Carmen Vázquez-Vázquez

Nanoreactors for simultaneous remote thermal activation and optical monitoring of chemical reactions.

We report herein the design of plasmonic hollow nanoreactors capable of concentrating light at the nanometer scale for the simultaneous performance and optical monitoring of thermally activated reactions. These reactors feature the encapsulation of plasmonic nanoparticles on the inner walls of a mesoporous silica capsule. A Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction was carried out in the inner cavities of these nanoreactors to evidence their efficacy. Thus, it is demonstrated that reactions can be accomplished in a confined volume without alteration of the temperature of the bulk solvent while allowing real-time monitoring of the reaction progress.

Plasmonic Nanoprobes for Real‐Time Optical Monitoring of Nitric Oxide inside Living Cells

An optical sensor was developed for the quantitative determination of intracellular nitric oxide. The sensor consists of plasmonic nanoprobes that have a coating of mesoporous silica and an inner gold island film functionalized with a chemoreceptor for NO.

Ostwald ripening of platinum nanoparticles confined in a carbon nanotube/silica-templated cylindrical space

Sintering of nanoparticles mediated by an Ostwald ripening mechanism is generally assessed examining the final particle size distributions. Based on this methodology, a general approach for depositing platinum nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes in solution has been employed in order to evaluate the sintering process of these metallic nanoparticles at increasing temperatures in a carbon nanotube/silica-templated confined space.

The effect of the silica thickness on the enhanced emission in single particle quantum dots coated with gold nanoparticles

The fabrication of highly luminescent, chemically stable and biocompatible small optical probes is of key interest in bioimaging. Herein we develop a multistep synthesis of hybrid superstructures that comprise quantum dot cores and dense layers of gold nanoparticles separated by a silica shell. This architecture allows for the versatile control of the QD–metal interactions by controlling the thickness of the dielectric spacer. The shell thickness is optimized at the nanometer scale in order to increase the enhanced photoluminescence. Further characterization of the emission in the single particle regime shows that our brighter particles require smaller acquisition times to yield better imaging results.

Kinetic impact of Pt seed morphology on the highly controlled growth of Ni-based nanostructures

A Pt seed-mediated growth method for the synthesis of Ni/NiO and Ni/Ni(OH)2 nanocomposites has been designed so that the morphology and composition of the final materials can be kinetically tailored by a rational choice of the type of seed. Spherical and dendritic Pt nanoparticles provide rather different architectures depending on the different catalytic activity they can exert. Thus, the Pt nanoparticles initial morphology establishes the conditions for the initial nickel deposition and consequently determines the subsequent autocatalytic growth of the magnetic nanocomposite. Pt seed morphology and reaction conditions reveal the autocatalytic nickel deposition kinetics as a critical factor in the tunability of morphology and composition of nickel-based nanostructures, offering a great opportunity to modulate the final properties of these materials.