Ji-Min Yang

A facile approach to fabricate porous UMCM-150 nanostructures and their adsorption behavior for methylene blue from aqueous solution

Well-dispersed hierarchical flower-like and net-like architectures of UMCM-150 were successfully prepared by a facile and rapid method at room temperature. Owing to the high surface area and pore volume, the UMCM-150 flower-like nanostructures exhibit excellent adsorption capability for the dye of methylene blue (MB) with a maximum capacity of 560 mg g−1, which is higher than that of most materials reported to date. The influence of variables such as initial pH and MB concentration, contact time and shape of UMCM-150 nanostructures was investigated. The results indicate that the UMCM-150 nanostructures have promising application in the MB dye containing wastewater treatment.

Porous ZnO and ZnO–NiO composite nano/microspheres: synthesis, catalytic and biosensor properties

Porous ZnO and ZnO–NiO composite nano/microspheres have been successfully synthesized by the calcination of non-doped and Ni(II)-doped precursors in air, respectively. The catalytic effect was investigated for porous ZnO and ZnO–NiO composite nano/microspheres for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP). The ZnO–NiO composite nano/microspheres showed remarkable catalytic effect for the thermal decomposition of AP. The decomposition temperature was decreased by 144.5 °C, and the apparent activation energy was significantly decreased to 117.8 kJ mol−1, which is considerably lower than 159.7 kJ mol−1 for pure AP. The catalytic capacity of ZnO–NiO composite nanostructures is higher than that of most of the materials reported to date. As a result, porous ZnO–NiO composite nano/microstructures could be a promising candidate material for an AP-based propellant. In addition, using the as-prepared porous ZnO microspheres, we have successfully prepared a novel, ultrahigh resolution electrochemical impedance DNA biosensor for the enhanced detection of the PML/RARA fusion gene in acute promyelocytic leukemia with a detection limit of 2.2 × 10−13 mol L−1; therefore, it can act as a biosensing materials for the recognition of DNA hybridization.

Metal ion induced porous HKUST-1 nano/microcrystals with controllable morphology and size

Porous coordination polymer HKUST-1 [Cu3(BTC)2] (H3BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarbocylic acid) nano/microcrystals have been fabricated by an environment friendly facile direct precipitation method at room temperature using inorganic salts such as NaNO3, NaCl, NaBr, KNO3, KCl and KBr as additives. It is found that the concentration of the inorganic salt has an important impact on the morphology and size of the HKUST-1 crystals, and their morphology changed from cube to cuboctahedron and finally to octahedron by increasing the concentration of inorganic salts. Gas adsorption measurements reveal that HKUST-1 nano/microcrystals with different morphologies show high specific surface areas, and their gas sorption properties depend on the crystal morphology and size.