Ligands are the quintessential synthesis tool in the preparation of colloidal metal catalysts, allowing for the rational design of nanostructured surfaces with high activity and selectivity. These same agents can, however, strongly influence the catalytic performance of metal nanostructures in aqueous media. In this regard, the current literature describing the influence of ligands on the model catalytic reaction that sees 4-nitrophenol reduced to 4-aminophenol by borohydride is highly fragmented in that the understanding of reaction rate, induction time, and ligand desorption phenomena is disconnected and, at times, contradictory. Herein, we present a study in which three chemically distinct ligands are applied to bare gold catalysts followed by their exposure to aqueous solutions of relevance to 4-nitrophenol reduction while simultaneously tracking the ligand whereabouts. It is shown that the exposure of ligands to borohydride leads to their near-complete removal from the gold catalyst. This, in turn, gives rise to severe disruptions to the rate of 4-nitrophenol reduction for the scenario where the aqueous reactants are purged of dissolved oxygen and ligand desorption times are slow. In sharp contrast, the reaction rate is little affected when the same reactants contain dissolved oxygen because the resulting induction period provides ample time for the ligands to desorb prior to the onset of the reaction. Moreover, strongly bound ligands are shown to give rise to an induction-time-like feature that is only observable when the reactants are free of dissolved oxygen. Collectively, these findings advocate procedures for catalytic benchmarking that differ from current best practices and underscore the point that a fundamental understanding of 4-nitrophenol catalysis must adopt a holistic approach that accounts for ligand–nanostructure interdependencies.

We report an investigation of lead halide perovskite CHNHPbBr nanocrystals and associated ligand molecules by combining several different state-of-the-art experimental techniques, including synchrotron radiation-based XPS and VUV PES of free-standing nanocrystals isolated in vacuum. By using this novel approach for perovskite materials, we could directly obtain complete band alignment to vacuum of both CHNHPbBr nanocrystals and the ligands widely used in their preparation. We discuss the possible influence of the ligand molecules to apparent perovskite properties, and we compare the electronic properties of nanocrystals to those of bulk material. The experimental results were supported by DFT calculations.

We report on the aerosol generation of ligand-free silver iodobismuthate (Ag-Bi-I) nanoparticles (NPs) and on in situ investigation of their electronic structure using synchrotron radiation soft X-ray aerosol photoelectron spectroscopy (XAPS). The structural and morphological characterizations revealed the aerosol to be composed of spherical rudorffite Ag3BiI6 particles, approximately 100 nm in size. The XAPS showed well-resolved signals from all expected elements (Ag, Bi, and I) and allowed estimation of the NP work function to be about 4.5 eV. The ionization energy of Ag3BiI6 NPs was determined to be 6.1 eV that is in good agreement with our calculations based on a hybrid functional approach. The presented method of production of Ag3BiI6 aerosol can prove beneficial for the future development of Ag-Bi-I-based photovoltaic materials, since it allows the deposition of Ag-Bi-I particles on large surface areas of arbitrary shape and roughness.

Polymers with superior mechanical properties are desirable in many applications. In this work, polyethylene (PE) films reinforced with exfoliated thermally reduced graphene oxide (TrGO) fabricated using a roll-to-roll hot-drawing process are shown to have outstanding mechanical properties. The specific ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of PE/TrGO films increased monotonically with the drawing ratio and TrGO filler fraction, reaching up to 3.2 ± 0.5 and 109.3 ± 12.7 GPa, respectively, with a drawing ratio of 60× and a very low TrGO weight fraction of 1%. These values represent by far the highest reported to date for a polymer/graphene composite. Experimental characterizations indicate that as the polymer films are drawn, TrGO fillers are exfoliated, which is further confirmed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Exfoliation increases the specific area of the TrGO fillers in contact with the PE matrix molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the PE−TrGO interaction is stronger than the PE−PE intermolecular van der Waals interaction, which enhances load transfer from PE to TrGO and leverages the ultrahigh mechanical properties of TrGO.

Atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) deposition techniques are useful today because of their simplicity and their time and cost savings, particularly for growth of oxide films. Among the oxide materials, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has a wide range of applications in electronics, solar cells, and photocatalysis, which has made it an extremely popular research topic for decades. Here, we provide an overview of non-thermal APP deposition techniques for TiO2 thin film, some historical background, and some very recent findings and developments. First, we define non-thermal plasma, and then we describe the advantages of APP deposition. In addition, we explain the importance of TiO2 and then describe briefly the three deposition techniques used to date. We also compare the structural, electronic, and optical properties of TiO2 films deposited by different APP methods. Lastly, we examine the status of current research related to the effects of such deposition parameters as plasma power, feed gas, bias voltage, gas flow rate, and substrate temperature on the deposition rate, crystal phase, and other film properties. The examples given cover the most common APP deposition techniques for TiO2 growth to understand their advantages for specific applications. In addition, we discuss the important challenges that APP deposition is facing in this rapidly growing field.