ZnO materials and surface tailoring for biosensing.

ZnO nanostructured materials, such as films and nanoparticles, could provide a suitable platform for development of high performance biosensors due to their unique fundamental material properties. This paper reviews different preparation techniques of ZnO nanocrystals and material issues like wettability, biocompatibility and toxicity, which have an important relevance to biosensor functionality. Efforts are made to summarize and analyze existing results regarding surface modification and molecular attachments for successful biofunctionalization and understanding of the mechanisms involved. A section is devoted to implementations of tailored surfaces in biosensors. We end with conclusions on the feasibility of using ZnO nanocrystals for biosensing.

Vibrational analysis of H2 and D2 adsorption on Pt/SiO2.

Vibrational properties of surface species formed upon H2 and D2 exposure of silica supported platinum particles have been investigated with in situ diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. Experiments have been performed at 50-250 degrees C, using different platinum loading of the samples in the absence and presence of oxygen. In addition, electronic structure calculations and vibrational analysis have been performed within the density functional theory for H adsorption on a silica cluster, (HO)3SiOSi(OH)3. The spectroscopy experiments showed reversible formation of isolated OH and OD groups on the silica surface when the samples were exposed to H2 and D2, respectively. In addition to the absorption peak corresponding to isolated OH and OD groups, an intense broad band was observed around 3270 cm(-1) (2500 cm(-1)) during H2 (D2) exposure. Supported by the calculations, this band was assigned to perturbed OH groups on the silica surface. The surface coverage of new OH groups was found to correlate to the platinum loading in the samples, indicating that the new silanol groups were formed in the vicinity of the Pt particles. In the investigated temperature interval, the formation rate of OH groups was not found to be temperature dependent.