Xiupei Yang

Preparation and characterization of Ti/SnO2–Sb2O3–Nb2O5/PbO2 thin film as electrode material for the degradation of phenol

In this work, a novel electrode of titanium substrate coated with mixed metal oxides of SnO(2), Sb(2)O(3), Nb(2)O(5) and PbO(2) was successfully prepared using thermal decomposition and electrodeposition. The surface morphology and the structure of the prepared thin film were characterized by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. Experimental results showed that the structure of the prepared electrode might be described as a Ti/SnO(2)-Sb(2)O(3)-Nb(2)O(5)/PbO(2) thin film and its surface was mainly comprised pyramidal-shape beta-PbO(2) crystals. The modified electrode had higher oxygen evolution potential than that of other PbO(2) modified electrodes. Electrocatalytic oxidation of phenol in aqueous solution was studied to evaluate the potential applications of this electrode in environmental science. The phenol removal efficiency in an artificial wastewater containing 0.50g/L phenol could reach 78.6% at 20 degrees C and pH 7.0 with an applied electricity density of 20mA/cm(2) and treatment time of 120min. When 21.3g/L chloride was added to this wastewater, the removal efficiency could reach to 97.2%.

Green Synthesis of Fluorescent Carbon Dots for Selective Detection of Tartrazine in Food Samples

A simple, economical, and green method for the preparation of water-soluble, high-fluorescent carbon quantum dots (C-dots) has been developed via hydrothermal process using aloe as a carbon source. The synthesized C-dots were characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fluorescence spectrophotometer, UV-vis absorption spectra as well as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results reveal that the as-prepared C-dots were spherical shape with an average diameter of 5 nm and emit bright yellow photoluminescence (PL) with a quantum yield of approximately 10.37%. The surface of the C-dots was rich in hydroxyl groups and presented various merits including high fluorescent quantum yield, excellent photostability, low toxicity and satisfactory solubility. Additionally, we found that one of the widely used synthetic food colorants, tartrazine, could result in a strong fluorescence quenching of the C-dots through a static quenching process. The decrease of fluorescence intensity made it possible to determine tartrazine in the linear range extending from 0.25 to 32.50 μM, This observation was further successfully applied for the determination of tartrazine in food samples collected from local markets, suggesting its great potential toward food routine analysis. Results from our study may shed light on the production of fluorescent and biocompatible nanocarbons due to our simple and environmental benign strategy to synthesize C-dots in which aloe was used as a carbon source.

Preparation of gold nanoparticles on eggshell membrane and their biosensing application.

A facile green biosynthesis method has been successfully developed to prepare gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of various core sizes (25+/-7 nm) using a natural biomaterial, eggshell membrane (ESM) at ambient conditions. In situ synthesis of AuNPs-immobilized ESM is conducted in a simple manner by immersing ESM in a pH 6.0 aqueous solution of HAuCl(4) without adding any reductant. The formation of AuNPs on ESM protein fibers is attributed to the reduction of Au(III) ions to Au(0) by the aldehyde moieties of the natural ESM fibers. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction unambiguously identify the presence of AuNPs on ESM. The effect of pH on the in situ synthesis of AuNPs on ESM has been investigated in detail. The pH of the gold precursor (HAuCl(4)) solution can influence the formation rate, dispersion and size of AuNPs on ESM. At pH < or =3.0 and > or =7.0, no AuNPs are observed on ESM while small AuNPs are homogeneously dispersed on ESM at pH 4.0-6.0. The optimal pH for AuNPs formation on ESM is 6.0. AuNPs/ESMs are used to immobilize glucose oxidase (GO(x)) for glucose biosensing. AuNPs on ESM can increase the enzyme activity of GO(x). The linear response range of the glucose biosensor is 20 microM to 0.80 mM glucose with a detection limit of 17 microM (S/N=3). The biosensor has been successfully applied to determine the glucose content in commercial glucose injections. Our work provides a very simple, non-toxic, convenient, and green route to synthesize AuNPs on ESM which is potentially useful in the biosensing field.

