Bioelectrochemistry and enzymatic activity of glucose oxidase immobilized onto the bamboo-shaped CNx nanotubes

The novel bamboo-shaped CN_x nanotubes, synthesized by nitrogen atoms doping into carbon nanotubes, were used for the immobilization of a relatively large enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx) and its bioelectrochemical studies. The morphologies and adsorptions of GOx immobilization onto CN_x nanotubes were clearly observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was also used to feature the GOx adsorbed onto the surface of CN_x nanotubes. The immobilized GOx incorporated into CN_x nanotubes films exhibited a well-defined nearly reversible cyclic voltammetric peaks for the electroactive centers of GOx and a fast heterogeneous electron transfer rate with the rate constant (K_s) of 1.96 s⁻¹. The immobilized GOx onto the CN_x nanotubes exhibited its bioelectrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of glucose. The obtained results suggest that with a large amount of defective/active sites on the tube surfaces, a special bamboo structure and a suitable C-N microenvironment introduced by nitrogen doping, CN_x nanotubes could not only facilitate the direct electron transfer between the enzyme and electrode, but also retain the high enzyme loading and the enzymatic bioactivity.     

苯胺在超临界水中氧化反应路径

An aqueous solution of aniline was oxidized in supercritical water with a flow reactor under the conditions of 25 MPa, 300％ excess oxygen, 2.351×10-4 mol*L-1 aniline .GC-MS analysis of the oxidation products extracted from the aqueous reactor effluent permitted identification of compounds such as azobenzene, phenazine and acetic acid. The products could be classified as dimers,single-ring or ring-opening produces,carboxylic acids and ultimate products.The contents of dimers (such as azobenzene and phenazine) were greater than other products.A reaction network consistent with the experimental observations was developed. The study revealed that aniline might be oxidized to ultimate products through two parallel pathways. The formation of dimers such as azobenzene, phenazine and the further oxidation of these dimers were the main pathways. It was indicated experimentally that the rate controlling step of aniline oxidation was the further oxidation of azobenzene and phenazine, but not the further oxidation of organic acid such as acetic acid, formic acid and so on.     

Direct electrochemistry of glucose oxidase assembled on graphene and application to glucose detection

The direct electrochemistry of glucose oxidase (GOx) integrated with graphene was investigated. The voltammetric results indicated that GOx assembled on graphene retained its native structure and bioactivity, exhibited a surface-confined process, and underwent effective direct electron transfer (DET) reaction with an apparent rate constant (k_s) of 2.68 s⁻¹. This work also developed a novel approach for glucose detection based on the electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen at the GOx-graphene/GC electrode. The assembled GOx could electrocatalyze the reduction of dissolved oxygen. Upon the addition of glucose, the reduction current decreased, which could be used for glucose detection with a high sensitivity (ca. 110 ± 3 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻²), a wide linear range (0.1-10 mM), and a low detection limit (10 ± 2 μM). The developed approach can efficiently exclude the interference of commonly coexisting electroactive species due to the use of a low detection potential (−470 mV, versus SCE). Therefore, this study has not only successfully achieved DET reaction of GOx assembled on graphene, but also established a novel approach for glucose detection and provided a general route for fabricating graphene-based biosensing platform via assembling enzymes/proteins on graphene surface.     

Diluted ferromagnetic graphene by compensated n–p codoping

In this study, we propose a new approach, based on compensated n–p codoping, that can simultaneously address all the main shortcomings associated with single-element doping, effectively resulting in “diluted ferromagnetic graphene”. Our proposal is to deposit magnetic transitional metal (TM) atoms (such as Fe, Co, and Ni), acting as n-type dopants, onto already p-doped (e.g., by B) graphene. Through systematic first-principles calculations within density functional theory, we found that: (1) the electrostatic attraction between the n- and p-type dopants effectively enhances the adsorption of the TM adatoms and suppress their undesirable clustering, (2) the p-doping by B significantly enhances the magnetic moments of the TM adatoms, and (3) the compensated nature of the n–p codoping helps to preserve the Dirac nature of the charge carriers. Furthermore, through Monte Carlo simulations of a Heisenberg model with the essential magnetic coupling parameters obtained from the first-principles calculations, we found that Ni–B codoped graphene has a robust ferromagnetic order at experimentally feasible doping concentrations, with a Curie temperature as high as 212 K.     

