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.

http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/48763/1/1-s2.0-S037026931200857X-main.pdf

Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/108964/1/experiment%20at%20the%20LHC.pdf

Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC

We discuss the theoretical bases that underpin the automation of the computations of tree-level and next-to-leading order cross sections, of their matching to parton shower simulations, and of the merging of matched samples that differ by light-parton multiplicities. We present a computer program, MadGraph5 aMC@NLO, capable of handling all these computations — parton-level fixed order, shower-matched, merged — in a unified framework whose defining features are flexibility, high level of parallelisation, and human intervention limited to input physics quantities. We demonstrate the potential of the program by presenting selected phenomenological applications relevant to the LHC and to a 1-TeV e + e − collider. While next-to-leading order results are restricted to QCD corrections to SM processes in the first public version, we show that from the user viewpoint no changes have to be expected in the case of corrections due to any given renormalisable Lagrangian, and that the implementation of these are well under way.

/pdf/the-automated-computation-of-tree-level-and-next-to-leading-4etm0g6w46.pdf

The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations

2.3. Evaluation of Photocatalytic Water Splitting 6507 2.3.1. Photocatalytic Activity 6507 2.3.2. Photocatalytic Stability 6507 3. UV-Active Photocatalysts for Water Splitting 6507 3.1. d0 Metal Oxide Photocatalyts 6507 3.1.1. Ti-, Zr-Based Oxides 6507 3.1.2. Nb-, Ta-Based Oxides 6514 3.1.3. W-, Mo-Based Oxides 6517 3.1.4. Other d0 Metal Oxides 6518 3.2. d10 Metal Oxide Photocatalyts 6518 3.3. f0 Metal Oxide Photocatalysts 6518 3.4. Nonoxide Photocatalysts 6518 4. Approaches to Modifying the Electronic Band Structure for Visible-Light Harvesting 6519

Semiconductor-based Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

A simple one-step NaCl-assisted microwave-solvothermal method has been developed for the preparation of monodisperse α-Fe2O3 mesoporous microspheres. In this approach, Fe(NO3)3 · 9H2O is used as the iron source, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) acts as a surfactant in the presence of NaCl in mixed solvents of H2O and ethanol. Under the present experimental conditions, monodisperse α-Fe2O3 mesoporous microspheres can form via oriented attachment of α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals. One of the advantages of this method is that the size of α-Fe2O3 mesoporous microspheres can be adjusted in the range from ca. 170 to ca. 260 nm by changing the experimental parameters. High photocatalytic activities in the degradation of salicylic acid are observed for α-Fe2O3 mesoporous microspheres with different specific surface areas.

/pdf/monodisperse-a-fe2o3-mesoporous-microspheres-one-step-nacl-1tpnhvdbq2.pdf

Monodisperse α-Fe2O3 Mesoporous Microspheres: One-Step NaCl-Assisted Microwave-Solvothermal Preparation, Size Control and Photocatalytic Property

With the growing popularity of electrical communication equipment, high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials are widely used to deal with radiation pollution. However, the large thickness and poor mechanical properties of many EMI shielding materials usually limit their applications. In this study, ultrathin and highly flexible Ti3C2Tx (d-Ti3C2Tx, MXene)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) composite paper with a nacre-like lamellar structure is fabricated via a vacuum-filtration-induced self-assembly process. By the interaction between one-dimensional (1D) CNFs and two-dimensional (2D) d-Ti3C2Tx MXene, the binary strengthening and toughening of the nacre-like d-Ti3C2Tx/CNF composite paper has been successfully achieved, leading to high tensile strength (up to 135.4 MPa) and fracture strain (up to 16.7%), as well as excellent folding endurance (up to 14 260 times). Moreover, the d-Ti3C2Tx/CNF composite paper exhibits high electrical conductivity (up to 739.4 S m–1) and excellent specifi...

Binary Strengthening and Toughening of MXene/Cellulose Nanofiber Composite Paper with Nacre-Inspired Structure and Superior Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Properties

Microwave-assisted preparation of inorganic nanostructures in liquid phase.

Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis of Single‐Crystalline Tellurium Nanorods and Nanowires in Ionic Liquids

Low-dimensional ZnO nanocrystals with controlled size, aspect ratio, and oxygen defects (e.g., type and concentration) are successfully prepared through simple solvothermal and thermal treatment methods. The structure of the as-synthesized samples is characterized by XRD, N2 physical adsorption, TEM, and IR and XPS spectra. The results show that the aspect ratio and size of the as-synthesized ZnO nanocrystals increase with increasing [OH-]/[Zn2+]; the morphology evolves from nanorod to nanoparticle with an increase in the annealing temperature; the BET surface areas of the corresponding samples decrease during these processes, respectively; and different oxygen defects, which are likely to be oxygen vacancy (Vo**) and interstitial oxygen (Oi''), are formed in our experiments accordingly. With evolution of the structure, IR absorption bands and visible photoluminescence emission peaks of the synthesized ZnO nanocrystals shift and split, which is ascribed to the change of oxygen defects. In addition, it is found that the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized ZnO nanocrystals is mainly dependent on the type and concentration of oxygen defects. The relationship of structure-property and the possible photocatalytic mechanism are discussed in detail.

Ying-Jie Zhu

Papers

Monodisperse α-Fe2O3 Mesoporous Microspheres: One-Step NaCl-Assisted Microwave-Solvothermal Preparation, Size Control and Photocatalytic Property

Binary Strengthening and Toughening of MXene/Cellulose Nanofiber Composite Paper with Nacre-Inspired Structure and Superior Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Properties

Microwave-assisted preparation of inorganic nanostructures in liquid phase.

Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis of Single‐Crystalline Tellurium Nanorods and Nanowires in Ionic Liquids

Luminescence and Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Nanocrystals: Correlation between Structure and Property