CE with LED-based detection: An update

CE detectors based on LEDs as light sources are attracting considerable attention and having increasing applications. They show excellent stable output with less energy consumption, have long lifetime, and are low‐cost, small in size, and able to work at various wavelengths. This review updates our last review article published in 2007 (Electrophoresis 2007, 28, 233–242) and focuses on the development and application of CE detectors based on LEDs reported in recent years. It describes the exciting new approaches and improved techniques. Three configurations of absorption and fluorescence detection techniques including right‐angle‐type, collinear‐type, and optical‐fiber fluorescence detector are introduced and compared. Lastly, it also discusses their applications and future perspectives in this field.

Separation of tyrosine enantiomer derivatives by capillary electrophoresis with light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled with fiber-optic light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection has been developed for the separation of tyrosine (Tyr) enantiomers. R(-)-4-(3-isothiocyanatopyrrolidin-1-yl)-7-(N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole was used as a chiral fluorescence tagged reagent for derivatization of Tyr. The effect of pH, running buffer concentration and applied voltage on enantioselectivity has been investigated. The optimum CE conditions are 15 mmol/L borate running buffer (pH 10.5) and 14-kV applied voltage. Good reproducibility was obtained with coefficient of variation (n=7) of migration time and peak area less than 0.2 and 2.0%, respectively. The limits of detection of D- and L-Tyr derivatives were 2.9 and 2.2 micromol/L (S/N=3), respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of Tyr in a commercial amino acid oral solution.

Fluorescence quenching for chloramphenicol detection in milk based on protein-stabilized Au nanoclusters

In the present study, we report a simple and rapid method for sensitive and selective determination of chloramphenicol (CAP) based on fluorescence of bovine serum albumin-stabilized Au nanoclusters (BSA-AuNCs). The BSA-AuNCs exhibit strong red emission. Upon addition of CAP to BSA-AuNCs, the fluorescence intensity of AuNCs shows a dramatic decrease attributing to the photo-induced electron transfer process from the electrostatically attached CAP to the BSA-AuNCs. The effects of pH, amount of BSA-AuNCs, temperature and reaction time on the detection of chloramphenicol were investigated. Under the optimal conditions, trace amounts of CAP could be detected. The linear working range is 0.10-70.00 μM with a detection limit 33 nM (S/N=3). In addition, the proposed method has been successfully applied to the detection of CAP in milk samples and largely improves the application of spectral method for quantitative analysis of CAP.

Determination of five nitroimidazole residues in artificial porcine muscle tissue samples by capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method with ultraviolet detection has been developed for simultaneous detection and quantification of five nitroimidazoles including benzoylmetronidazole, dimetridazole, metronidazole, ronidazole, and secnidazole in porcine muscles. Nitroimidazoles in samples were extracted by ethyl acetate with subsequent clean-up by a strong cation exchange solid phase extraction column. The clean extracts were subjected to CE separation with optimal experimental conditions: pH 3.0 running buffer containing 25mM sodium phosphate and 0.10mM tetrabutylammonium bromide, 5s hydrodynamic injection at 0.5psi and 28kV separation voltage. The nitroimidazoles could be monitored and detected at 320nm within 18min. The limits of detection were below 1.0μg/kg and limits of quantification were lower than 3.2μg/kg for all nitroimidazoles in the muscle samples. The recoveries and relative standard deviations were 85.4-96.0, 83.5-92.5, 1.3-3.9, and 1.1-4.2%, respectively for the intra-day and inter-day analyses. The proposed CE method has been successfully applied to determine nitroimidazoles in artificial porcine muscle samples with good accuracy and recovery, demonstrating that it has potential for detection and quantification of multi-nitroimidazole residue in real muscle samples.