Kinetics and Active Surfaces for CO Oxidation on Pt-Group Metals Under Oxygen Rich Conditions

This mini review summaries recent works on identifying the active surfaces for CO oxidation on Pd, Pt, and Rh under oxygen rich conditions. A significantly high reaction rate for CO oxidation under oxygen rich conditions has been observed. Results using in situ characterization methods of ambient scanning tunneling microscope, surface X-ray diffraction, ambient pressure X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and infrared reflection adsorption spectroscopy (IRAS), were included. Most X-ray related methods reveal that the achievements of the high reaction rates for CO oxidation on Pd, Pt, and Rh under oxygen rich conditions are accompanied with the appearance of oxides on the surface, leading to that the oxide phase is considered to be the active surface. In contrast, recent in situ IRAS results conclude that a chemisorbed oxygen covered metallic surface is the active surface. Kinetic data support that the reaction on the metallic surfaces can reach the high rate, e.g. a mass-transfer limit turnover frequency, without the necessity of the presence of oxide. Therefore, we point out that the appearance of oxides on Pt-group metals during CO oxidation is possibly due to the transfer-limit of CO gas, resulting in exposing the catalyst surface to an ambient atmosphere much richer in oxygen and thus building-up the oxide. Moreover, photons in X-ray related experiments may aid to overcome the formation barrier of oxide on a chemisorbed oxygen covered metallic surface. The formation of oxide is also affected by the mass-transfer properties of the in situ reaction cells. If the amount of incoming CO molecules under the mass-transfer limit of CO is high enough, the build-up of oxide may be precluded being consumed by reacting with CO.     

Polyaniline synthesis catalysed by glucose oxidase

A novel method for synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) in aqueous media based on application of oxidizing-enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx) is reported. Hydrogen peroxide was produced during catalytic reaction of oxidizing-enzyme glucose oxidase from Penicillium vitale and initiated the polymerization of aniline. The increase in optical absorbance in the range of 340-700 nm was exploited for the monitoring of PANI polymerization process. The role of GOx in the formation of PANI, influence of the initial concentrations of GOx, and glucose and aniline monomer on the aniline polymerization rate was studied. The study of pH influence on polymerization rate showed that PANI polymerization was occurring in a broad pH range from the pH 2.0 to 9.0. Optimal polymerization/oligomerization temperature was found to be at 37 °C, which is also optimal for GOx-catalysed enzymatic reaction. After 10 days of continuous GOx-catalysed polymerization PANI appeared as colloid-microparticles visible by an optical microscope.     

Methanol tolerant electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) represent an interesting alternative in obtaining electricity in a clean and efficient way. Portable power sources are one of the most promising applications of passive DMFCs. One of the requirements in these devices is to use high alcohol concentration, which due to methanol crossover causes a considerable loss of fuel cell efficiency. In order to develop methanol tolerant cathodes with suitable activity, different supported catalysts namely PtCo/C and PtCoRu/C, were prepared either via ethylene glycol reduction (EG) with or without microwave heating assistance (MW) or via the alloy method, the latter followed by a thermal treatment in a reducing atmosphere (N₂/H₂). All cathode-catalysts were tested to determine the role of the components in simultaneously enhancing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and discouraging the methanol oxidation reaction. According to the synthesis methodology, X-ray photoelectron spectra showed that the amount of metal oxides on the surface varies, being higher on the PtCo/C EG and PtCoRu/C EG catalysts. The electrochemical characterization of the catalysts was accomplished in a three electrodes electrochemical cell with a glassy carbon rotating disk electrode covered with a thin catalytic film as working electrode. To study the ORR and the influence of different methanol concentrations, linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry were employed. The PtCo/C EG, with an important metal oxide amount on the surface, and the PtCoRu/C MW and EG electrodes, both with RuO₂ on their surfaces, were the most tolerant to methanol presence.     

Microwave-assisted one-pot synthesis of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles on graphene and their electrochemical applications

An effective synthesis strategy of hybrid metal (PtRu)/metal oxide (SnO₂) nanoparticles on graphene nanocomposites is developed using a microwave-assisted one-pot reaction process. The mixture of ethylene glycol (EG) and water is used as both solvent and reactant. In the reaction system for the synthesis of SnO₂/graphene nanocomposite, EG not only reduces graphene oxide (GO) to graphene, but also results in the formation of SnO₂ facilitated by the presence of a small amount of water. On the other hand, in the reaction system for preparation of PtRu/graphene nanocomposites, EG acts as solvent and reducing agent for reduction of PtRu nanoparticles from their precursors and reduction of graphene from graphene oxide. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterizations confirm the feasibility of the microwave-assisted reaction system to simultaneously reduce graphene oxide and to form SnO₂ or PtRu nanoparticles. The as-synthesized SnO₂/graphene hybrid composites show a much higher supercapacitance than the pure graphene, and the as-prepared PtRu/graphene show much better electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation compared to the commercial E-TEK PtRu/C electrocatalysts.     

