquid-gate measurement configuration. This graphene device is functionalized with a carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) of the human galectin-3 (hGal-3) protein to detect the presence of lactose from the donor effect of lectin - glycan affinity binding on the graphene. Although the detection of lactose is important because of its ubiquitous presence in food and for disease related applications (lactose intolerance condition), in this work we exploit the lectin/carbohydrate interaction to develop a device that in principle could specifically detect very low concentrations of any carbohydrate. The biosensor achieved an effective response to lactose concentrations over a dynamic range from 1 fM to 1 pM (10-15 to 10-12 mol L-1) with a detection limit of 200 aM, a significant enhancement over previous electrochemical graphene devices. The FET sensor response is also specific to lactose at aM concentrations, indicating the potential of a combined lectin and graphene FET (G-FET) sensor to detect carbohydrates at high sensitivity and specificity for disease diagnosis.