Mass Spectrometric Identification of Water-Soluble Gold Nanocluster Fractions from Sequential Size-Selective Precipitation

This paper presents a simple and convenient methodology to separate and characterize water-soluble gold nanocluster stabilized with penicillamine ligands (AuNC-SR) in aqueous medium by sequential size-selective precipitation (SSSP) and mass spectrometry (MS). The highly polydisperse crude AuNC-SR product with an average core diameter of 2.1 nm was initially synthesized by a one-phase solution method. AuNCs were then precipitated and separated successively from larger to smaller ones by progressively increasing the concentration of acetone in the aqueous AuNCs solution. The SSSP fractions were analyzed by UV-vis spectroscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight-MS, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The MS and TGA data confirmed that the fractions precipitated from 36, 54, 72, and 90% v/v acetone (F(36%), F(54%), F(72%), and F(90%)) comprised families of close core size AuNCs with average molecular formulas of Au(38)(SR)(18), Au(28)(SR)(15), Au(18)(SR)(12), and Au(11)(SR)(8), respectively. In addition, F(36%), F(54%), F(72%), and F(90%) contained also the typical magic-sized gold nanoparticles of Au(38), Au(25), Au(18), and Au(11), respectively, together with some other AuNCs. This study shed light on the potential use of SSSP for simple and large-scale preliminary separation of polydisperse water-soluble AuNCs into different fractions with a relatively narrower size distribution.

Determination of three nitroimidazoles in rabbit plasma by two-step stacking in capillary zone electrophoresis featuring sweeping and micelle to solvent stacking.

This study reports a sweeping and micelle to solvent stacking (MSS) method for fast stacking of nitroimidazoles in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The optimal experimental conditions are run buffer of 25mM sodium phosphate (pH 1.5) and 0.50% (v/v) methanol, micellar solution of 30mM sodium dodecyl sulfate, applied voltage of 28kV, and sample and micellar solution injection of 100s. By applying this new on-line preconcentration technique, the nitroimidazoles content can be determined within 9min with the limit of detection (S/N=3) ranging 2.3-3.0ng/mL, which is lower than that of conventional CZE analysis. The proposed MSS technique affords 20-, 12- and 38-fold improvements in sensitivity for the detection of dimetridazole, metronidazole and secnidazole, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of intra-day and inter-day are 2.1-3.6% and 2.7-4.6% (n=6), respectively. The recoveries in pretreated rabbit plasma at spiked levels of 5.0-10.0μg/mL are 92.0-101.1% with RSDs lower than 3.4%. The proposed sweeping and MSS-CZE is a highly sensitive method for the detection of nitroimidazoles in biological and clinical samples and has been successfully applied to analyze nitroimidazoles in pretreated rabbit plasma.

Capillary electrophoretic study of thiolated α-cyclodextrin-capped gold nanoparticles with tetraalkylammonium ions

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been employed to characterize nanometer-sized thiolated alpha-cyclodextrin-capped gold nanoparticles (alpha-CD-S-AuNPs). The addition of tetrabutylammonium (Bu(4)N(+)) ions to the run buffer greatly narrows the migration peak of alpha-CD-S-AuNP. The optimal run buffer was determined to be 10mM Bu(4)N(+) in 30 mM phosphate buffer at pH 12 and an applied voltage of 15 kV. The effect of various tetraalkylammonium ions on the peak width and electrophoretic mobility (mu(e)) of alpha-CD-S-AuNP was studied in detail. Bu(4)N(+) ions assist in inter-linking the alpha-CD-S-AuNPs and narrowing the migration peak in CZE. This observation can be explained by the fact that each Bu(4)N(+) ion can simultaneously interact with several hydrophobic cavities of the surface-attached alpha-CDs on AuNPs. The TEM images show that alpha-CD-S-AuNPs with Bu(4)N(+) are linked together but in the absence of Bu(4)N(+), they are more dispersed. The migration mechanism in CZE is based on the formation of inclusion complexes between Bu(4)N(+) and alpha-CD-S-AuNPs which induces changes in the charge-to-size ratio of alpha-CD-S-AuNPs and mu(e). An inverse linear relationship (r(2)>0.998) exists between the mu(e) and size of alpha-CD-S-AuNPs in the core range 1.4-4.1 nm. The CZE analyses are rapid with migration time less than 4 min. A few nanoliters of each of the alpha-CD-S-AuNP samples were injected hydrodynamically at 0.5 psi for 5s. Our work confirms that CZE is an efficient tool for characterizing the sizes of alpha-CD-S-AuNPs using Bu(4)N(+) ions.