Although gold is the subject of one of the most ancient themes of investigation in science, its renaissance now leads to an exponentially increasing number of publications, especially in the context of emerging nanoscience and nanotechnology with nanoparticles and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). We will limit the present review to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), also called gold colloids. AuNPs are the most stable metal nanoparticles, and they present fascinating aspects such as their assembly of multiple types involving materials science, the behavior of the individual particles, size-related electronic, magnetic and optical properties (quantum size effect), and their applications to catalysis and biology. Their promises are in these fields as well as in the bottom-up approach of nanotechnology, and they will be key materials and building block in the 21st century. Whereas the extraction of gold started in the 5th millennium B.C. near Varna (Bulgaria) and reached 10 tons per year in Egypt around 1200-1300 B.C. when the marvelous statue of Touthankamon was constructed, it is probable that “soluble” gold appeared around the 5th or 4th century B.C. in Egypt and China. In antiquity, materials were used in an ecological sense for both aesthetic and curative purposes. Colloidal gold was used to make ruby glass 293 Chem. Rev. 2004, 104, 293−346

Gold nanoparticles: assembly, supramolecular chemistry, quantum-size-related properties, and applications toward biology, catalysis, and nanotechnology.

Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Properties, Modifications, and Applications

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) offer the possibilities to design solar cells with a large flexibility in shape, color, and transparency. DSC research groups have been established around the worl ...

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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

J. Appl. Cryst.の発刊に際して

The long-standing challenge of designing and constructing new crystalline solid-state materials from molecular building blocks is just beginning to be addressed with success. A conceptual approach that requires the use of secondary building units to direct the assembly of ordered frameworks epitomizes this process: we call this approach reticular synthesis. This chemistry has yielded materials designed to have predetermined structures, compositions and properties. In particular, highly porous frameworks held together by strong metal-oxygen-carbon bonds and with exceptionally large surface area and capacity for gas storage have been prepared and their pore metrics systematically varied and functionalized.

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Reticular synthesis and the design of new materials

The structural blue color of a Morpho butterfly originates from the diffraction of light and interference effects due to the presence of the microstructures on the wing of the butterfly. Structural color on the surface of a damselfish reversibly changes between green and blue. Inspired by these creatures, we have been trying to prepare high-quality and functional structural color films. We describe our efforts in this Account. A useful technique to prepare such structural color films in colloidal solution is a “lifting” method, which allows us to quickly fabricate brilliant colloidal crystal films. The thicknesses of the films can be controlled by precisely adjusting the particle concentration and the lifting speed. Moreover, in order to prepare a complicated structure, we have used template methods. Indeed, we have successfully prepared the inverse structure of the wing of a Morpho butterfly with this technique. Initially, however, our structural color films had a whitish appearance due to the scattering...

Structural Color Films with Lotus Effects, Superhydrophilicity, and Tunable Stop-Bands

The authors report a case with blow-in fractures of both orbital roofs caused by horizontal shear strain to the skull. The mechanism of the injury is discussed. Ophthalmic symptoms were improved by removal of intraorbital bone fragments and by repair of the orbital roof defects with methyl methacrylate.

Blow-in fracture of both orbital roofs caused by shear strain to the skull: Case report

The magnetic properties of the spin-crossover compound, [Fe(qsal)2]NCSe·2DMSO (N-(8-quinolyl)-salicyladimine) (1), have been measured. We have discovered that the compound 1 exhibits a wide "thermal hysteresis loop" of 115 K (T1/2↑ = 324 K and T1/2↓ = 209 K) in the first cycle. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that solvent molecules of the compound 1 are removed at around 324 K. This means that the hysteresis loop observed for the first cycle is only an apparent one. Following the first loop, the compound 1 shows a spin-crossover in warming mode. The spin transition occurs at T1/2↑= 285 K and T1/2↓ = 209 K and the hysteresis width can be estimated to be 76 K, which is one of the largest values reported so far for spin-crossover compounds. It is thought that the cooperativity produced in the compound mainly arises from the intermolecular π interactions between the quinoline and the phenyl rings.

Iron(III) spin transition compound with a large thermal hysteresis

Atypically anisotropic and large changes in magnetic susceptibility, along with a change in crystalline shape, were observed in a CoII complex at near room temperature. This was achieved by combining oxalate molecules, acting as rotor, and a CoII ion with unquenched orbital angular momentum. A thermally controlled 90° rotation of the oxalate counter anion triggered a symmetry-breaking ferroelastic phase transition, accompanied by contraction-expansion behavior (ca. 4.5 %) along the long axis of a rod-like single crystal. The molecular rotation induced a minute variation in the coordination geometry around the CoII ion, resulting in an abrupt decrease and a remarkable increase in magnetic susceptibility along the direction perpendicular and parallel to the long axis of the crystal, respectively. Theoretical calculations suggested that such an unusual anisotropic change in magnetic susceptibility was due to a substantial reorientation of magnetic anisotropy induced by slight disruption in the ideal D3 coordination environment of the complex cation.

Anisotropic Change in the Magnetic Susceptibility of a Dynamic Single Crystal of a Cobalt(II) Complex

Photochromic magnetic vesicles have been designed by intercalation of Prussian blue into a lipid bilayer membrane which consists of azobenzene. Reversible photoisomerization of the solid system realized reversible photocontrol of the magnetic properties. Here, we have synthesized an amphiphile azo moiety containing a long alkyl chain, and we have prepared photochromic magnetic vesicles consisting of only this azo moiety. As a result, the magnetic property change brought about by visible light illumination was estimated to be ca. 13%, which is much larger than the figure achieved for the similar system that we reported previously (∼1%), which contained the double-chain ammonium amphiphile (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1999, 121, 3745.).

Osamu Sato

Papers

Structural Color Films with Lotus Effects, Superhydrophilicity, and Tunable Stop-Bands

Blow-in fracture of both orbital roofs caused by shear strain to the skull: Case report

Iron(III) spin transition compound with a large thermal hysteresis

Anisotropic Change in the Magnetic Susceptibility of a Dynamic Single Crystal of a Cobalt(II) Complex

Reversible Photocontrollable Magnetic Vesicles Consisting of Azobenzene