Sharif Digital Repository

Interactions of chemically exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and Escherichia coli bacteria living in mixed-acid fermentation with an anaerobic condition were investigated for different exposure times. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that as the exposure time increased (from 0 to 48 h), the oxygen-containing functional groups of the GO decreased by ∼60%, indicating a relative chemical reduction of the sheets by interaction with the bacteria. Raman spectroscopy and current-voltage measurement confirmed the reduction of the GO exposed to the bacteria. The reduction was believed to be due to the metabolic activity of the surviving bacteria through their glycolysis process. It was... 

A simple method has been demonstrated to grow silver nanoparticles on the surface of cellulose fibers. The preparation is based on photo-activation of surface by ultraviolet (UV) photons, followed by chemical reduction of silver nitrate. It is found that the concentration of silver nitrate in the solution is not a determining factor, while UV intensity affects the rate of initial growth and determines the final concentration of the loaded silver. We explain the phenomena based on a model including the number of reducing sites on the surface of cellulose fibers activated by UV photons, and a release mechanism that causes a slow rate of dissolution of silver back into the solution  

Graphene is usually synthesized through deoxygenation of graphene oxide (GO) by hydrazine as the most common and one of the strongest reducing agents. But, due to the high toxicity of hydrazine, it is not a promising reductant in large-scale production of graphene. Here, for the first time, we used melatonin (MLT), as a powerful antioxidant and a biocompatible competitor of hydrazine in reduction of GO suspension. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), current-voltage and optical characteristics of the sheets indicated that the deoxygenation efficiency of the GO suspensions by MLT and under heating in an alkaline condition for 3 h was comparable with the efficiency obtained by hydrazine in... 

Ag and Ni are immiscible, mainly due to their large lattice mismatch. This paper reports on their nanoscale formation of solid solution at room temperature by simple reduction reactions which lead to the amorphous Ag-Ni alloy nanoparticles (ANPs) with mono-disperse distribution. Microscopic and spectroscopic studies confirmed dependence of the alloy composition on size of nanoparticles. In the presence of different ligands such as sodium citrate, polyvinyl alcohol and potassium carbonate a mixture of silver oxide and Ag-Ni ANPs was achieved. Stoichiometry of the Ag-Ni ANPs was also found to be strongly dependent on ligands of the reduction reaction and further study shows without any ligand... 

Graphene oxide platelets synthesized by using a chemical exfoliation method were dispersed in a suspension of ZnO nanoparticles to fabricate ZnO/graphene oxide composite. Formation of graphene oxide platelets (with average thickness of ∼0.8 nm) hybridized by ZnO nanoparticles (with average diameter of ∼20 nm) was investigated. The 2D band in Raman spectrum confirmed formation of single-layer graphene oxides. The gradual photocatalytic reduction of the graphene oxide sheets in the ZnO/graphene oxide suspension of ethanol was studied by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for different ultra violet (UV)-visible irradiation times. After 2 h irradiation, the relative concentration of the... 

Local photodegradation of graphene oxide sheets at the tip of ZnO nanorods was used to achieve semiconducting graphene nanomeshes. The chemically exfoliated graphene oxide sheets, with a thickness of ∼0.9 nm, were deposited on quartz substrates. Vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays with diameters of 140 nm and lengths of <1 μm were grown on a glass substrate by using a hydrothermal method. The graphene oxide sheets were physically attached to the tip of the ZnO nanorods by assembling the sheets on the nanorods. UV-assisted photodegradation of the graphene oxide sheets (with dimension of ∼5 × 5 μm) at a contact place with the ZnO nanorods resulted in graphene nanomeshes with a pore size of... 

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was used to improve the hydrogen sensing properties of Pd and Pt-decorated TiO2 nanoparticles by facile production routes. The TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method and coupled on GO sheets via a photoreduction process. The Pd or Pt nanoparticles were decorated on the TiO2/RGO hybrid structures by chemical reduction. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that GO reduction is done by the TiO2 nanoparticles and Ti-C bonds are formed between the TiO2 and the RGO sheets as well. Gas sensing was studied with different concentrations of hydrogen ranging from 100 to 10,000 ppm at various temperatures. High sensitivity (92%) and fast response time... 

Reduced graphene oxide nanoplatelets (rGONPs) were synthesized by sonication of covalently PEGylated GO sheets followed by a chemical reduction using hydrazine and bovine serum albumin. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), as a fundamental factor in tissue engineering, were isolated from umbilical cord blood (as a recently proposed source for extracting fresh hMSCs) to investigate, for the first time, the size-dependent cyto- and geno-toxic effects of the rGONPs on the cells. The cell viability test showed significant cell destructions by 1.0 μg/mL rGONPs with average lateral dimensions (ALDs) of 11±4 nm, while the rGO sheets with ALDs of 3.8±0.4 μm could exhibit a significant cytotoxic...