Selective adsorption of PVP on the surface of silver nanoparticles
- Authors: Mdluli, Phumlani S , Sosibo, Ndabenhle M , Mashazi, Philani N , Nyokong, Tebello , Tshikhudo, Robert T , Skepu, Amanda , van der Lingen, Elma
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/247143 , vital:51550 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2011.07.049"
- Description: The use of surfactants to affect the shape evolution of silver nanoparticles is explored. This allows one to fine-tune the morphological evolution and the optical properties of the metal nanoparticles. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) has been used as a surfactant to control the growth of silver nanoparticles at room temperature. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to understand regio-selective adsorption of PVP that leads to the preferential growth of silver nanoparticles in dimethylformamide (DMF). The interaction energies between PVP and Ag(1 1 0), Ag(1 0 0) and Ag(1 1 1) crystal planes were calculated and in addition the length density profile of the surfactant on silver surfaces was also examined. Importantly, it has been demonstrated that the length distribution profiles analysis obtained from the molecular dynamics study fully explained the adsorption of PVP on the surface of silver nanoparticles through the carbonyl group of the PVP ring. The application of molecular dynamics simulation technique is important in understanding the evolution of silver nanoparticles and is vital in choosing the right surfactants.
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The effects of carbon nanotubes on the electrocatalysis of hydrogen peroxide by metallo-phthalocyanines
- Authors: Mashazi, Philani N , Mugadza, Tawanda , Sosibo, Ndabenhle , Mdluli, Phumlani , Vilakazi, Sibulelo , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/247174 , vital:51553 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2011.07.069"
- Description: The pre-grafted screen-printed gold electrode modified with phenyl-amino monolayer was investigated for covalent immobilization of phenyl-amine functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (PA-SWCNT) and metal tetra-amino phthalocyanine (MTAPc) using Schiff-base reactions with benzene-1,4-dicarbaldehyde (BDCA) as cross-linker. The PA-SWCNT and MTAPc modified electrodes were applied as hybrids for electrochemical sensing of H2O2. The step-by-step fabrication of the electrode was followed using electrochemistry, impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy and all these techniques confirmed the fabrication and the immobilization of PA-SWCNT, MnTAPc and CoTAPc onto gold surfaces. The apparent electron transfer constant (kapp) showed that the carbon nanotubes and metallo-phthalocyanines hybrids possess good electron transfer properties compared to the bare, pre-grafted and the MTAPc modified gold electrode surfaces without PA-SWCNT. The electrochemical sensing of hydrogen peroxide was successful with PA-SWCNT–MTAPc hybrid systems showing higher electrocatalytic currents compared to the other electrodes. The analytical parameters obtained using chronoamperometry gave good linearity at H2O2 concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 30.0 μmol L−1. The values for the limit of detection (LoD) were found to be of the orders of 10−7 M using the 3δ for all the electrodes. The PA-SWCNT–MTAPc modified SPAuEs were much more sensitive compared to PA–MTAPc modified SPAuEs.
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