Nanotechnology is expected to open new avenues to fight and prevent disease using atomic scale tailoring of materials. Among the most promising nanomaterials with antibacterial properties are metallic nanoparticles, which exhibit increased chemical activity due to their large surface to volume ratios and crystallographic surface structure. The study of bactericidal nanomaterials is particularly timely considering the recent increase of new resistant strains of bacteria to the most potent antibiotics. This has promoted research in the well known activity of silver ions and silver-based compounds, including silver nanoparticles. The present work studies the effect of silver nanoparticles in the range of 1-100 nm on Gram-negative bacteria using high angle annular dark field (HAADF) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Our results indicate that the bactericidal properties of the nanoparticles are size dependent, since the only nanoparticles that present a direct interaction with the bacteria preferentially have a diameter of approximately 1-10 nm.

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Three alkyltrimethylammonium thiomolybdates, [R-N(CH 3 ) 3 ] 2 MoS 4 (where R = lauryl, myristyl or cetyl) were synthesized in aqueous solution, and characterized by 1 H-NMR spectroscopy. These alkyltrimethylammonium thiomolybdates were used (the lauryl and myristyl thiomolybdates for the first time) as precursors for in situ prepared MoS 2 catalysts, activated during the hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene. The catalysts were analyzed by EDX, showing large voids and a S/Mo ratio around 2. High surface areas up to 443 m 2 /g and type IV adsorptiondesorption nitrogen isotherms were obtained. X-ray diffraction showed that the catalysts are poorly crystalline, with a very weak (002) peak intensity for all samples except the MoS 2 catalyst prepared from pure ammonium tetrathiomolybdate precursor. A high dibenzothiophene conversion (74%) was observed with the catalyst obtained from the lauryltrimethylammonium thiomolybdate precursor, attributed mainly to its high specific surface area. Selectivity results showed that all the prepared catalysts strongly favored the hydrogenation pathway.

Bimetallic NiW sulfide nanostructures of the inorganic fullerene-like (IF-like) type were prepared by a chemical method employing ammonium thiotungstate and nickel nitrate as metal-sulfide precursors followed by sulfidation in H2S/H2 at 400 °C. The nanostructures were grown with a Ni excess, at an atomic ratio R = 0.85 (R = Ni/Ni + W). The x-ray diffraction patterns showed poorly crystalline WS2, WO2, NiS, and Ni9S8 phases. High-resolution electron microscopy micrographs revealed the formation of two fullerene-like nanostructures, nickel sulfide nanoparticles and long nanotubes filled with tungsten suboxide, both coated by several WS2 layers. The surface area of 18 m2/g measured by nitrogen adsorption (BET surface-area) revealed that these materials contained micropororosity.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.