Probing substrate influence on graphene by analyzing Raman lineshapes

We provide a new approach to identify the substrate influence on graphene surface. Distinguishing the substrate influences or the doping effects of charged impurities on graphene can be realized by optically probing the graphene surfaces, included the suspended and supported graphene. In this work, the line scan of Raman spectroscopy was performed across the graphene surface on the ordered square hole. Then, the bandwidths of G-band and 2D-band were fitted into the Voigt profile, a convolution of Gaussian and Lorentzian profiles. The bandwidths of Lorentzian parts were kept as constant whether it is the suspended and supported graphene. For the Gaussian part, the suspended graphene exhibits much greater Gaussian bandwidths than those of the supported graphene. It reveals that the doping effect on supported graphene is stronger than that of suspended graphene. Compared with the previous studies, we also used the peak positions of G bands, and I_2D/I_G ratios to confirm that our method really works. For the suspended graphene, the peak positions of G band are downshifted with respect to supported graphene, and the I_2D/I_G ratios of suspended graphene are larger than those of supported graphene. With data fitting into Voigt profile, one can find out the information behind the lineshapes.     

Reactivity of LaNi1−y Co y O3−δ Perovskite Systems in the Deep Oxidation of Toluene

In the present work we have evaluated the oxidation of toluene over different lanthanum perovskites with a general composition of LaNi_1?y Co _y O_3?δ. These catalysts, prepared by a spray pyrolysis method, have been characterised by XRD, BET and FE-SEM techniques. Additional experiments of temperature programmed desorption of O₂, reduction in H₂ and X-ray absorption spectroscopy were also performed in order to identify the main surface oxygen species and the reducibility of the different perovskites. The catalytic behaviour toward the oxidation of toluene (as a model for VOCs compounds) was evaluated in the range 100–600 °C, detecting a total conversion for all the samples below 400 °C and higher activities for the cobalt-containing perovskites. The catalytic behaviour of these samples is consistent with a suprafacial mechanism, with the α-type oxygen playing an active role in the oxidation reaction.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the oxygen electroreduction reaction on faceted platinum electrodes in trifluoromethanesulfonic acid solutions

The kinetics of the oxygen electroreduction reaction (OERR) were investigated on (1 1 1)-type and (1 0 0)-type faceted, and polycrystalline platinum electrodes in aqueous (0.05–1.0)m trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMSA) using the rotating disc and ring-disc electrode techniques at 25°C. Reaction orders with respect to oxygen close to either 1/2 or 1 were found, depending on the TFMSA concentration and platinum surface morphology. At all TFMSA concentrations the formation of H₂O₂ was enhanced at (1 0 0)-type platinum surfaces. The difference in the electrocatalytic activity of platinum surfaces can be explained through data derived from the OERR formalism proposed by Damjanovicet al. The rate of the direct O₂ to H₂O electroreduction reaction increased steadily with the cathodic overvoltage irrespective of the platinum surface morphology, whereas a maximum H₂O₂ formation rate was found at about 0.5 V, depending on the TFMSA concentration. The H₂O₂ decomposition rate on (1 0 0)-type platinum electrode yielding H₂O approached zero within a certain potential range.     

