Nanotechnology

  2010 MAY 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from the United States, "We have investigated the relative efficiency of Pt and Pd catalysts, in the structural formats of nanoporous solids and planar metallic surfaces, for the electro-oxidation of methanol and ethanol in acidic and basic aqueous solutions. There are two issues of primary concern in this comparison."

  "These are the surface area of the two catalyst structures and the crystalline morphology of the metals. We find that the nanoporous solids of Pt and Pd afford greater electro-oxidation efficiency and increased catalytic stability relative to the corresponding planar metallic surface for methanol and ethanol. The increase in current density for the Pt nanoporous solid was greater for basic conditions than for acidic conditions. Although both metals provided increased catalytic activity relative to that of the corresponding planar metal, the reactivity of Pt was greater for methanol, while Pd exhibited greater reactivity for ethanol," wrote M.M. Dimos and colleagues, Michigan State University ...read more

  2010 MAY 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to a study from Hefei, People's Republic of China, "To improve the energy conversion of solar irradiation, a photocatalyst with high reactivity under visible light is required. Using density functional theory, the structural and electronic properties of iodine cation-doped rutile TiO2 are studied."

  "The total energy calculations show that iodine substituting for titanium sites in TiO2 matrix is energetically favorable. The electronic structure calculations reveal that iodine doping induces a delocalized band consisting of I 5s states and O 2p states at the top of the valence band of TiO2. Due to this delocalized state, the band gap is markedly narrowed by about 0.4 eV, the optical absorption is extended to the visible light region, and the excited electron hole pairs are expected to have better mobility," wrote J.F. He and colleagues, China University ...read more

  2010 MAY 3 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "The interaction between silver nanoparticle and calf thymus DNA was studied by UV visible, fluorescence, and far UV circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies at a physiologic temperature of 37 C. By the analysis of UV visible titration and thermal denaturation studies of DNA, it was found that silver nanoparticle can form a new complex with double-helical DNA and increase the T-m value of DNA. This kind of binding may cause a slight change of the conformation of DNA," scientists in Iran report ...read more