Yijian Lai

Full-color CO2 gas sensing by an inverse opal photonic hydrogel

CO2 gas sensing is of great importance because of the impact of CO2 on global climate change. Here, utilizing an inverse opal hydrogel, we describe a CO2 gas sensing method that allows highly sensitive and selective detection over a wide concentration range. The CO2 sensor is specific, quantitative, interference tolerant and without the need for special instruments.

Tunable growth of nanodendritic silver by galvanic-cell mechanism on formed activated carbon

Well-defined silver dendritic nanostructures have been prepared in large quantities in an ambient environment using formed activated carbon (FAC) only. A reasonable mechanism (step 1: reduction by surface reductive groups; step 2: growing in the form of a galvanic cell) is suggested.

Green “planting” nanostructured single crystal silver

Design and fabrication of noble metal nanocrystals have attracted much attention due to their wide applications in catalysis, optical detection and biomedicine. However, it still remains a challenge to scale-up the production in a high-quality, low-cost and eco-friendly way. Here we show that single crystalline silver nanobelts grow abundantly on the surface of biomass-derived monolithic activated carbon (MAC), using [Ag(NH3)2]NO3 aqueous solution only. By varying the [Ag(NH3)2]NO3 concentration, silver nanoplates or nanoflowers can also be selectively obtained. The silver growth was illustrated using a galvanic-cell mechanism. The lowering of cell potential via using [Ag(NH3)2]+ precursor, together with the AgCl crystalline seed initiation, and the releasing of OH− in the reaction process, create a stable environment for the self-compensatory growth of silver nanocrystals. Our work revealed the great versatility of a new type of template-directed galvanic-cell reaction for the controlled growth of noble metal nanocrystals.

From crabshell to chitosan-hydroxyapatite composite material via a biomorphic mineralization synthesis method.

Hydroxyapatite–polymer composite materials, as biological bone tissue materials, have become an important research direction. In this paper, the calcium carbonate from the crabshells was transformed into hydroxyapatite by a hydrothermal process. According to the method that we called Biomorphic Mineralization synthesis, we obtained a novel kind of hydroxyapatite-chitosan composite materials which reserved the natural perfect structure of the original crabshells. Benefited from its fine micro-structure as the crabshells, this kind of materials held a high value of tensile modulus, which is expected to be promising bone tissue engineering applications.

Tunable growth of silver nanobelts on monolithic activated carbon with size-dependent plasmonic response

Silver is one of the most important materials in plasmonics. Tuning the size of various silver nanostructures has been actively pursued in the last decade. However, silver nanobelt, a typical one-dimensional silver nanostructure, has not been systematically studied as to tuning its size for controllable plasmonic response. Here we show that silver nanobelts, with mean width ranging from 45 to 105 nm and thickness at ca. 13 nm, can grow abundantly on monolithic activated carbon (MAC) through a galvanic-cell reaction mechanism. The widths of silver nanobelts are positively correlated to the growth temperatures. The width/thickness ratio of the silver nanobelts can be adjusted so that their transversal plasmonic absorption peaks can nearly span the whole visible light band, which endows them with different colours. This work demonstrates the great versatility of a simple, green and conceptually novel approach in controlled synthesis of noble metal nanostructures.

Acid/base treatment of monolithic activated carbon for coating silver with tunable morphology

Silver coatings on the exterior surface of monolithic activated carbon (MAC) with different morphology were prepared by directly immersing MAC into [Ag(NH3)2]NO3 solution. Acid and base treatments were employed to modify the surface oxygenic groups of MAC, respectively. The MACs’ Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, surface groups, and silver coating morphology were characterized by N2 adsorption, elemental analysis (EA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The coating morphology was found to be closely related to the surface area and surface functional groups of MAC. For a raw MAC which contained a variety of oxygenic groups, HNO3 treatment enhanced the relative amount of highly oxidized groups such as carboxyl and carbonates, which disfavored the deposition of silver particles. By contrast, NaOH treatment significantly improved the amount of carbonyl groups, which in turn improved the deposition amount of silver. Importantly, lamella silver was produced on raw MAC while NaOH treatment resulted in granular particles because of the capping effect of carbonyl groups. At appropriate [Ag(NH3)2]NO3 concentrations, silver nanoparticles smaller than 100 nm were homogeneously dispersed on NaOH-treated MAC. The successful tuning of the size and morphology of silver coatings on MAC is promising for novel applications in air purification and for antibacterial or aesthetic purposes.