Xiaoxia Jia

Biomolecule-assisted in situ route toward 3D superhydrophilic Ag/CuO micro/nanostructures with excellent artificial sunlight self-cleaning performance

Three-dimensionally (3D) hierarchical micro/nano oriented arrays constructed from nanometer-sized building blocks represent an important group of materials and have received enormous attention for a series of applications because they can offer both the advantages of nanosized building blocks and micro- or submicrometer-sized ordered arrays. In this work, 3D flower-like superhydrophilic CuO micro/nanostructures decorated by Ag nanoparticles were synthesized via an amino acid-assisted biomimetic hydrothermal method. Experiments reveal that the product demonstrates excellent sunlight self-cleaning performance in terms of wettability (without the help of high-free-energy compounds and in the absence of UV irradiation) and enhanced photocatalytic activities, which portends a bright future for this material as self-cleaning photovoltaic coatings. It is also a good example for the organic combination of green chemistry and functional materials.

Hierarchically micro/nanostructured porous metallic copper: Convenient growth and superhydrophilic and catalytic performance

This paper reports a simple one-step growth of hierarchically micro/nanostructured porous metallic copper microspheres with high yield at room temperature. The key growth strategy is to use phenol and ascorbic acid as porogen and reducing agents, respectively, to induce the growth of the porous hierarchical micro/nanostructure. The samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption. It is found that the morphology and structure of the porous Cu microspheres are highly dependent on the phenol added. Compared to the commercial Cu powders and Cu sheets with dense internal structure, hierarchically micro/nanostructured porous metallic copper microspheres show excellent superhydrophilic surface property and much higher catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, demonstrating the significance of the pore structure of the copper materials. Their potential applications in catalysis for oxygen reduction reaction of fuel cells are also explored. All these features make the as-prepared porous copper microspheres a highly attractive candidate for multi-functional materials.

Hierarchical plasmonic-metal/semiconductor micro/nanostructures: green synthesis and application in catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

Hierarchical micro/nano arrays can offer both the advantages of nano-sized building blocks and micro- or submicrometer-sized ordered arrays, therefore representing one kind of potential functional materials and having received enormous attention for a wealth of applications. In this study, four-dimensionally flower-like CuO micro/nanostructures decorated by Au nanoparticles are synthesized via an environmentally friendly route assisted by polyethylene glycol. Experiments reveal that the product demonstrates high catalytic performance for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol using NaBH4 as the reducing agent, which could be attributed to the rich Au/CuO interfaces in the samples. Compared to the pure noble metal catalysts, the obtained sample is quite economic. In terms of methodology and cost-effectiveness, this study proposes an economically useful and green method to produce a highly efficient metal-based catalyst. It is also a good example for the organic combination of green chemistry and functional materials.

Bioinspired synthesis of well faceted CuI nanostructures and evaluation of their catalytic performance for coupling reactions

Well faceted CuI, truncated tetrahedral nanocrystals, were fabricated by an ascorbic acid-assisted green strategy at room temperature in a short period of time. A possible growth mechanism of such highly faceted nanostructures based on typical biomolecule-crystal interactions in aqueous solution is tentatively proposed. The large surface area and rich exposed active sites are expected to endow such truncated tetrahedral nanostructures with excellent performances in catalysis, as demonstrated here for the remarkable catalytic activity with respect to the coupling reaction between benzylamine and iodobenzene. This interesting result highlights the advantage of such a CuI nanostructure over the bulk counterpart, i.e. the high density of active sites and large specific surface area, which places a solid foundation for the feasible and promising application of such highly faceted nanomaterials in catalysis. It is the first report on the nanometre-sized faceted CuI acting as a catalyst for a coupling reaction and simultaneously a good example for the combination of green chemistry and functional materials.

Bioinspired synthesis of hierarchically micro/nano-structured CuI tetrahedron and its potential application as adsorbent for Cd(II) with high removal capacity.

An environment friendly bioinspired strategy for synthesizing hierarchically micro/nano-structured CuI tetrahedron has been developed by combining the stabilization and the reduction performances of l-tryptophan together. A possible growth mechanism of such hierarchical tetrahedron is tentatively proposed. Remarkably, such CuI tetrahedron is found to possess high removal capacity for poisonous Cd(II) ions, 136.3mg/g, and ideal reusability. This is ascribed to the hierarchical micro/nano-structure and chemical adsorption mechanism, which shows great advantages over the traditional nano-scaled adsorbents. These interesting results stand out the promising applications of such hierarchically micro/nano-structured materials in environment. It is also a good example for the organic combination of green chemistry and nanotechnologies for the treatment of contaminated water.