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

We report on calculated results of fluxon distributions of superconducting network with 2 × 2 holes in the magnetic field by two-dimensional finite element method (FEM) for Ginzburg–Landau equations. For the application of the magnetic field, the depression of the order parameter occurs near the center of the networks. Fluxons can pass through the superconductive area, not through holes of the network. In the low temperature, the external magnetic field is strongly expelled by the Meissner effect, which deviates from that calculated by the de Gennes–Alexander theory.

Fluxons in superconductive networks

In the title compound, C12H6N2O2·C2H5OH, the mol­ecule of the 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione is approximately planar, with a maximum deviation of 0.051 (1) A. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by O—H⋯N and weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming supra­molecular chains propagating along [110]. π–π stacking inter­actions are observed between the pyridine rings of neighbouring chains, the centroid–centroid separations being 3.6226 (11) and 3.7543 (11) A.

https://journals.iucr.org/e/issues/2014/05/00/xu5783/xu5783.pdf

1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-dione ethanol monosolvate

A new photo-responsive coordination polymer of [Ni(en)2]4[Fe(CN)5NO]2[Fe(CN)6]·6H2O was synthesized. In this compound, Ni–CN–Fe forms one-dimensional standing-wave-like chains, onto which photo-functional groups of pentacyanonitrosylferrate(II) are appended. Photo-irradiation with blue light at less than 200 K transformed the pentacyanonitrosylferrate(II) from the ground state to a metastable state, which could be reverted to the original state by irradiation with red light.

Crystal Structure and Photo-Reaction of a New Coordination Polymer: [Ni(en)2]4[Fe(CN)5NO]2[Fe(CN)6]·6H2O

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control the appearance and the color tone of a titanium oxide particle thin film without using a pigment or the like. SOLUTION: The thin film is formed by depositing the monodisperse titanium oxide particles on a base material and has peculiar coherent color tone corresponding to the particle diameter of the monodisperse titanium oxide particle.

Osamu Sato

Papers

Fluxons in superconductive networks

1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-dione ethanol monosolvate

Crystal Structure and Photo-Reaction of a New Coordination Polymer: [Ni(en)2]4[Fe(CN)5NO]2[Fe(CN)6]·6H2O

Monodispersive titanium oxide particle thin film and forming method thereof

Simple Interim Check of Measuring Performance for X-Ray Computed Tomography Used as Coordinate Measuring System