On the structure dependence of CO oxidation over CeO2 nanocrystals with well-defined surface planes

CO oxidation is a model reaction for probing the redox property of ceria-based catalysts. In this study, CO oxidation was investigated over ceria nanocrystals with defined surface planes (nanoshapes) including rods ({1 1 0} + {1 0 0}), cubes ({1 0 0}), and octahedra ({1 1 1}). To understand the strong dependence of CO oxidation observed on these different ceria nanoshapes, in situ techniques including infrared and Raman spectroscopy coupled with online mass spectrometer, and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) were employed to reveal how CO interacts with the different ceria surfaces, while the mobility of ceria lattice oxygen was investigated via oxygen isotopic exchange experiment. CO adsorption at room temperature leads to strongly bonded carbonate species on the more reactive surfaces of rods and cubes but weakly bonded ones on the rather inert octahedra surface. CO-TPR, proceeding via several channels including CO removal of lattice oxygen, surface water–gas shift reaction, and CO disproportionation reaction, reveals that the reducibility of these ceria nanoshapes is in line with their CO oxidation activity, i.e., rods > cubes > octahedra. The mobility of lattice oxygen also shows similar dependence. It is suggested that surface oxygen vacancy formation energy, defect sites, and coordinatively unsaturated sites on ceria play a direct role in facilitating both CO interaction with ceria surface and the reactivity and mobility of lattice oxygen. The oxygen vacancy formation energy, nature and amount of the defect and low coordination sites are intrinsically affected by the surface planes of the ceria nanoshapes. Several reaction pathways for CO oxidation over the ceria nanoshapes are proposed, and certain types of carbonates, especially those associated with reduced ceria surface, are considered among the reaction intermediates to form CO₂, while the majority of carbonate species observed under CO oxidation condition are believed to be spectators.     

苯甲酰化环糊精键合固定相的制备及手性拆分

合成了苯甲酰化β-环糊精键合固定相,用元素分析和红外光谱对固定相进行了表征。该固定相在正相和反相条件下对某些对映异构体有良好的拆分能力。     

Surface conductivity of nitrogen-doped diamond

Synthetic type Ib diamond crystals with (001) surfaces that expose growth sectors of different nitrogen content have been used to study the phenomenon of p-type surface conductivity upon plasma hydrogenation and upon overgrowth with thin epitaxial CVD diamond layers. We found that an unbiased microwave-driven hydrogen plasma leads to surface conductivity only on well-defined regions on the substrates that correlate with growth sectors of low nitrogen content; whereas no conductive layer is found on top of growth sectors with higher nitrogen concentrations in the range of 200 ppm. After growing a homoepitaxial intrinsic diamond layer of only 20 nm on top of the nitrogen doped diamond, these differences are no longer observed and surface conductivity is established homogeneously over the whole sample. The same effect can be achieved by exposing the Ib substrates to a pure hydrogen plasma provided the sample is biased with an additional DC voltage of −250 V. Both results can be understood in the framework of the surface transfer doping model suggested earlier by Maier and colleagues when the compensation of nitrogen donors by surface acceptors and their passivation by hydrogen is taken into account. The quantitative discussion shows that the doping capability of the surface acceptors is exhausted at lateral concentrations of approximately 1×10¹³ cm⁻², which also corresponds to the maximum hole concentration usually observed in hydrogen-induced p-type conductive layers.     

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of suspended monolayer graphene

Abstract

The interactions between phonons and electrons induced by the dopants or the substrate of graphene in spectroscopic investigation reveal a rich source of interesting physics. Raman spectra and surface-enhanced Raman spectra of supported and suspended monolayer graphenes were measured and analyzed systemically with different approaches. The weak Raman signals are greatly enhanced by the ability of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy which has attracted considerable interests. The technique is regarded as wonderful and useful tool, but the dopants that are produced by depositing metallic nanoparticles may affect the electron scattering processes of graphene. Therefore, the doping and substrate influences on graphene are also important issues to be investigated. In this work, the peak positions of G peak and 2D peak, the I_2D/I_G ratios, and enhancements of G and 2D bands with suspended and supported graphene flakes were measured and analyzed. The peak shifts of G and 2D bands between the Raman and SERS signals demonstrate the doping effect induced by silver nanoparticles by n-doping. The I_2D/I_G ratio can provide a more sensitive method to carry out the doping effect on the graphene surface than the peak shifts of G and 2D bands. The enhancements of 2D band of suspended and supported graphenes reached 138, and those of G band reached at least 169. Their good enhancements are helpful to measure the optical properties of graphene. The different substrates that covered the graphene surface with doping effect are more sensitive to the enhancements of G band with respect to 2D band. It provides us a new method to distinguish the substrate and doping effect on graphene.

PACS

78.67.Wj (optical properties of graphene); 74.25.nd (Raman and optical spectroscopy); 63.22.Rc (phonons in graphene)     

Modification of expanded graphite resulting in enhancement of electrochemical activity in the process of phenol oxidation

The aimed modification of expanded graphite electrodes (EG) was divided into two independent parts consisting of chemical treatment in the mixture of concentrated H₂SO₄/HNO₃ and subsequent heat treatment performed at elevated temperature in air. The electrochemical features of modified samples were examined in the model process of phenol electrooxidation which was realized in alkaline medium by the cyclic voltammetry technique. Taking into account the charges of anodic peaks corresponding to the phenol oxidation it was found that a two-step treatment of EG brought about over two-fold improvement of its electrochemical activity as compared to the initial cycle of regarded process. The reason for such a behavior can be ascribed to the changes in chemical composition of the EG surface as well as the changes in porous structure including almost a two-fold development of specific surface area and by a four-fold increase of the sample volume affected by the thermal treatment. According to the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy data, the modification of EG resulted in a significant increase of the surface oxygen groups containing C–O.     

Layer by layer assembly of glucose oxidase and thiourea onto glassy carbon electrode: Fabrication of glucose biosensor

For the first time a novel, simple and facile approach is described to construct highly stable glucose oxidase (GOx) multilayer onto glassy carbon (GC) electrode using thiourea (TU) as a covalent attachment cross-linker. The layer by layer (LBL) attachment process was confirmed by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared reflection spectroscopy (FT-IR-RS) techniques. Immobilized GOx shows excellent electrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation using ferrocenemethanol as artificial electron transfer mediator and biosensor response was directly correlated to the number of bilayers. The surface coverage of active GOx per bilayer, heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (k_s) and Michaelis–Menten constant (K_M), of immobilized GOx were 1.50 × 10⁻¹² mol cm⁻², 9.2 ± 0.5 s⁻¹ and 3.42(±0.2) mM, respectively. The biosensor constructed with four-bilayers of TU/GOx showed good stability, high reproducibility, long life-time, fast amperometric response (5 s) with the high sensitivity of 5.73 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻² and low detection limit of 6 μM at concentration range up to 5.5 mM.     

Graphite oxidation in molten sodium carbonate

The oxidation of spectroscopic grade graphite using air or oxygen in molten sodium carbonate was investigated at 900, 1000 and 10502C. The oxidation rate increased with increasing temperature, increasing oxygen concentration, and increasing graphite surface area but decreased slightly as the reaction air was diluted with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. At high-graphite loadings, the reaction rate was 0.45 order in oxygen, 0.45 order in graphite surface area with an apparent activation energy (E_a) of 35 kcal/mole and appeared to tend toward a rate limit imposed by the available oxidant in the melt. At low-graphite loadings, the rate was 0.42 order in oxygen, 0.78 order in graphite surface area with E = 32 kcal/mole and appeared to tend toward a rate limit imposed by the available graphite surface area. Virtually no carbon monoxide was observed under the conditions of the experiments. A sequence of reactions is proposed in which sodium peroxide, formed by the reaction of oxygen with sodium carbonate is the active oxidizing species.     

Doping graphene films via chemically mediated charge transfer

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) are critical components of a myriad of technologies including flat panel displays, light-emitting diodes, and solar cells. Graphene-based TCFs have attracted a lot of attention because of their high electrical conductivity, transparency, and low cost. Carrier doping of graphene would potentially improve the properties of graphene-based TCFs for practical industrial applications. However, controlling the carrier type and concentration of dopants in graphene films is challenging, especially for the synthesis of p-type films. In this article, a new method for doping graphene using the conjugated organic molecule, tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), is described. Notably, TCNQ is well known as a powerful electron accepter and is expected to favor electron transfer from graphene into TCNQ molecules, thereby leading to p-type doping of graphene films. Small amounts of TCNQ drastically improved the resistivity without degradation of optical transparency. Our carrier doping method based on charge transfer has a huge potential for graphene-based TCFs.     

Anodic synthesis of sulfur-bridged polyaniline coatings onto Fe sheets

Sulfur-bridged polyaniline coatings are obtained onto Fe anodes by electrolyzing a basic solution of one aniline and ammonium sulfide. Their sulfur content ranges from 7% to 17%, depending on the substituents on aniline. Variously substituted anilines may be polymerized in this way and coating pollution by azobenzene formed in a side reaction is almost completely avoided. Sulfur probably enters the polymer chains through a free radical mechanism. HS^? intermediates being formed by both homogeneous and anodic oxidation of HS^? anions. Coatings from N-allylaniline, being thermally curable, show satisfactory physical properties.